|
16th
Century,
Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer, Dr. Erich Petschauer, 1980.
In addition to the life-shaping and life-threatening conditions, among
which
we can also include the peddling trade, three other eventful developments
follow
the Gottscheers into the new century: the Turkish threat, the exploitation
by the
feudal lord or his executors, and the hatred for the "authority" incorporated
in
it. The peasants met these internal and external pressures with defiance
and
resistance. However, they reacted not only with rebellion but with an astonishing
display of vitality, an extensive internal colonization.
The mortgage system apparently did not yield sufficient funds for Emperor
Frederick III (died in 1493). Otherwise, it is inexplicable why he sold
the so-called manor "Pölland" located at the southern edge
of Gottschee, to a certain
Hohenwarth for 2,000 guilders shortly before his death. The area was linguistically
mixed. Josef Obergföll in the twentieth century still found Gottscheer
family
names there.
This region had suffered even more damage at the hands of the Turks than
the rest of Gottschee. The decimated population was finally no longer able
to fill
its living space with its own people. No one from the main settlement region,
however, dared to settle there. The Carniolian provincial administration
attempted
to settle Uskoken in the region which was almost totally uninhabited in
the first
third of the sixteenth century. The Uskoken were a Croatian-speaking Slavic
tribe
in Bosnia which also had to endure much under the rule of the Turks. According
to Simonic (pages 18-19), they began to establish themselves hesitatingly
in the
regions of Pölland and Kostel. However, since the authorities and the Carniolian
provincial diet in Laibach could not agree upon their taxation, the necessary
distribution of the land did not take place and their intention to settle
remained
provisional. After waiting patiently for some time, the Uskoken followed
the
example of the Turks and also undertook raids into, among other areas,
the rest
of Gottschee. They were particularly keen on cattle and horses. As late
as 1613
and 1615, the peasants complained to the authorities about the violent,
outrageous
neighbors in the south. Many Uskoken families moved on and were absorbed
somewhere in Croatia. It took quite some time for the natural population
density to be reached after the attacks by the Turks ceased. But the Gottscheers
only participated in a very limited way in the resettling of the manor
of Pölland.
In a later district reform, the townships of Unterlag and Saderz, which
were
inhabited by Gottscheers, were reassigned to the linguistic island.
The manor of Gottschee, however, was mortgaged to Count Jörg of Thurn
by Emperor Maximilian I in 1507. Actually, this was also a kind of sale
on credit,
because Maximilian retained the right to buy it back within sixteen years.
Instead
of granting the suffering peasants a respite, the new mortgage holder heaped
demands upon demands. The caretaker of Thurn, Stersen, was soon the most
hated man in the "Ländchen" because he showed no mercy
in collecting the taxes
and other duties. In 1515 the limit of endurance had been reached. One
day, the
peasants, extremely angry, gathered in the city and confronted the caretaker.
However, when he mocked them for their demands, they killed him. Dr.
Karl
Rom, the physician born in Oberdeutschau, wrote the novel Rebellion in
der Gottschee
about this highly dramatic historical period. It is the only historical
novel by a
Gottscheer about the history of his homeland.
Despite the uprising, the arbitrariness of Jörg von Thurn hardly changed.
In
1523 the Hapsburgs first overlooked the repurchasing deadline of the
manor of
Gottschee, but under pressure they did take possession of it again a
year later.
But it was immediately sold to Hans Ungnad. He had to agree to a re-purchase
within a certain time period, which was "extended" to infinity
in 1537. The
expectation that the manor of Gottschee would increase considerably in
value
within the foreseeable future was behind this measure. This did actually
occur,
to be sure in the second half of the sixteenth century, with the third
settlement
phase, the inner colonization. The records list twenty-five new villages,
without
giving their geographical location, size, and exact founding dates. Thus,
this gap
in the colonization history of Gottschee still has to be closed.
A simple consideration shows us where we are mainly to look for these
new
settlements. Let's recapitulate: Soon after the onset of the Turkish
attacks, the
Gottscheers established forest preserves, planted thorn hedges, built
fortifications,
and announced the coming of the enemy with signal fires. In his series
about the
dukedom of Carniola, Valvasor summarily honored these efforts by the
Gottscheers
with the statement that Gottschee had been "... the warning for
and also sentry
of the province of Carniola." All of these measures could not prevent
the destruction
by Asiatic hordes.
The Gottscheers looked for new ways to defend themselves. Young people,
above all, may have asked themselves, how about getting out of the way
of the
Turks? Their attack routes were familiar. What areas did the enemy not
invade?
The impassable western slopes of the Hornwald with their dense manor
forests
that had never been cut down - a virgin forest zone whose perimeter
at the time
of the Lord of Ungnad was defined by the larger townships of Altlag,
Nesseltal,
Stockendorf, Tschermoschnitz, and Pöllandl.
It cannot be proven, but also not denied, that the Lord of Ungnad had
already
begun to release manor forests in the eastern region of the "Ländchen" for
further
settlement. To be sure, new townships on a larger scale only arose under
the
Croatian counts of Blagay, who again took over Gottschee as mortgage
holders
from Ungnad in 1547. The counts of Blagay had to vacate their estates
near
Karlstadt (Karlovac) because of the Turkish attacks. They deserved the
thanks of
the House of Hapsburg because of their resistance against the Turks. During
the
seventy years that the counts of Blagay were the mortgage holders, two
other
important facts, besides the progress in the continued colonization of
the linguistic
island, become evident for historiography:
a) |
the
first attempt to Slavinize the Gottscheers, and |
b) |
the
appearance of the "Urbarium" (register) of 1574 with
exact statistics about the geographical extent, the land division,
the number of villages and "owners," as well as their
duties and taxes. |
Under the Blagay, the Gottscheers gradually became aware of the existential
law to which they had been subjected for more than six generations without
fully
realizing it, namely, that they spoke a different language and were different
from
their surroundings. To be sure, they were directly confronted with it.
The Croatian
mortgage holders employed secretaries who did not understand the Gottscheer
dialect and also only had a limited command of the German of the time.
In their
activities in the "Ländchen," they also already showed
a kind of active patriotism.
Without consulting those concerned, they began to Slavinize German names.
Thus, they added the syllable "itsch," which means "the
son of ..." in the
Slavic languages, to the ordinary names of Jakl, Michl, or Gaspar. The
peasants
fought against now being called Jaklitsch, Michitsch, or Michelitsch,
or Miklitsch
and Gasparitsch. They apparently were successful. No other name changes
occurred,
but those that had been Slavinized remained.
In a more limited sense, Gottschee also became a linguistic island in
another
regard - the liberation of the peasants in Carniola. Like the Gottscheers,
the
Slovenian peasants also rebelled against their feudal lords. These were
- with
a
few exceptions - German noblemen. There were at times even cross-communications
between the Gottscheers and the rebelling Slovenian peasants in Lower
Styria. In
the case of the Slovenian-speaking basic population in Carniola, however,
it was
no longer a question of rebellion only against oppression and exploitation.
They
identified the oppressor as being German. On the other hand, the German
nobility
in Carniola seemed to be dying out in nearly epidemic proportions at
the turn of
the fourteenth to the fifteenth century. We will not go into the reasons
for this
here. For the most part, the nobility's worldly estrangement in the past
was the
cause. The feudal families actually competed with each other to have
their male
and female offspring take up the religious life.
Thus, in the case of the Slovenian peasants two developments took place
simultaneously: self-liberation and the arising of a clearly definable
Slovenian
consciousness. The German interspersions that were scattered throughout
the entire
land and the German citizenry in the cities and markets steadily declined
in
number and significance from decade to decade. Thus, Reifnitz, the former
residence
of the counts of Ortenburg, site of their Latin school, and predominantly
inhabited
by Germans during their time, was already a Slovenian city around 1500.
This
means that the Gottscheers were seen as being different, strange by the
Slovenes - increasingly so with each generation. This does
not mean that the traditional neighborliness between the two different
ethnic groups changed into a
defensive
attitude or possibly to animosity. One noble family survived
this development:
Auersperg.
On the other hand, the Slovenes had been exposed too long to German culture
to extricate themselves suddenly from it given their still sparse upper
class. This
changed, but also not abruptly, after Primus Truber (in Slovenian, Primoz
Trubar - 1508-1586) gave them the Slovenian written
language. He was a follower of
Martin Luther and was the first to translate the Bible into Slovenian.
In the meantime, the Carniolian line of the lords of Auersperg had been
elevated to barons. The first baron was Trajan, who also embraced Protestantism.
He supported Primus Truber. He raised his own children in the new faith
and
permitted Protestant services in the castle chapel. During the Counter-Reformation
Primus Truber fled to Germany and settled near Tübingen as a Protestant
minister.
His Slovenian Bible and other publications were also printed in Tübingen.
In the linguistic island of Gottschee, Protestantism was of no consequence.
Attempts to spread it failed. Trajan had no other choice but to return
to the faith
of his forefathers.
As barons, the Auerspergers also did not lose sight of Gottschee. To
establish
a familial bond between the mortgage holder and their own family, one
which
one could possibly continue to develop in the future - Baroness
Elisabeth was
betrothed to the young Count Ursin of Blagay. Elisabeth seems to have
had much
empathy for the Gottscheer peasants.
Before we continue with the depiction of the inner colonization, it is
useful
to introduce the register of 1574 at this very point. We are most likely
to do
justice to this important document if we view it as a snapshot of the
conditions
in the dominion of Gottschee. The encompassing document did not arise
out of
any sense of historical responsibility to leave an accurate picture of
Gottschee to
posterity but out of pure self-interest.
In 1574 the dominion of Gottschee was subject to the Hapsburg Archduke
Carl in Graz. His administrators had told him that the province had significantly
increased production since the last appraisal. In 1573 Carl ordered that
a register
be quickly set up. It was already completed a year later. The Archduke
was very
pleased with the increase in value and considered himself justified in
raising the
mortage sum by about 26,000 florins. (The abbreviation for "florin" =
fl. was
already also applied to the Rhenish gilden in the sixteenth century.)
Protest upon
protest by the House of Blagay!
Now to the content of the register that the secondary school teacher
and later
director of the secondary school ("Gymnasium") in Gottschee,
Peter Wolsegger,
born in Matrei, East Tyrol, rediscovered while working in the archives
of the
district office. Wolsegger re-edited and published it in the Mitteilungen
des Musealvereines von Krain (1890-91). At the beginning, there is a
circumscription of
the domain. Already in Wolsegger's time, it could no longer be determined
cartographically because it was based on the names of fields and regions
that had
undergone changes or had been completely lost. Grothe prints it on page
213 of
his book.
According to the Wolsegger edition, the register lists 136 villages and
hamlets.
Next to each name is the number of hides or partial hides that belonged
to the
village and their "owners." They are followed by the duties
in natural produce or
in cash that were imposed on the individual colonies.
The confined living space forces us to think about the existential imperative
of the Gottscheers. It manifests itself in the strikingly severe division
of the land
that was suitable for farming and forestry. Four hundred ninety-eight
half "register-hides" are listed. The manor forest is, of course,
not included. By 1574, the land
had already been divided to such a degree by inheritance and partial
sale that only
twenty-seven complete hides are still recorded. For the rest, the half
hide predominates
with 904 units. The remaining division is shown as four three-quarter
hides, three
third hides, thirty-two quarter hides and eight eighth hides. There are
a total of
1,002 properties, ranging from the whole hide to the smallest, and therefore
unprofitable, plot of farm land.
The register lists about 1,300 "owners." That this statistic
is not identical
to that of the whole hides and partial hides is probably due to the fact
that one
also considered sub-lessees as "owners" at that time. But let's
stay with the 1,300
figure. Perhaps it will help us to arrive at a useful, realistic calculation
of the
population of the "Ländchen."
Grothe and Otterstädt
estimate it at about 9,000 people. Unfortunately, they
do not tell us how they arrived at this figure. We need to know that
in order to
be able to check the estimate. What was the social structure of Gottschee
in the
second half of the sixteenth century? The register simply tells us of
a possible
relationship between the lessees or their sub-lessees and the feudal
lord. Altogether
there were about 1,300. Most of the owners had half hides, which means
that
they and their families had to work about ten hectares, about forty "Tagwerk" ("Tagwerk" =
about 27-47
acres). If they did not have a large number of children,
they could not do it on their own. The soil was only turned and aerated
with the
hoe - "Haga" in the dialect. It is understood that the
grain was harvested with
the sickle. There were also a number of property-less day laborers, servants,
and
maids. In addition, there were, as far as one can judge, already at that
time several
hundred old men and women who were spread throughout the entire "Ländchen." They managed to live from occasional work (when times were good), a cow,
a
few chickens, and charity. This sort of person, excluded from all active
participation
in the economy, was found in almost all villages up to the most recent
times.
Let us summarize:
1. If we take the average Gottscheer family in peaceful times with 5.0
to 5.5
heads on the average, including the grandparents or one set of grandparents,
we
arrive at 1,300 times 5.0 or 5.5 = 6,500 to 7,150
2. Servants and day laborers, in part with families = 1,800 to 2,000
3. The elderly and the indigent = 300 to 400
A total of about 8,600 to 9,550
Thus, Professor Grothe's estimate is not totally erroneous, although
the author
feels that all three figures, including the alternative figures, are
a bit too low. It
is the author's opinion that one could safely raise the Grothe estimate
to 10,000
to 10,500 without being far off the historical probability.
The size variance of the townships was already established in 1574. Rieg,
with a village common of fourteen hides that were cultivated by thirty-two
owners,
was the largest. Rieg, which already was the seat of an office, that
is, of an
administrator or of a governor in 1398, must have grown very rapidly.
Hereby,
however, it only confirmed its role as an original settlement center
and center of
the Hinterland. The village name comes from Carinthia. Near Kolbnitz,
Upper
Carinthia there still exists today a parish by the name of "An dar
Riaggan." Likewise, "In
da Riagga gean" was
an established concept throughout the centuries.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Rieg probably already surpassed
the
neighboring village of Göttenitz, which had already been established
during the
first colonization phases. To be sure, it had to relinquish the parish
seat to Rieg
at the beginning of the fifteenth century, because Burkard Zink's chronicle
mentions
the first priest in Rieg already around 1409.
Another typical original village was Obermösel. The designation "Mösel" also
comes from Carinthia. It is listed in the register with ten hides and
twenty-eight
owners. The already mentioned villages of Verdreng and Verderb lie within
the
extended sphere of Obermösel. With a bit of bilious humor, one might
explain these two peculiar village names in Gottschee. It could be said
that
later colonists
from Carinthia and East Tyrol felt themselves pushed (verdrängt-Verdreng)
out of beautiful Mösel into ruin (verderben-Verderb) behind
the later-to-be
Verdreng mountain.
The villages of Nesseltal and Reichenau also had ten hides each. Nesseltal
had thirty owners, Reichenau thirty-three, which indicates an already
progressive
division of the village common. Nesseltal, one of the most beautiful
townships
of the linguistic island, was the center of the Unterland and - like
Rieg - it had
the characteristics of a market due to its lively economic and cultural
life. The
village name of Reichenau comes from Carinthia. It enjoyed a special
reputation
because of its successful fattening of oxen, a skill that had been passed
on for
generations, as well as for its artistic weaving of sieves.
In the Oberland, the townships of Mitterdorf and Altlag assumed historic
settlement functions similar to Rieg, Obermösel, and Nesseltal - probably
already
in the early part of the fourteenth century. To be sure, neither one
of them shows
any outstanding number of hides or owners in the register. Mitterdorf
had six
hides and twelve owners, Altlag seven hides and eighteen owners. The
old name
for Mitterdorf, "Altenkirchen," (in Slovenian "Stara
cerkev"),
no longer appears
in the 1574 register.
The large Gottscheer villages - "large" is of course
based on the size of the "Ländchen" - are located
without exception in the western half of the settlement
region, that section that still the counts of Ortenburg had considered
and prepared
for colonization and had opened up for settlement. The new establishments
that
can be traced into the nineteenth century - there may have been
about three
dozen - remained without exception small. This is especially true
of the townships
of the woodlands around the Hornwald massif, which we will turn to now.
In the chapter on the fourteenth century, we saw that the primeval forest
was
to a certain extent invaded from the edges during the first settlement
phase,
particularly in the southeast and east. The colonization of the Suchen
basin belongs
to this period. Whereas the villages in the Kulpa valley or in the later
dominion
of Pölland are known, we know very little about the colonization on
the eastern
edge of the settlement region that took place at that time. To be sure,
there are
a number of Slovenian or Slovenian-sounding names of townships on record,
but
it cannot be absolutely determined if the villages that are located there
were
established in the fourteenth or sixteenth century. It is only certain
that the
townships of Tschermoschnitz and Pöllandl originated at the time of
Meinhart I
and Hermann III. But already Stockendorf is a village with Carinthian
settlers.
Aside from the village name which is easily derived from "Stock" (stem),
the root
stem, there is in the vicinity of the village a field with the name "in
der Wiederschwing," a name which also is found in Carinthia. Their
successors concentrated
their colonizing efforts in the western part of the primeval forest fief,
which was
more easily penetrated, and neglected the "Moschnitze." Since
they did not get
any additional settlers or support, the townships of Pöllandl and Tschermoschnitz
did not develop nearly as quickly and extensively as the settlement centers
in the
western half of the "Ländchen." How unfavorable the living
conditions in these
three just mentioned villages were and remained can be seen from the
register.
With their 3 half hides and 11 owners Tschermoschnitz), 3 hides and
9 owners
(Stockendorf), and 3 hides and 7 owners (Pöllandl), they are the laggards
in the
colonial development.
The conditions for continued economic growth were also unfavorable in
the
high valley of Suchen, whose unusual settlement history we now recall.
To be
sure, it is not yet concluded in 1574. The register only lists the villages
of Ossiunitz
with 4 hides (1 whole, 6 half) and 10 owners, Obergras and Mittergras
with 4
hides (3 whole, 2 half) and 6 owners, as well as Untergras with 3 1/2
hides (2
whole, 3 half) and 5 owners.
We get a rather clear picture of the socialhistorical developmental
aid of the
Gottscheers from the register, since there are the following: the lord's
service
(forced and statute labor), as well as the tribute in natural produce
and cash money.
To be sure, the register manuscript, which was rediscovered by Peter
Wolsegger,
does not reveal if these were demands previously imposed on the peasants,
or if
they were already demands newly established after the mortgage sum was
raised.
In addition, every count of Blagay issued a written declaration that
he would not
tax the peasants unduly nor restrict their old rights. How illusory this
declaration
actually was is demonstrated by the raising of the mortgage sum by Archduke
Karl by an amount which exceeded all reasonableness.
Every village was allotted its feudal dues. Of the crops, they had to
deliver
wheat, rye, and millet. Not mentioned are barley and buckwheat. It must
be
emphasized that the potato and corn were not yet known as food for human
consumption in the sixteenth century. Chickens, eggs, and cheese were
the animal
products that were demanded. Pigs and cattle, or their meat, were not
demanded
in this register. But instead, the farmers had to supply wine - a
great amount of
wine and cider.
This proves that the geographical boundary of the wine tribute was in
Obermösel.
It affected those owners in the Unterland who besides their actual farms,
cultivated
vineyards in Maierle. This shows that the wine-growing region in the
southeast
of the linguistic island in the sixteenth century had already existed
for a long
time, but that it was no longer profitable to cultivate a separate vineyard
because
it was too far away. The demand in grain, as well as wine and cider,
was so great
that it surely constituted the main source of revenue for the mortgage
holder.
After the amount needed by the court household at Fortress Friedrichstein
had
been set aside, the remainder was first stored in the "Maierhof"
and then sold.
The "lord's service" was mainly made up of manual and team
labor for the
mortgage holder, in forced labor at the Maierhof, at the "town house," and
at
the fortress. Most likely, the Maierhof had been moved to the city because
the
Turkish threat had not ceased. A few examples for the lord's service
and the dues:
The people of Oberloschin had to transport grain to the mill. This tells
us
that there was already a mill in use on the Rinse in 1574. Besides
the "transporting
of two loads of cider" the people of Windischdorf had this special
assignment:" When they went fishing in the waters of Gotsche, they
had to transport the vat." They also had "to fence in
the Maiergarden for the hay raking." Also,
Malgern
had to transport a load of cider. In addition, so it was stated, ".
. . four owners
are to carry letters to Reifnitz and Seisenberg."
Like other villages, Schalkendorf had to bring court grain to the Maierhof
and would "... have to repair and clean it." In addition,
Schalkendorf had to
clear the snow from the "town house" and "the castle."
Even the constant tending of the "Kreitfeuer" appears
in the register as the
special duty of individual villages such as Prerigel, Graflinden, Unterdeutschau,
and Nesseltal. In addition, Unterdeutschau had to perform forced labor
in the
castle and carry letters to Pöllandl as well as "to Gotsche." Furthermore,
Nesseltal
had to deliver four loads of wine and twenty-five shingles per capita.
Obermösel
had to contribute three loads of wine and "the needed roof shingles
for Fortress
Friedrichstein and the ministry in the city."
Nevertheless, a few settlements, such as Fliegendorf, did not have to
make
any contributions "... because they are quite insecure and their
properties are
in the shrubbery near the Kulp" (the river Kulpa).
The most oppressive service must have been the clearing, in severe winters,
of the path that leads to Fortress Friedrichstein.
The dues and services of the peasants were overseen by a caretaker, who
had
his office in the aforementioned "ministry" in the city. It
is not documented when
and by whom the "ministry," also called "townhouse," was
built. It must, however,
already have existed for some time before the register of 1574 was established,
since we can conclude from the demand for shingles that it was in need
of repair.
The new assessment of the dominion of Gottschee by the Hapsburgs in Graz
actually turned out to be unrealistic. The mortgage holder simply would
have
brought about a peasant uprising like the one in 1515 if he had wanted
to impose
the mortgage sum of over 26,000 florins on the "Ländchen." Count
Franz of
Blagay, mortgage holder at the time the register was established, finally
convinced
the authorities in Graz that it was impossible to meet these excessive
demands.
Astonishingly, little was left of the sum. On page 21 of his pictorial
book,
Otterstädt writes that one at first reduced the 26,160 florins to 15,000,
5,000
of which were to be used to repair the "fortress in the city" and
the fortifications.
This confirms that the townhouse was very much in need of repair. The
remaining
10,000 florins were to be paid in installments during the next eight
years. But
even this remainder of the original sum exceeded what the Count was willing
to
pay and what the peasants could manage. The peasants again strongly and
dangerously
protested towards the end of the seventies. According to Otterstädt,
the final
increase amounted to a total of 5,000 fl. in 1589, after a recent raid
by the Turks
in which the city was burned down. This sum was to be paid in three annual
installments. To quote Otterstädt: "Thus the dominion of Gottschee
was burdened
with a mortgage payment of 12,000 fl. in gold, 10,500 fl. in coin and
900 fl.
in cash, an enormous sum."
The financial state of the counts of Blagay grew increasingly critical
in the
1590's. They attempted to extract more dues from the peasants. These
became
increasingly restless. They looked for an escape in, or rather from,
their suffering.
In meetings, a plan was drawn up to suggest to Archduke Carl that he
relieve
the House of Blagay by accepting a one-time payment of the mortgage increase
demanded in 1574. From then on, they wanted to administer the dominion
of
Gottschee on their own. The 16,160 fl. were to be collected from the
populace
at great sacrifice. The Count of Blagay heard of this plan and prevented
its execution
in Graz.
Regardless of its success or failure, the plan reveals a certain political
development
by the Gottscheers, which here reached its first peak. They wanted to
govern
themselves - no more and no less. If we compare this to their
stance at the
beginning of the fifteenth century, when they recouped themselves from
the forest
of their feudal lord Frederick III, or at the beginning of the sixteenth
century,
when they killed Stersen, then we see here a thoroughly political concept.
It also
makes clear that by the end of the sixteenth century the Gottscheers
were fully
aware of their situation as a linguistic island.
Still one more question at the conclusion of the chapter on the register
of
1574: What had led the officials of Archduke Karl to conclude that the
dominion
of Gottschee had significantly increased in value? In Graz also, it was
not unknown
that there had been no Turkish raids since 1559, and from this one concluded
that the agricultural yields must have increased. In addition, Karl's
secretaries
were aware that the number of villages had multiplied. The civil servants,
who
were constantly concerned with the financial worries of their lords,
viewed this as
an increase in value which had to be skimmed off as quickly as possible.
Both
assumptions proved to be erroneous.
The brief respite after 1559 did not allow the Gottscheers to recover
from
the damage inflicted by the Ottomans, particularly since the mortgage
holder by
no means relented in his demands for natural produce and taxes. To be
sure, Franz
of Blagay showed understanding for the efforts of the peasants to establish
new
villages. This brings us once more to the inner colonization. And, of
course, the
Count also thought not a little of the advantages that were in it for
him, although
these would only be realized in the distant future. On the other hand,
the new
colonists fulfilled unawares the natural law of migratory balance between
densely
and sparsely settled zones. The most extensive example for this is the
flooding of
millions from Europe to the United States of America. More than six million
headed west across the Atlantic Ocean from the German empire alone.
In
Gottschee,
the main movement for opening new primeval forest regions was from west
to
east. Why this was so is not known. Only in two cases do we know for
certain
the who, when, and where of land released for settlement: Countess Elisabeth
of
Blagay, a Baroness of Auersperg by birth. They are the villages of Langenton
(1605) and Masereben (1613). It cannot be determined if Countess Elisabeth
had
made other settlements possible. Unfortunately, historians only give
the total
number of new establishments, namely twenty-five. Admittedly, there is
a scarcity
of documents for the early history of Gottschee, but regrettably not
even existing
ones were fully exhausted - like the register of 1574, which gives
much information
about the sparse colonization. To be sure, one has to combine it with
another
document that is not often taken into consideration.
We have only to assume that those villages that are not yet mentioned
in the
register also did not exist yet. The next document, which was likewise
kept in
detail, is the recruiting register of Maria Theresa from the year 1770.
All the
cities, markets, and villages of the entire empire are recorded in it.
The logical
conclusion: All the Gottscheer villages which are not mentioned in 1574
but
appear for the first time in 1770 must be part of the inner colonization.
To be
sure, the following list of these Gottscheer townships has one flaw.
It does not
reveal which villages actually were established in the sixteenth century.
One will
never be able to determine this. Let us therefore be satisfied with the
list that
follows:
Parish
of Tschermoschnitz:
Alttabor
Maschel
Neutabor
Plösch
Widerzug
Wretzen
|
Parish
of Stockendorf:
Roßbüchel
Skrill
Töplitzel |
Parish
of Nesseltal (eastern part):
Schäflein
Schlechtbüchel
Suchen
|
Parish
of Pöllandl:
Steinwand |
Parish
of Döblitsch:
Maierle |
|
The following townships are documented for the first time in 1770 for
the
western half of the "Ländchen" settled by the Ortenburgers:
Parish
of Obermösel:
Suchen
Unterskrill
|
Parish
of Graflinden:
Ramsriegel
Thura |
Parish
of Niederdorf:
Masereben
(see above).
|
Parish
of Langenthon:
Langenthon |
Parish
of Hinterberg:
Hornberg
|
Parish
of Suchen (in the high valley):
Merleinsrauth |
Parish
of Unterlag:
Unterpockstein |
|
The later established settlements around the Hornwald massif show typical
similarities: They are poorly situated (off the major traffic routes),
small, obviously
not laid out according to a plan, and none of them developed into centers.
Moreover, it is interesting that in the census of 1910 no inhabitant
declared
himself to be a Slovene. Obviously, the Slovenes did not consider this
region
economically profitable.
("Jahrhundertbuch
der Gottscheer", Dr. Erich Petschauer)
www.gottschee.de
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