# Slavs Raid Through Kosovo (547–548)

URL: https://allhistories.com/kosovo/timeline/547-slavs-raid-through-kosovo
Location: Dardania (Kosovo) and Dyrrachium (Durrës)
Themes: Key Events

Slavic groups, known to Byzantine writers as Sclaveni and Antes, appeared on the lower Danube in the early sixth century. During the middle of Justinian's reign, while his armies were engaged in Italy and against Persia, they began large-scale raids into the Balkan provinces. In 547 and 548, according to Procopius, Slavs crossed the Danube, invaded Illyricum and advanced as far as Dyrrachium (Durrës) on the northern Albanian coast; historians of Kosovo describe these as the first major Slavic raids to reach the territory of modern Kosovo. Other raids followed, reaching Thrace and Greece. The historian Florin Curta argues that only a small number of Slavs actually migrated into the Balkans in the sixth century, and that large-scale settlement came later. The raids marked the beginning of the transformation of the central Balkans. Over the following century Slavic settlement spread across Dardania; the predominance of Slavic place-names in modern Kosovo suggests that the newcomers assimilated or displaced much of the earlier population, although some Latin names such as Lipljan (Lypenion) and Niš survived. The fate of the pre-Slavic population remains debated, notably in connection with theories of Albanian origins.

## Why it matters
The raids opened the Slavic migration that reshaped the population and toponymy of Kosovo.

Ruler at the Time: [Justinian I](https://allhistories.com/kosovo/rulers/justinian-i)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Slavic migrations to the Balkans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_migrations_to_the_Balkans)
- [Wikipedia — History of Kosovo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kosovo)
- [Wikipedia — Dardania And Rome (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dardania_(Roman_province))