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repeated three years later, when the Turks again crossed the territory of defenceless Bosnia
and broke into southern part of Carniola, named as White Carniola (Bela Krajina), where they
looted the surroundings of Metlika and the area of Črnomelj. The pressure applied on Bosnia
by the Hungarian king led some years later to individual Bosnian nobles making terms with
the Turks. In 1415, they together encroached on Hungarian territory as far as Lake Balaton.
Smaller divisions separated from the main body, one of which reached Ljubljana. In the same
year, after the Hungarian army’s retaliatory attack on Bosnia had failed, Turkish troops
pursuing the retreating Christian army invaded once again, this time into Cilli lands in Styria
and Carniola. Turkish incursions into Slovene territory, which represented the furthest extent
of the major raids in Croatia and Hungary, nevertheless strongly marked the consciousness of
the Christian population of the Inner Austrian lands, who were now aware that a serious force,
foreign and completely unknown, threatened to destroy them. Expressions for the Turks, such
as arch-enemies of Christ’s name, evil tyrants, attack dogs, birds of death, beggars,
firestarters and similar, became common among every social stratum. News of possible
further attacks by Turkish troops became a constant feature after 1415. Many attacks were
completely imaginary, however, and another fifty years passed before pillagers came rushing
from the south-east once more.
The military situation (primarily the Turkish invasions) revealed that the Länder were
completely unprotected. The military system, which was typically medieval, was based on the
local feudal (chivalrous) cavalry and reserves (universal conscription). Feudal lords, who
primarily defended their own possessions, began to reinforce the castles, and princes who
controlled market towns and cities issued orders to renovate or reconstruct town walls and
city fortresses (e.g. Ljubljana in 1416 and 1448, Maribor in 1437, Slovenj Gradec in 1448).
From this time on, the Estates strived at every territorial diet to put in place a defensive
system that would enable the protection of the entire Land. At the Reichstag in Nuremberg in
1431, at the general diet of the Inner Austrian Estates (Styria, Carinthia and Carniola) in Graz
in 1445, and at the Styrian diet in Leibnitz in 1462, defensive systems were put in place that
gave the territorial army a more permanent form. For the nobility, participation in the army
was not determined individually, but was measured in relation to the noble’s material power.
Every landowner in a Land was part of the defence system, even if they did not reside there,
as was the case for many of the ecclesiastical seigneuries; the Salzburg, Freising, Bamberg,
Lavantine and other dioceses owned considerable properties in individual Länder, but their
sees were elsewhere. For each 100 or 200 pfunden of income from landed possessions, the lay
or ecclesiastical lords had to appoint one cavalryman and a set number of infantrymen. The
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participation of bondsmen in the army was determined by a system of proportional
conscription. Depending on the perceived threat, every 30
th
, 20
th
, 10
th
, 5
th
or even every 3
rd
man fit to bear arms was called up. The
Länder were divided into operative areas or quarters,
with quarter-captains (Viertelhauptsmann) appointed, while at the Land level, overall military
command was usually assumed by the Landshauptmann and his deputy. Towns were required
to provide their own defence, and organise an infantry corps proportionate to their size. The
prince was also required to send a set number of cavalry for the defence of the Land. This
military system, which was not entirely equipped to endure the testing military hardships of
the second half of the fifteenth century, nonetheless at least provided an organisational and
financial basis that raised defence to the level of the Land. The Styrian, Carinthian and
Carniolan Estates had given the Länder an institutional form that made it possible to create
closer defence links between them.
THE WARS OF FREDERICK III, TURKISH INVASIONS AND PEASANT
DISSATISFACTION
The wars in which Frederick III (prince of Inner Austria from 1439, emperor 1452–
1493) became involved stretched far beyond the boundaries of individual
Länder, and the
funds he accrued from his own lands and through exercising his rights relating to minting,
mining, and forests were insufficient to meet his needs. He began to demand further revenue
from the Estates, which were only liable to provide for the defence of the individual Länder.
The prince became more and more dependent on the Estates in relation to internal territorial
issues, but was still able to raise the funds required to pursue dynastic policy. The ruler was
forced in part to seek additional money by the numerous developments and innovations in the
military sphere, such as the introduction of gunpowder, new military techniques and tactics,
and the mercenary forces which began to dominate on the battlefield.
The death of Ulrich, last of the house of Cilli, in 1456, allowed Frederick III to
enforce the successorial pact and add the considerable Cilli lands to
the Habsburg
possessions, lands which had largely freed themselves from the dominance of Habsburg
princes due to the power of the Cilli dynasty. An existing dispute with Ladislas, the king of
Hungary and Bohemia, and the last member of the Albertiner Habsburg line, brought
Hungarian troops into Slovene-inhabited territory. After a year-long war spread across
Carinthia, Styria and Carniola for the Cilli possessions, Frederick finally achieved almost total
victory. With the elimination of the count of Gorizia – who was aiming to gain control of the