Valuk () was the slavic duke in the independent land of the Alpine Slavs or

Carantania Carantania, also known as Carentania (, , in Old Slavic '), was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern Slovenia. Since the middle of the ...

. The date of his reign is around 631. His name is more or less identical to the name of the Prince Valtunka, which can both be interpreted as ''government'' or ''ruler''.Grafenauer Bogo (2000). ''Karantanija: Izbrane razprave in članki''. Ljubljana, Slovenska matica. Str. 104-105 After the attempt to capture

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

in 626 failed, the Avars turned towards the west and attacked the territory settled by Slavs. The Slavs then united under their leader Valuk, and joined forces with

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 ...

(the leader of a Slavic confederation of Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks, and Sorbs) to defend themselves against the Avars. Valuk was possibly the first Duke of Carantania. Carantania was the first known Slavic state. The capital was located at

Karnburg Maria Saal () is a market town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is located in the east of the historic Zollfeld plain (''Gosposvetsko polje''), the wide valley of the Glan River. The municipality includes ...

, near Klagenfurt in present-day

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It is unknown if Valuk's bloodline was continued in that of the later Dukes of Carantania.

Slavs Independent Territories under Valuk

At the latest after the weakening of

Pannonian Avars The Pannonian Avars ( ) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in the chronicles of the Rus' people, Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai (), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine Empi ...

in 626 (if not already in 623), Slavs in the Eastern Alps joined the Slavic tribal association of the Duke Samo.Čepič et al. (1979). ''Zgodovina slovencev''. Ljubljana, Cankarjeva založba. Str. 112.Simoniti Vasko, Štih Peter (1996): ''Slovenska zgodovina do razsvetljenstva''. Celovec, Mohorjeva družba in Korotan. Str. 31-32 In 630, 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 ...

were also involved with the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

, which were bordered in Carantania as the territory in Samo's tribal union. Marca Vinedorum-en

At that time, according to ''Fredegarii Chronicon'' in

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

, there was a dispute between the Avars and the Bulgarians, which resulted in the 9,000 Bulgarians under the leadership of their prince Alcioka first resorted to seek help from the Bavarians, but when they were almost all slaughtered on the orders of the Frankish King

Dagobert Dagobert or Taginbert is a Germanic male given name, possibly from Old Frankish ''Dag'' "day" and '' beraht'' "bright". Alternatively, it has been identified as Gaulish ''dago'' "good" ''berxto'' "bright". Animals * Roi Dagobert (born 1964), ...

. Approximately 700 survivors of the Bulgarians came to the land of the Slavs (') to the ruler of that place, the Duke Valuk (').Kos Milko (1933). ''Zgodovina Slovencev od naselitve do reformacije''. Ljubljana, Jugoslovanska knjigarna. Str. 53 Most likely, this is precisely the one Alcioka who went to Friuli with her escort in 662. The event with the Bulgarians reveals that Carantania was not subordinate to the Franks, the Lombards, nor the Avars at that time.primerjaj z: Štih Peter (1986). ''Ozemlje Slovenije v zgodnjem srednjem veku: Osnovne poteze zgodovinskega razvoja od začetka 6. stoletja do konca 9. Stoletja''. Ljubljana, Filozofska fakulteta. Str. 30 It is also possible that Valuk was the prince of the Alpine Slavs, where Arnefrit, the son of Friulian Duke Lupa, sought political asylum and alliance. In describing Arnefrit's withdrawal to the Slavs, Paul the Deacon claimed that he fled to the Slavs in ''Karnuntum'', mistakenly called ''Karantanum'' ('), which could mean that the land began to be called Carantania under Valuk's rule. For the territory of the later Carniola, it was not known whether it was part of Samo's tribal union (within the Valuk authorities or separately), or was still under the jurisdiction of the Avars or no one else's territory.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valuk Carantanians 7th-century Slavs Slavic warriors

Slavs Independent Territories under Valuk

See also

Sources