Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/41

 wife, Ludmilla, was also received into the Christian Church; and the example she set by her saintly life greatly aided the rapid spread of Christianity in Bohemia. Bořivoj is said to have built several churches: the one at Levy Hradec, near Prague, is specially mentioned as having been built by him, and is the oldest Christian church in Bohemia. The earliest church on the Hradčany hill at Prague is also believed to have been built during the reign of Bořivoj.

In 885 Methodius, "the apostle of the Slavs," died. The numerous legends which supply almost all the evidence concerning him give a very touching account of his death.

Svatopluk of Moravia, after having secured for his country independence from Germany, extended his dominion in all directions, and he soon became the chief of a mighty Slavonic empire. It is equally difficult to specify the limits of his dominion, and the names and number of the minor Slav States that acknowledged his supremacy. We are told that Cracow and the surrounding part of Poland, Silesia, a large part of Northern Germany reaching as far as Magdeburg, and a large part of Northern Bohemia, had probably long before acknowledged his supremacy; but after Bořivoj's death, Svatopluk only recognized his sons Spytihněv and Vratislav as local chieftains (voyvodes) over certain districts, and himself became supreme ruler over Bohemia, thus temporarily effacing the dynasty of Přemysl.

Hostilities between the Germans and the Slavs were renewed not many years after the treaty of Forcheim. In 890 Svatopluk was involved in a great war with the German King Arnulph, an illegitimate son of Carlomann. In 892 Arnulph obtained aid from the wild Magyars or Hungarians, who had then recently appeared in Europe, and whose dwelling-place at that period probably was the present Moldavia.

Svatopluk successfully resisted these various attacks, but the greatness of the Moravian Empire ended with his death (894). The quarrels between two of Svatopluk's sons, Mojmir and Svatopluk, hastened the ruin of the country. The Bohemian Prince Spytihněv seized the opportunity, which the intestine struggles in Moravia afforded him, for the purpose of shaking off Moravian supremacy and reestablishing