According to the ''

Gesta Hungarorum ''Gesta Hungarorum'', or ''The Deeds of the Hungarians'', is the earliest book about Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian history which has survived for posterity. Its genre is not chronicle, but ''gesta'', meaning "deeds" or "acts", which is a medie ...

'' by Bele Regis Notarius, Laborec was a Slavic ruler in the 9th century who was a vassal of

Great Moravia Great Moravia (; , ''Meghálī Moravía''; ; ; , ), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Repub ...

. According to the ''Gesta Hungarorum'', at the time of the

Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, also known as the Hungarian conquest or the Hungarian land-taking (), was a series of historical events ending with the settlement of the Hungarians in Central Europe in the late 9th and early 10t ...

around 896 Laborec opposed the conquest of

Carpathian Ruthenia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

by Hungarian tribes led by

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' g ...

. His existence is controversial as the only source that mentions him, Gesta Hungarorum, was written in the 13th century, more than 300 years after his presumed rule.

Laborec in the account of the ''
Gesta Hungarorum ''Gesta Hungarorum'', or ''The Deeds of the Hungarians'', is the earliest book about Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian history which has survived for posterity. Its genre is not chronicle, but ''gesta'', meaning "deeds" or "acts", which is a medie ...
''

During the 9th century, a fortified castle changed into a fortified early

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

town-settlement (now

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

), which became the centre of a new Slavonic principality ruled by Laborec. When Tsar Simeon the Great began expanding his

Bulgarian Empire Bulgarian Empire may refer to: * First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led b ...

, he gained control of a segment of territory, forcing Laborec to recognize his authority at the end of the 9th century. In 896 the Hungarian tribes crossed the Carpathian Range and migrated into Pannonian Basin. Prince Laborec fell from power under the efforts of the Hungarians and the Kievan forces. Laborec was defeated and killed on the banks of the

Laborec The Laborec (; ) is a river in eastern Slovakia that flows through the districts of Medzilaborce, Humenné, and Michalovce in the Košice Region, and the Prešov Region. The river drains the Laborec Highlands. It is long and its basin size is . ...

river that still carries his name.

Debate about the existence and identity of Laborec

According to a number of modern historians Laborec was not a real person,Benkő, Bóna, Jakó, Tonk, Vekov
ERDÉLY A KERESZTÉNY MAGYAR KIRÁLYSÁGBAN
2001, . and some consider him a ruler of

White Croats The White Croats (; ; ; ), also known simply as Croats, were a group of Early Slavs, Early Slavic tribes that lived between East Slavs, East Slavic and West Slavs, West Slavic tribes in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia n ...

References

{{Authority control Uzhhorod 9th-century deaths People from Uzhhorod History of Carpathian Ruthenia Great Moravia Nobility in Europe Gesta Hungarorum Year of birth unknown 9th-century Slavs Slavic warriors

Laborec in the account of the ''Gesta Hungarorum ''Gesta Hungarorum'', or ''The Deeds of the Hungarians'', is the earliest book about Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian history which has survived for posterity. Its genre is not chronicle, but ''gesta'', meaning "deeds" or "acts", which is a medie ...''

Debate about the existence and identity of Laborec

See also

References