Svatopluk I

Svatopluk I
Statue of Svatopluk on Bratislava castle, Slovakia
Prince in Moravia (maybe of Nitra)
Reign	before  867–870
Predecessor	Unknown
Successor	None
Duke of Moravia
Reign	870–871
Predecessor	Rastislav
Successor	Slavomir
Duke of Moravia
Reign	871–before 885
Predecessor	Slavomír
Successor	Himself as king
King of Moravia
Reign	before 885–894
Predecessor	Himself as duke
Successor	Mojmir II
Born	c. 840
Died	894
Spouse	Svatozina
Issue	Mojmír II Svatopluk II Predslav (?)
House	House of Mojmír
Father	Bogislav (?), Svetimir (?)
Mother	Unknown

Svatopluk I or Svätopluk I, also known as Svatopluk the Great (Latin: Zuentepulc, Zuentibald, Sventopulch, Old Church Slavic Свѧтопълкъ and transliterated Svętopъłkъ, Greek: Sphendoplokos) was a ruler of Great Moravia, which attained its maximum territorial expansion during his reign (870–871, 871–894).

Svatopluk's career started in the 860s, when he governed a principality within Moravia, the location of which is still a matter of debate among historians, under the suzerainty of his uncle, Rastislav. In 870 Svatopluk dethroned Rastislav, who was a vassal of Louis the German, and betrayed him to the Franks. Within a year, however, the Franks also imprisoned Svatopluk. After the Moravians rebelled against the Franks Svatopluk was released and led the rebels to victory over the invaders. Although he was obliged to pay tribute to East Francia under the peace treaty concluded at Forchheim (Germany) in 874, he was able to expand his territories outside the Franks' sphere of interest in the following years. His forces even invaded the March of Pannonia within East Francia in 882.

Svatopluk established a good relationship with the popes, and he and his people were formally taken under the protection of the Holy See in 880.Pope Stephen V even addressed him as "King" in a letter written in 885. Svatopluk seems to have wanted to appease the German clergy who opposed the conducting of the liturgy in Old Church Slavonic, and he expelled the disciples of Methodius from Moravia in 886, after their teacher's death.