Ratimir () was a duke or prince (knez) of the Slavs in Lower Pannonia between ca. 829 to 838. It is believed that Ratimir descends from a royal dynasty that provided rulers for Moravia and Croatia. In 827, the Bulgars under Great Khan Omurtag invaded and conquered Lower Pannonia and parts of Frankish territories to the north. In 829 the Bulgars imposed a local prince, Ratimir, as the new ruler of the territory. His province is believed to have been the territory of the former Roman Pannonia Savia, which is located in modern-day Croatia. Earlier, Sigismund Calles (1750) called him "Slavic duke of the Drava". In 838, nine years later, following the Bulgarian conquest of Macedonia, the Danubian count Radbod, prefect of the East March, deposed Ratimir and restored Frankish rule. Ratimir fled the land, and the Franks instated dukes Pribina and Kocelj to rule Pannonian area in the name of the Franks. Unlike his predecessors, Ratimir experienced a rift in relations with the Christian Byzantine Empire. According to the South Slavic Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, rejected by historians, one of Ratimir's descendants was Svatopluk. Annotations References Sources Annales regni Francorum inde ab a. 741 usque ad a. 829, qui dicuntur Annales Laurissenses maiores et Einhardi. Herausgegeben von Friedrich Kurze. XX und 204 S. 8°. 1895. Printed in 1950. Rudolf Horvat, History of Croatia I. (from ancient times to year 1657), Zagreb, 1924. (hr.) Nada Klaić, History of Croats in Early Middle Ages, Zagreb, 1975. (hr.) External links Annales regni francorum - original text in latin "Duke Ratimir", chapter of "Povijest Hrvatske" by Rudolf Horvat, in Croatian Wikisource Dukes of Croatia 838 deaths 9th century in Croatia History of Slavonia 9th-century Slavs 9th-century Bulgarian people Year of birth unknown 9th-century people from East Francia Slavic warriors