Table of Contents Foreword … 7
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SEARCHING FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE SLAVS
The Oldest Written Records … 9
What Philology Can Prove … 15
What Archeology Has Revealed … 18
When Did the Emergence of the Slavs Take Place? … 24
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THE GREAT EXPANSION BEGINS
The Settlement of Central Europe … 29
The Advance into the Balkans … 38
Slav Colonization of Eastern Europe … 45
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BETWEEN THE FRANKISH AND BYZANTINE EMPIRES AND THE NOMADS
The Slavs and the Nomad Tribes … 53
The Pressure of the Great Powers and the First Organized States … 66
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GODS, DEMONS AND SHRINES
The Religious Ideas of the Slavs … 83
Temples, Idols and Cults … 91
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A MAJOR MILESTONE IN DEVELOPMENT
The Great Moravian Empire and its Centres … 105
Pribina's Principality at Nitra and Mosapurc … 119
The Croats and Serbs, their Political and Cultural Emergence … 125
The First Bulgarian Empire … 131
The Early History of Kievan Russia … 139
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PEASANTS, CRAFTSMEN, MERCHANTS AND WARRIORS
Peasants … 151
Crafts and Trade … 155
Warriors … 166
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THE CZECHS AND THE POLES — ORIENTATION TOWARDS THE WEST
The Bohemian State of the Přemyslids — the Heir to the Great Moravian Empire … 174
The Piast State in Poland … 193
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THE TRAGEDY OF THE NORTH-WESTERN SLAVS
The Lusatian Centre at Tornow … 213
Timber Fortresses in Mecklenburg … 220
Seafarers and Pirates in the Baltic Sea … 228
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Conclusion … 234
Bibliography … 235
Index … 236
