|
14th
Century, Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer, Dr. Erich Petschauer,
1980.
For
quite some time now, the reigning counts of Ortenburg had at their
disposal an administrative center to handle business matters. The
seat of the "court
leet" is not known. It would, however, have made sense to set up branches
in
Spittal an der Drau and in Reifnitz. It would also have been appropriate
and have
made sense organizationally to assign to the "court leet," under
the leadership of
a member of the House of Ortenburg, the task of checking the basic
prerequisites for the colonization. Was the older son of Meinhart
I, Hermann III, the
right
man for the job? According to all indications, yes. Reason: According
to the law,
all documents had to be notarized by several witnesses. Understandably,
the counts
of Ortenburg were desirable as witnesses because of the high regard
they enjoyed
among the nobility of Carinthia and Carniola. As of 1301, however,
the signature of the young Count Hermann disappeared from the documents
(that of his
brother
Meinhart II remained). It is known that Hermann III married young.
His wife
was a Countess Hohenlohe by birth. Certainly it would be conceivable
that he
followed her to another part of the kingdom. But it is just as likely that
his father,
with the consent of the grandfather, commissioned him to prepare the colonization
of the still nameless primeval forest.
The death of the grandfather (1304 in Laibach) did not change the commission
which the author of this book is certain was given. On the other hand,
it had
far-reaching consequences for the property rights of the counts of Ortenburg.
The
sons and inheritors Frederick II, Meinhart I, Otto V, and Albrecht II divided
the
countship among themselves. Meinhart, the exceedingly energetic first-born,
dealt
with his brothers by giving them the fiefs in Carinthia and Styria. He
kept the
fiefs in Lower Carniola for himself. By nature, Meinhart was a warrior.
He had
inherited the tempestuous Görzian temperament from his mother,
a Countess of
Görz, and was particularly fond of being the "sword
of Aquileia." Nevertheless,
one would do him an injustice if one did not include him in the
clan of Ortenburgers which Türk describes as follows on page 13: "Proud
knights, princes of the church,
clever calculators and advisors, to be sure also squanderers at
times, daring fighters,
related and married to the highest nobility, protectors of the
patriarch of Aquileia
and feared condottieres against the Republic of Venice."
With this great Carinthian noble family, we have now already entered the
outskirts of the settlement history of Gottschee. We are intentionally
not yet
referring to a German settlement.
In proceeding, we encounter the first document which indirectly
confirms that the settlement venture had begun. The historiography
of Gottschee
simply
recorded it without placing it into the overall conditions in Carinthia
and Carniola
at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and thus did not allow
it to be heard.
At that time, numerous villages, markers, and cities were being
founded, and consequently,
the population of Lower Carniola shifted extensively. Expressed
in modern terms: the employment scene was tense. The lure of the
cities
with their
cry, "City air liberates!" grew from year to year and
along with it the aversion to
heavy labor, such as clearing the primeval forest. The freeing
of the serfs had
proceeded interminably slowly but a hundred years earlier a lord
could still have
forced his serfs to endure the torture of the clearing of such
a wilderness. Now
no longer!
The document under discussion was the so-called peace accord
of Laibach between the counts of Ortenburg and the lords of Auersperg
in the year
1320.
Duke Henry II of Carinthia of the House of Görz, Tyrol, had
accused the two
warring families of breaking the peace and had them brought before
a noble court
of arbitration. Only points 1, 3, and 4 of the decision as quoted
from Tangl,
Volume 1, page 113, concern us:
1. |
All
fighting is to cease. |
2. |
All
prisoners are finally to be freed. However, whoever promised
a sum of money for his freedom before the peace accord
shall pay it. |
4. |
People,
who moved from the properties of the lords of Auersperg
to the properties of the counts, we (the counts of Ortenburg,
author's notation) shall let
go. |
The careful relevant interpretation of the document of 1320 reveals
a number
of points about the settling of Gottschee, points which have
been ignored until
now but which are nevertheless exceedingly important. Already
the preface makes
very clear who the aggressor was. It begins with the words, "Count
Meinhart of
Ortenburg acknowledges that he, with the assent of his sons Hermann
and Meinhart,
... accepts the decision of the individually listed noble
judges for the termination
of the feud between them and Volker and Herbard of Auersperg." Furthermore,
the name of Count Hermann III of Ortenburg again appears for
the first time
nineteen years after its disappearance from documents. This would
not be possible
if he had not been in Carniola. We see in this a confirmation
of the assumption
that he had been ordered to prepare for the colonization. Point
for point, we can
make the following connections with the document of 1320:
To point 1.: Ortenburg and Auersperg were feuding. The feud was
so intense and extensive that the duke was forced to step in. The
first skirmishes
occurred
in 1316 at the latest. From other sources we know that Count
Henry II of Görz
had come to the aid of the Auerspergers, which allows one to
conclude that the
Ortenburgers had the upper hand.
To point 3.: Ortenburg had not returned the Auerspergian prisoners
of war.
To point 4.: The Ortenburgers had lured people away from the
lands of the
Auerspergers by making promises to them, that is, "enticed them
with advertisements," as one would say today, and settled
them on their own lands. Which
Ortenburgian lands could they be? Hardly the fiefs in Lower Carniola,
which had
been administered by the counts for almost two hundred years.
The peasants on
their lands maintained their numbers from generation to generation
in a very
natural manner. How did this considerable lack of laborers arise
so that Count
Meinhart secured them from his neighbor in his own way, namely
by force? He
must have been under such strong pressure that he took the risk
of an unavoidable
feud. In fact, the wild count from Upper Carinthia did face serious
financial
difficulties. To be sure, he was not a poor man, but everything
that he undertook
cost a lot of money - his expensive lifestyle, his campaigns
with a small private
army to protect the patriarchal state. His office as head of
state in Carniola, an
office he occupied since 1307, likewise demanded a great deal
of money. Above
all, however, the colonization of the primeval forest turned
out to be an extremely
expensive undertaking, one which at first did not yield anything,
but also one
which could not be avoided.
Thus the document of 1320 tells us that Meinhart had to have
already begun
the colonization in Lower Carniola before 1315 and that his son
Hermann III had
carried out the tedious planning and the technical preparations.
It also gives us
indisputable information about the origin of the first settlers.
At the beginning,
they came from the fiefs of the Ortenburgers themselves and,
when their own
reservoir of people was exhausted, they took settlers from their
neighbors. In other
matters, Count Meinhart also did not adhere to the judgment of
1320. On the
Feast of the Epiphany in 1326, a new court of arbitration issued
a judgment similar to the one issued six years earlier.
Finally, a 1320 document of Laibach also answers the question,
often posed
but never satisfactorily answered, about the origin of the Slovenian,
that is,
Slovenian-sounding, names of the villages on the fringes of the
linguistic island.
They stem mainly from the colonists coming from the fiefs of
the Ortenburgers and Auerspergers, above all from the properties
of
the fiefs of Reifnitz,
Ortenegg,
Zobelsberg, and Hohenwarth, which belonged to the Ortenburgers
and the Auerspergian castles of Oberhaus and Unterhaus. The aforementioned
properties - as
stated, possessions of Reifnitz - were closest to the primeval
forest. Because of the
shortage of people that were available to do the extremely difficult
work of forestclearing, the first settlements on the edge of
the forest, namely on the eastern
edge, remained small. Apparently because of their unfavorable
location, they did
not attract additional settlers. The main focus of the colonization
soon shifted to
the northern edge of the primeval forest. What happened here?
To be sure, this question can no longer be answered by drawing
logical conclusions from the 1320 peace accord of Laibach between
the Ortenburgers
and
Auerspergers. Up to now, moreover, historiography did not concern
itself with
the settlement history of Gottschee, but considered it to have
resulted from a feud
arising out of incompatibility. All authors established the year
1339 as the year
in which the settlement of the Ortenburgian primeval forest began.
There were
also no revealing documents available to the "Jahrhundertbuch"
for the years from
1320 to 1339. In order to bridge this "silent period" which
is extremely important
for the origin of the later linguistic island, the author looked
for another plausible
explanation. It was found in the following logical consideration:
Still today, common sense tells us that it was inconceivable
to send people
into the wilderness without any planning and then to expect them
to survive the
enormous physical and psychic strain of clearing the primeval
forest without any
further support. On the contrary, the Ortenburgers made those
preparations that
were logically necessary. Since this was purely an economic undertaking,
they of
course expected an eventual profit. It could only be assured
if one made the
appropriate preparations for these workers. That is, for the
establishment of villages,
both the terrain and the simultaneously existing humus layer
for the planting of
crops and the establishment of meadows had to be compatible.
Furthermore natural springs, which flowed at least most of the
year and which
were not likely
to dry up due to the clearing of large wooded areas, had to exist.
It would be a
mistake to assume that people at that time did not think of these
things.
Thus, one first had to have at least some idea which
location and what
size
of settlements promised to be successful. Of course, we cannot
assume that these
preparations were carried out by surveyors who, with the aid
of maps roamed
through the land accompanied by aides and equipped with compasses
and other
mechanical devices. That did not yet exist. The only means for
orientation were
the eye and common sense.
Before Count Hermann and his helpers could get an overall picture
of the
settlement area, they had, above all, to make it accessible.
Not that they laid out
streets as we know them, but several construction crews cut primitive
paths into
the wilderness in order to prepare the way, literally, for the
soil testers and water
seekers. It is logical to assume that they could make use of
an already existing
mule-track that ran through the main valley. Several authors
mention it. If one
considers the terrain of the Gottscheer highland and its geographical
location
between the middle and northern regions of Carniola - indeed
one also has to
include Carinthia - and the Kulpa valley with the large
settlements of Tschernembl
and Möttling, then there can no longer be any doubt that medieval
traders had
checked out the primeval forest as a traffic route and had made
a north-south shortcut through it. Again, this comment should
not be
taken to mean
that several
interested cities or individual families got together jointly
to lay this mule-track.
Sometime or other, someone began to find a path through the thicket.
Let's conclude this thought: the mule-track, which surely was
also used to
transport
salt can only have led from Reifnitz via the later towns of Gottschee,
Obermösel
Graflinden, and Unterdeutschau. Thus, the direction and course
of what was later
to be the main traffic route of Gottschee was already determined.
The terrain of the settlement region which was to be prepared
demanded still
two other unavoidable steps. The settlement had to concentrate
on the western
region of the later linguistic island because the eastern half
of the primeval forest
was so very inaccessible. Furthermore, it was strategically necessary
to create
settlement centers from which other villages were developed and
radiated. To be
sure, they did not all develop simultaneously but according to
the availability of
colonists and the supply of food, seed-corn, and cattle. One
thing is certain: the
settlers certainly did not receive an overabundance of these
basic provisions.
The settlement centers are still discernible today. They were carefully
chosen
and were true centers of the various sections of the Gottscheer landscape
They
were situated so that they were as accessible as possible. If one were
to give a
landscape planner the assignment of placing them today, he could not
place them
more advantageously than the planners of the counts of Ortenburg. It
will become
evident that these settlement centers later developed into centers of
administration
and commerce and, in the nineteenth century, into the first school sites.
Every
Gottscheer who is to some degree familiar with his former homeland can
now list
them without any difficulty. They are from west to east:
Rieg, the city of Gottschee, Mitterdorf, Altlag, Obermösel,
Nesseltal and
Tschermoschnitz.
Special people were needed for the task of opening up the Ortenburgian
primeval forest. Only young, healthy sons of peasants who were familiar
with
agriculture could do the job. But these were not available in large numbers,
particularly since the cities and markets beckoned. The first
paths that could be
traversed with ox-carts had by necessity to be cut to the settlement
centers.
These steps alone, however, were not enough. The biggest organizational
and
financial problem must have been providing for and housing the
first settlers and
their families until they could support themselves by their own
harvest and could
survive the winter months in their own shelters. It can be assumed
that a settling
family or group could at best count on a sufficient harvest from
the fields and
meadows in the third summer after they were assigned the land.
Already in the
planning stages, the counts, that is, their co-workers, could
readily foresee that
sizeable amounts of food and feed, seed corn, and living space
would be needed.
They could either supply these from their own fiefs in Lower
Carniola, that is,
transport them there with ox-carts, or they could organize the
colonization in
such a way that the undertaking could be as self-supporting as
possible by constantly
controlling the number of settlers who moved there. But how?
Thus, at the beginning of the colonization one had to have a
readily available
supply of agricultural products that could be stored and that
met the needs of the
colonists. Hence, the first undertaking had to be the creation
of appropriate agricultural concerns. In other words, one first
had
to set up supply
villages which
at the same time were already a part of the settlement. The region
later to be
known as "Oberland" was best suited for this. The forest and
the terrain offered
the least resistance here and the Rinse assured man and beast of a year-round
water
supply.
All of this means: the settlement of the Gottscheer region on
a large scale
began on the northern edge of the Ortenburgian primeval forest
fief. At this point,
it also becomes apparent why Count Meinhart recruited workers,
in other words,
settlers, by sordid means. "The properties of the count," mentioned
in the document
of Laibach in 1320, were located in the region later to be known
as "Oberland." The
two documents of 1320 and 1326 thus logically allow us to limit
substantially the time for the initial settlement in the Oberland.
This means that
the clearing,
settling, and farming of the Oberland took place primarily between
1315 and
1325 - give or take a few years. The plans and routes that
were necessary to open
the interior of the primeval forest can be assumed to have been
laid simultaneously.
A word still about the tribal, that is, national, origin of the Ortenburgian
colonists used during this initial phase of the main colonization. The
great majority
came from the established population of Lower Carniola. At the beginning
of the
fourteenth century, this population was still linguistically mixed, but
the Slovenian
element predominated. A "nationalism" in the nineteenth and
twentieth century
sense did not exist. The Slovenes were familiar with the few German expressions
needed in everyday life, and the Germans were similarly familiar with
Slovenian.
Neither group had a written language for its populace.
If we now try to trace those villages founded within the aforementioned
period,
we are aided by the fact that the colonists already at that time often
gave their
settlements names from their homeland, in any case in their native language.
Which villages might they have been? Clearly still recognizable today
are Windischdorf (the explanation of it is given on a later page); the
Slovenian side cites
Mitterdorf (see Simonic, page 8); furthermore, Malgern is most likely
derived
from "Mala Gora" = little hill; Kletsch is without doubt of
Slavic origin; the
village name Seele fairly certainly stems from the Slovenian Sela = village.
The
village name "Gottschee" also belongs to this list.
We still will have to deal with
it in detail.
At this point, it must still be mentioned that the counts of
Ortenburg had
little success with the small settlements on the eastern perimeter
of the primeval
forest. Only Tschermoschnitz developed into a settlement center,
particularly during the later colonization of the interior. Another
advance into the
interior of
the forest occurred in the western region with the settlement
of Göttenitz, originally
probably Gotenica. A separate chapter will at the proper time
deal with the
settlement of the western high valley ridge, the basin of Suchen.
Conclusion from the document of 1320: a preparatory colonizing
phase by
linguistically mixed, predominantly Slovenian, settlers precedes
the actual German
settlement of Gottschee. It suffered from a lack of settlers.
The author of the
"Jahrhundertbuch" realizes that he will not find universal acceptance
by introducing
two different settlement phases into the historiography of the "Ländchen." This
realization, however, could not prevent him from pursuing his
ideas in a logical
manner. Precisely the comparison of the village names showed
that the first
settlement phase did not cease abruptly just because large numbers of
settlers
might have suddenly swarmed to Lower Carniola from Upper Carinthia and
East
Tyrol in order to take possession of the Ortenburgian primeval forest.
Neither
did it cease because 300 Franconian-Thuringian families with the same
goal arrived
after them. After occupying himself intensively for years with the subject
of
Gottschee, the author rather came to the conclusion that there was no
break
between the two phases both in matters of organization and, for the most
part,
also as far as people were concerned. The two phases merged until the
participation
of colonists from Lower Carniola ceased altogether. In addition, the
author believes
that he can support his conclusion about the smooth transition through
a new
interpretation of documents, through reference to events and developments,
as
well as by sketching an image of the times.
The second judgment of 1326 against Meinhart and his sons proves
that Ortenburg had fallen into disfavor with the Carinthian duke.
He could
probably
also not tolerate - no matter how much he might have wanted
to - that
the
governor in Carniola himself repeatedly broke the peace. The directly
affected
Auerspergers, who were ministers at the ducal court in St. Veit, probably
had a
hand in it, too. Therefore, Meinhart had to cease his feuding if he did
not want
to lose favor with the duke completely. On the other hand, the settlement
of the
primeval forest which had begun had to be continued if the investments
that had
already been made were not to be in vain. Thus, Meinhart had to find
colonists
by peaceful means. His first thought was to ask his younger brother Otto
for
voluntary settlers. It was Otto who had received the original Ortenburgian
countship
in Upper Carniola when the properties were divided upon the death of
the father.
The division treaty, whose exact date is not known, was, to be sure,
not the cause
of severe familial strife, but nevertheless Otto was probably not enthusiastic
about
Meinhart's proposal. Yet he nevertheless agreed as future developments
showed.
The Ortenburgian recruiters found people who were significantly
more eager
to begin anew in another region of the Carinthian duchy in the
Upper Carinthian
region, particularly in the Möll and Lesach valleys, but also
in the Puster valley
and in the East Tyrolean tributary valleys north of the Drau.
This was so particularly
since the settlement conditions that were presented seemed exceptionally
favorable.
The last migrations to settle still unknown territories had already
taken place
quite some time ago. Thus, above all, people from the far reaches
of the Freisingian
Monastery of Innichen participated in the founding of the linguistic
island of
Deutsch-Ruth and the founding of Zarz in Upper Carniola, among
others. Zarz
had its ultimate expansion, however, only by additional immigration
in the second
half of the thirteenth century. The ethnic island, smaller in
number than Gottschee,
was destroyed by a deliberate Slovenian ethnic policy in the course of
the nineteenth
century and in the first decades of the twentieth century. The dialect,
not accidentally
closely related to the Gottscheer dialect, maintained itself as the language
spoken
at home into the twentieth century but is now extinct. Its vocabulary
and its
grammar could fortunately still be preserved for research.
Around 1280 the names of two other linguistic islands settled
from the Puster
valley made their appearance: Zahre and Pladen. They are located
in the region
of Carnica, today part of Italy, and like Tischlwang under the
Plöckenpass are
only remnants of their former expanses. The cited statistics
were taken from the
book, "Historische Lautgeographie des gesamtbairischen Dialektraumes"
by Professor Dr.
Eberhard Kranzmayer, Vienna, 1956. In the same work (Introduction,
13 to 15,
page 5) he states:
"
Around 1325 the large farming region of Gottschee
with its capital by the
same name was finally colonized from the border regions of Tyrol
and Carinthia.
The people of Gottschee were re-settled one-and-a-half decades
ago." This
is the
shortest formulation for the beginning and end of the fate of
the Gottscheers and
their homeland. It is the task of the "Jahrhundertbuch" to depict
the 600 years that
lie between.
Here we are at the beginning of the settlement of Gottschee.
Professor Kranzmayer's date of "around 1325" finds
concurrence with Hugo
Grothe, who without the aid of the documents of Laibach of 1320
and 1326 respectively, arrived at the same conclusion as the
"Jahrhundertbuch" by
plausible
estimation. However, we would fundamentally misjudge the actual
events surrounding the recruitment of settlers for Gottschee
if we assumed that "around
1325" there was a great exodus of voluntary settlers from
the "Tyrolean-Carinthian
border regions." Because it is purely speculative, it would
also be a mistake to
make the assumption, projected back into the fourteenth century,
that whole
villages responded to the call of their lord, the count of Ortenburg.
We also have to rid ourselves of the assumption that the recruited
settlers made the preparations for the long journey southward
within a very short
time.
They also cannot be compared in their intellectual receptivity
with farmers of the
nineteenth and twentieth century. They were poor; the emigration
offer was
unexpected. The trip to Lower Carniola was extremely difficult
given the poor
roads of the Middle Ages and could only be undertaken in groups
and only during
the summer months. Not every future colonist had a covered wagon.
Several joined together to transport the meager household belongings
in a communal
vehicle.
It would not be difficult to describe more fully the week-long
journey across passes
and rivers in order to reflect on which route alone could have
been passable. But
let the statement suffice that the new colonists were dispersed
across the vast
regions of the Oberland. Possibly these first groups of Upper
Carinthian settlers
had, with the permission of the settlement staff, already stopped
outside of the
later "homeland" and had founded the villages of Treffen
and Deutschdorf, among
others. The village name of Treffen can very likely be traced
back to the fort and
village of Treffen by Villach. This site was well known to the
Ortenburgers as
the private property of the reigning patriarch. Ulrich I (1086-1121)
had already
given "Treffen" to the seat of Aquileia. The name "Deutschdorf"
could have been
coined by the Slovenian inhabitants of the area because it is
a translation of the
Slovenian "Nemska vas." The village designation of
Windischdorf seems to have
originated in precisely the opposite manner: Carinthian settlers
had probably been
settled there to expand an already existing hamlet which, due
to a lack of immigration,
was not able to maintain itself. Its inhabitants were "Wendian" ("Windisch")
because the Carinthians were already accustomed then, and still
are so today, to
call the inhabitants of South Carinthia who spoke an old Slovenian
dialect "Windische." Whereas "Deutschdorf," as
well as "Treffen," developed
into a Slovenian
community, "Windisch" -Dorf became a purely Gottscheer
settlement. Without
a doubt, other villages occupied by Carinthian colonists arose
during this transition
period between the two settlement phases. Above all, Schalkendorf
and Koflern
appear to have been such settlements. To be sure, we do not have
any documents
about the founding of these villages. Years were to pass before
the first documented
German settlement appeared: Mooswald, which is mentioned in a
letter, dared
September 1, 1339, by the Patriarch Bertrand. In this document,
the patriarch
gives the count permission to appoint a chaplain to the newly
built chapel of St.
Bartholomew near Mooswald.
By mentioning this letter of September 1, 1339, we have
jumped quite far
ahead in the general political development in Carinthia and Carniola.
The name
Mooswald will only appear again after we have dealt with the catastrophe
that
befell the House of Ortenburg.
Death reaped a rich harvest in the House of Ortenburg. Five counts
died within one decade. Meinhart was the first to die in 1332 - not
in battle but in
the family fortress of his ancestors in Upper Carinthia. His
death obviously had
a paralyzing influence on the colonization in Lower Carniola.
One cannot exclude
the fact that there probably were serious differences of opinion
between Meinhart's
brothers, Otto and Albrecht, and the sons of the deceased count,
Hermann and
Meinhart II, about the continuation of the colonization of the
primeval forest,
namely about the financing of the undertaking. It also cannot
be dismissed that
Count Otto V, who had surely supplied several hundred settlers
by 1332, demanded
from his nephews the right also to make decisions in the settlement
venture. Otto
V had already made personal and financial investments and could
be expected to
contribute in the future. Hermann II and Meinhart II were the
legal heirs of
Meinhart I upon the death of their father. It was particularly
Hermann, also
bellicose, who objected to the demands of the childless Otto.
Only if we presume
this development within the Ortenburg family does the content
of two other
documents dated June 24, 1336 make sense. In these documents,
Count Otto received castles and their properties in Lower Carniola
as fiefs from
the patriarch
of Aquileia. They represent a decision, or better still a declaration
of power, by
the church prince as feudal lord of the Ortenburgers.
Historical accuracy, which is the responsibility of the Jahrhundertbuch,
calls
for the closer examination of the circumstances which forced
the patriarch to make
the decision of Villach. As we know, the pope had appointed the
patriarchs of
Aquileia without the agreement of the emperor since 1251. Already
since 1208,
they had not resided in Aquileia but in Udine.
The scar of the patriarchal state set with the decline of imperial
power in
Italy. Corruption in the administration and the constant uprisings
of the cities
and of the nobility destroyed the internal order and the economy.
The state no
longer could meet its financial obligations towards the papacy.
When the death
of the patriarch in 1332 necessitated the appointment of a successor,
Pope John
XXII took his time about making the appointment. The Pope wanted
thereby to
force the administration in Udine to pay its debts. The seat
was vacant until the
summer of 1334. Probably the most unusual incident in the history
of the patriarchal
state occurred in Udine during this interval. A woman named Beatrice
was the
political and military head in the constitutional capacity as
protector and captain-general. She was not yet twenty-three years
old but had everyone's respect. The
people called her "fanciulla belissima" - approximately
translated it means "beautiful
girl." The parliament of Friaul lay at her feet and unanimously
elected her to
these two high offices. The monthly salary: 160 marks in silver.
Beatrice would
not have been mentioned in this book if she had not been a Bavarian
princess, of
the House of Wittelsbach of the secondary branch of Lower Bavaria.
She herself
was not wealthy - her brothers had even taken up a collection
for her dowry among
the populace of Lower Bavaria - but nevertheless Count
Henry II of Görz, born
in 1263, could afford to marry her because of her beauty.
Henry of Görz died in 1323 and left behind a newly born son.
As decreed by law, the hereditary offices of protector and captain-general
of
the House of
Görz were passed on to him. Together with the duke of Carinthia,
Beatrice was
made guardian of the child and thus was, for the time being,
head of the patriarchal
state. Beatrice did not remarry and had to endure her three power
hungry brothers-in-law. She lived - totally given to superstitions - for
some time in Cividale and
then returned to Landshut where she died at the age of sixty.
In order to be able to put the origin and the content of the
documents of
Villach and the time of their appearance into the correct sequence
and to be able
to derive some conclusions from them, it is advisable also to
sketch a portrait of
the general political condition in Carinthia/Carniola in the
mid-thirties of the
fourteenth century. It reached a critical point with the death
of the Carinthian
Duke Henry II of the House of Görz, Tyrol on April 4, 1335:
Henry did not
have a male heir. His daughter Margarethe, called "die Maultasch" (slap
in the
face), could not inherit. But the Hapsburgs had made preparations.
Already in
1330, at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg, they had convinced Emperor
Ludwig the Bavarian to give them the duchy of Carinthia in fief
in case Henry
died without
a male heir. In the astonishingly short period of four weeks
they had the fief in
hand. Ludwig the Bavarian even bestowed a double fief - surely
upon the suggestion
of the Hapsburgs - by naming the brothers Otto and Albrecht
of Hapsburg Dukes
of Carinthia. Otto was proclaimed Duke in the customary ceremony
on the Zollfeld
and Albrecht received the oath of allegiance from the Carniolian
estates and the
nobles. Otto, too, pledged him allegiance. But his oath of allegiance
surely was
to veil the intention of the Hapsburgs to secede Carniola from
Carinthia, which
then occurred without causing any sensation in the course of the next
fifteen to
twenty years. A new duchy was born.
This assumption of power by the Hapsburgs in Carinthia/Carniola
was extremely dangerous for the patriarch of Aquileia and thus
also for
the colonization
of the
Ortenburgers. The pope, who had been abducted to Avignon in southern
France
in 1309 by the French royal House of Anjou, like his predecessors
harbored a
certain degree of mistrust of the Hapsburgs. Patriarch Bertrand,
an unusually gifted politician and diplomat, born in southern
France, most likely
had been
given the directive by the pope to counter the Hapsburgs with
the appropriate
means wherever the interests of the church seemed to be infringed
upon. Since
the relationship between the Hapsburgs and Emperor Ludwig the
Bavarian was
so good, it could be assumed that the fief scene in Carniola
changed suddenly. A
cause could easily be found. If, however, the patriarch of Aquileia
lost his fiefs
in Carniola, fiefs that he had held since 1077, then they were
also lost to the
counts of Ortenburg. Thus, the primeval forest fief also fell
into other hands.
With the loss of the Carniolian fiefs, the House of Ortenburg
would have been
relegated to its original countship in Upper Carinthia and would
have been considerably weakened both economically and militarily.
That is
to say, the "Sword
of Aquileia," whose strike force had already been weakened
by the death of Count
Meinhart I, would have lost its power against the Venetian Republic
and the
destructive forces within the patriarchal state. In addition,
a serious quarrel about
the Castle Laas with its properties in western Carniola had already
broken out
between the counts of Ortenburg and the patriarch under the Patriarch
Pagano
II. It threatened to destroy the feudal relationship. And now
on top of it the
familial dispute in the House of Ortenburg!
Given these circumstances, Patriarch Bertrand had no other choice
than to
resort to the law of bargaining. His first step: He gave, that
is, he presented,
Castle Laas in Central Carniola in fief to the House of Hapsburg.
Count Hermann
III of Ortenburg had again rashly taken possession of it with
a surprise attack just
shortly prior to this. Hereby the patriarch proved the following:
1. He demonstrated to Hapsburg, perhaps also to Auersperg, that he felt
himself still to be quite in possession of the old fiefs of Aquileia
and hence would
dispose of them as he saw fit, even though they thereby became fief-takers
of the
patriarch.
2. By giving the fief to the Hapsburgs, the object of the quarrel had
been
removed because the Ortenburgers could now no longer make any claims.
3. The counts also had to accept the fact that the patriarch did not
necessarily
take them into consideration.
Of the subsequent political measures that Bertrand undertook,
his announced meeting in Villach with Count Otto V and his nephews
on June 24, 1336
is most
important. There are considerable doubts if it did not take place
at Fort Treffen
by Villach, the private estate of the ruling patriarch. Count
Albrecht II, the
youngest of the three Ortenburg brothers, had died in the spring.
His death made
the restructuring of the leadership of the Carinthian countship
easier for the
partriarch. He also proceeded vigorously in this.
As was already stated, two almost identical documents exist about
the meeting
at Villach. The historiography of Gottschee has also only noted
these two documents
but not examined them more closely, that is, connected them to
the settlement venture of the Ortenburgers. Admittedly, the visible
content seems to
be unimportant
because it simply confirms an administrative decision that could
just as well have
been proclaimed with the signature of the Patriarch of Udine.
It is about the reinvestiture of a vassal, something which was
always undertaken
whenever the
vassal himself or the feudal lord died. In this case, however,
much more was at
stake for the historiography of Gottschee: Bertrand once more
established the
personal unity of the leadership of the House of Ortenburg by
giving the most
important Ortenburgian fiefs in Carniola to Otto. He thus disregarded
the division
agreement among Meinhart, Otto, and Albrecht that had existed
for at least
twenty-five years, as well as the succession upon the death of
Meinhart I. Meinhart's
sons Hermann and Meinhart II should have received the fiefs in
Lower Carniola
according to the hereditary law. Furthermore, they had already
assumed the
inheritance.
Now to the matter of the two documents: Even Tangl, the Carinthian
Ortenburg-author, is not concerned with their historic significance
and interpretation.
He
also foregoes giving a complete German version of the documents
written in Latin
and writes about the Carinthian Ortenburgers on page 161 of the
second volume
of the documentation:
"1336 June Villach. Bertrand, Patriarch
of Aquileia bestows the Castles Ortenegg,
Zobelsberg and Grafenwarth with all their possessions, jurisdictions,
rights and
revenues of the same as the counts of Ortenburg of old have held
them in fief
from the Church of Aquileia, in fief on Count Otto of Ortenburg,
his vassal, and
his nephews, the sons of the Counts Meinhart and Albrecht deceased
(meaning Albrecht II, notation of the author). Otto's brothers."
On
page 212, Professor Grothe quotes the original Latin text of
the second document as follows: "No. 2 Document of the Patriarch
Ludwig of Aquileia of
May 1, 1336.
Nos
Ludoicus dei gratia sanctae sedis Aquilegensis patriarcha ad
memoriam aeternam esse uolumus quod ad nostram deducta notitiam,
quod in quibisdam nemoribus seu siluis infra confines curatae
ecciesiae sancti Stephan! in Relffniz nostrae aquilegiensis dioecesis,
et in eius cora seu parochia, quae inhabitabiles erant et incultae,
multae hominum habitationes factae sint et nemora huiusmodi ac
siluae ad agriculturum reducta et non modici populi congregatio
ad habkandum conuenit in quibus quidem locis per habitantes ibidem,
ad honorem dei, et gloriosae virginis matris et ad consolationem
dicti populi et subsequentium atque deuotionis augmentum, de
nouo quaedam ecciesiae construtae sunt videlicet, in Gotsche,
Pölan, Costel, Ossiwniz et Goteniz et una infra confines
curatae ecciesiae sancti Petri in Taimansdorff, videlicet, in
Chrainau etiam dictae nostrae dioecesis de nouo facta, consentiente,
et concedente filio nostro in Christo carissimo spectabili comite
domino Ottone de Ortenburg, in cuius dominio et jurisdictione
territoria esse et consistrere huiusmodi dinoscontur. Nos deuotionem
dicti populi ibidem congregati ut suarum manuum labores manducent
paternis affectibus aduertentes et cupientes animarum ipsorum
proudidere saluti, ut per huiusmodi prouisionem ad deuotionis
et charitatis opera feruertius animentur, supradictio comiti
eiusque haeredibus concedimus nostro et successorum patriarcharum nomine
instituendi et ordinandi in dictis ecciesis sacerdotes ydoneos,
per quos celebrentur diuina, cura animarum exerceatur salubriter,
sacramenta administrentur ecclesiastica et seruiatur laudabiliter
in diuinis. Quorum sacerdotum praesentationen ad dictos comitem
sousque haeredes pro eo, quod in ipsius domino et jurisdictione
praedicia consistunt, spectare decreuimus et uolumus et opsorum
confirmationem in ecciesiis praedictis videlicet Gotsche, Pölan,
Costel, Ossiwniz et Goteniz ad plebanum seu rectorem in Reiffniz
et ecciesiae in Chrainau, ad plebanum seu rectorem in Rattmanstorff,
sub quorum curis et parochiis esse noscuntur, qui quidem sacerdotes,
plebanis praedictis et ipsorum plebibus in omnibus subsint, obediant
et Intendant, ac ipsis reuerentiam debitam exhibeant et honorem
quodque contradictores et rebelles auctoritate nostra ecciesiastica
censura compellant. In quorum omnium testimomum praesentes fieri
jussimus nostri sigilli appensione muniri. Datae in Castro nostro
Vtim prima die mensis Maij sub anno dominicae natiuitatis millesimo
trecentesimo, sexage-simo tertio, indictione prima."
It is noteworthy
that Reifnitz is not mentioned in either document even though the primeval
forest belonged to its region. Up to now no explanation
for
this has been found in the literature. It is possible that, in the
meantime, the fief
of Reifnitz had been given to Ortenegg. The Ortenburgian castle administration
was located there at the time Otto was invested.
Is it not peculiar, however, that the patriarch went to Villach,
that is to
Treffen by Villach, instead of summoning his vassal Otto
and the latter's nephew
to Udine? Did not the highest prince of the church after the
pope lower himself
somewhat by undertaking this trip? Hardly! On the contrary, it
seems that he
also wanted to underscore its significance to the Ortenburgers
by appearing personally.
Not least of all, financial considerations made the settlement
of the primeval forest
an important issue for Lord Bertrand, who was deeply in debt.
The patriarchal state owed large sums not only to the papacy
but also to the bankers
in Padua.
Only if the primeval forest was settled did it yield money for
the church and did
it increase the economic power - the number of people subject
to the Ortenburgers - as well as their political prestige. These
one-time possibilities remained unused
it the colonization was not continued and completed.
Given these circumstances, we can easily imagine that Patriarch
Bertrand emphatically directed his vassal to resume the colonization
of the
primeval forest
without delay.
It was now much easier for Count Otto to deal with his nephew.
We do not know in detail how the relationship to Hermann III
and Meinhart
II had
developed
and would have continued. In any case, it was a severe blow to
the House of
Ortenburg that both died childless in the years 1337 (Hermann
III) and 1338
(Meinhart II). Of Otto's nephews, who were alluded to in the
documents of Villach
only the sons of Albrecht II, Otto VI, and Rudolf remained. It
cannot be documented
it they were ready and willing to assist their uncle in the colonization
effort It
may however, be assumed that, as his decreed heirs, they did
participate. Above
all, Otto VI must have sided with his uncle since, as his cousins
met early deaths
face had selected him to be the progenitor of the House of Ortenburg.
Patriarch Bertrand´s urging had, however, succeeded in getting
the colonization of the primeval forest between Reifnitz and
Kulpa started
with renewed
vigor. This is evident from a letter of the patriarch
dated September 1, 1339 to Count
Otto V. As far as the historiography about Gottschee is concerned,
the settlement
venture of the counts of Ortenburg began on this September 1,
1339. The patriarchs
of Aquileia receded into the background. One proceeded without
making any
presuppositions and thus it was unavoidable that absurdities
and pronounced
mistakes, as well as false conclusions, occurred. We now want to attempt
to clarify
these as far as is possible.
In the document of September 1, 1339, which was written in Latin,
Patriarch Bertrand gives Count Otto permission to appoint a chaplain
to the newly
built
chapel near the "villa Mooswald," a chapel dedicated
to Saint Bartholomew. The
reason for the sanctioning of this extension of the Reifnitz
parish is given. One
wanted to spare the many faithful who had assembled here the
long trip to the
parish church in Reifnitz. They were also to receive the sacraments
there and bury
their dead in their own cemetery. On page 211 of Grothe, one
can read the
German translation of the patriarch's letter.
As the briefly stated content shows, this was not a document
dealing with
the settlement history but a church decree, wherein understandably
church matters
predominate. Therefore, one cannot take it to be a tangible and
accurate proof of
the state of the settlement, of the origin and the number of
colonists, nor of their
dispersion across the stretches of the settlement region. All
of this was only of
secondary concern to the secretaries of the patriarch. We particularly
would have
liked to have found out more about the size, year of founding,
and the number
of personnel of the "villa Mooswald." Even a reference
to the chapel's capacity
would have given us a reference point for estimations.
With all due respect for the venerableness of the above document,
we cannot
refrain from interpreting and evaluating it anew on the basis
of our research results.
We also want to attempt to bring it into harmony with the brutal
reality of the
fourteenth century.
Where did the village name Mooswald originate?
Even though the letter of September 1, 1339 also states nothing
about this,
we are on solid ground with our answer. It originated without
a doubt in Carinthia,
where there are two "Mooswalds," only one of which,
however, can be considered
to be the name sponsor for the Mooswald in Gottschee. They
are located in the
vicinity of Paternion and Spittal an der Drau. The connection
to the colonization
in Lower Carniola is quickly established: In the fourteenth century
Paternion and
Spittal an der Drau were still so-called market protectorates
of the counts of
Ortenburg. The direct name transferrers were with certainty
the colonists from
the Mooswald near Paternion. Reason: Within view of this village
one finds the
designation "Nock" for a hill, a designation which
is otherwise rare in the German-speaking Alpine region but which -
and not coincidentally - also
appears within
view of the Gottscheer Mooswald.
The moment, however, at which we ask when this Mooswald in the
Gottscheer Oberland was settled, we enter historical twilight.
What is meant by "villa" in
this case? Did Mooswald fulfill a special function because it
is the only village
name that appears? Only one thing is certain: It cannot first
have been founded
in 1339. This can be concluded from the comment in the document
that one no
longer wanted to expect the numerous faithful to travel the long
distance to
Reifnitz for mass and for the sacraments. Hence, so many people
had assembled here that they actually filled a newly built chapel.
But
also not more
than that,
because the pious Otto of Ortenburg would not have shunned the
sacrifice of
building a new church. The construction of the chapel of St.
Bartholomew near
Mooswald also indicated that the "villa" would be important
in his plans for some
time to come. In no way, however, would the colonists from Carinthia
have been
able to complete first the resettling from the old homeland to
the new one, then
clear the forest, plant the seeds, build winter-hardy shelters,
and in addition,
erect a church within a few summer months. All of this must have
been accomplished
when the patriarch's approval for the appointment of a chaplain
arrived. This is
inconceivable; the "villa" thus must have been established
for some time prior to
September 1339. In order to be able to be named in the patriarch's
letter, Mooswald
could not have been established later than 1337. In view of this,
it is doubtful
if it would have been possible to accomplish the essential preparations
in two
summers and become self-supporting around 1339. If not, when
would Mooswald, that is, the "villa" - this word
had the approximate meaning of "estate" or "village" in
medieval Latin - have to have been established so that
it was already able to
carry out an apparently important function in the summer of 1339?
We are getting closer to the time of the founding of Mooswald
if we connect
it with the year in which Count Meinhart I died, namely 1332.
As we know, Otto's older brother died at the family fortress
of their ancestors,
where Otto
lived. What was Meinhart doing at the Ortenburg? Did he discuss
the progress
of the primeval forest colonization with his brother? We can
only surmise what
they perhaps agreed upon. If we, however, assume that they agreed
to establish
the transit and supply camp which was essential for the continued
advance into
the primeval forest, we certainly would not be engaging in idle
speculation. The
time from 1333 to 1339 would have made the completion of the
strategic base
camp of Mooswald possible. If one sets the time of its founding
at this early date,
it was, upon expanding its capacity; also able to hold the growing
influx after the
conference of Villach and also to assign the colonists to their
settlements.
Aren't the terms such as assembly camp, transit camp, supply
depot, or even
strategic base camp contrary to the document of 1339, that is,
to the designation"
villa"?
Certainly the question is justified. On the other hand, this
word has been
translated in various ways. Besides "estate," one finds
village, township, larger
farmstead. The translation of "villa" is for us, however,
not the decisive issue.
Rather we are searching for the place or, better still, the rank
which the "villa
Mooswald" assumed within the framework of the German settlement
of Gottschee.
The terms that were used above were selected quite carefully
because the administrative
staff must have been located in Mooswald. The transit camp, which
sheltered the
arriving colonists until they were assigned to settlements, was
connected to it.
Primitive shelters were needed for this process. Storage rooms
for seed corn and
tools were part of the "estate." Furthermore, at least
minimal provisions had to
be made for the arriving cattle. Finally, not only perhaps but
with certainty, a
farm, which was worked by a number of farmers - like the
pioneers in the later
village of Mooswald - was part of the "estate." Most
likely, its meager surplus
was barely sufficient to feed not only the permanent personnel of the
transit camp
(the officials who distributed the land, scribes, attending and supervisory
personnel)
but also the colonists who were passing through Mooswald itself and those
who
still were to have their first harvest in their own colony. Supervision
was probably
necessary to prevent unauthorized searching for and settling of land
by possibly
dissatisfied colonists. According to the stages which we already attempted
to trace
in the depiction of the first settlement phase, the villages in the Oberland
that
had already existed for a longer time had to deliver part of their harvests
to the
base camp in Mooswald. However, it could also have been quite possible
that the
Ortenburgers in addition relied upon the properties of the old fiefs
of Reifnitz
and Ortenegg for this purpose after 1336.
The author of the "Jahrhundertbuch" is quite open to the objection that
he may
have contrived the schedule and the stages for the settlement of Gottschee.
It,
however, only seems like that. He again appeals to common sense and refers
to
very definite principles of organization without whose application the
growth of
a human community is not possible. What is meant herewith is made clear
with
the following question: What would have happened if the counts of Ortenburg
had been allowed to open their primeval forest fiefs for unregulated
and unorganized
settlement? Nothing. Peasants would not have streamed there from everywhere
to clear the land, there would not have been any fighting for the best
soil and
fields, for the springs that yielded the most. On the contrary, aside
from the fact
that money and more money was needed also in the fourteenth century for
colonization,
money that the sons of those farmers who were willing to resettle did
not have,
the peasants of the fourteenth century were still too incapable of undertaking
such
a difficult task without leadership and direction. An individual, however,
had
absolutely no chance of enduring life in the wilderness. He and his family
could
not have survived without the community, even if he had gotten up the
courage
to face the evil spirits by himself. Superstition still had an inconceivable
influence
on the minds of that time.
Even if the counts of Ortenburg had proceeded on a middling course and
planted those who were willing to resettle without many constraints in
the primeval
forest, the Gottschee as we know it today would never have come to be.
Certainly
the people of the Middle Ages were no less egotistical than we. The least
scrupulous
and the strongest would have secured the best spots for themselves and
whoever
came later would have had to take what was left. But who would have gone
gladly
and voluntarily to the higher plateaus with their unfavorable soil and
water conditions?
A glance at the map gives us the best proof that the counts of Ortenburg
had
carefully planned and executed the settlement in the chalky highland
of Upper
Carniola. The towns and hamlets are distributed across the "Ländchen," the
smaller
villages clustering around the settlement centers with astonishing adaptation
to
the terrain of the region and to the water sources. If nowhere else,
the plan is
evident here.
The counts of Ortenburg employed neither one nor the other method. Instead,
they demanded - and received - an orderly, sensible compliance
from those who
were willing to settle there in return for the extremely favorable offer.
The peasants
who cleared the land did not always have an easy job. The names of three
towns
clearly express this: Verdreng [verdrängen = to expel, suppress (translator's
notation)]
and Verderb [verderben = to spoil, ruin (translator's notation)] in the
township
of Obermösel and Kummerdorf [village of sorrow, grief, worry (translator's
notation)]
in the township of Nesseltal. A clarification is unnecessary. But the
peasants who
were assigned to these settlements stayed! Their villages are among the
most wellknown in the linguistic island. Pilgrimage churches were located
on the hills of
Verdreng and of Kummerdorf.
The "villa Mooswald" was the most southerly located settlement
of Carinthian
and East Tyrolean colonists in 1339. Whether a large part of the settlers
were
already then of East Tyrolean origin will need to be examined. Mooswald's
importance
diminished as every new village became self-sustaining, that is, as the
settlement
centers continued to grow and function on their own. It can still be
approximately
determined when "villa Mooswald" ceased to be the base camp,
but it is impossible
even to approximate, much less to calculate, the number of colonists
who were
processed in the camp or the size of the administrative and maintenance
staff of
the "villa." The document of September 1, 1339 only states
that a chapel had to
be built and that a cemetery was planned. Thus, the "villa Mooswald" already
had so many people that a clergyman was nearly fully occupied with their
spiritual
care. Deaths occurred, above all probably due to accidents in the clearing
work
and to a high rate of infant mortality, but a number does not crystallize.
The fact
that Count Otto built a chapel and not a church actually speaks against
the fact
that this number could have been "large." A Slovenian source
surmises the opposite.
Thus, Simonic states on page 8, among other things: "... because
Gottschee
was settled by Slovenian peasants only on the fringes, the Ortenburgers
began to
bring settlers here from their domains in Carinthia in the fourteenth
century.
Count Otto of Ortenburg, the colonizer of Gottschee, already settled
so many
colonists here in the 1330's, that in Mooswald he ... " There
follows a reference
to the chapel of Saint Bartholomew. On page 9 Simonic continues:
"The Ortenburgers began to colonize Gottschee for economic reasons with
a
larger number of peasants in order to increase their income with more
densely
populated and cultivated land. They also brought German officials and
craftsmen
to the estate. The number of German peasants that Count Otto had brought
to
Gottschee from his domains in Upper Carinthia in the 1330's was very
large."
It would be a numbers' game if one were to counter
these widely diverging suppositions with a concrete estimate. The uncertainty,
however, transforms
itself
into the probability of a definite number if one introduces the following
consideration
into the surmised happenings during the colonization. Above all, a personal
economic argument has to be considered. Türk writes in his brief characterization
of the counts of Ortenburg that they were also "cool calculators." Meinhart
I was
without a doubt not one of these, but the more frugal Otto had surely
instructed
the officials of the "court leet" to see to it that the necessary
financial outlay would
yield increasing returns as soon as possible. Moreover, he might have
seen to it
that there was not too great a timespan between the supportive maintenance
and
the self-maintenance of the "Holden" (favorites). This means
that the influx of
settlers was controlled and it was not possible that any number of interested
parties
came uncalled. This measure was also one reason why stragglers still
arrived in
Gottschee until the end of the fourteenth century. Moreover, one must
consider
that there were not unlimited numbers of voluntary settlers available
in Carinthia
and East Tyrol, settlers who could meet the challenge of clearing the
primeval
forest. It is also totally inconceivable that all the regions of the
highland or even
only one section, the Hinterland or the Unterland, were settled simultaneously,
since this was strategically impossible due to the lack of roadways and
the climate.
Logic dictates that we assume individual groups were formed who then
set up a
village, their village, on a previously selected and defined terrain.
The first villages
of the fourteenth century were deliberately kept small and probably did
not have
more than ten to twelve hearths, excepting the settlement centers. This
size would
indicate about forty, at the most fifty, inhabitants. The physical hardships
must
have been enormous. It was at this time that the neighborliness was born
of which
the Gottscheers still speak and write today. All of the work that was
inescapably
imposed on the colonist - the building of the log cabin, the
clearing and the
removal of the stones from the fields, and the setting-up of grazing
grounds - all
was undertaken jointly.
These financial, economic, organizational, and geological obstacles to
a mass
settlement can hardly support Simonic's thesis that the number of settlers
in the
thirties of the fourteenth century was "very large," even
if one takes into account
that it increased considerably after the conference at Villach. How did
the Slovenian
festival brochure published by Simonic to commemorate the incorporation
of
Gottschee 500 years ago arrive at this generous figure?
It can only be explained if one already applied the expression "multae
hominum" from the next important document of the year 1363
to that of 1339. Moreover, one must consider that one calculated with
essentially different measures
in the
Middle Ages. To us, eighty or one hundred people are a handful; in a
region in
which there were zero people until the settlement began this was "a
lot." Several
hundred people then had to seem like a large number.
The question of numbers aside, what was the offer like that the Ortenburgers
made the voluntary settlers? It is still interesting today. They received
an entire "hide," Bavarian measure, that was approximately twenty hectares,
based on the
following law: land and soil were given to the peasant who cleared the
land as a
permanent fee-farm. Herewith they were "owners," a word that
will appear often
yet. Two other factors made it quite attractive. The peasants could bequeath,
parcel, exchange, and sell their property. The rent payment obligation
also applied
to parts of the original property. Perhaps the greatest incentive for
accepting this
offer was the granting of total personal freedom of mobility. But we
do not know,
however, if the voluntary settlers were told at the outset about the
unfavorable
soil conditions.
We do not know how the colonists were assigned their parcels. It would
also
serve no purpose to ask if, at the beginning, the fields of the village
were worked
jointly. We cannot answer this question.
It is to be assumed that the settlers did not receive any written agreement,
letters of investiture, deeds, or the like. They could not have read
them. We
surely are not wrong in assuming that they were assigned their property
with a
handshake in front of witnesses. It is doubtful that the property was
made up of
a single tract. One surely saw to it that the cultivated land, the meadows,
fields,
and the forest areas, were more or less fairly distributed. This necessarily
means
that an authorized official of the feudal lord was present during the
parceling of
the village terrain. How could he have maintained a survey otherwise?
Moreover,
it surely did not take long until every owner could attest to which piece
of property
belonged to whom in his village. The placing of the border stones must
have been
one of the most unpleasant tasks.
We now leave the historical realm of the patriarchal letter of 1339.
Twenty-four years pass before another document issued by the patriarch
appears. In the
meantime, since much must have happened in the settlement history, there
is no
news about the continued growth of the "Ländchen." We
only hear that Count
Otto V died in the year 1342. It is not known which one of his nephews
- it could only have been Otto VI or Rudolf or both - continued
the settlement in
Lower Carniola. They must have gotten into financial difficulties because
Professor
Saria writes that between 1351 and 1364 "the Ortenburgers" borrowed
money
from the Jews in Laibach a total of four times ("Die mittelalterliche
deutsche
Besiedlung von Krain"). What had happened?
1348 was a year of the plague and earthquakes. Much of Laibach was destroyed.
It is said that a huge cliff side plunged from the Dobratsch near Villach
into the
Gail valley and buried seven villages. The plague, however, felled -
it is said - about half of the population of Carinthia.
From this we can conclude that the
number of voluntary settlers had declined so drastically that the counts
were forced
to make the emigration more appealing by making another concession, namely
by offering a money premium, or stated differently, pocket money. The
plague
also had another consequence. Because of the human loss, the counts were
in a
position similar to that of their uncle Meinhart I. The human potential
in their
own countship no longer sufficed to carry out and complete the settlement
of the
primeval forest within the foreseeable future. They, therefore, had to
try to find
willing emigrants elsewhere. They found them in the eastern part of the
neighboring
countship of Tyrol. Of course, the counts of Ortenburg could not simply
recruit
colonists in the region of East Tyrol. They needed the permission of
the count of
Tyrol and of the counts of Görz, who had extensive fiefs there. Also,
the cloister
of Admont and the monastery of Diessen am Ammersee in Upper Bavaria owned
land there. The historical point of this book would have looked good
if one could
have established a connection between the intentions of the Ortenburgers
and
Countess Beatrice, Princess of Wittelsbach by birth. If she still had
lived in Friaul
at this time, she could not have had any influence upon the releasing
of colonists
for Lower Carniola because her son was now of age and her brothers-in-law,
who
lived in Lienz and Braus, surely would not have given her the right to
participate.
There is much more evidence for than against the supposition that the
three counts
of Görz released subjects to the Ortenburgers for a price.
In any case, the influx of East Tyroleans into the later linguistic island
of
Gottschee seems really to have begun only after 1348 and it seems not
to have
been insignificant. Numerous idiomatic influences from East Tyrol in
the Gottscheer
dialect substantiate this. Professor Kranzmayer's concise declaration
that the ancestors
of the Gottscheers came from the Tyrolean-Carinthian fringes can be proven
not
only linguistically but, as we have seen - with some reliance
upon probability -
also historically. Before we, however, take a closer look at the conclusions
of the
Carinthian scholar, let us take a look at other views on this topic.
These brought
forth the strangest blossoms, also with regard to the interpretation
of the name
of the city of Gottschee, which gave its name to the entire "Ländchen."
Much amateur historicizing and much historical wishful thinking took
place.
The theories about the origin ranged from the assumption that the ancestors
of
the Gottscheers had been descendants of the last Goths who had withdrawn
to
the forests of the chalk highland to "Gottes Segen" (God's
blessing) and "Gottes
See" (God's Lake) or "Gatschen" and Kocevje, a Slovenian
word, which comes
closest to the historical reality. It is derived from "koca" =
hut and has the
equivalent meaning of "clustering of huts." With the rise
of nationalism in the
nineteenth century, some Gottscheers dreamed that their forefathers descended
from all German tribes and considered the "Ländchen" to
be a little Germany.
The "Thuringian-Franconian-Theory" was the most persistent.
It claimed that
Emperor Charles IV (he reigned from 1346 to 1378) had released to a Count
Frederick of Ortenburg, upon the latter's request, 300 men and their
families as
colonists in the forests of Gottschee. They were supposedly rebels from
Thuringia
and Franconia who were said to have forfeited their lives. Valvasor was
cited as
the source for this tale. He writes on page 194 of Volume XI of his main
work,
"Die Ehre des Herzogtums Crain", that Bishop Chroen of Laibach supposedly
found a
notation in the archives of Bischoflak near Laibach which stated
that "300
men
with their wives and children passed through." They are said to
have continued
on to Gottschee to clear the forests there. Nothing against the bishop,
nothing
against the author of the notation, but everything against the number
300 and
against Count Frederick of Ortenburg, who supposedly asked for this cheap
crew
for the colonization of the primeval forest in Lower Carniola. The number
300 is
simply too even and - too high.
It is without a doubt an estimate
and we have
already discussed what one can conclude about the scale of medieval estimators
in comparison to those of today and in reference to the number of people.
But
the historian and the linguist have irrefutable arguments against the "Thuringian-Franconian-Theory":
"300 men with their wives and children" means, even if one assumes
only
four family members on the average, 1,200 people; probably there would,
however,
have been 1,400 to 1,500. With a little imagination, we can still picture
today
what it would have meant to steer this line of people several hundred
meters in
length, together with a corresponding number of ox-carts, from Thuringia
and
Upper Franconia through partly uninhabited regions across rivers and
streams,
mountains and valleys, under the most miserable conditions to Gottschee.
We
can particularly imagine that this mass of people would not have been
welcome
in all the places through which they begged their way, because they were
surely
blessed with children but hardly with ready money.
But let us assume that all hardships were overcome and the "300
men with
their wives and children" arrived in Gottschee. What then? The
organizers of the
Ortenburgian settlement venture could not have lodged them in Mooswald
or
elsewhere. This procession of misery would only have ended when summer
was
over. Where was one to put them? Crowd them into the already existing
villages?
Moreover, it is simply unrealistic and wishful thinking to assume that
the colonists
from Upper Carinthia and East Tyrol who had already settled there would
not
have objected to the flooding of their settlements by Thuringians and
Franconians.
The subsequent course of the history of the Gottscheers lets one assume
that if
this had been the case, the first Gottscheers would have become rebels
for the first
time.
The defenders of the "Thuringian-Franconian-Theory" might
retort that the
counts of Ortenburg would then simply have stepped in as feudal lords
and restored
order. Too simple! Whoever could not be convinced by the above objections
will
have to accept the major irrefutable scholarly finding: There is no noteworthy
indication in the Gottscheer dialect that 1,200 to 1,500 Thuringians
and Franconians
participated in this early stage of the colonization of the "Ländchen." In
any case,
at least the Thuringian dialect, closely related to the Saxonian, would
have established
itself in the already opened settlement region. If the Ortenburgers had,
however,
established several villages exclusively with Thuringians and Franconians,
then
their dialect would have most certainly maintained itself. Moreover,
already
Valvasor was not certain if the notation found by Chroen reflected the
reality.
And, by the way, we do not have to exclude the possibility that Charles
IV or
someone else put a number of peasant families from Thuringia and Franconia
at
the disposal of the Ortenburgers. It is quite conceivable that they would
then
have been assigned in small groups to the already existing settlements.
The
formulation "300 men with their wives and children" is historically
false. There
is also no proof for the assertion that a Count Frederick of Ortenburg
asked the
emperor for colonists. Between 1346 and 1363, the period in question,
there was
no Ortenburgian Count Frederick but there did live a Carniolian governor
by the
name of Frederick of Sanneck. A Count Frederick of Ortenburg could not
exist
because the two sons of Meinhart I died childless and there was no Frederick
among the nine children of Count Albrecht II. Furthermore, the author
of the
"Jahrhundertbuch" has convinced himself that there are no entries about
an imperial
decree concerning the release of 300 rebels with their wives and children
in the "Regesten," which are summaries of decrees and ordinances issued
during the
reign of Charles IV.
We leave this period of twenty-four years between the document of September
1, 1339 and May 1, 1363, a period which yields no other documents, not
without
the certainty that the financial expenditures of the counts of Ortenburg
were
apparently much greater than was originally estimated. Thus, we encounter
the
next significant document for the settlement history of Gottschee in
1363. Again
it is a patriarchal letter, this time from Ludwig I de la Torre, dated
May 1. We
are mainly interested in that part of this document on church matters
which deals
with Gottschee and was translated by Professor Grothe from the Latin
text into
German on page 26 of his book:
"It was brought to the attention of the Patriarch Ludwig of the Holy Seat
at
Aquileia that many human dwellings had been set up within the borders
of the
church jurisdiction of Saint Steven of Reifnitz, a region which belongs
to our
Aquileian diocese, namely in certain groves and forests in its parish
which had
been uninhabitable and uncultivated. These groves and forests were converted
to
farmland and not an insignificant number of people came to live therein."
Aquileia granted that five parishes be established, namely "Gotsche,
Pölan,
Costel, Ossiwnitz et Goteniz," to see to the spiritual needs of
this "not insignificant
number of people." Later these were written as follows: Gottschee,
Pölland, Kostel,
Ossilnitz, and Göttenitz. The Latin text of the document is found on
page 212
of Grothe. It is noteworthy that the document also addresses a Count
Otto of
Ortenburg. It clearly refers to Otto VI, son of Count Albrecht II, progenitor
of
his tribe.
Again we are faced with a difficult task. We must interpret a time-bound
document that was not written with great accuracy and also attempt to
assign it
to its correct place with regard to the past and the future. First, let
us see what
it explicitly states.
For the first time, a document records the village name Gottschee as "Gotsche." At
the same time, Göttenitz is named in the northern half of the linguistic
island - Mooswald, on the other hand, is no longer mentioned.
The southern and southeastern
sections of the settlement region come very much into the foreground
with the
naming of the castles Pölland and Kostel, as well as the village of
Ossilnitz at
the confluence of the Cabranka and the Kulpa. The document further substantiates
that the primeval forest fief of the Ortenburgers was uninhabitable and
uncultivated
and that now, however, a "not insignificant number of people" had
settled and
were farming there.
Based on the preliminary work for the "Jahrhundertbuch", we are in a
position to have indirect access to other historical facts:
First: All five newly created parishes are located in the region of the
first
colonization phase. Of course, they were already quite more advanced
with regard
to population than the colonial villages of the Upper Carinthians and
East Tyroleans.
Their settlement centers had not yet matured into parishes. They were
certainly,
however, a part of the not insignificant number of people that the document
of
Patriarch Ludwig mentions. Also, the eastern sector of the settlement
region, the
Moschnitze, is still of no interest as far as the church is concerned.
From this,
one can conclude that it was also still on the fringes as far as the
colonization was
concerned.
Second: Mooswald apparently relinquished its importance as the base camp
of the colonization to "Gotsche." According to the document,
the patron saint of
the chapel at Mooswald, Saint Bartholomew, also appears in Gottschee.
That does
not have to mean that the "villa" was already disbanded in
1363 and no longer
played a role in the administration of the settlement. But the population
of "Gotsche" had increased to such an extent that a parish together
with its church
had to be established.
The author's views with regard to the transference of the administrative
functions
from Mooswald to Gottschee do not agree with the Slovenian suppositions
on this
matter. Thus, Simonic writes on page 8, "Because the first subsequent
document
of the year 1363 no longer mentions the chapel of St. Bartholomew but
only the
church of St. Bartholomew in Gottschee, which had been enlarged in the
meantime;
that originally Gottschee was called Mooswald, which had been a flourishing
settlement on Ortenburgian land. The name Gottschee had previously not
appeared
in official usage."
Three solid arguments speak against
accepting the view that Gottschee was
originally called Mooswald:
a) |
Gotsche
is older than Mooswald. |
b) |
Mooswald
would have disappeared from the register of villages in Gottschee
if Gotsche had taken its place. |
c) |
The
village name Gottschee underwent its own linguistic development,
which is closely tied to its settlement history but which has
nothing to do with the origin of the ancestors of the Gottscheers
from Upper Carinthia and East Tyrol. |
But where does the village and region designation "Gottschee" come
from?
We can afford to forego the interpretive theories of the nineteenth century
since we can present an alternative based on research. We repeat: Count
Meinhart
I and his son Hermann II had already begun to settle mainly Slovenian-speaking
colonists from their fiefs in Lower Carniola before 1315. They first
opened up the
Oberland and advanced from the north into the forests to what was later
to be
Gottschee and the Hinterland, to Göttenitz, the southernmost points.
Still in our
time, the theory that the name Gottschee derives from the Slovenian "Kocevje"
was considered to be quite realistic, because it surely began with
a "number
of
huts." Effortlessly, one could also construct a linguistic development
from "Kocevje" to "Gottschee." That did
happen and the Slovenes were satisfied with this but
the Gottscheers less so. Nothing and no one, however, forces us to accept
that"
Kocevje" has to be the base word. Actually, it could have been
a similarly
sounding word. The author already noticed the village name "Hocevje" east
of
Reifnitz (the initial h is to be pronounced ch) when he prepared his
series of articles, "Alle Spuren führen nach Kärnten" ("All
Tracks Lead to Carinthia").
According
to Grothe (Map No. 5), it was first mentioned in a document in 1145.
Neither
the professor from Leipzig nor the author surmised a connection with
the village
designation "Gottschee." Only later did he encounter the
full meaning of the
word "Hocevje" in the work of Professor Saria, one of the
best experts on the
colonial history of Carniola (page 96). The scholar, who died in 1974
in Graz,
realized that "Gotsche" did not derive from "Kocevje" but
from "Hocevje." "Hocevje" means the "pine forest." Saria did not yet
relate his linguistic discovery
to the settlement history of Gottschee. We who know its origins have
only to
make a short mental leap to that time and place in history:
The original "Hocevje" was located either on the fiefs of
the Auerspergers or
of the Ortenburgers in Lower Carniola. In either case, the Ortenburgers
could
have transplanted settlers from this village to the central region of
the Rinse. That
these colonists with a Slovenian vernacular gave the name of their old
homeland
to their new one, does not require any special explanation. As we also
know,
Count Otto V had supplied his brother Meinhart or his son Hermann III
with
Carinthian settlers. Neither of the Ortenburgers of that time realized
that they
were settling members of two different ethnic groups. Therefore, they
mixed them
quite freely. As the quick growth of the village indicates, they settled
especially "Hocevje," later "Gottschee," with voluntary
settlers from far-away Carinthia
because the small village on the central region of the Rinse was particularly
accessible and had the necessary water supply and - this must already
have been
clear to the colonizers before 1363 - it seemed to be suited
as the center for the
entire settlement region.
Since only German colonists now followed in quick succession, their Bavarian-Austrian
dialect just as quickly predominated. The existing village name "Hocevje"
did not suit the new settlers. In general, the German avoids the ch at
the beginning
of a word. He prefers to substitute the k or g wherever he encounters
it. On the
other hand, the Slovenes and other Slavic nations do not appreciate the
aspirated
initial h. The development of "Hocevje" to "Gottschee," however,
only becomes
very clear when one looks at the dialect names for the city and the region
of
Gottschee.
The transformation of h to g was the first step. Under the influence
of the g,
the o changed to a short explosive a.
The tsch remained, while the e split into e
and a through emphasis. The v shifted to b. The end syllable je however
was
dropped. The final result was - and that could not have taken
more than one
generation - the "Gatscheab" still
in use today. Not lastly, a child's pronunciation
probably had a lot to do with this transformation. Still today, the Gottscheer
calls
himself "Gattscheabar" -
the r is only intimated. But the Gottscheer woman is
called "Gattscheabarin."
Third: The authors of the document of May 1, 1363 - the patriarch
surely
only signed it - likewise limited themselves to an undefined
(and for the reader
after 650 years, undefinable) amount: "... a not insignificant
number of people." Nevertheless, we come close to the
actual number if we take a look at the next
document. In 1377 the village of "Gotsche" was elevated to
a market. "Market" means the coming together of producers
and consumers, as well as trade between
them. Without a doubt, the elevation to a market came about at the instigation
of the counts of Ortenburg who wanted to spur on the economy that was
flourishing
with the continuing colonization. Gotsche and Mooswald by themselves,
however,
would not have made a market worthwhile. Thus, other villages must have
already
existed in numbers, so that the establishment of an economic center seemed
useful
for the peasants, as well as for the feudal lord, whose income grew.
The Ortenburgers
would not have been "cool calculators" if they had not seen
to it that their new
peasants paid and also were able to pay the rent for their fee farm.
We must also include in our considerations the fact that about two generations
had passed since the beginning of the colonization. That is to say, that
already
sixty yearly age groups of Gottscheers had been born, and each one grew
larger
than the one before due to natural procreation and the continued influx.
The
logical conclusion: This steadily increasing population could no longer
be housed
in the Oberland or within the area of the new market, particularly since
it was
not the intention of the Ortenburgian colonization to squeeze the people
into one
spot. This will only happen later, about 600 years later, under totally
different
circumstances.
The dispersion of the colonists across the western half of the settlement
region
must already have neared completion around 1377. Simonic's (see page
23) statement,
that the first land register of the settlement region of Gottschee was
already set
up in 1398 especially supports this conclusion. Unfortunately, only the
set-up of
the settlement and its taxes in the district of Rieg have been preserved.
It is being
kept in the federal archives in Ljubljana.
Understandably, this land
register was
not yet available to the author at the conclusion of his work. Nevertheless
we
know, however, that a district of Rieg already existed in 1398 and that,
on the
whole, the colonization of Gottschee was completed then. This conclusion
agrees
with Professor Saria's viewpoint that the influx of colonists ceased
at the end of
the fourteenth century. If we now also look ahead to the completely preserved
land register of 1574, we encounter an estimate of 9,000 Gottscheers.
Finally, if
we consider that the infant mortality rate was very high and that the
average life
expectancy was about forty-two years, we remain realistic if we estimate
that there
were approximately 2,500 to 2,600 Gottscheers in 1363 and thirty-two
years
later, in 1398, about 3,500.
The settlement venture of the counts of Ortenburg in the primeval forest
between Reifnitz and Kulpa seems to have succeeded by the end of the
fourteenth
century. Were its first colonists, and the first and second generations
born there,
happy? That we do not know. We only know that they were subject to the
inalterable laws of life and the parameters of the Gottscheers: climate
and soil,
forest and water, confined living space and small population, politics
and religion. In 1393 the parish of Gottschee was separated from the
greater parish of
Reifnitz and established as an independent parish. Its function as center
of the "Ländchen" was already documented thirty years earlier.
Before we concern ourselves with the fate of the counts of Ortenburg,
we will
briefly record the tragic death of Patriarch Bertrand of Aquileia. Loved
and revered
by the people of the patriarchy, hated and opposed by the nobility of
Friaul and
the cities because as ruler he insisted upon an orderly government, he
was killed
in 1350 by the swords of conspirators. He, in person a courageous man,
who
always wore the coat of mail underneath the surplice, had dismissed the
warnings
of those around him about an attack on a trip from Padua to Udine.
We dedicate more space after the end of the fourteenth century to the
vassals
of the patriarchs of Aquileia, the counts of Ortenburg, than to this
noteworthy
personality on the seat of Saint Hermagoras. We already know that Otto
V died
in 1342 and that his nephew. Otto VI, the procreator of his line, assumed
the
leadership of the countship. In his son Frederick III, we again encounter
one of
these Ortenburgian figures who brought power and esteem to the House
of Ortenburg
far beyond the boundaries of Carinthia. Talented, superior, courageous
and - faithful as the "Sword of Aquileia." He
held the highest political offices ever held
by an Ortenburger, without being particularly lucky in political affairs.
Already
at a relatively young age, he made a mutually binding inheritance agreement
with
the counts of Cilli (his mother was a countess of Cilli by birth) in
the event that
one of the ruling counts remained without a male heir. Frederick was
married to
Margaretha, a daughter of the duke of Teck in Würtembergian Swabia.
Their only son died as a child. The count enjoyed the special support
of Emperor
Sigismund (he reigned from 1407 to 1437). Like Frederick's father, the
emperor
was married to a countess of Cilli.
Because the reliability of the Ortenburger had already been tested prior
to
Sigismund's coming to office, the latter temporarily bestowed upon him
the office
of vicar-general in Northern Italy and gave him special assignments in
the battle
against the Venetian Republic - to which Frederick dealt not inconsiderable
blows
with his small private army. Due to his vanity and position, Frederick
did not
find it particularly difficult to have his brother-in-law, Duke Ludwig
of Teck,
made patriarch. But this already takes us into the fifteenth century.
("Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer", Dr. Erich
Petschauer)
www.gottschee.de
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