Ratimir, Duke of Lower Pannonia

{{Short description|Duke of The Slavs in Lower Pannonia}}

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{{Infobox noble|type

| name = Ratimir

| title = Duke of "Lower Pannonia"{{sfn|Luthar|2008|p=104}}

| image = Karte Mährerreich Mojmír I.png

| caption = Map of central Europe (with Pannonisches Kroatien (light blue) at the bottom) during the reign of Ratimir

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| succession =

| reign = {{floruit}} 829–838

| reign-type = Duke

| predecessor = Ljudevit Posavski

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| occupation = Bulgar vassal

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Ratimir ({{langx|la|Ratimarus}}){{cref2|a}} was a duke or prince (knez) of the Slavs in Lower Pannonia{{sfn|Luthar|2008|p=104}} between ca. 829 to 838.{{cite web |url=http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mladjov/files/croatian_rulers.pdf |title=Slavonia - Princes in Slavonia }} It is believed that Ratimir descends from a royal dynasty that provided rulers for Moravia and Croatia.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

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,{{cite book|author=Ernst Dümmler|title=Über die älteste Geschichte der Slaven in Dalmatien: (549-928)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S7AAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA46|year=1856|publisher=Braumüller in Komm.|pages=46–}} which is located in modern-day Croatia. Earlier, Sigismund Calles (1750) called him "Slavic duke of the Drava".{{cite book|author=Sigismund Calles|title=Annales Austriae ab ultima aetatis memoria ad Habsburgicae gentis principes deducti. Pars 1. Res Austriae veteris sub Romanis, Austrasiae, Germaniaeque regibus, ac impp. ac praecipue Babenbergicae stirpis in Austria Marchionibus gestae. Authore P. Sigismundo Calles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtCY89J4xHIC&pg=PA602|year=1750|publisher=typis L. J. Kaliwoda|pages=602–}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.byzsym.org/index.php/bz/article/viewFile/894/790 |title=The Strategos Paul and the Archontes of the Westerners |first=Tibor |last=Živković |page=172 }}

According to the South Slavic Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, rejected by historians, one of Ratimir's descendants was Svatopluk.{{cite book|author=Imre Boba|title=Moravia's History Reconsidered: A Reinterpretation of Medieval Sources|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXwKAQAAIAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|isbn=978-90-247-5041-2}}