Dervan or Derwan ( sr-cyr, Дерван, ) was an early ruler of the

Sorbs Sorbs (; ; ; ; ; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Germany, states of Saxony and Brandenburg. Sorbs tradi ...

(

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

615–636). He is mentioned by

Fredegar The ''Chronicle of Fredegar'' is the conventional title used for a 7th-century Franks, Frankish chronicle that was probably written in Burgundy. The author is unknown and the attribution to Fredegar dates only from the 16th century. The chronic ...

in his Latin chronicle as ''dux gente Surbiorum que ex genere Sclavinorum'': "ruler of the people of the ''Surbi'' (Sorb autonym: ''Serbja'', Serb autonym: ''Srbi'') from the nation of the Sclavenians".Curta, 109. He is the first ruler of the tribe mentioned by name. Fredegar records him being subordinate to the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

for a long time and then joining the Slavic union of

Samo Samo (–) was the founder and sole ruler of the first recorded political union of Slavs, Slavic tribes, known as Samo's Empire ("realm", "kingdom", or "tribal union"), ruling from 623 until his death in 658. According to Fredegarius, the only ...

. After the defeat of the Frankish king

Dagobert I Dagobert I (; 603/605 – 19 January 639) was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the ...

by king Samo near Wogastisburg in 631 or 632, Dervan declared independence from the Franks and "placed himself and his people under the rule of Samo".Curta, 331. Dervan joined Samo in his subsequent wars against the Franks. Further reports of Fredegar imply that Dervan and his people lived to the east of the Saxon

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...

. The reference to Dervan in 631/632 is also the first written confirmation of the presence of Slavs north of the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

. He was fighting against

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

631-634 and Dervan was finally defeated by duke Radulf, governor of Thuringia in 636. According to some historians, Dervan was brother or father of the unnamed 7th-century Serbian ruler. According to

Tibor Živković Tibor Živković ( sr-cyr, Тибор Живковић; 11 March 1966 – 26 March 2013) was a Serbian historian and Byzantinist who specialised in the period of the Early Middle Ages. Biography Živković was born in Mostar, and studied history ...

, the migration of the Serbs to the Balkans could take place between 629 and 632, before Dervan joined Samo, while according to Francis Dvornik it was during or after the Serbian state was weakened because of the war with Franks.

References

Further reading