Great Moravia
Settlement structure

The nuclei of the Great Moravian settlement structure were well-defended fortified settlements built by the local Slavs both on elevated positions and lowland areas like marshes and river islands. Most Great Moravian castles were rather large hill forts, fortified by wooden palisades, stone walls and in some cases, moats. The typical Great Moravian ramparts combined an outer drystone wall with an internal timber structure filled with earth. The fortifications usually formed several contiguous enclosures, with the elite buildings concentrated in the centre and crafts in the outer enclosures. Most buildings were made of timber, but ecclesiastical buildings and residential dwellings were made of stone. In many cases, prehistoric fortifications were also integrated. The Great Moravian towns, especially in Moravia, but also in the lowlands of Slovakia, were frequently far from the place where the stone was mined and material was transported dozens of kilometres.

The Great Moravian settlements can be divided into four main categories. The most important were localities with central functions like Mikulčice-Valy, Staré Město – Uherské Hradiště and Nitra, where several castles and settlements formed a huge fortified (pre-)urban agglomeration. Along with the main centres, the system of fortified settlements included fortified regional administrative hubs, forts whose primary function was defence, and refuge forts which were not inhabited permanently but were used in the case of danger. The largest forts were usually protected by a chain of smaller forts. Smaller forts were also built to protect trade routes and to provide shelter for peasants in case of attack. The existence of noble courts like in Ducové and in other places is also documented. Their form was probably inspired by Carolingian estates called curtis.

In 9th-century Mikulčice, the central fortified area, or Acropolis, was set on an island in the Morava and surrounded by a stone-faced rampart that enclosed an area of six hectares (extensive extramural settlement of 200 hectares stood unfortified). Although the location of the Great Moravian capital, "Veligrad", has not been identified, Mikulčice with its palace and 12 churches is the most widely accepted candidate. An important settlement was a large agglomeration in Pohansko near Břeclav. Nitra, the centre of the eastern part of the Empire, was ruled autonomously by the heir of the dynasty as an appanage. Nitra consisted of several large fortified settlements with various functions and approximately twenty specialized craftsmen's villages, making it a real metropolis of its time. Crafts included a production of luxury goods, such as jewelry and glass. The agglomeration was surrounded by a number of smaller forts.

Bratislava Castle had a stone two-story palace and a spacious three-nave basilica, built in the mid-9th century. Excavations of the cemetery situated by the basilica uncovered examples of Great Moravian jewelry, similar in style and quality to that from Mikulčice. The castle's name was first recorded in 907, during the fall of Great Moravia, as Brezalauspurc. This name literally means either " Predslav 's Castle" after a son of Svatopluk I who is mentioned in the Cividale del Friuli, or "Braslav's Castle" after Braslav of Pannonia, who was a count appointed by King Arnulf (Arnulf of Carantania) of East Francia. The agglomeration of several fortified settlements was unearthed in Slovak Bojná, discovering important artifacts related to Christianization of the territory. Numerous castles were built on the hills around the valleys of the Váh and the river Nitra, and also in other areas (e.g., Detva, Zeplín, Čingov), but were not built in south-eastern Slovakia.

The sturdy Devín Castle, in vicinity of Bratislava, guarded Great Moravia against attacks from the West. Although some authors claim that it was built only later as a stronghold of the Kings of Hungary, excavations have unearthed an older Slavic fortified settlement founded in the 8th century. During the Great Moravian period, Devín Castle was a seat of a local lord, whose retainers were buried around a stone Christian church. These two castles were reinforced by smaller fortifications in Devínska Nová Ves, Svätý Jur and elsewhere. Another example is the fortress at Thunau am Kamp near Gars am Kamp, overlooking the river Kamp in Lower Austria. The defences here re-utilised banked defences of the Bronze Age and were only slightly smaller (fifty acres) than the area of the contemporary Frankish Emperor's capital of Regensburg.

The number of forts discovered exceeds the number recorded in the sources (11 centres of Moravians and 30 centres of "other Moravians" or Merehanos; opinions differ as to how to interpret the reference to Merehanos). Though the only castles which are mentioned by name in written texts are Nitrawa (828; identified with Nitra), Dowina (864; sometimes identified with Devín Castle) and perhaps Brezalauspurc (907; sometimes identified with Bratislava Castle), some sources claim that Uzhhorod in Ukraine (903) was also a Moravian fortress. Devín Castle is sometimes identified with a "fortress of Prince Rastislav" mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses.
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