Rastislav

Rastislav or Rostislav was the second known ruler of Moravia (846–869 or 870). Although he started his reign as vassal to Louis the German, king of East Francia, he consolidated his rule to the extent that after 855 he was able to repel a series of Frankish attacks. Upon his initiative two brothers, Cyril and Methodius sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in 863, translated the most important Christian liturgical books into Slavonic in his realm. Rastislav was dethroned by his nephew Svatopluk I who handed him over to the Franks.