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village. Lower noble families only started to build castles in larger numbers in the thirteenth
century. At the same time, a significant section of the lower nobility – the ministerials – were
starting to liberate themselves of personal dependence and restrictions. In Styria, the freedom
of ministerials to marry was recognised, in 1237, by a charter from Emperor Frederick II, and
legally they became equal with the higher, free nobility. In Carinthia and Carniola, this
occurred somewhat later, though not much later, as the general (territorial) peace issued in
December 1276 by King Rudolf
I for the former Otakar II Přemysl lands deemed “counts,
barons, and ministerials” as equals. By the fourteenth century, the nobility in Slovene territory
was already legally equal, and in the following century began to decide equally on matters of
the Land. This was the start of the institutionalised Estates of the Land, divided within into
“lords” and “knights and squires”. Although legally equal, there remained differences in
wealth, title and repute between different members of the nobility – who remained small in
number at every level throughout the Middle Ages. Mobility between these noble ranks was
not unknown, however.
As in the Early Middle Ages, the nobility remained extremely international throughout
the Central and Late Middle Ages. This applies particularly to the high, dynastic nobility,
whose family ties spread throughout Europe. As indicated by specific examples before the
turn of the millennium, Slavic higher nobles from today’s Slovene territory were able to enter
the ranks of the mainly Germanic speaking higher nobility. One typical characteristic of the
nobility was the high level of intermarriage between houses. The claim, long accepted, that all
the major noble dynasties of the Central and Middle Ages ruling Slovene territory were not
Slovene therefore only means that the founders of these houses came from elsewhere to make
it their homeland. Even the greatest of the noble houses, the Habsburgs, came to ‘their
Austria’ as foreigners from ‘Switzerland’. Defining medieval aristocrats in terms of modern
concepts, such as national consciousness, can only lead to major and completely unnecessary
misapprehensions and confusion, which create prejudices and lead to a misunderstanding of
the spirit of medieval times. The counts and princes of Cilli are often understood and
proclaimed – even as a counterweight to a ‘German’ nobility – as a Slovene dynasty and even
as bearers of a Yugoslav ideal, which is as anachronistic as proclaiming them Germans by
national consciousness. There existed at most a consciousness of belonging to a ‘German’
state that was expressly multinational. The eminent position of the Cilli dynasty in Slovene
history is not therefore based on these criteria, but on the fact that they had their residence,
their castle and their court in Celje – in the modern-day Slovenia – where they lived for
generations, and from where their formed their lordship and governed it. The same applies to
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the remaining ‘Slovene’ higher noble dynasties: their place in Slovene history derives from
their role in the history of the Slovene territory.
By language, the higher nobility on Slovene land were predominantly Germanic,
although some examples indicate that Slovene was understood and spoken in these circles.
For example, in 1227, the duke of Carinthia, Bernhard of Spanheim, allegedly welcomed the
renowned Styrian knight-poet, Ulrich of Lichtenstein to Carinthia with the words “Bog vas
sprejmi, kraljica Venus” (“God welcome you, Queen Venus” – Ulrich is said to have been
dressed for a chivalric tournament with a helmet with a depiction of Venus). Similar testimony
is provided by a preserved letter of 1480 written in Serbian to Leonhard, the last count of
Goriz
ia, by Katarina Branković, widow of Ulrich, the last of the Cillis; the letter indicates that
the Gorizian knew a Slavic language; he may have learnt it at the Cilli court, where Katarina
had known him in her childhood. The lower nobles must have been even more familiar with
the language of their Slovene surroundings, particularly those exercising patrimonial
jurisdiction, as it is not otherwise possible to imagine how they would exercise their
jurisdiction over the subject peasants of their seigneury. This assumption is supported by an
appeal by the Estates of Carniola from 1527 against the prince’s appointment of a captain’s
deputy who was not of the Land and “who did not know Slovene, which has always applied.”
The captain’s deputy was the second highest office in the Land and generally presided over
the court of nobles. The tenor of the appeal implies that at least the majority of the Carniolan
nobility knew Slovene, as this requirement would otherwise close the door to prestigious
offices of the Land. Most of the nobility was at least bilingual, and in some areas – especially
in Istria and on the border with Friuli – even trilingual, although German predominated in
speech, and even more in writing.
Peasants and Villages
The process of legal standardisation did not only affect the nobility. In
the Late Middle
Ages, the legal status of the peasant population became gradually equated with the status of
bondage. Previously, from the tenth to thirteenth century, there had been major differences
among this population, covering a wide range of different ranks from “freeman” (homo liber)
to “bondsman” (homo proprius). The social structure of the rural population in the Late
Middle Ages was characterised by the fact that membership of one level or group or another
was transferred from generation to generation, irrespective of whether or not an individual’s
role had changed significantly. The emphasis was on one’s status at birth; subsequently a