Man, Nature and Environment

Pantone 342

Pantone 285

ISBN 978-961-237-723-6

789612 377236

Tracing flood histories is one example for the challenges of writing environmental histories in Central Europe. Two quite different sets of skills are needed. One set is the historian’s craft. The historian works at making sense of sources, constructing a compelling narrative from chaotic facts, tracing human appreciation of the Danube, human uses of the Danube, human interventions into the Danube … . The skills of the landscape ecologist, the hydrologist, the historical geographer, the geomorphologist and many other natural scientists are needed for the second building block. We need reconstructions of past riverine landscapes, ecosystems, of paleo-meanders and we need a chronology to answer questions of cause and effect – what was first, the intervention or the problem? Without knowing about the substrate of perceptions of historical actors, we cannot evaluate their perceptions for our narrative. How does the river the newspapers are talking about actually look like? Very different from how we perceive it today. Both are necessary, none is more important, both skills are of equal importance for an environmental history of the Danube River Basin. (Verena Winiwarter)

Zbirka_ZC_Man_Nature_Environ.indd 1

zbirka48

(Miha Kosi)

Man, Nature and Environment between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in Premodern Times

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In the immediate vicinity of the medieval Ljubljana there were extensive woodlands, stretching far into the hills in the southeast and northwest. … The greater part of Ljubljana’s supply with wood, however, came from areas further away, 15–20 kilometres from the city. … In the time of need, as during the threat from Ottoman incursions in 1478, when Ljubljana was strenghtening its fortifications, the king allowed the citizens unlimited use of wood from any forests in the immediate vicinity. … [A] unique source … dates back to 1510, the time of war between Austria and the Republic of Venice. Therein Emperor Maximilian … ordered his captain in Ljubljana that he should, together with the citizens, enclose or fence … forests and prohibit the cutting, so that the young trees could grow and the forests could flourish again, to provide for the needs of his city and castle in the future.

Man, Nature and Environment

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between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in Premodern Times

9 771408 353005

36,00 €

48

zbirka48

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3/3/15 10:08 AM

Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani

zbirka

Zč

Zbirka zgodovinskega časopisa

Man, Nature and Environment Between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in Premodern Times

Edited by Peter Štih and Žiga Zwitter

Ljubljana 2014

zbirka 48

ISSN 0000–0000

Zč

ISSN 1408-3531 Peter Štih, Žiga Zwitter (editors) Man, Nature and Environment Between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in Premodern Times *** Zbirka Zgodovinskega časopisa 48 *** Editor-in-Chief of the series: Peter Štih International editorial Board: Tina Bahovec, Bojan Balkovec, Borut Batagelj, Rajko Bratož, Ernst Bruckmüller, Liliana Ferrari, Ivo Goldstein, Žarko Lazarević, Dušan Mlacović, Božo Repe, Franc Rozman, Janez Stergar, Imre Szilágyi, Marta Verginella, Peter Vodopivec, Marija Wakounig. *** Peer reviewers: Harald Krahwinkler and Vasko Simoniti Design: Vesna Vidmar *** Published by: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts) (for the publisher: Branka Kalenić Ramšak, Dean of Faculty of Arts), Historical Association of Slovenia (for the publisher: Branko Šuštar, President of HAS). The publication was financially supported by: Slovenian Research Agency (projects Man, Nature and Environment between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in the Premodern Times (J6-4087, 2011-2014, head: Peter Štih) and The adaptation patterns of human activities to the environmental changes after Last Glacial Maximum in Slovenia (J6-4016, 2011-2014, head: Dušan Plut)). *** Print: Littera Picta d.o.o., Ljubljana 2014 Print Run: 200 *** Authors are responsible for ensuring grammatical and scientific adequacy of the submissions.

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 94(4-191.2)(082) 502.11(4-191.2)(082) MAN, nature and environment between the northern Adriatic and the eastern Alps in premodern times / edited by Peter Štih and Žiga Zwitter. - Ljubljana : Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete =University Press, Faculty of Arts : Historical Association of Slovenia, 2014. - (Zbirka Zgodovinskega časopisa ; 48) ISBN 978-961-237-723-6 (Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete) 1. Štih, Peter 277728512

CONTENTS

Verena Winiwarter: The Emerging Long-Term View: Challenges and Opportunities of Writing Environmental Histories in Central Europe�� 8 Katarina Čufar, Matjaž Bizjak, Manja Kitek Kuzman, Maks Merela, Michael Grabner, and Robert Brus: Environmental History of Pišece Castle Reconstructed with the Aid of Wood Investigation, Dendrochronology and Written Sources�� 24 Peter Štih: Mensch und Wald in den Ostalpen (bis zur Großen Kolonisation)�� 36 Jelena Mrgić: Rocks, Waters, and Bushes–What did the Ragusan Commune Acquire from the Bosnian King in 1399? An Environmental History Approach�� 52 Donata Degrassi: Water, Wood, Minerals: The Resources of Friuli and Their Use Between the XIIIth and XVth Centuries�� 74 Dušan Mlacović: The Communes of the Northern Istria in the Late Middle Ages and Wood�� 86 Miha Kosi: Interaction Between the City and its Environment: The Case of Late Medieval Ljubljana�� 102 Matjaž Bizjak: Medieval Account Books as a Source for Environmental History�� 124 Günther Bernhard: Gubernialindizes, Patente und Kurrenden, Kalender, Fuggerzeitungen und Archivalien aus Grundherrschaftsarchiven als Quellen zur Umweltgeschichte des Alpen-Adria-Raumes in der Frühneuzeit�� 144 Boris Golec: Erze, Wasser, Feuer und Erdbeben als Mitgestalter des räumlichen, wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Antlitzes der Städte und Märkte im Land Krain in der vormodernen Epoche �� 156 Janez Mlinar: Das Eisenhüttenwesen und sein Einfluss auf Mensch und Natur in Spätmittelalter und Frühneuzeit: Beispiele aus dem westlichen Oberkrain�� 182 Marko Štuhec: Nature in Some Normative and Expressive Sources in the 17th and 18th Centuries in the Territory of Present-Day Slovenia�� 192 Peter Mikša: Exploring the Mountains – Triglav at the End of the 18th Century�� 202

Martin Knoll: Describing Socio-Natural Sites: How Early Modern Topographical Literature Deals with Alpine and Riverine Landscapes�� 216 Martin Schmid: Dealing with Dynamics: The Preindustrial Danube as an Interdisciplinary Challenge�� 228 András Vadas: A River Between Worlds: Environment, Society and War Along the River Raab/Rába (c. 1600–1660)�� 242 Hrvoje Petrić: Some Aspects of the Interrelationship Between Humans and the River Drava in the Pre-Industrial Times with an Emphasis on the Late 18th and Early 19th Century�� 260 Christian Rohr: Coping with Natural Hazards in the Southeast Alpine Region in the Middle Ages and in Early Modern Times�� 290 Žiga Zwitter: Water and Forest in 17th-Century Jauntal/Podjuna (Carinthia): The Analysis of Patrimonial Court Records and a Description of Tenants’ Holdings from the Seigneury of Eberndorf/Dobrla vas�� 314 Michael Grabner, Elisabeth Wächter, and Markus Jeitler: Historic Transport of Logs and Timber in Austria–and How to Trace Back Their Origin�� 352 Gernot Gallor: Das rechtliche Spannungsfeld zwischen Nutzung und Schutz des Waldes in der Neuzeit�� 362 Robert Brus and Domen Gajšek: The Introduction of Non-Native Tree Species to Present-Day Slovenia�� 380 Miha Seručnik: Countryside on the Brink of Modernity: Josephinian and Franciscan Cadastres as Sources for the Eco-History of Carniola�� 394 Index of Geographical Names�� 413

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M. BIZJAK: Medieval Account Books as a Source for Environmental History

Matjaž Bizjak

Medieval Account Books as a Source for Environmental History BIZJAK, Matjaž, PhD., Senior Research Fellow, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Milko Kos Historical Institute, SI–1000 Ljubljana, Novi trg 2, matjaz.bizjak@ zrc-sazu.si Medieval Account Books as a Source for Environmental History The paper at hand is an overview of medieval account books in the Slovenian territory in the period from the late 14th to the end of the 15th century and provides a rough evaluation of their significance for the research of various themes in the field of environmental history. Thereby it places its main focus on the types, quality and quantity of information provided by the aforementioned sources. Key words: account books, seigniories, agriculture, stockbreeding, fishery, forest, water power Author’s Abstract

BIZJAK, Matjaž, dr., višji znanstveni sodelavec, ZRC SAZU, Zgodovinski inštitut Milka Kosa, SI–1000 Ljubljana, Novi trg 2, matjaz. [email protected] Srednjeveške računske knjige kot vir za okoljsko zgodovino Avtor v tem članku daje pregled nad srednjeveškimi računskimi knjigami slovenskega prostora v času od zadnjih let 14. do konca 15. stoletja in v grobem ovrednoti njihov pomen pri raziskovanju različnih tem s področja okolj-ske zgodovine. Pri tem se v prvi vrsti osredotoča na tipe, kvaliteto in kvantiteto informacij, ki jih nudijo zadevni viri. Ključne besede: računske knjige, zemljiška gospostva, poljedeljstvo, živinoreja, ribolov, gozd, vodna pogonska sila Avtorski izvleček

Man, Nature and Environment Between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in Premodern Times 125

Introduction Account books, or financial records, are a late medieval product of spreading literacy into the administrative spheres of various government structures, especially seigniories and bodies of city self-administration. As documents of financial control over the operations of some economic-administrative organisational unit, they covered practically all areas of human activity and thus offer – perhaps more than any other type of medieval sources – an abundance of data from the daily life in the past. Primitive economy in premodern periods and its strong dependence on natural resources (in terms of both energy and raw materials) is logically reflected in the structure of data contained in medieval account books. They include a variety of information on the exploitation of natural resources; wood (for the purposes of construction, heating and the production of lime and charcoal), the motive power of watercourses, river gravel deposits and quarries, minerals, forest and water food sources (hunting, fishing, pasture). They, furthermore, point to man’s successes or failures in his struggle against the forces of nature (elimination of the consequences of natural disasters, regulation of riverbeds). The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of medieval account books in the Slovenian territory and a rough evaluation of their significance for the research of various themes in the field of environmental history. Therefore, the primarily focus will be on the types as well as quality and quantity of information contained in the sources concerned. The paper will also include a rough assessment of the possibility to conduct qualitative and quantitative research, respectively. The existence of an adequate quantity and structure of data for the quantification of individual phenomena seems to be particularly important, because account books are a rare, if not the only, source that makes such research of the medieval period possible. *

*

*

Given the current state of research, the development of accounting, which made its first notable appearance in Europe during the High Middle Ages, continues to be a subject of many controversies. Influences that are considered possible stem from Antiquity, Carolingian Era and even from the Middle East. But the irrefutable fact remains that the emergence of this activity was determined by the needs that arose in environments with a high degree of state organisation, literacy, etc. In

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this regard, the paper focuses primarily on the accounting of governing bodies, i.e. administrative structures at all levels of the medieval society (from central (court), regional to local – be it seigniorial or communal), leaving aside private, commercial accounting, which pursued an entirely distinct development in the Middle Ages.1 Accounting first flourished in Normandy and England after the Norman Conquest, in Sicily during the reign of Roger II, and in Flanders and Catalonia in the second half of the 12th century.2 This can be inferred, at least, from the preserved sources and in this regard the Kingdom of England is the best and most thoroughly researched case. The English fiscus, in particular, was the first documented treasury within the framework of the accomplished two-tier central financial system (excequer) to use (or perhaps even develop) the accounting system pursuant to the principle of charge and discharge.3 The said system was based on a single-item entries and later also absolutely prevailed in the medieval accounting of governing bodies all over Europe. It basically controlled or verified the correctness of transactions made by subordinate officials to ensure the prescribed yield of state resources. In practice, while passing his annual account, the competent official first reported his annual commitments, which he was obliged to pay to the superior authority (items in debit, usually annotated as “revenue”), and then stated the yield and spending (items in credit, usually annotated as “expenditure”). The balance, the difference between the debit and credit side, could be reckoned, thus making the account complete, but it could also contain a balance due on the revenue or expenditure side. In the event that the revenue exceeded the expenditure, the said official owed the unused remainder to his lord; in the opposite case, he was – given that during the year he had to make good the deficit from his own purse – legible for compensation. Based on these settlements, written accounts were prepared, which could then be kept in special account books for longer periods as well as for more or less comprehensive estate clusters comprising a smaller or larger number of seigniories, offices, etc. Such account books, classified as serial acts by modern diplomatics, constitute the most frequent type of medieval financial records to be found in archives today. But this in no way implies that medieval accounting only encompassed producing this type of documents. The state of their preservation is merely a consequence of the fact that upon the completion of accounts, which, as already mentioned, constituted periodical reports on transactions conducted, most other types of documents produced during the accounting period, lost their practical value. It is also for this reason that we now have a relatively poor knowledge of the various kinds of templates that were created by the administrations of individual offices. In Central European area, the first systematically kept accounts appeared at the end of the 13th century, in the highly advanced office of the Counts of Tyrol.4 From the 1 Cf. Vilfan, Otorepec, Valenčič, Ljubljanski trgovski knjigi, pp. 161ff.; Penndorf, Geschichte der Buchhandlung, pp. 3ff., 41ff.; Ricker, Beiträge zur älteren Geschichte, pp. 126ff. 2 Jones, Origins of medieval Exchequer accounting, pp. 259–267; Bisson, Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia, pp. 52–59. 3 Cf. Edwards, A History of Financial Accounting, pp. 33–34. 4 Riedmann, Die Rechnungsbücher der Tiroler Landesfürsten, pp. 315–323; so far three volumes are published in: Haidacher, Die älteren Tiroler Rechnungsbücher (1–3).


14th century onwards, they also became more customary in the Habsburg provinces and the offices of individual dioceses. Some of these medieval documents that covered a period of more than one century, from the end of the 14th to the beginning of the 16th century, have been preserved also from the territory of the present-day Slovenia. These are more or less preserved annual account series of the seigniories of the bishop of Freising (1395–1401, 1437–1442, 1448, 1476–1478, 1485–1500), the bishop of Gurk (1424–1452, 1467–1471), individual seigniories of the Habsburg ducal estates in Carniola and part of Carinthia (1393, 1421–1423, 1437–1439, 1442–1448), the seigniories of the Gorizian Counts in Gorizia and the Karst (1397–1398), the Gornji Grad seigniory and the cathedral chapter of the Diocese of Ljubljana (1493–1500), as well as the accounts of the town judges of Celje (1457–1513).5 Content overview The said sources for the Slovenian territory mostly comprise the accounts of seigniories that began to appear at the end of the 14th century. This paper, which focuses on all preserved specimens until 1500, more or less covers the period of the 15th century. Of course, the preserved accounts do not cover the entire century equally, neither do they cover the whole territory of the present-day Republic of Slovenia. Nevertheless, the sporadic preservation of accounts for individual seigniories enables, to some extent, a comparative study by individual natural geographic units of otherwise rather diversified Slovenian territory. Based on the preserved sources, consideration is given to the following ad hoc “regionalisation”, which is used in this paper to facilitate a more representative comparison, especially regarding economic activities that were more or less present across the entire territory under discussion (while understandably omitted in connection with random activities or phenomena, where only the actual location or seigniory is given instead): –– 1. the Alpine and pre-Alpine world (with the Upper Carniolan seigniories Bled, Škofja Loka, Kamnik, Goričane, Gamberk and the Styrian seigniories Gornji Grad and Vitanje) 5 A systematic overview of the preserved account books for the territory of the present-day Slovenia in the Middle Ages in: Bizjak, Ratio facta est, pp. 15ff. Of these, the following materials have been published to date: id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1–6; as an example also in: Blaznik, Urbarji freisinške škofije, pp. 259–287, with slovenian translation in: Stopar, Svet viteštva, pp. 126–134; two of the Gurk accounts for the Mokronog seigniory in the form of an excerpt in: Otorepec, Gradivo za zgodovino Mokronoga, pp. 211–212; a Brixen account from 1458 for the church in Bled island in: Bizjak, Urbarji briksenske škofije, pp. 226–228; accounts of counts of Gorizia/Gorica 1398, 1402 in: Chmel, Aus einem Rationarium, pp. 290–296, 311–320 and Kos, Urbarji Slovenskega primorja 2, pp. 118–132; stuard accounts of Carniola 1290, 1391–1392, 1421 in: Haidacher, Die älteren Tiroler Rechnungsbücher 1, pp. 245–246; Lackner, Ein Rechnungsbuch Herzog Albrechts III., pp. 79–82; Otorepec, Gradivo za zgodovino Ljubljane IX, no. 61; two accounts of seigniory Pliberk in: Lackner, l. c., pp. 57–59, 102–105; register of St. Christofers brotherhood in Ljubljana 1489–1518 in: Otorepec, l. c. VIII; accounts of town judges of Maribor 1465–1499 in: Mlinarič, Gradivo za zgodovino Maribora XVII; register of expenditures of town hospital in Ljubljana 1492–1493 in: Otorepec, l.c. X, no. 91.

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–– 2. the Lower Carniola hills and the lower Krka River basin (with the seigniories Ig, Višnja Gora, Mokronog, Štatenberk, Klevevž and Kostanjevica) –– 3. Inner Carniola, the Karst and the Vipava Valley (with the seigniories Hošperk/Planina, Rihemberk, Švarcenek and Gorica) –– 4. the Sotla River basin (with the seigniories Anderburg, Bizeljsko, Lušperk, Kunšperk, Pilštanj, Podčetrtek and Rogatec). Below follows an overview of individual activities which aims to cover the maximum possible amount of data in account books that are relevant for the study of environmental history.

Fig. 1: A general map of areas covered by the preserved account books. The presented fields follow the classification described above: 1. seigniories Bled, Škofja Loka, Kamnik, Goričane, Gamberk, Gornji Grad and Vitanje. — 2. seigniories Ig, Višnja Gora, Mokronog, Štatenberk, Klevevž and Kostanjevica. — 3. seigniories Hošperk, Rihemberk, Švarcenek and Gorizia/Gorica. — 4. seigniories Anderburg, Bizeljsko, Lušperk, Kunšperk, Pilštanj, Podčetrtek and Rogatec. The territorial presentation of the seigniories is based on the map of territorial courts.

Crop and livestock production The most comprehensive and systematic cluster of data in the account books relates to crop and livestock production. It should be noted that these documents only contain references to crops that were subject to peasants’ duties and hence considered commercially attractive. Thus, without the critical use of other sources, the indications in the account books can in no way lead to any conclusion as to


the diversity and distribution of cultivated plants in a certain environment, nor is it possible to infer from them alone the share of individual cultivated plants in agricultural production. One such typical example is the several folds higher quantities of oat rent in seigniorial revenues compared to other types of grain (cf. Table 1). This case is a reflection of the life style pursued by higher social strata (the recipients of taxes), which necessitated a constant presence of a relatively high number of horses rather than an actual ratio in crops on the seigniorial grounds. The ratio presented in the (undocumented) part, intended for personal consumption of the growers (tenants) rather than the payment of duties, was in all likelihood appreciably different. Table 1. Ratios for grain revenues by individual seigniories seigniory

year

wheat

Ljubljana Kamnik (territorial court) Gamberk Škofja Loka Višnja Gora Raka Klevevž Mokronog Gorica Vitanje Podčetrtek Bizeljsko Pilštanj

1422 1439 1439 1400 1439 1439 1399 1448 1398 1447 1447 1448 1448

48 mod 272 sch 138 sch 155 mod 130 sch 63 sch 556 lsch 140 mod 607 st 177 mes 120 mod 110 mod 92 mod

rye (*millet, **mixed grain) 15% *73 mod 18% 284 sch 16% 103 sch 8% 287 mod 19% 133 sch 25% *58 lsch 50% 11 mod 40% **287 st 33% 380 mes 8% 49% 55% 48%

23% 19% 12% 14% 19% 5% 3% 16% 18%

oat 189 mod 963 sch 639 sch 1584 mod 431 sch 192 sch 507 lsch 196 mod 928 st 1598 mes 123 mod 91 mod 98 mod

62% 63% 72% 78% 62% 75% 45% 57% 51% 74% 51% 45% 52%

Note: The selected seigniories had higher grain yields in individual regions. The quantities of grains are presented in local measurements of capacity (mod = modius, sch = schaf, st = star, mes = messel, lsch = Ljubljana schaf), where homonymous units of measurement in different seigniories do not necessarily imply equal or similar volumes (for more on this subject, see: M. Bizjak, Ratio facta est, 57–81).

However, the data in the accounts enable us to assess the significance of specific cultivated plants or determine what types had a major role in agrarian economy of individual regions. The most important place among seigniorial rents was attributed to various types of grain. In the accounts from the 15th century, one may find primarily wheat, rye, millet, barley, sorghum and oat. According to urbarial rents, the latter was, on the whole, (for the aforementioned reasons) the leading type of grain in all areas under discussion. An equal quantitative distribution of oat and wheat rent can only be established in certain parts of Lower Carniola (Štatenberk and Klevevž) and generally in the Posavje area. Wheat and rye appear as the main bread or nutritional grains, with the urbarial rent to be paid in wheat being slightly higher; almost the same quantity of both is indicated in the accounts of some seigniories in Lower Carniola (Višnja Gora, Kostanjevica), whereas several seigniories in the pre-Alpine world (Škofja Loka, Kamnik, Vitanje) documented higher quantities

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of rye. Millet to be paid as rent appears less frequently and in smaller quantities; exceptionally, its significance would rise to be on a par with that of rye in some Lower Carniolan seigniories (Klevevž, Štatenberk) and in Ljubljana’s surroundings; barley appears in negligible quantity only in the earliest accounts of Škofja Loka and sorghum in those of Gorizia. The second most important agricultural product was wine. Viticulture thrived in all environments that remain traditionally wine-growing areas today. The preserved accounts cover individual parts of all three Slovenian wine-growing regions:6 the Gorizia Hills, the Vipava Valley and the Karst in the Littoral (Gorizian seigniories), Lower Carniola (the seigniories Mokronog, Klevevž, Štatenberk and Kostanjevica) and the wine-growing area of Bizeljsko in the Posavje region, as well as Vitanje and seigniories in the upper Sotla River basin, which belong to the Styrian district of the Podravje wine-growing region. Among the types of wine that are known from the 15th and some already from the 14th century,7 the accounts for Gorizia mention Terrano and Ribolla,8 in Freising Ribolla and Muscat9 and in Celje Ribolla, Malvasia and Pinela.10 Ribolla, in particular, was an extremely valued trade commodity11 and in the 15th century an indispensable item on the tables of the Bishops of Freising. This Bavarian Bishopric, to which King Henry IV granted an estate in the Koper hinterland in 1607 (which, however, seems to have been lost very soon after12), possessed no estates in the Mediterranean in the late Middle Ages, where it would engage in its own production of quality wines. However, it was all the more efficient in taking advantage from the vicinity of its seigniories in Carniola, annually importing through Škofja Loka significant quantities of Ribolla, and occasionally also Muscat,13 from Trieste. A delivery for which they would usually require ten horses (ten loads of Ribolla contained between twenty-three and thirty urns of wine14), was reloaded in Škofja Loka and usually sent on towards Oberwölz in Upper Styria, where the administration of the Freising seigniory arranged its transport to the final destination. The wine was loaded by tenants as part of their Cf. Natek, Kladnik, Vinorodna območja, p. 209. Documented Rebula, Vipavec and Ljutomerčan in 1377, Paravicini, Die Preussenreisen I, p. 293; II, p. 129. 8 Kos, Urbarji Slovenskega Primorja, pp. 123–129. 9 See footnotes 13 and 15. 10 Bizjak, Žižek, Knjiga obračunov, pp. 4–5, 60–61, 68–69, 88–89, 126–127. 11 At the end of the 14th and in the beginning of the 15th centuries, for example, Ribolla was often found in the territory of the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic (Joachim, Marienburger Tresslerbuch, pp. 10, 55–56, 103, 235, 286, 314, 368, 404, 456–457, 459, 470, 474, 477; Hirsch, Töppen, Strehlke, Scriptores rerum Prussicarum III, p. 147; cf. Paravicini, Die Preussenreisen I, no. 222, no. 229; 293, no. 256). 12 Štih, Izvor in začetki, p. 44. 13 »Musskatel«, Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 5, p. 144. 14 The Trieste urn had a volume of about 65 litres, Herkov, Dodatak uz stare mjere, pp. 463–464. 6 7


labour duties and the entire cost ranged between twenty-five and forty-five marks in Aquileian pfennings per year.15 Medieval viticulture was also prominent in areas less favourable for this type of activity, for example in Upper Carniola. Whereas viticulture in the Bled seigniory was last documented in the mid-13th century,16 it continued to be practiced in the Škofja Loka area until the beginning of the 16th century. The accounts from the end of the 14th century still documented the regular rents in wine, whereas in the first half of the 15th century, this activity became, most likely because wine produced in these districts did not achieve the satisfactory quality, less attractive to the seigniory and was gradually abandoned.17 Every now and then, the accounts also contain references to linen. The latter was mainly grown in the territories of some seigniories in the Sotla River basin (Anderburg, Rogatec and Kunšperk) and in Gornji Grad.18 In the territories of the Freising seigniories, where it would still appear in land registers at the turn of the 13th century,19 one hundred years later, one can only find the harrecht, a rent in money that replaced previous rents paid in kind, probably indicating the abandonment of linen crop production or the seigniory’s disinterest in the said commodity. The preserved sources contain only one reference to hemp.20 The growing of fruit and vegetables were two typical segments of agriculture that were almost completely ignored by the accounts in the Slovenian territory. Both were undoubtedly represented by predominantly self-sustainable farms in all regions. Fruit and vegetables were produced for peasants’ own needs and partly as a tax-in-kind to feudal lords, usually as part of regular dues, the so-called census parvus, klainrecht. Even more often, seigniories maintained their own vegetable gardens and orchards on their demesnes.21 The accounts contain only references to the rents in broad beans in Lower Carniola (the seigniories Višnja Gora, Štatenberk and Kostanjevica)22 and in general document only occasional purchases; the expenditure registers of Gornji Grad mention cherries, sour cherries, pears, melons, figs, as well as cabbage and turnip.23 15 The accounts contain regular, subdivided items pertaining to wine purchases. Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 3, pp. 86–87, 101–102; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 4, pp. 110, 120; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 5, pp. 127–128; cf. Blaznik, Stare prometne povezave, pp. 50–52. 16 Bizjak, Urbarji briksenske škofije, p. 188. 17 Blaznik, Urbarji freisinške škofije, p. 121; Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, pp. 6, 12, 22. 18 NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Obračun 1498–1500, p. 65. 19 Blaznik, Urbarji freisinške škofije, pp. 168–178. 20 NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register prejemkov gospostva Gornji Grad 1498–1499, p. 8. 21 An illustrative example is somewhat-later graphic depictions of castles with pertaining orchards and gardens, Valvasor, Die Ehre XI, e. g. pp. 307 (Klevevž), 551 (Zaprice), 359 (Mehovo). 22 ARS, AS 1, box 101, Obračuni deželnoknežjih uradov na Kranjskem 1436–1439, fol. 13, 17’, 37. 23 NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register prejemkov gospostva Gornji Grad 1498–1499, pp. 13–25.

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In traditional agriculture, livestock production in areas suitable for agriculture constituted an important supplementary activity. Nearly all farms raised draft animals – in a substantial part of the Slovenian territory, it was mainly cattle, sheep and to a lesser extent horses and donkeys24 – and small animals, e.g. poultry, for food. Whereas hens and eggs appear as a relatively regular commodity in the accounts for all regions under discussion, references to other animal products or cattle are only observed for areas specialised in livestock farming – i.e. mainly the mountainous areas of the Alpine and pre-Alpine world and in the Karst. In addition to stable courts (curtes stabulariae), maintained by seigniories themselves or rather within the framework of demesne, specialised livestock units included swaiga-s or cheese dairies. Swaiga is a specialised leas, which raised dairy animals (in the Slovenian territory, these were predominantly sheep, as well as cows in some places) and produced cheese. In comparison to usual hides, seigniors interfered with the administration of swaiga-s somewhat more intensely. As a rule, their number within a seigniory did not change and they maintained a stable cheese production. However, when they failed to do so, more suitable hides were granted the status of swaiga whenever necessary.25 Care was taken to maintain an optimum stock of bovine animals or sheep and goats (the Škofja Loka seigniory, for example, had about twenty-five sheep),26 for which purpose the spring (St George Day) tribute of a sheep with lamb (ovis cum agno) was usually dedicated.27 Cheese was the main source of fat and a staple in medieval diet. Therefore, not surprisingly, cheese production within seigniories with a considerable livestock potential was also commercially oriented. Among the leading cheese producers in the 14th and 15th centuries were the seigniories Gornji Grad and Škofja Loka, with an average annual production of about 12,000 cheeses.28 The Škofja Loka accounts from the end of the 14th century reveal a well-developed sales network; the list of buyers includes the Stična Abbot, the steward of the Bled seigniory Kraig and the nearby noblemen. The remaining quantity of cheese was purchased at the end of the year by the granary keeper, who resold it to his own customers.29 Mention should also be made of the Vitanje seigniory in the Diocese of Gurk, where swaiga-s in hilly areas (swaygen an dem perg) supplied the diocesan administrative seat in Straßburg, Carinthia, with its annual production of 2700 cheeses.30 Pig production was common only in the territory of the Gornji Grad seigniory, where the tenants would pay their rents in swine, pig meat and lard,31 but it was Novak, Živinoreja, pp. 367–368. E. g. in Žiri in 1400–1401, Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, p. 40. 26 Blaznik, Urbarji freisinške škofije, p. 122. 27 Ibid., p. 122; Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, p. 40; idem, Urbarji briksenske škofije, p. 76. 28 id., Urbarji freisinške škofije, p. 122; Novak, Živinoreja, p. 374. Concerning the size of the medieval resp. early modern cheese »loafs« see Zwitter, Agrarna zgodovina, p. 224; his estimation for Gornji Grad is somewhat less then 60 gram! 29 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, pp. 2–3, 11, 17, 19; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, pp. 30, 41. 30 DAK, HS 122, fol. 124’–126; HS 106, fol. 113. 31 DAK, HS 122, fol. 124’–126; HS 106, fol. 113. 24 25


also developed in other areas. This is sometimes evident from duties in money, the descriptions of which in some places reveal their origin (e.g. steura porcorum in the Škofja Loka accounts,32 sweinpfening in the Gurk accounts33), while elsewhere they are lost in summarized money rents. The account books also provide some data on beekeeping. Mention is most often made of beeswax, which was mainly used for the production of candles. Beeswax was recorded as a subject to taxation in the seigniories Gornji Grad34 and Bizeljsko.35 Elsewhere it was listed as expenditure, chiefly in relation to church lighting.36 Hunting, fishing and gathering Within the seigniorial domain, hunting was a kind of supplementary activity. Its role was considerable in the territories of larger seigniories with vast forests.37 It was regulated with the so-called hunting right (wildban),38 which in the early Middle Ages was passed from a sovereign to feudal lords through property donations. Certain types of hunting – elite big-game hunting and some specific forms of hunting (hunting with birds of prey, chasing with dogs) – were reserved for the members of higher strata. The accounts provide only sparse data on this subject. The registers of Gornji Grad, for example, document only two isolated expenditures on hunting dogs and vederspiel,39 the Bleiburg (Pliberk) accounts feature expenditures related to tracking eagle nests40 and the Škofja Loka accounts from the 15th century clearly indicate that the seigniory engaged in falconry. Each year they would send two goshawks to the court of the Count of Gorizia.41 Small-game hunting was reserved for professional hunters “employed” by the seigniory42 and in some cases also for the tenants.43 The Gornji Grad register from the end of the 15th century documents regular expenditures for game (chamois, rabbits, squirrels, Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, p. 1. DAK, HS 106, fol. 1’, 8, 18’ (e. g.). 34 Orožen, Benediktiner-Stift Oberburg, pp. 235–242. 35 DAK, HS 106, fol. 26’ (e. g.). 36 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, pp. 4, 13, 23; Lackner, Rechnungsbuch Herzog Albrechts III., p. 103. 37 About the hunting and seigniories in general cf. Zadravec, Urbarialni zapisi o lovstvu, pp. 101ff. 38 Dasler, Forst und Wildbann, pp. 3–8. 39 NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register izdatkov gospostva Gornji Grad, pp. 23, 26. 40 Lackner, Rechnungsbuch Herzog Albrechts III., pp. 59, 104. 41 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 3, pp. 85, 96; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 4, pp. 109, 119; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 5, p. 144; Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 6, pp. 153, 163, 173. 42 E. g. id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, pp. 3, 7, 17, 19; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 3, p. 90; Blaznik, Urbarji freisinške škofije, p. 332. 43 E. g. in Bohinj, Kaspert, Ueber die Lage der oberkrainischen Bauernschaft, p. 113; cf. also Umek, Lov, p. 487. 32 33

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pigeons and other birds). No less flourishing was the trade in wild game fur. This is also evident from the Škofja Loka accounts, according to which the seigniory purchased marten, fox and dormouse fur.44 The data on fishing are fairly sparse as well, even though the said activity was profusely documented in account books. They are limited to isolated references to fishermen45 and expenditures on fish, which was very popular with nobility, especially (but not exclusively) during fast days. These expenditures are best documented by the rare preserved and chronologically ordered registers of daily expenses. For instance, the register of the Gornji Grad seigniory from the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century provides a week-by-week overview of fish purchases.46 Periodically, purchases of live fish are entered in separate columns, with the only species nominally indicated being burbot (kappe). Apart from fish, the register also documents purchases of crab. The inventory of fishing waters in the Škofja Loka seigniory from approximately the same time, which has been accidentally preserved among the seigniorial accounts, is a welcome peculiarity.47 Divided into waters in the Poljanska dolina and the Selška dolina valleys or rather their catchment areas, the inventory lists species as well as the quality/quantity of fish by each river and stream as well as the name of the holder of the fishing right by each district. While most streams are indicated as “good for trout fishing”, the presence of grayling (asch) and huchen (huechen) in the Poljanska Sora River is also documented. The fishing right was, in principle, reserved for the seigniory – the right to fish on the Škofja Loka grounds was granted to the Freising Diocese in the 10th century through donations – but in the late Middle Ages, the bishops granted some districts to their officials or local nobility. At the time of the aforementioned inventory, only the right to fish in the Sora River from the confluence to the seigniorial boundary was reserved for the bishop, whereas the Poljanska Sora River and some streams in the Selška dolina valley belonged to the steward of the seigniory and the Selška Sora River to the granary keeper. The gathering of various fruits in nature, especially forest, was present in all environments and at all times, but already in the Middle Ages it rarely assumed the significance of an economic activity that would have a commercial potential or would at least be of interest to the seigniories. One such exemption was chestnuts, which some tenants paid as a census to their Lower Carniolan seigniories Kostanjevica and Štatenberk.48 The same category may also include the gathering of beechnut for pig forage or forest grazing for pigs, for which the serfs would pay their seigniories certain compensation in the form of beechnut rent (aßrecht).49 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 4, pp. 111, 120; cf. also Bizjak, Žižek, Knjiga obračunov, pp. 98–99. 45 E. g. Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, pp. 4, 7; ARS, AS 1, box 101, Obračuni deželnoknežjih uradov na Kranjskem 1436–1439, fol. 16. 46 NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register izdatkov gospostva Gornji Grad. 47 Die vischwasser in der herschafft Laackh, BayHStA, HL 3, rep. 53, fasc. 295, no. 18. 48 ARS, AS 1, box 101, Obračuni deželnoknežjih uradov na Kranjskem 1436–1439, fol. 13, 37. 49 Several examples in the land registers of Škofja Loka, Blaznik, Urbarji freisinške škofije, pp. 145, 191, 202, 365. 44


Utilisation of forest resources Wood was the main raw material exploited in the forest. It was used for heating, charcoal production, as a raw material for the manufacture of various craft products and to a considerable extent as a technical construction material. Seigniories imposed fewer limitations on the exploitation of wood than on hunting. They usually permitted their tenants and burghers to prepare firewood and cut trees for their own needs as construction timber. The situation became somewhat complicated at the end of the Middle Ages, with the advent of the ironworks industry, which used increasing volumes of coal. This only strengthened the duke’s tendency to impose ducal right to minerals, ironworks and high forests at the expense of seigniories, which clearly contributed to stricter supervision over the utilisation of wood. The accounts provide only sparse data on this subject.50 There are occasional references made to individual semi-products with which the tenants supplied their seigniories as part of their duties; e.g. split boards (pretter) in Vitanje or wood for making barrel hoops (reifstangen). Most data refer to various types of construction timber, which was used for maintenance works on castles and other seigniorial buildings. Indications as to what types of wood were used for this purpose are rare. Thus, for example, one may occasionally find mention of beech boards or oak floor boards and gutters, and also oak arrow shafts and barrels.51 All the above-listed cases involve products belonging to a higher price category, from which it may be concluded that the detailed indications of wood assortments were limited to exceptional or high-quality pieces of wood, and that products from ordinary types of wood needed not be defined in detail. Therefore, types of wood that were predominantly used in individual environments for the manufacture of certain products should therefore be inferred. In doing this, sources provide little help, as medieval records contain sparse references to not only types of wood but types of trees in general. The collection of materials for the history of forestry contains altogether three such references (one to beech and chestnut forest, respectively, and one to oak trees used as boundary markers).52 The first usable report for Carniola was Valvasor’s topographical description from the end of the 17th century, according to which the prevailing tree types are the same as can be found in forests today.53 The main difference is that conifers were less prevalent than today. In some parts of Upper Carniola as well, where spruce now predominates (e.g. Jelovica), Valvasor primarily mentions beech. Apart from the latter, which generally formed the prevailing type of trees in Carniola, oak and chestnut predominated in some parts of Lower Carniola. With slight reservation, it may be considered that the situation 50 Charcoal: Bizjak, Žižek, Knjiga obračunov, pp. 78–79; NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register izdatkov gospostva Gornji Grad, p. 27. 51 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, pp. 60, 77; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 3, p. 88, 122; Bizjak, Žižek, Knjiga obračunov, pp. 36–37, DAK, HS 122, fol. 119. 52 Otorepec, Gradivo za zgodovino gozdarstva, no. 31, p. 19; no. 74, p. 39. 53 Valvasor, Die Ehre II, pp. 145–146, 190–191, 223–226, 268–269; cf. also Valenčič, Gozdarstvo, pp. 425–426.

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remained essentially unchanged until at least the late Middle Ages. This is also confirmed by still rare palynological studies. The holes drilled on the Pokljuka plateau, in the Škofja Loka hills and the Pohorje mountains demonstrate that in the late Middle Ages forests primarily consisted of beech, spruce, fir, oak and ash.54 Unlike the types of wood, we are relatively well familiar with the kinds of semi-products used in construction. References are made to beams or supporting columns (träm, strewholz), planks or floor boards (laden), laths (latten), various types of boards (dillen, pretter) that are sometimes described in further detail as sawn or long and, respectively, as split or short, as well as thick and are occasionally typified with even greater precision (riemling, laden zu drein vinger dick, tafeldiel).55 Records, moreover, may also state their intended purpose (e.g. roofing boards, flooring planks, etc.). The accounts contain especially frequent references to shingles, short split boards that constituted the most common wood roofing. There are, furthermore, sporadic references to various silvicultural works, such as e.g. felling (anschlahen, holczslachen),56 log peeling (schinten),57 rafting (floeczen) and transportation (fueren) of logs (pawm, pain) as well as beams and boards or construction timber.58 Utilisation of mineral resources Second to wood, stone was the most frequently used material in construction. The accounts – in this case, too, the lists of expenditures for construction provide the main source – contain references to treated (carved) and non-treated stone, which was used for construction, as well as to sand and lime, which were used to prepare mortar as a binding agent and plaster. Most data contained in the accounts refer to regular maintenance works, where stone as a construction material and masonry works in general are only rarely mentioned. Most references are made to wood construction, which is understandable, due to lesser durability of wood and the greater exposure of wood parts of buildings (especially roofs, wood panels and external flooring). More detailed inventories of stone constructions can only be found in relation to major construction projects, such as the building of castles, city and castle walls, and so forth, which, however, Šercelj, Razvoj in zgodovina gozdov, 166; Budnar-Tregubov, Palinološko raziskovanje barij, 205, 216; Andrič et al., Land-use changes, p. 1032. The last cited research disposes of the exact radio carbon dating (a relevant sample from ca. 1460), whereas earlier research studies use only an approximate, relative dating technique with regard to the structure of sediments – chiefly by determining the modern layers with a significant decline in beech pollen (substantial thinning of this type of tree for proto-industrial establishments from the end of the 15th to the 18th century). 55 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 5, p. 146. 56 Id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, p. 61; DAK, HS 122, fol. 111’. 57 Lackner, Rechnungsbuch Herzog Albrechts III., p. 81. 58 Id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, p. 60; Bizjak, Žižek, Knjiga obračunov, pp. 70–71. 54


appear only exceptionally in the preserved accounts. Practically the only example of such a large-scale project to be documented in the preserved sources is the construction of the Škofja Loka city walls in 1397–1401.59 With regard to works that were carried out between twenty-five and thirty-three weeks per year, mention is made of numerous labourers: masons, bricklayers, mortar makers and bearers, sand throwers, stonemasons and transporters. The records give some indication of their daily wages or amounts paid for individual works done (e.g. half a mark of solidi for the construction of one fathom of wall60). From quarries that were opened on the seigniorial grounds (nominal reference is made to Hrastnica in the lower Poljanska dolina valley, approximately 2 km away from the town, and the yet-to-be localised Newen vorst) and from nearby gravel pits, thousands of carts of carved stone bricks, non-treated stone, sand and lime were transported for the construction purposes. A detailed description of burning lime, which the Škofja Loka seigniory acquired from the local limestone and dolomite, has been preserved in an account produced half a century later. Based on this source, as well as the inventory of tenant duties for individual parts of the seigniory, it is possible to make a fairly accurate reconstruction of the entire progress of the works. Lime burning, or the preparation of individual lime kilns, was regulated by a contract concluded between the seigniory and the master. The latter was in charge with the preparation of the lime kiln, i.e. a pit which he lined with a mixture of braided wicker and clay, and stacked with stone, creating a dome-like structure at the base, which served as a burner and supported the entire construction. The contract also regulated other works, such as pre-carriage of stone, chopping and pre-carriage of firewood, making fire, setting up safety rails and on-carriage of lime, which were relatively well paid and were partly carried out by nearby tenants as part of their duties.61 In some parts of the Slovenian territory, especially in Upper Carniola, the exploitation of iron ore was substantial during the Middle Ages. For the most part, it was the easily available bog iron (limonite), which is most often deposited on or just below the surface, in rock fractures, chasms and so forth. Such ore was extracted in the Julian Alps, Jelovica and Pokljuka or, to put it differently, in the territories of the seigniories Bled, Radovljica and Škofja Loka.62 Before the duke gradually introduced the ducal right to mines and ironworks in the 16th century due to the ever increasing scope and profitability of the ironworks industry, iron production was carried out under the auspices of seigniories. Initially, the tenants melted the iron ore in primitive wind furnaces, more or less for their own personal needs and only occasionally handed over a share of their production to the seigniory in the form of duties.63 In the 14th century, the first real miners’ and ironworkers’ colonies began 59 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, pp. 26–28; id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, pp. 36–37, 46–47; cf. also Blaznik, Loško mestno obzidje, pp. 15–17. 60 Id., Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, p. 46. 61 Id., Apnarstvo na loškem ozemlju, pp. 34ff. 62 Mohorič, Dva tisoč let železarstva, pp. 38ff. 63 In 1291, four tenants in Mojstrana paid their dues to the Škofja Loka seigniory in iron, Blaznik, Urbarji freisinške škofije, 166; a certain smith in Mozirje was paying 2 centals of steel in 1497 as a tithe, NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register prejemkov gospostva Gornji Grad fol. 8’.

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to appear in sources (Železniki, Jesenice), where the production of iron operated on a significantly larger scale. In accordance with the privilege granted to them by their seignior, the ironworkers paid him an annual sum of money for the right to exploit the iron ore.64 In seigniorial accounts, this activity, which completely by-passed seigniorial administration, has left no noticeable trace; there are very few references to individual purchases of iron65 and somewhat more frequent indirect indications through the purchases of tools and materials as well as payments to smiths related to maintenance construction works. A more vivid impression of the scope of iron production in Carniola in the mid-15th century may be obtained from the documents of the other side – the buyers of the aforementioned goods. The book of Anton de Reno de Mutino, a notary from northern adriatic port Rijeka has been preserved from 1436–1461.66 In the said period, Rijeka was one of the main intermediaries in the trade of Carniolan cities with Italy and Dalmatia, where iron probably constituted Carniola’s most important export article. Credit trade, as documented by the aforementioned notary book, amounted according to some hypotheses to merely one-third of the whole trade, with Rijeka most certainly not being the only hub for Carniola’s iron. Nevertheless, the scope of the documented export was considerable. The iron from Carniola was traded by merchants from Ljubljana, Škofja Loka, Kranj and Kamnik. For the sake of illustration, let me cite Šumrada, who estimates that the traffic in malleable iron bearing the Auersperg seal alone amounted to 465 tons in the period of 1437–1460.67 Utilisation of water power Flowing water was the main driving force of all medieval proto-industrial establishments. The latter are seldom referred to directly in the accounts and when they are, they appear in the form of sparing indications merely documenting their existence. In this context, references are usually made to easements or revenue arising from individual seigniorial mills, wheat hullers, sawmills and forges,68 as well as regular maintenance works, such as roofing, repairing of dams,69 purchasing mill stones,70 saw blades,71 and so forth. Most often the existence of craftsmen’s establishments that utilised water power may be inferred indirectly from references to articles produced or processed therein (flour and meal, nails, iron tools and other Blaznik, Škofja Loka, pp. 83–87; Mohorič, Dva tisoč let železarstva, pp. 31ff. AEM, Heck. 164, fol. 3, 9; NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register izdatkov gospostva Gornji Grad, pp. 18, 20. 66 Published in several parts: Gigante, Libri del cancelliere I/1–2; Zjačić, Knjiga riječkog kancelara I–III. 67 Šumrada, Trgovina s turjaškim železom, p. 224. 68 NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 11/9, pp. 47–49. 69 Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1, p. 24. 70 BayHStA, HL 3, rep. 53, fasc. 295, fol. 16’. 71 NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register izdatkov gospostva Gornji Grad, p. 19. 64 65


objects, sawn timber). The existence of a grinder shop is, for instance, made evident from the data on knife sharpening in the Gornji Grad register of expenditures from the end of the 15th century.72 Water flow was also used for transport; the accounts document especially rafting of felled timber from the forests.73 However, water power did not always constitute a manageable energy source; the accounts also provide information on the elimination of the consequences of floods or preventive measures for the protection against overflowing watercourses. Thus, at the end of the 15th century, non-agricultural labour was mentioned in the Celje area, which comprised the construction of dykes or rather the regulation of the Savinja’s riverbed,74 as well as the reparation of a bridge that had been carried away by a freshet.75 Applicability of account books for the discussion of themes from environmental history The overview above provides an indicative presentation of data useful for research in the field of environmental history that one may find, or expect to find, in medieval account books. Potential themes are, quite understandably, first and foremost related to various fields of economic history which do not a priori exclude other spheres of human interference and coexistence with nature. Given that one crucial potential that distinguishes account books and related sources from others is the possibility to perform quantitative research, it is perfectly understandable to also attempt an assessment of this aspect within the framework of environmental studies. In doing so, the above-listed data may be roughly divided into two groups, namely: A) data on the basis of which it is possible to conduct quantitative research at least to a certain extent, and B) data that only enable qualitative analysis.76 The group of data under A) may be subdivided into two further categories, namely: 1) data which enable partial quantification (i.e. that relates only to the part of the whole production which is closely related to the seigniorial economy, but covers relatively evenly the entire territory of present-day Slovenia). This category principally includes agriculture and livestock farming; 2) data which enable quantification only of narrower segments that make up individual activity and are temporally and geographically limited. This category in NŠAL, ŠAL, GG A, fasc. 14, Register izdatkov gospostva Gornji Grad, p. 26. Bizjak, Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2, p. 60; Bizjak, Žižek, Knjiga obračunov, pp. 70–71. 74 Bizjak, Žižek, Knjiga obračunov, pp. 100–101. 75 Ibid., pp. 78–79. 76 Medieval historical sources, in principle, do not enable more complete quantitative research studies. Researchers therefore need to resort to often innovative approaches and conducting combined quantitative-qualitative research. 72 73

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cludes e.g. fishing, which may give us a rough estimate of the annual consumption or purchases of fish by a certain seignior within a short time interval, then the ironworks industry, which facilitates our attempt to estimate the annual production on the basis of exports through a certain distribution centre, and finally the construction sector, which – albeit in very narrow terms – allows us to determine the consumption of individual raw materials within the framework of certain major construction projects. All other groups of data are classified under B) and merely enable qualitative analysis. Here, sources are limited primarily to sporadic indications of activities and occupations that are indicative of a specific type of man-environment interaction, a specific type of plant and animal species that appear in a given environment and have a certain role in economy, as well as a specific type of objects that tell us something about the utilisation of raw materials. The most suitable sources for the use of quantitative methods are, first and foremost, systematic periodical (annual) accounts containing adequately standardised data. In this case, it is almost necessary to dispose of more or less complete multiannual series that enable us to follow changes through time. Qualitative research, on the other hand, demands as variegated and detailed records as possible that are, in principle, found in routine (day-by-day) registers of chiefly expenditures, but also of remunerations. The problem is that an overwhelming majority of such sources, which were generally used as templates for annual accounts and never intended for permanent safekeeping, are now no longer in existence. Occasionally, one may also find detailed descriptions in individual accounts, especially expenditure inventories. In general, it may be concluded that medieval account books provide only to a minor extent an independent or at least main source for solving the problems of environmental history. This partly holds for themes that are strictly related to economic history, particularly the history of agrarian and craft economy. Just like with any other type of sources, here, too, it is possible to significantly increase the revelatory power of accounting documents with the combined use of additional written sources, for the medieval period chiefly land registers and charters. But even more importantly, there is still plenty of unrealised potential in interdisciplinary research, where the data from account books could be supported by the archaeological findings as well as physical, chemical and biological analyses of the acquired material. References Archival sources AEM – Archiv der Erzdiözese München und Freising, München (Germany)

Heckenstalleriana 164, (Ausgabenregister Škofja Loka 1490, 1491).

ARS – Arhiv Republike Slovenije, Ljubljana (Slovenia)

AS 1, Vicedomski urad za Kranjsko, šk. 101 (Obračuni deželnoknežjih uradov na Kranjskem

1436–1439).


BayHStA – Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, München (Germany)

Hochstiftliterale (HL) 3, repertorium (rep.) 53, fasciculum (fasc.) 295 (Abrechnung Škofja Loka 1489, 1490).

DAK – Diözesanarchiv, Klagenfurt/Celovec (Austria) Handschriftenreihe, (HS) 106 (Rechnungsbuch Gurk 1425–1437). Handschriftenreihe, (HS) 122 (Rechnungsbuch Gurk 1438–1452). NŠAL – Nadškofijski arhiv Ljubljana (Slovenia) ŠAL, GG A (Gornji Grad A), fasc. 11/9 (Priročni urbar gospostva Gornji Grad 1476); fasc. 14 (Obračun 1498–1500, Register prejemkov gospostva Gornji Grad 1498–1499, Register izdatkov gospostva Gornji Grad 1506 (?)). Edited sources Bisson, Thomas N., ed. Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia Under the Early Count-Kings (1151–1213). Berkeley,Los Angeles,London, 1984. Bizjak, Matjaž, ed. Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 1. Obračuni gospostev Škofja Loka in Klevevž 1395–1401. Loški razgledi 52 (2005), 11–[ ] (1–28). Bizjak, Matjaž, ed. Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 2. Obračuni gospostev Škofja Loka 1399–1401 in Klevevž 1395–1400. Loški razgledi 53 (2006), 315–368 (29–78). Bizjak, Matjaž, ed. Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 3. Obračuni gospostva Škofja Loka 1437–1439. Loški razgledi 54 (2007), 353–380 (79–104). Bizjak, Matjaž, ed. Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 4. Obračuni gospostva Škofja Loka 1439–1442. Loški razgledi 55 (2008), 435–458 (105–126). Bizjak, Matjaž, ed. Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 5. Obračuni gospostva Škofja Loka 1441–1478. Loški razgledi 56 (2009), 435–462 (127–152). Bizjak, Matjaž, ed. Srednjeveški obračuni freisinške škofije 6. Obračuni gospostva Škofja Loka 1477–1487. Loški razgledi 57 (2010), 385–412 (153–178). Bizjak, Matjaž, ed. Urbarji briksenske škofije 1253–1464. Srednjeveški urbarji za Slovenijo 5. Thesaurus memoriae. Fontes 3. Ljubljana, 2006. Bizjak, Matjaž, Aleksander Žižek, eds. Knjiga obračunov celjskih mestnih sodnikov 1457–1513. Celje, 2010. Blaznik, Pavle, ed. Urbarji freisinške škofije. Srednjeveški urbarji za Slovenijo 4. Viri za zgodovino Slovencev 4. Ljubljana, 1963. Gigante, Silvino, ed. Libri del cancelliere I/1 (1437–1444). Monumenti di storia Fiumana II. Fiume, 1912. Gigante, Silvino, ed. Libri del cancelliere I/2 (1445–1446). Rivista semestrale della societa di studi Fiumani in Fiume 9 (1931), 5–153. Haidacher, Christoph, ed. Die älteren Tiroler Rechnungsbücher. Analyse und Edition (IC. 277, MC. 8) (= 1). Tiroler Geschichtsquellen 33. Innsbruck, 1993. Haidacher, Christoph, ed. Die älteren Tiroler Rechnungsbücher. Analyse und Edition (IC. 278, IC. 279 und Belagerung von Weineck) (= 2). Tiroler Geschichtsquellen 40. Innsbruck, 1998. Haidacher, Christoph, ed. Die älteren Tiroler Rechnungsbücher. Analyse und Edition (IC. 280) (= 3). Tiroler Geschichtsquellen 52. Innsbruck, 2007. Hirsch, Theodor, Max Töppen, Ernst Strehlke, eds. Scriptores rerum Preussicarum. Die Geschichtsquellen der preussischen Vorzeit. Bd. III. Leipzig, 1866. Joachim, Erich, ed. Das Marienburger Tresslerbuch der Jahre 1399–1409. Königsberg i. Pr., 1896. Kos, Milko, ed. Urbarji Slovenskega primorja 2. Srednjeveški urbarji za Slovenijo 3. Viri za zgodovino Slovencev 3. Ljubljana, 1954. Lackner, Christian, ed. Ein Rechnungsbuch Herzog Albrechts III. von Österreich. Edition und Textanalyse. Studien und Forschungen aus dem niederösterreichischen Institut für Landeskunde 23. Wien, 1996.

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Mlinarič, Jože, ed. Gradivo za zgodovino Maribora XVII. (= Davčni registri in obračunske knjige 1452–1593). Maribor, 1991. Orožen, Ignaz. Das Benediktiner-Stift Oberburg. Das Bistum und die Diözese LavantII/1. Marburg: privately published, 1876. Otorepec, Božo, ed. Gradivo za zgodovino Ljubljane VIII. Ljubljana, 1963. Otorepec, Božo, ed. Gradivo za zgodovino Ljubljane IX. Ljubljana, 1964. Otorepec, Božo, ed. Gradivo za zgodovino Ljubljane X. Ljubljana, 1965. Otorepec, Božo, ed. Gradivo za zgodovino Mokronoga v srednjem veku. In: Bregar, Marjeta, ed. Trg Mokronog skozi stoletja (= Zbornik župnije Mokronog 2). Mokronog, 2003, 183–214. Otorepec, Božo, ed. Izbrano gradivo za zgodovino gozdarstva na slovenskem v srednjem veku. Viri za zgodovino gozda in gozdarstva na Slovenskem VIII. Ljubljana, 1995. Zjačić, Mirko, ed. Knjiga riječkog kancelara i notara Antuna de Reno de Mutina (1436–1461) I–III. Vijesnik državnog arhiva u Rijeci 3 (1955–1956), 5–343; 4 (1957), 89–225; 5 (1959), 257–459. Literature Andrič, Maja, Martinčič, Andrej, Štular, Benjamin, Petek, Franci, Goslar, Tomasz. Land-use changes in the Alps (Slovenia) in the fifteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries AD. A comparative study of the pollen record and historical data. The Holocene 20 (2010), 1023–1037 (http://hol.sagepub.com/content/20/7/1023). Bizjak, Matjaž. Apnarstvo na loškem ozemlju v luči srednjeveških virov. Loški razgledi 44 (1997), 34–45. Bizjak, Matjaž. Ratio facta est. Gospodarska struktura in poslovanje poznosrednjeveških gospostev na Slovenskem. Thesaurus memoriae. Dissertationes 2. Ljubljana, 2003. Blaznik, Pavle. Loško mestno obzidje, Loški razgledi 4 (1957), 15–23. Blaznik, Pavle. Stare prometne povezave med Škofjo Loko in Freisingom. Loški razgledi 15 (1968), 49–55. Blaznik, Pavle. Škofja Loka in loško gospostvo (973–1803). Škofja Loka, 1973. Budnar-Tregubov, Ana. Palinološko raziskovanje barij na Pokljuki in Pohorju. Geologija 4 (1958), 197–220. Chmel, Joseph. Aus einem Rationarium und Diplomatarium der Grafen von Görz aus den Jahren 1398 und 1402. Notizenblatt. Beilage zum Archiv für Kunde österreichischer Geschichtsquellen 3 (1853), 290–296, 311–320. Dasler, Clemens. Forst und Wildbann im frühen deutschen Reich. Die königlichen Privilegien für die Reichskirche vom 9. bis zum 12. Jahrhundert. Köln, Weimar, Wien, 2001. Edwards, John Richard. A History of Financial accounting. London, New York, 1989. Herkov, Zlatko. Dodatak uz stare mjere hrvatskog primorja i Istre. Jadranski zbornik 12 (1982–1985), 459–521. Jones, Michael John. Origins of medieval Exchequer accounting. Accounting, Business & Financial History 19 (2009), 259–285. Kaspert, Anton. Ueber die Lage der oberkrainischen Bauernschaft im Ausgange des XV. und im Anfange des XVI. Jahrh. Mittheilungen des Musealvereines für Krain 2 (1889), 69–148. Mohorič, Ivan. Dva tisoč let železarstva na Gorenjskem I–II. Ljubljana, 1969–1970. Natek, Marjeta, Kladnik, Drago. Vinorodna območja. In: Geografski atlas Slovenije. Država v prostoru in času. Ed. Jerneja Fridl, Drago Kladnik, Milan Orožen Adamič and Drago Perko. Ljubljana, 1998, p. 209. Novak, Vilko: Živinoreja. In: Gospodarska in družbena zgodovina Slovencev. Zgodovina agrarnih panog I. Ljubljana, 1970, 343–394. Paravicini, Werner. Die Preussenreisen des europäischen Adels. Beihefte der Francia 17. Sigmaringen, 1995. Penndorf, B[alduin]. Geschichte der Buchhandlung in Deutschland. Frankfurt am Main, 1966. Ricker, Manfred. Beiträge zur älteren Geschichte der Buchhaltung in Deutschland. In: Betriebswirtschaftliche Aufschlüsse aus der Fuggerzeit (= Nürnberger Abhandlungen zu den Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften 25). Berlin, 1967, 111–195.


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Pantone 342

Pantone 285

ISBN 978-961-237-723-6

789612 377236

Tracing flood histories is one example for the challenges of writing environmental histories in Central Europe. Two quite different sets of skills are needed. One set is the historian’s craft. The historian works at making sense of sources, constructing a compelling narrative from chaotic facts, tracing human appreciation of the Danube, human uses of the Danube, human interventions into the Danube … . The skills of the landscape ecologist, the hydrologist, the historical geographer, the geomorphologist and many other natural scientists are needed for the second building block. We need reconstructions of past riverine landscapes, ecosystems, of paleo-meanders and we need a chronology to answer questions of cause and effect – what was first, the intervention or the problem? Without knowing about the substrate of perceptions of historical actors, we cannot evaluate their perceptions for our narrative. How does the river the newspapers are talking about actually look like? Very different from how we perceive it today. Both are necessary, none is more important, both skills are of equal importance for an environmental history of the Danube River Basin. (Verena Winiwarter)

Zbirka_ZC_Man_Nature_Environ.indd 1

zbirka48

(Miha Kosi)

Man, Nature and Environment between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in Premodern Times

=Ā

In the immediate vicinity of the medieval Ljubljana there were extensive woodlands, stretching far into the hills in the southeast and northwest. … The greater part of Ljubljana’s supply with wood, however, came from areas further away, 15–20 kilometres from the city. … In the time of need, as during the threat from Ottoman incursions in 1478, when Ljubljana was strenghtening its fortifications, the king allowed the citizens unlimited use of wood from any forests in the immediate vicinity. … [A] unique source … dates back to 1510, the time of war between Austria and the Republic of Venice. Therein Emperor Maximilian … ordered his captain in Ljubljana that he should, together with the citizens, enclose or fence … forests and prohibit the cutting, so that the young trees could grow and the forests could flourish again, to provide for the needs of his city and castle in the future.

Man, Nature and Environment

9

between the Northern Adriatic and the Eastern Alps in Premodern Times

9 771408 353005

36,00 €

48

zbirka48

=Ā

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