Page 71 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 71
peasant income integration in early modern slovenia: a historiographical review
peasant sale of wine and fruit than the literature. According to entries in
the rules of the Ljubljana market of 1571, inhabitants of the Vipava Valley
(and Trieste) were among the leading sellers of fruit, either their own or of
other peoples, at the Ljubljana market (Blaznik et al. 1980, 321). In the same
year, the Carniolan provincial estates proposed that peasants be allowed to
export “Vipavec, rebula and other sweet Italian wines” out of the province,
since the salt exchange was no longer entirely free, and because it had “until
now” been the domain of foreigners (Žontar 1956–57, 78). According to Val-
vasor, Inner Carniola (Karst and the Vipava Valley) was also “blessed with
a great number of wines of the best quality and well-known throughout
[…] for the vine is budding arms and legs not only with cups full of mirth,
but with hope for a handsome profit, which the transport of wine will place
in one’s purse” (Valvasor 2009–2013, 255, 269). The production and sale or
exchange of wine and fruit were therefore important and traditional indus-
tries in modern times, in which the peasant population was engaged. The
same can be said for the rearing of livestock, which was mentioned by Val-
vasor. Judging from the words of the provincial estates from 1531, peasants
reared it “for work and not slaughter, because the inhabitants of the Karst
subsisted on the rearing of draught oxen [Ziehochsen], whose meat is inedi-
ble and tough,” and was therefore exempt from the ban on export from the
province (Vilfan 1962, 139).
The demand for karst wood came primarily from the nearby towns
and especially from Trieste at the time of its growth in the 18th century. In
that century, villagers from the nearby karst manors would come to the
aforementioned town, bringing wood for heating, construction and vines
(Gestrin 1965, 195; Panjek 2015b, 109–10). In the forests of Inner Carniola,
peasants also trapped dormice. The work of the natural scientist Franz An-
ton Steinberg of 1758 speaks of dormice trapping on the Javornik hill. Ac-
cording to him, dormouse fur generated great profit for peasants:
Dormouse pelts are generating a very good profit [on Javornik];
they sell them to furriers, who dress them and sew them into quad-
rangular sheets, and sell them in large quantities […] they also send
them to foreign lands. The local countryfolk send them to Holland,
together with scorpion oil and other small goods, from where they
are sold as far away as India. Because dormice are very fatty, peas-
ants dissolve the fat and consume their meat with cabbage and tur-
nip (Baš 1981–1983, 44).
69
peasant sale of wine and fruit than the literature. According to entries in
the rules of the Ljubljana market of 1571, inhabitants of the Vipava Valley
(and Trieste) were among the leading sellers of fruit, either their own or of
other peoples, at the Ljubljana market (Blaznik et al. 1980, 321). In the same
year, the Carniolan provincial estates proposed that peasants be allowed to
export “Vipavec, rebula and other sweet Italian wines” out of the province,
since the salt exchange was no longer entirely free, and because it had “until
now” been the domain of foreigners (Žontar 1956–57, 78). According to Val-
vasor, Inner Carniola (Karst and the Vipava Valley) was also “blessed with
a great number of wines of the best quality and well-known throughout
[…] for the vine is budding arms and legs not only with cups full of mirth,
but with hope for a handsome profit, which the transport of wine will place
in one’s purse” (Valvasor 2009–2013, 255, 269). The production and sale or
exchange of wine and fruit were therefore important and traditional indus-
tries in modern times, in which the peasant population was engaged. The
same can be said for the rearing of livestock, which was mentioned by Val-
vasor. Judging from the words of the provincial estates from 1531, peasants
reared it “for work and not slaughter, because the inhabitants of the Karst
subsisted on the rearing of draught oxen [Ziehochsen], whose meat is inedi-
ble and tough,” and was therefore exempt from the ban on export from the
province (Vilfan 1962, 139).
The demand for karst wood came primarily from the nearby towns
and especially from Trieste at the time of its growth in the 18th century. In
that century, villagers from the nearby karst manors would come to the
aforementioned town, bringing wood for heating, construction and vines
(Gestrin 1965, 195; Panjek 2015b, 109–10). In the forests of Inner Carniola,
peasants also trapped dormice. The work of the natural scientist Franz An-
ton Steinberg of 1758 speaks of dormice trapping on the Javornik hill. Ac-
cording to him, dormouse fur generated great profit for peasants:
Dormouse pelts are generating a very good profit [on Javornik];
they sell them to furriers, who dress them and sew them into quad-
rangular sheets, and sell them in large quantities […] they also send
them to foreign lands. The local countryfolk send them to Holland,
together with scorpion oil and other small goods, from where they
are sold as far away as India. Because dormice are very fatty, peas-
ants dissolve the fat and consume their meat with cabbage and tur-
nip (Baš 1981–1983, 44).
69
