Karantania

     From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. See discussion. Karantania sometimes Carantania, Carentania, Carinthia (in old Slovenian onomastics Korotan), or Karantanija) was the first stable and independent state of Slovenians and of Slavs. Founded in the 6th century it lasted almost 300 years.

The first mention of this state in official documents has been dated to 595, according to present knowledge. Some older historians cite a date of 745, while others claim one even later. The label of the first Slavic state is a topic of some controversy. Czechs proclaim to be descended from Great Moravia, which originated in 833.

Latin authors named the Gorostan (archaic Mountain Home), a mountainous fatherland of Slovenian ancestors north of Karavanke with the name Carantanum. Carinthia can also be derived from the name for Carni, a Celtic people.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) mentions Karantania as Chiarentana. The same name was used by Florentines such as a poet Fazio degli Uberti (circa 1309-1367), the famous chronicler Giovanni Villani (1276-circa 1348) and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), who said that the river Brenta rises from the mountains of Karantania, that is a land in Alps, which divide Italy from Germany.

The ancient ritual of installing Karantanian dukes carried out in the Slovenian language on the Duke's Stone (Knežji kamen) at the Gosposvetsko polje (Gosposvetsko Field), today in Carinthia, Austria. This ceremony was conducted until the 15th century and it inspired Thomas Jefferson in writing the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Table of contents

1 References 2 Further reading 3 See also

References

• Jožko Šavli, Slovenska država Karantanija (Slovenian state of Karantania), (Založba Lipa, Koper; Editiones Veneti, Dunaj (Vienna); Karantanija, Ljubljana 1990).

Further reading

• Bogo Grafenauer, Ustoličevanje koroških vojvod in država karantanskih Slovencev / Die Kaerntner Herzogseinsetzung und der Staat der Karantanerslawen, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (Academia scientiarum et artium Slovenica, Classis I: Historia et sociologia), Ljubljana 1952
• Bogo Grafenauer, Zgodovina slovenskega naroda. Zv. 1, Od naselitve do uveljavljenja frankovskega reda (z uvodnim pregledom zgodovine slovenskega ozemlja do naselitve alpskih Slovanov), Državna založba Slovenije, Ljubljana 1978
• Paola Korošec, Alpski Slovani / Die Alpenslawen, Znanstveni inštitut Filozofske fakultete, Ljubljana 1990
• Peter Štih, Vasko Simoniti, Slovenska zgodovina do razsvetljenstva, Mohorjeva družba v Celovcu, Ljubljana 1995
• Hans-Dietrich Kahl, Der Staat der Karantanen - Fakten, Thesen und Fragen zu einer fruehen slawischen Machtbildung im Ostalpenraum (7.-9. Jh.) / Država Karantancev - dejstva, teze in vprašanja o zgodnji slovanski državni tvorbi v vzhodnoalpskem prostoru (7.-9. stol.), Narodni muzej Slovenije (Situla: Dissertationes Musei nationalis Sloveniae) and Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, Ljubljana 2002

See also

• Karantanians,
• Carinthia,
• Carinthians,
• Timeline of Slovene history.