What's in a Prague street name

Rostislavova was built in 1892.

Rostislav was the nephew of Mojmír I, the first known ruler of the Moravian Slavs. More on him in a couple of days.

It’s possible that, as a child, he was held as a vassal, upon Uncle Mojmír’s request, by Louis the German, King of East Francia.

Louis invaded Moravia in 846, dethroned Mojmír, and replaced him with Rostislav, who he expected would be an ally.

However, from the 850s, Rostislav started befriending Louis’ opponents and granting them asylum. Louis reacted in 855 by invading Great Moravia, but Rostislav’s men counterattacked successfully.

In 858, Rostislav became an ally of Carloman, governor of Carantania (nowadays in Austria and Slovenia) – and son of Louis. This alliance helped Rostislav to gain territory in Hungary.

In 861, the two of them would attack Louis’ forces. Rostislav attacked the Principality of Blatno, deposed its ruler, Pribina, and installed Pribina’s son, Kocel, who was to be Rostislav’s protégé.

Louis, meanwhile, formed an alliance with the Bulgarians, and eventually got his wayward son to stop rebelling against him.

In the 860s, Rostislav wrote to Pope Nicholas I, asking for a ‘teacher’ who would educate priests and help spread Christianity in Moravia, but didn’t get a reply, probably because the Pope didn’t want to annoy Louis.

Rostislav then tried his luck with the Byzantine Emperor, Michael III. This time, he was more successful – in 863, Michael sent two of the greatest Byzantine scholars, Cyril and Methodius.

In 864, Louis invaded Great Moravia. This time, Rostislav had to accept domination and the reintroduction of Latin priests who he had had thrown out about fifteen years earlier.

However, Cyril and Methodius stayed. In 869 – the year of another invasion by Louis – the Pope recognised Methodius as the local bishop.

Rostislav then entrusted the Principality of Nitra (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-185-nitranska/) to his nephew, Svatopluk (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/21/prague-2-day-87-svatoplukova/).

Rostislav made plans for Svatopluk to be killed, but the latter foiled his plan, had him captured and delivered him to Louis.

Rostislav was sentenced to death, but Louis ‘generously’ commuted his sentence to blinding and imprisonment. He died in captivity, some time after 870.

In 1994, he was canonised by the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church.