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because they were more isolated. The Slovene name
derives from the term rovt, a cleared area
of forest in less accessible, higher altitude areas, which also gives its names to one of the
major Slovene dialect groups. Specific terms relating to this colonisation and the related
ethnic process are the Slavic and Bavarian mansi (hoba sclavanisca, hoba bavarica), which
according to previous understanding expresses the two-tier nature of the settlers of the time –
with Slavic mansi corresponding to those held by indentured servants (hoba servilis), and the
Bavarian mansi to those held by freemen (hoba libera), which were also larger. In fact it is
probably just an ethnic differentiation, existing only in areas with a mixed ethnic structure.
In order to gain a simpler and, above all, a more tangible insight into these complex
processes, the Škofja Loka seigneury of the Freising bishops in Carniola serves as a sound
example. The Freising Škofja Loka seigneury is the most suited of all seigneuries in the
Slovene territory for studying a number of historical processes at the micro-level: the quality
of the sources is very satisfactory and covers the span from the royal grants of the tenth and
eleventh centuries via numerous documents to a continuing series of urbarial records from the
Central and Late Middle Ages; in the historiography, the seigneury is treated in an exemplary
and thorough manner; furthermore, the Škofja Loka seigneury was a unitary territory covering
a notable 500 km
2
The roots of the seigneury go back to 973 when Emperor II granted Abraham, the
bishop of Freising – the same bishop in whose pontificale (a book of episcopal liturgy) the
Freising Manuscripts were written – two gifts comprising a large, unitary territorial complex
in the centre of Carniola. The continued consolidation and subsequent gifts that followed in
the first half of the eleventh century enlarged the Freising Škofja Loka seigneury, combining
separate estates into a cogent whole, such that later it experienced little change in terms of
territory. The seigneury was essentially composed of very productive flatlands in the heart of
upper Carniola, south of the Sava between Kranj and Škofja Loka and of two valleys that
reached into the hilly, pre-Alpine world. The centre of the seigneury, Škofja Loka, developed
at the confluence of the rivers flowing down the two valleys, at a point where the westerly
hilly region opened up east towards the flatlands. These flatlands lay on the route (via
Chreinariorum) leading from the Karavanke passes towards Pannonia and Croatia. It was also
the meeting place for routes leading west via both valleys and via the passes to the watershed
between the Sava and the Soča (Isonzo). Both were of some importance for traffic between
Friuli (particularly Cividale) and the western regions. Although the seigneury was never
exempt from the public jurisdiction of the margrave and hence of the prince of Carniola, the
, which is also quite representative of the Slovene settlement area in terms
of its geographical structures.
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Freising bishops had completely free reign within the seigneury in terms of economic and
administrative measures. On this basis, the bishops could lead a systematic colonisation
process, the purpose of which was to intensify the economy of the acquired territories. First,
they had to replace the structure of very extensive arable farming established by the existing
Slavic population with the more intensive mansus system. The land, particularly on the
flatlands and wider parts of the two valleys was reorganised, returned to its previous users in
the form of mansi and co-ordinated into new administrative units – probably based around the
old centres of the župe – which were administered by suppani (župani). Older Latin texts refer
to such units as officia, while more recent German and Slovene texts use the terms Supp and
župa. However, the local population was soon insufficient to satisfy the requirements of the
new colonisation process, and so the Freising bishop brought in new settlers from other areas.
The balance of this successful and intense 150 year-long effort is seen in the Noticia Bonorum
de Lonka, the oldest urbarial record from modern-day Slovene territory (1160). By that time,
the seigneury comprised over 300 mansi and similar units; the highest estimates put the total
population of the seigneury at 2,300, though in all likelihood it was lower. Of these people,
more than one third were from elsewhere. The local Slavs (Sclavi) occupied just under 160
mansi, largely in the two valleys. The bishop allowed settlers from Bavaria (
Bauuari) –
probably from the Friesing estates there – to settle in the flatlands, and to occupy over 90
mansi, which were later organised as a special Bavarian
officium. A smaller group of settlers
came from Carinthia (Carentani) and settled near the hillier ground on around 15 mansi. The
Carinthian group largely comprised Slavs from Freising estates in Carinthia, probably around
Wörthersee.
In less than 150 years, by 1291 when the next land survey was made on the Škofja
Loka seigneury, colonisation had advanced so quickly that it was almost complete. All
available land that could be cultivated had already been divided. The next two medieval land
surveys – in 1318 and 1501 – indicate only minimal growth of new mansi compared to 1291.
From 1160 to 1291, the number of mansi increased almost fourfold (from around 300 to
1,181). The flatlands where the Bavarians had settled were already so completely settled at
that time, that there was not even space for one more mansus in the following centuries. This
turned the colonising process towards the interior of the two valleys, and even into hills up to
1,200 m above sea level. The settlers involved in this remote high-altitude colonisation were
usually recruited from the surplus valley population, so it did not lead to changes in the ethnic
structure. This is also generally true of the Škofja Loka seigneury – with one exception. In the
final quarter of the thirteenth century, the Freising bishop allowed farmers from Innichen in