Page 93 - 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. 93
innovations in agr icultur e and population growth in fr iuli ...
ports (Valenčič 1977, 31, 48-9). This may mean that maize was not yet avail-
able in the Adriatic Sea trade or that it was not yet used locally as food for
the hungry and poor, thus not attracting its import.
No Slovenian historian can write about this period without refer-
ring to Valvasor, whose writings reflect the situation in the mid-decades
of the second half of the seventeenth century, and we will make no ex-
ception here. He reports that within Carniola maize was cultivated only
in some places, mostly in southern and western Carniola (Dolenjska,
Kočevska; Notranjska). Its yield was 1:30 and it was also used to bake bread
(Britovšek 1958/9, 128; Valenčič 1970, 259). Notranjska, the south-western
part of Carniola, represents the hinterland of the Littoral region and may
well be included in the south-western part of Slovenia, rounding up our
picture of this geographical segment. According to Britovšek, maize here
“naturalized faster” than elsewhere in Carniola and “they started includ-
ing it in the everyday food already at the end of the seventeenth and the be-
ginning of the eighteenth century” (Britovšek 1958/59, 132). Another part of
Carniola where maize appears in the literature concerning the second half
of the seventeenth century is its southern areas (Dolenjska, Kočevska, Bela
Krajina, Metlika). Again basing on Valvasor, Makarovič wrote that at that
time “in Dolenjska they did already cultivate maize and used to mix it with
wheat to make a good maize bread” (Makarovič 1986, 62). Although with
a less precise chronology, we may also read that in the Metlika area “the
peasants have gotten to know maize well already since the seventeenth cen-
tury” (Britovšek 1964, 207).
For an overall picture, we will rely once again on Britovšek, the author
of one of the most documented works on Slovenian early modern agrari-
an history: “In general, we may affirm that maize in the seventeenth centu-
ry was still a rarity in Carniola. It was restricted to various gardens and it
is not mentioned in the fields”. Concurrently, in the second half of the sev-
enteenth century maize crops are “very rarely” mentioned in the account-
ing books of manors and monasteries, as well as in landlords’ probate in-
ventories (Britovšek 1964, 205). If this is the ‘large picture’, we have noticed
so far that the situation was a bit more varied, especially if we expand the
view to the whole of the western Slovenian regions. Maize was apparently
gaining ground in the County of Gorizia, in the Trieste area, in Notranjska,
as well as in some locations of southern Slovenia. Its cultivation was seem-
ingly still far from being widespread, but in some areas, maize had made its
91
ports (Valenčič 1977, 31, 48-9). This may mean that maize was not yet avail-
able in the Adriatic Sea trade or that it was not yet used locally as food for
the hungry and poor, thus not attracting its import.
No Slovenian historian can write about this period without refer-
ring to Valvasor, whose writings reflect the situation in the mid-decades
of the second half of the seventeenth century, and we will make no ex-
ception here. He reports that within Carniola maize was cultivated only
in some places, mostly in southern and western Carniola (Dolenjska,
Kočevska; Notranjska). Its yield was 1:30 and it was also used to bake bread
(Britovšek 1958/9, 128; Valenčič 1970, 259). Notranjska, the south-western
part of Carniola, represents the hinterland of the Littoral region and may
well be included in the south-western part of Slovenia, rounding up our
picture of this geographical segment. According to Britovšek, maize here
“naturalized faster” than elsewhere in Carniola and “they started includ-
ing it in the everyday food already at the end of the seventeenth and the be-
ginning of the eighteenth century” (Britovšek 1958/59, 132). Another part of
Carniola where maize appears in the literature concerning the second half
of the seventeenth century is its southern areas (Dolenjska, Kočevska, Bela
Krajina, Metlika). Again basing on Valvasor, Makarovič wrote that at that
time “in Dolenjska they did already cultivate maize and used to mix it with
wheat to make a good maize bread” (Makarovič 1986, 62). Although with
a less precise chronology, we may also read that in the Metlika area “the
peasants have gotten to know maize well already since the seventeenth cen-
tury” (Britovšek 1964, 207).
For an overall picture, we will rely once again on Britovšek, the author
of one of the most documented works on Slovenian early modern agrari-
an history: “In general, we may affirm that maize in the seventeenth centu-
ry was still a rarity in Carniola. It was restricted to various gardens and it
is not mentioned in the fields”. Concurrently, in the second half of the sev-
enteenth century maize crops are “very rarely” mentioned in the account-
ing books of manors and monasteries, as well as in landlords’ probate in-
ventories (Britovšek 1964, 205). If this is the ‘large picture’, we have noticed
so far that the situation was a bit more varied, especially if we expand the
view to the whole of the western Slovenian regions. Maize was apparently
gaining ground in the County of Gorizia, in the Trieste area, in Notranjska,
as well as in some locations of southern Slovenia. Its cultivation was seem-
ingly still far from being widespread, but in some areas, maize had made its
91
