Kocel
Encyclopedia
Zalavár
Zalavár is a village in Hungary, located in the Zala county. It is located around southwest of the Lake Balaton.-Name:In Hungarian, it is known as Zalavár, in Slovak as Blatnohrad, in Croatian: Blatnograd , in Serbian: Блатноград, and in German as Moosburg. It was also known as Mosapurc and Kolon...
/ Blatnohrad (861-c.876).
Early life
He was the son of PribinaPribina
Pribina was a Slavic prince whose adventurous career, recorded in the Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians , illustrates the political volatility of the Franco–Slavic frontiers of his time...
and his Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n wife. He received a Bavarian name Gozil, which was used in the Slavic form. He was probably born before or just after his father was expelled by Mojmír I
Mojmír I
Mojmir I or Moimir I was the first known ruler of the Moravian Slavs . In modern scholarship, the creation of the early medieval state known as "Great" Moravia is attributed either to his or to his successors' expansionist policy...
, duke of the Moravians
Moravians (ethnic group)
Moravians are the modern West Slavic inhabitants of the historical land of Moravia, the easternmost part of the Czech Republic, which includes the Moravian Slovakia. They speak the two main groups of Moravian dialects , the transitional Bohemian-Moravian dialect subgroup and standard Czech...
, because he went with his father to the Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
shortly afterwards. He also followed his father when he returned to East Francia where King Louis the German
Louis the German
Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...
granted Pribina the parts
Balaton Principality
The Principality of Lower Pannonia was a Slavic principality located in the western part of the Pannonian plain, between the rivers Danube to its east The Principality of Lower Pannonia (also called Pannonia, Lower Pannonia, Pannonian Principality, Transdanubian Principality, Slavic Pannonian...
of Pannonia around the Zala
Zala River
The Zala is a river in south-western Hungary. Its source is in the hills on the borders with Austria and Slovenia. Its length is 139 km and drains water from 2,622 square km...
. In 850
850
Year 850 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* Emperor Montoku succeeds Emperor Nimmyō as Emperor of Japan.- Europe :...
, Koceľ was present at the consecration of the church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Blatnograd
Zalavár
Zalavár is a village in Hungary, located in the Zala county. It is located around southwest of the Lake Balaton.-Name:In Hungarian, it is known as Zalavár, in Slovak as Blatnohrad, in Croatian: Blatnograd , in Serbian: Блатноград, and in German as Moosburg. It was also known as Mosapurc and Kolon...
.
Reign
After the death of his father, probably in 861, Koceľ inherited his fiefs in PannoniaPannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
.
In 867
867
Year 867 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Byzantine Empire :* September – Basil I becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.* Macedonian dynasty is started....
, he hosted at his seat in Blatnograd
Zalavár
Zalavár is a village in Hungary, located in the Zala county. It is located around southwest of the Lake Balaton.-Name:In Hungarian, it is known as Zalavár, in Slovak as Blatnohrad, in Croatian: Blatnograd , in Serbian: Блатноград, and in German as Moosburg. It was also known as Mosapurc and Kolon...
the Byzantine brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Saints Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they...
when they were on their journey to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. They established a religious school in Blatnograd and educated around 50 students. Koceľ played an important role in the propagation of Christianity, when he asked Pope Adrian II
Pope Adrian II
Pope Adrian II , , pope from December 14, 867 to December 14, 872, was a member of a noble Roman family, and became pope in 867, at an advanced age....
to let Methodius return to him and the Pope fulfilled his request; later, he also asked the Pope to ordain Methodius to the See of Saint Andronicus
Andronicus of Pannonia
Andronicus of Pannonia was a 1st century Christian mentioned by the Apostle Paul: According to that verse, Andronicus was a kinsman of Paul and a fellow prisoner at some time, particularly well-known among the apostles, and had become a follower of Jesus Christ before Paul's Damascus road conversion...
. The arrival of Methodius gave rise to conflicts with the Archbishop of Salzburg whose Episcopal See
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
Pannonia had traditionally belonged to.
The exact date and circumstances of his death are unknown.
