Carniola as described in Historic Encyclopedias



Pierer 1857-1865, Meyer 1902-1909





Pierer's Universal-Lexikon 1857-1865, Article : Krain
Carniola (Krainskia, Carnia), Austrian crownland, until 1850 duchy, belonging to the former Kingdom of Illyria, borders on Carinthia, Styria, Croatia, the Military Frontier, Gradisca and Gorizia, 181.47 square miles. Mountain ranges : Carnian and Julian Alps; the highest mountain is the 9378 feet high Terglou on the northern border. In the Julian Alps there are innumerable caves (Kleinhäuslerhöhle, the Adelsberg Grottoes, Kanzianhöhle; notable the rock formation at the quarries of St. Kanzian). Rivers : the Sava and her tributaries Kulpa, Zayer, Kanker, Feistritz, Leibnitz, Gurk; several lakes : Lake Czirknitz, Feldes, Wochein); good forests (Birnbaum Forest), because of the rocky consistence of the soil little agriculture, limited viticulture, but the cultivation of flax, beekeeping, livestock keeping : cattle, horses, sheep. Mining : iron, lead, mercury, cinnabar, coal, turf, marble. Railroads : 19 miles of the southern state line (Vienna - Trieste). Population : 505,886 (1855), for the larger part Slavic, but also many Germans, who are known as the Gottscheers, dominant confession the Catholic one. Trade mainly conducted by the Gottscheers. Exported are iron, steel, nails, wire, wooden products, class, linen, hats, mercury, oxen for the purpose of slaughter etc. Capital Laibach. Carniola used to be divided in three circles, Laibach, Adelsberg and Neustadtl. But since the introduction of the administrative reform of 1850 it is divided in 10 districts (Bezirkshauptmannschaften) : Adelsberg, Gottschee, Krainburg, Laibach, Neustadt, Ratmannsdorf, Stein, Treffen, Tschernembl, Wippach.
Carniola was populated by the Carnians who settled the country coming from Friuli and the County of Gorizia. After the Carnians it was successively conquered by the Carnutes, Illyrians, Pannonians, finally by the Romans, Vandals, Lombards, Slavs, Huns and the Franks. The Lombards appointed separate dukes for Friuli and Carniola. When Duke Pommo was appointed in 737, the Carniolans seem to have thown off Lombard rule and placed themselves under the rule of Duke Boruth of Carinthia, while Friuli remained under Lombard rule. Boruth sought the protection of the Frankish kings, and as a token of his loyalty he sent his son Chetimar to Bavaria, to have him raised as a Christian. In 751 Pippin appointed Carastus duke in the place of his father Boruth; after Carastus' deah in 754 his brother Chetimar was recalled from Bavaria. The latter was accompanied by priest Majoran, by whom Christianity was spread in Carniola. Chetimar was succeeded by Baldung, who was succeeded in 788 by Erich, appointed by Charlemagne as the first duke of Carniola and Friuli. From 800 to 1165 20 Imperial stadholders followed, who in most cases also were dukes of Carinthia. After the death of the last of these, Henry IV., Emperor Frederick I. separated Carniola from Carinthia, and granted it as a hereditary fief to Margraves of Carniola who had their residence in Krainburg. When their line went extinct with Friedrich IV., the land fell to Friedrich II. of Austria, whose faher Leopold earlier had purchased several estates in the country. When the House of Babenberg went extinct in Ausria in 1236, Carniola fell to Ulrich II. Duke of Carinthia; since 1255 country vice judges (Landesvicedome) for Carniola appread in uninterrupted line, who administrated the revenues of the domains, and were assisted by counselors (Landesräte). Ulrich, bypassing his brother Philipp, chose Ottokar King of Bohemia as his heir, who held on to Carniola from 1269 to the time of his death. After the latter had been defeated and slain, Rudolf von Habsburg in 1282 made his son Albrecht I. Duke of Austria, Styria and Carniola; but the larger part of the country was held by Count Meinhard of Tyrol, in part as an annex to Carinthia, in part as estates which had been pawned to him by the Emperor. When the line of the Counts of Tyrol went extinct in 1335, and Albert IV. Count of Gorizia by testament determined his inheritance, which included a number of estates in Carniola, to fall to the Austrian dukes, all of Carniola, but also Istria and Mödling came under Austrian rule. The reform of 1747 abolished the positions of country vice judge and counselors, and instead a country president (Landespräsident) and a country government (Landesgubernium) instituted. In the Peace of Vienna 1809 Carniola was ceded to France, soon after allocated to the Illyrian Provinces, the governor general of which had his residence in Laibach. After 1813 fell back to Austria; in 1816 it was integrated into the Kingdom of Illyria, part of which it remained until 1850 when Carniola was made a separate crownland. Coat of arms : a crowned eagle, on his breast and stretched-out wings a half moon checkered in red and white.
source in German, posted by Zeno


Meyers Grosses Conversations-Lexikon 1902-1909, Article : Krain
Carniola, Austrian crownland, borders in the north on Carinthia, in the northeast on Styria, in the southeast and south on Croatia, in the west on Istria and Gorizia, and has an area of 9955 square km (180.8 square miles). Carniola for the most part is mountain country; its main decline is from nothwest to southeast; it belongs in part to the Alps, in part to the Karst region. In the north and northwest rise the Julian Alps which belong to the southern Limestone Alps with the Triglav (2864 m), Mangart and others; the Karawanken which strech along the border to Carinthia, in a steep bald chain (Stou 2239 m) and the Steiner Alpen (Grintouz 2559 m), which toward the Sava end in low forested mountains. The valleys of the Idria and Soraseparate the Julian Alps from the Karst, of which the northern extensions, he Birnbaum Forest (Nanos 1300 m), the Krainer Schneeberg (1796 m), the Hornwald (Hornbühel 1100 m) and the Uskoken Mountains (1181 m) belong to Carniola. The largest part of Carniola belongs to the catchment basin of the Sava; only the western slope of the Karst belongs to that of the Adriatic Sea (mit the Idria and Wippach, tributaries of the Isonzo, and the Reka-Timavo). The Sava is formed in the country by the Wochein Sava and Wurzen Sava near Radmannsdorf. Her tributaries in Carniola include from the right he Sora, Laibach and Gurk, from the left the Kanker and Steiner Feistritz. The most curious of these tributaries is the cave river Laibach. In the area where the springs of the Sava are found there are the beautiful mountain lakes of Wochein, Veldes and Weissenfels. Lake Zirknitz in the Karst is the most famous of the periodic lakes. As far as Carniola has Karst character, it is traversed by caves; of great fame is the Grotto of Adelsberg; others are Magdalena Groto, Planina Cave and others. The climate in the northern part (Oberkrain) is cold Alpine climate, the southeastern part between Sava and Kulpa (Unterkrain) has a mild climate in the valleys; the Karst is the roughest, coldest part of the country. The average annual temperature in Laibach is 9.4 degrees Celsius, in Rudolfswerth 9.8 degrees. Precipitation is high, in Laibach 142 cm; thunderstorms frequent.
In 1890 the population numbered 498,958, in 1900 508,150 souls. Thus an increase in the last 10 years of only 1.84 %. Per square km 51 inhabitants. By nationality the vast majority (94 %) belong to the southern Slavic tribe of the Slovenes. Only the district Gottschee forma a German linguistic island of about 15,000 Germans; further Germans live in the capital and in a few other places (in total 28,177). The inhabitants are almost exclusively Roman Catholics and belong to the diocese of Laibach. The main occupation of the population is agriculture (73.5 % of the economically active persons), but does not cover the country's consumption. Of the entire area only 4.5 % are unproductive, 44.4 % are forest, only 14.8 % are farmland. More extended are meadows and pastures (17 % each). The harvest in 1903 was 817,983 metric centreweight cereals (besides the main grain species a lot of maize), 155,670 hl buckwheat, 137,097 hl millet, 62,562 hl legumes, 1,872,127 metric centreweight potatos, 3833 metr. ctr. flax, 1068 metr. ctr. hemp, 1,433,320 metr. ctr. fodder beets, 252,529 metr. ctr. cabbage, 834,026 metr. ctr. clover hay, 4.546,350 metr. ctr. grass hay, 61,265 metr. ctr. fruit, 148,755 hl wine. Livestock count of 1900 : 24,821 horses, 253,839 head of cattle, 38,629 sheep, 6384 goats, 107,836 pigs, further 41,699 beehives.
Among the mining products, the production of mercury at Idria takes first place. 1903 833,206 metr. ctr. ore and 5233 metr. cte. mercury were produced. Further were produced : 318 kg silver, 8615 metr. ctr. pig iron, 20,322 metr. ctr. lead, 4797 metr. ctr. zinc, 33,432 metr. ctr. mangan ore, 2,417,187 metr. ctr. lignite. The number of persons working in the mines and mills was 2637, the value of the mine and mill production 4,374,987 Krones. Industry is not of particular importance; there are a few steelworks, factories for iron- and other metalwares (wire pins, nails, cast iron wares, sickles, bells), machinery, pottery, glass, parquet and other wooden wares, leatherwares and shoes, sieves, straw hats, paper, gunpowder, matches, oil, dyers wood, cinnabar, glue, artificial fertilizer, coffee surrogates, mills, beer breweries, spinning, weaving factories (wool, cotton), an ararian tobacco factory. Good country roads (1901 : 5569 km) and railroads (434 km) as well as navigable rivers (Sava and Laibach, together 139 km) serve traffic. Education is served by 378 elementary schools, 4 upper gymnasia, 1 upper real and 1 lower real school, one seminary for male teachers and one for female teachers, 3 vocational schools and one school for trade. Administratively the land is divided in 12 political districts which are placed under the Landesregierung in Laibach :

Administrative Division of Carniola

District Area (sq km) Population 1880 District Area (sq km) Population 1880
City of Laibach 35 36,547 Littai 687 35,969
Adelsberg 898 41,912 Loitsch 1208 40,384
Gottschee 1158 42,306 Radmannsdorf 1075 29,448
Gurkfeld 868 53,398 Rudolfswert 934 48,970
Krainburg 1022 53,073 Stein 611 40,020
Laibach 913 59,828 Tschernembl 546 26,300

For jurisdiction the country court in Laibach, the circle court in Rudolfswert and 31 district courts are responsible. The finances are administrated by the directory of finances in Laibach. The diet consists of 37 members, comprising of the princebishop of Laibach, 10 representatives of the estate owners, 8 of the cities and towns, 2 of the chamber of commerce and industry in Laibach, 16 of the rural communities. Carnola sends 11 deputees to the chamber of deputees of the Reichsrat. Coat of arms : blue eagle with red arms and imperial crown with a moon checkered in red and white on his breast. Territorial colours white, blue, red.
History. Carniola has its name from Krajina (border). The time of the first immigration of Slavs has to be set at the close of he 6th century A.D., but in these regions they were under the lasting yoke of the Avars, which they only were able o throw off with the aid of the Bavarians, and so all of Carantania in the middle of the 8th century came under Bavarian suzerainty. With the end of the Bavarian tribal duchy (788) Carantania fell to the Frankish Kingdom, and belonged to the March Friuli, which was established by Charlemagne. Bu Slovenian tribal princes enjoyed certain autonomy in the administration of their districts. Only the rebellion of Slovenian prince Ljudewit (died 828) and the partition of March Friuli resulted in the full annexation of Carantania with its marches into the Duchy of Bavaria. The name "Craina Marcha" first appears in a document of donation issued by King Otto II. to bishop Abraham of Freising of June 30th 973; the name of the margrave was Poppo. Besides Freisung, the diocese of Brixen owned large estates in Carniola. Both dioceses are credited with the Christianization and colonization of the country. After the death of Margrave Ulrich (1077) the patriarchs of Aquileja, which also owned rich estates in Carniola, inherited the title. The title in about 1180 fell to the House Andechs-Meran, and came definitively to he patriarchs of Aquileja in 1210 respectively 1230. Following the Battle on Marchfeld, Empror Rudolf enfieffed his son Albrecht with Carniola and the Windish March (Dec. 27th 1282), but at first they remaind pawns held by the Counts of Gorizia-Tyrol. Only after their line went extinct, Carniola fell to he Habsburgs (1335), and in 1374 was significantly expanded when the younger Gorizian line ended (Windish March, Möttling or Metlik, and Poik). Since, wih the brief exception of French rule (1809-1813), Carniola remaind with Austria, as one of the Inner Austrian lands. Since 1816 the Governmnt Laibach formed part of the Kingdom of Illyria, since 1849 a separate crownland, in which the Slowenes more and more expanded their dominating position, so that presently only the estate owners send German representatives to the Reichsrat.
See : Hoff, Historisch-statistisch-geographische Gemälde von Krain, Laibach 1808; "Die österreichisch- ungarische Monarchie" vol.8, Wien 1891, "Spezial-Ortsrepertorium von Krain" edited by the k.u.k. statistical central commission, Wien 1894, Paulin, Beiträge zur Kenntnis derVegetationsverhältnisse Krains, Laibach 1901-1904, issues 1-3; Dimitz, Geschichte Krains von den ältesten Zeiten bis 1813, Laibach 1874-1876, 4 volumes, Kurzgefasste Geschchte Krains, Laibach 1886, Die Habsburger und ihr Wirken in Krain 1282-1882, Laibach 1883, Mell, Die historische und territoriale Entwickelung Krains vom 10. bus zum 13. Jahrhundert, Graz 1888, Number 8 of "Der Kampf um das Deutschthum", Steiermark, Kärnten, Krain, by Hofmann von Wellenhof, München 1899, Premerstein and Rutar, Römische Strassen und Befestigungen in Krain, Wien 1899, "Argo. Zeitschrift für Krainer Landeskunde", Laibach 1892ff.
source in German, posted by Zeno






EXTERNAL
LINKS
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on April 14th 2009

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics