Battle of Wogastisburg in the context of "Forchheim"

Samo (c. 600–c. 658) was the founder and sole ruler of the first recorded political union of Slavic tribes, known as Samo's Empire ("realm", "kingdom", or "tribal union"), ruling from 623 until his death in 658. The question about his origins is unresolved. According to Fredegar, Samo was a Frankish merchant from Sens. However, according to Conversio Carantanorum, Samo was of Slavic origin. One of his origin theories suggests that Samo was a Slav who fled persecution in the Frankish lands and sought refuge in Bohemia.

Samo built his career by unifying several Slavic tribes against the robber raiders from the nearby settled Avars and raising a rebellion against Avar rule, showing such bravery and command skills in battle that he was elected "King of the Slavs" (Latin: rex Sclavorum). In 631, Samo successfully defended his realm against the Frankish Kingdom in the three-day Battle of Wogastisburg.

The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, established about 631 by King Dagobert I after his troops had been defeated by the forces of the Slavic confederation of Samo at the Battle of Wogastisburg. It was recreated in the Carolingian Empire and its dukes were appointed by the king until it was absorbed by the Saxon dukes in 908. From about 1111/12 the territory was ruled by the Landgraves of Thuringia as Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. When Frederick IV, the last independent ruler of Thuringia died in 1440, the territory passed to his nephew, the Saxon elector Frederick II.