51
Conversion of the Bavarians and Carantanians (
Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum), a
reminder of what the Salzburg church had achieved in the region, and at the same time a
dossier making the case against Methodius. Since the status of the Bavarian metropolitan
province in Carantania was steadfast, given that three popes in the second half of the eighth
century had confirmed Salzburg’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the area, the document was an
attempt to portray the Pannonian mission as the continuation of the Carantanian mission, in
order to give legitimacy to Salzburg’s Pannonian aspirations. The Conversio, though it also
provides priceless information as the oldest history of Carantania, was therefore a means for
Salzburg to achieve its objectives in Pannonia. Methodius’ capture coincided with changes in
the political climate, as Svatopluk gradually moved over to Carloman’s side and betrayed his
uncle, Rastislav, to gain lordship over the Moravians. It was only by the vigorous intervention
of Pope John VIII that Methodius’ release was secured in 873. He had spent time with Kocel,
who was therefore subject to threats from Bavarian bishops. Probably after 874, when the
previously hostile Franks and Moravians reached a modus vivendi with the peace of
Forchheim, Methodius moved to Moravia, where he worked until his death in 885. Kocel
could not maintain his position within Frankish Pannonia. He is mentioned ror the last time in
874, when archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg consecrated his church in Ptuj. By 876 he has
disappeared from the historical record and Carloman’s son Arnulf had assumed control of
Pannonia. A forged document, supposedly by Arnulf and intended for Theotmar, that was
fabricated in Salzburg around the end of the tenth century, alleges that Kocel was convicted of
high treason.
The Pannonian episode directly tied the work of Constantine and Methodius to
Slovene territory. It was only in Kocel’s Pannonia between 867 and 874 that the Slavic prayer
formulas of the Carantanian mission could have come into contact with and influenced the
Old Church Slavonic texts of Constantine and Methodius or their followers. In this manner,
Slovene features had an influence on the form (especially at the level of vocabulary) and
content of Old Church Slavonic literacy. This connection is perhaps even clearer in the oldest
Slavic legal code, the Zakon Sudni Ljudem, which was probably drawn up to meet the needs
of Kocel’s Slavic polity in southern Pannonia. The code, probably the work of Methodius,
combines Byzantine and Bavarian legal norms, the latter spreading in the ninth century,
particularly, because of contact between Carantanian and other Slavs in the Bavarian eastern
prefecture. It seems most natural to link this exceptional legal artefact with Pannonia,
although various researchers have placed its point of origin in Bulgaria and Moravia.
52
THE CAROLINGIAN DECLINE
In 871, Louis the German placed the administration of the Danube counties on the
Moravian border in the hands of the margrave Aribo. This changed the power structure that
had been in place since 828, when government of the entire Eastern March had been united in
the hands of a prefect or a royal prince. By 876 at the latest, after Louis the German had died,
Arnulf had assumed the lordship of his father Carloman’s eastern dominions. It included
Carantania, Carniola and the parts of Pannonia north of the Drava (Kocel’s Pannonia), as well
as south of the river, where the Slavic prince and Frankish vassal Braslav – equating himself
with the tradition of Louis, duke of Lower Pannonia, and Ratimir – had his regnum. The
counties along the Danube were excluded from this complex. By 884, according to the Annals
of Fulda these lands were known as “Arnulf’s kingdom”. Carantania represented the centre of
Arnulf’s power. The division of royal land, which started to increase from the middle of the
ninth century onwards, led to the establishment and development of economic infrastructure
(seigneuries) and increased the wealth of the region. From this point, Arnulf managed to
acquire not only lordship over Bavaria (after 880), but also, in 887 – with military aid from
“Bavarians and Slavs” – lordship over the Eastern Frankish kingdom. Even after that date,
Arnulf remained closely connected to Carantania. He celebrated Christmas 888 in Karnburg,
the former capital of the Carantanian prince, which is the only documented Carolingian
residence of Frankish rulers in the eastern Alpine and Pannonian area. In 983, it was explicitly
named as a regalis sedes – a royal seat. According to many researchers, the beginnings of the
Duchy of Carniola can be linked to developments during Arnulf’s time, when perhaps the
duke’s throne was placed in Zollfeld, which led to the change and feudalisation of the
installation ceremony of Carantanian princes (Carinthian dukes), also known as dukes. The
renewal of the regional episcopate for Carantania carried out by Theotmar, the archbishop of
Salzburg, after 873, perhaps also must be seen in this context. Arnulf’s close links to
Carantania led to him being identified as Arnulf of Carinthia in eleventh-century literature.
After 887, when Arnulf became king of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom, members of the
Bavarian high nobility assumed power over Carantania as counts. These included Luitpold, a
relative of Arnulf’s on the maternal side, and the founder of the Bavarian ducal dynasty, the
Luitpoldings. He is first mentioned as a margrave in Carantania in a reference to a gift of 895,
with which Arnulf transformed the land of Waltuni – an ancestor of Saint Hemma – in
modern-day Austrian Carinthia and Styria, and possibly Carniola, from a feudal into an
allodial possession.