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and which was probably established
during the Lombard period, before the end of the eighth
century. The Ptuj castle or fortress is older and probably had antecedents in Antiquity. The
biographer of archbishop Conrad of Salzburg (1106–1147) reported that an old castle stood in
Ptuj, long since in ruins, which the archbishop rebuilt “to the state it is seen in today.” The
local Salzburg ministerials, the subsequently very powerful lords of Ptuj, took their name
from this castle as early as 1137. The same archbishop rebuilt Rajhenburg, which was the
most southerly Salzburg castle, and began to build a castle “from its foundations” in Leibnitz,
in the south of present-day Austrian Styria. The biographer states that all three castles were
built by the archbishop as a first line of defence against the Hungarians, with whom there was
peace, but not necessarily mutual trust. And Conrad’s zeal for construction did not end there.
The castle at Friesach, which he had completed, fortified and decorated “so that it seemed
more like an imperial than an episcopal residence,” is a good example of the symbolic role of
some castles in the Central Middle Ages.
Castles were also the centre of the border marches that were formed in the Alpine-
Adriatic region in the middle of the tenth century. This is well illustrated by the
correspondence between the names of the marches and their most important castles. The link
between the March of Carniola (Krain, Kranjska) and the castle in the march or krajina
(Chrainburg, Kranj), seat of the margrave, is particularly clear. Similarly, the March of Drava
was centred on a “castle in the march” (i.e. Marchburg/Maribor) and the castle of Ptuj gave its
name to the March of Ptuj (marchia Pitouiensi), while in the first half of the twelfth century
the annals of the Styrian monastery at Admont referred to Günter Haimburg-Hohenwart as the
margrave of Cilli (marchio de Cyli), though his actual title was margrave of Savinja (marchio
de Soune). At another level, Ljubljana castle held a similar role as the economic,
administrative and judicial centre of the Spanheims’ large Ljubljana seigneury. This largely
encompassed the parts of the Ljubljana basin south of the Sava within view of the castle. In
the middle of the twelfth century, Ljubljana castle was the residence of the duke’s brother, but
a century later it was expressly stated as one of the Spanheim’s main castles (castrum
capitale). This designation also indicates that it was locally predominant over the smaller
ministerial castles, which were usually in the form of a tower, a universal element in castle
buildings, on the borders of the Ljubljana seigneury: at Jeterbenk, Polhov Gradec, Falkenberg,
Ig, Osterberg-
Sostro, perhaps also Goričane, and occasionally that at Turjak, originally a free
noble castle.
The importance of castles to the identity of noble dynasties can be seen from the fact
that nobles began to take their names from their castles. Many have heard of the former ruling
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dynasty of the Habsburgs, which, of course,
exists to this day, yet few are aware that their
surname derives from the castle of Hab(icht)sburg (fortress of the hawk), which was
originally built by one of their ancestors in the first half of the eleventh century, near Brugg in
modern-day Switzerland. This naming after castles was only the most evident expression of a
profound and long-lasting change in the structure of the nobility, surmised by the German
saying ‘von Sippe zu Geschlecht’ (‘from clans to lineage’). Before the turn of the millennium,
the nobility was based more on family or clan than on lineage. These clans were largely
known by the name most commonly taken by their leaders, such as the Aribones named after
Aribo, the Sighardings named after Sig(e)hard, the Otakars after Otakar, without particular
mention of the Frankish Merovingians or Carolingians. Cognate ties predominated at the time,
in contrast to the agnate (i.e. male-line) successions that are still found today, and relations
within a single generation were more important than the tracing of lineage. By marrying into a
powerful noble family, an individual could rapidly acquire power and reputation, despite the
fact that this meant in part the loss of their personal identity. The appearance of ‘strongholds’
or castles as noble residences and centres of their own seigneuries, which passed down the
male line (usually through the eldest son), finally led to the application of the agnate
principle.
The eleventh and above all the twelfth centuries were the prime period for the
establishment of castles as noble residences and centres of seigneuries, although on the
territory of today’s Slovenia, the construction of castles really flourished between the middle
of the twelfth and the middle of the thirteenth centuries. A castle’s location was determined by
geography, communications and strategy, and symbolism. The symbolic and strategic criteria
led to the classic castle of the Central Middle Ages located on a high point, though
undoubtedly they also existed in other forms. A castle was therefore physically separated from
the village, although the higher noble residents still partially lived according to the rhythms of
peasant life. For example, pepper, which was worth a fortune at that time, was only available
to the very richest, yet it was not enough to feed them; to eat they still needed crops from
local peasants’ fields. The nobility that lived in medieval castles was very heterogeneous,
which was also reflected in the diversity of castle residences. Until the end of the twelfth
century, there were still relatively few castles and only a select few – the richest and most
notable princely and comital families from the ranks of the high nobility – could afford to
build them. The lower nobles, ministerials and the even lower ranking Einschildritter knights
(a term meaning literally ‘one-shield knight’ and referring to the lowest rank of noble who
could receive a fief but not grant one) lived in towers that in many places remained part of the