Carantanians

In the High Middle Ages, the term Carantanians and Carinthians were used interchangeably and denoted both the inhabitants of the bilingual Slavic-German Duchy of Carinthia, as well as South Slavs living within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire (that is, the ancestors of present-day Slovenes and Istrian Croats).

[1] After the disintegration of Samo's realm, Alpine Slavs established the Principality of Carantania in the Eastern Alps, which was independent from around 660 to around 745, when it fell under the Bavarian zone of influence and was later incorporated in the Frankish Empire.

Several rebellions of the Carantanians against the Christianisations occurred in the late 8th century, which later served as the source of inspiration of the Slovenian Romantic poet France Prešeren in his epic-lyric poem The Baptism on the Savica.

[7] The Freising Manuscripts, dating from the 10th century, which most surely originate from the region inhabited by the Carantanians, are considered to be the oldest documents in any Slavic language written in Latin alphabet.

A distinct social stratus known as kosezes (Kasazes in Latin, in German Edlinger, noble people), which were present also in other parts of the Slovene Lands until the High Middle Ages, is thought of having derived from the private army of the Carantanian prince.

Thomas Jefferson had initialed a page in his copy of Jean Bodin’s “Republic” describing the unique process of Carantanian commoners having the power of choosing their leader, resembling modern democratic values.