Page 91 - Mocarelli, Luca, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2020. Maize to the People! Cultivation, Consumption and Trade in the North-Eastern Mediterranean (Sixteenth-Nineteenth Century). Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 91
innovations in agr icultur e and population growth in fr iuli ...
The first half of the seventeenth century:
clear traces in the east, much less so in the west
Information about maize in the first half of the seventeenth century is quite
rare and interpretations sound rather vague. Since we have just mentioned
the County of Gorizia, we will proceed from there, that is from the west to-
wards the east. Carlo Morelli, who reorganized the county’s archives in the
eighteenth century and consequently had a very good insight into its histo-
ry, when mentioning the 1629 famine commented how “the province had
the disadvantage that the Turkish grain, which today [around 1780] serves
as the main nourishment for the common people, was almost unknown
in our area until the middle of that century” (Morelli 1855, II, 144-145). His
judgment may be at least partially confirmed by the fact that maize is not
mentioned among the landlords’ revenues in most of the county in the
1620s and 1630s (Panjek 2011). Simon Rutar’s mention is not helpful to de-
fine a precise chronology for the mountain area in the Upper Isonzo Valley,
as he writes that “following the example of the Friulians, who began culti-
vating maize already around 1600, the people from the Tolmin area took
it up as well and started sowing it increasingly from year to year” (Rutar
1882, 150). In a trial for misdeeds that happened in the Adriatic port town
of Trieste in 1614, a person is mentioned with the nickname “Cinquantin”.2
Seeing that it was the name of a fast-growing sort of maize, this may be in-
terpreted as a quite clear sign that it was known well enough for someone
to be named after it. On the other hand, in nearby Istria, maize would not
be cultivated until 1650 (Ivetic 1999, 81). All in all, we may conclude that al-
though maize was undoubtedly known (Gradisca 1602, Trieste 1650), in the
western and south-western Slovenian regions its diffusion was seeming-
ly still quite limited throughout the first half of the seventeenth century.
Information differs as far as the extreme north-western Alpine area is con-
cerned, since in the Gail Valley (Ziljska dolina, Carinthia) maize was well
known since the early seventeenth century (Sandgruber 1982, 46).
With a swift move to the east, we encounter various confirmation that
maize continued to be quite well known in Styria also after its early docu-
mented appearance among the peasants near Graz. In 1608, maize is men-
tioned in the Milling Rules of Graz (Grazer Müllerordnung), although in
last place among all the grains (Sandgruber 1982, 47), while in 1636, a small
quantity is mentioned in the probate inventory of a peasant in the Stainz
2 Steiermarkisches Landesarchiv, InnerÖsterreichische Hofkammer; due to the epi-
demic I was not able to double check the complete signature.
89
The first half of the seventeenth century:
clear traces in the east, much less so in the west
Information about maize in the first half of the seventeenth century is quite
rare and interpretations sound rather vague. Since we have just mentioned
the County of Gorizia, we will proceed from there, that is from the west to-
wards the east. Carlo Morelli, who reorganized the county’s archives in the
eighteenth century and consequently had a very good insight into its histo-
ry, when mentioning the 1629 famine commented how “the province had
the disadvantage that the Turkish grain, which today [around 1780] serves
as the main nourishment for the common people, was almost unknown
in our area until the middle of that century” (Morelli 1855, II, 144-145). His
judgment may be at least partially confirmed by the fact that maize is not
mentioned among the landlords’ revenues in most of the county in the
1620s and 1630s (Panjek 2011). Simon Rutar’s mention is not helpful to de-
fine a precise chronology for the mountain area in the Upper Isonzo Valley,
as he writes that “following the example of the Friulians, who began culti-
vating maize already around 1600, the people from the Tolmin area took
it up as well and started sowing it increasingly from year to year” (Rutar
1882, 150). In a trial for misdeeds that happened in the Adriatic port town
of Trieste in 1614, a person is mentioned with the nickname “Cinquantin”.2
Seeing that it was the name of a fast-growing sort of maize, this may be in-
terpreted as a quite clear sign that it was known well enough for someone
to be named after it. On the other hand, in nearby Istria, maize would not
be cultivated until 1650 (Ivetic 1999, 81). All in all, we may conclude that al-
though maize was undoubtedly known (Gradisca 1602, Trieste 1650), in the
western and south-western Slovenian regions its diffusion was seeming-
ly still quite limited throughout the first half of the seventeenth century.
Information differs as far as the extreme north-western Alpine area is con-
cerned, since in the Gail Valley (Ziljska dolina, Carinthia) maize was well
known since the early seventeenth century (Sandgruber 1982, 46).
With a swift move to the east, we encounter various confirmation that
maize continued to be quite well known in Styria also after its early docu-
mented appearance among the peasants near Graz. In 1608, maize is men-
tioned in the Milling Rules of Graz (Grazer Müllerordnung), although in
last place among all the grains (Sandgruber 1982, 47), while in 1636, a small
quantity is mentioned in the probate inventory of a peasant in the Stainz
2 Steiermarkisches Landesarchiv, InnerÖsterreichische Hofkammer; due to the epi-
demic I was not able to double check the complete signature.
89
