Rastislav of Moravia

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Rastislav or Rostislav (Latin: Rastiz; Greek: Ῥασισθλάβος, romanized: Rhasisthlábos) was the second known ruler of Moravia (846–870). Although he started his reign as vassal to Louis the German, the king of East Francia, he consolidated his rule to the extent that after 855 he was able to repel a series of Frankish attacks. Upon his initiative, brothers Cyril and Methodius, sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in 863, translated the most important Christian liturgical books into Slavonic. Rastislav was dethroned by his nephew Svatopluk I of Moravia, who handed him over to the Franks. He was canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1994 and is also known as Saint Rastislav.

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