Slavište is attested for the first time in the charter of the Byzantine Emperor Basileios II (reigned 976-1025) for the Archbishishopric of Achrida (Ōhrid) from 1019. It is listed as a part of the Bishopric of Morobisdos (Morozvižd) (Καὶ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον Μοροβίσδου εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν Μορόβισδον καὶ τὸν Κοζιάκον καὶ τὴν Σλαβίστην). A poem in honor of the Byzantine general Michael Dukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes, which is the work of the Byzantine writer Manuel Philes (13th/14th c.), mentions amongst others the Byzantine conquest of Slavište (Εὐτζάπολιν δὲ συλλαβὼν Μοροβίσδου, Σκόπιά τε Σθλάβιτζαν ἐξ εὐανδρίας, Καὶ τὸν Πίαντζον καὶ τὸ περὶ τὸν Στρόμον, Καὶ τὸν περὶ Στρούμμιτζαν ἄφθονον τόπον). Slavište is attested in the charter of the Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin (reigned 1282-1321) for the Monastery of Gračanica from 1315 (or 1321) (I po Vraniju I po Slavištu i po… i po Zletovoi, i po Morozvizdu, i si...makije iže ōt ōblasti grьčьskyje, gospodьstvujei kralь Srьbskihь Zemlь, i po jegově milosti koje podastь ōbladati jepiskupii, ili Prizrenьskoi ili Lipljanьskoi, i po Liplaně i po Moravě). A road to Slavište is mentioned in the founding charter of the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (reigned 1331-1355) for the Bishopric of Zletovo from 1346/47 (i putemь koi grede u Slavišta). Due to the few and ambiguous sources, the question remains open, whether Slavište was both a town and a region in the Middle Ages. The Nahiye Slavişte formed a part of the Sanjak Köstendil in the Ottoman period (16th century).