The history of Gottschee is, to be sure, not significantly but in its origin clearly a chapter in the history of Carinthia and Tyrol. The delicate historical root network from which the former linguistic island of Gottschee was to grow in the 1330's flourished above all on the soil of the medieval imperial fief and duchy of Carinthia. To it belonged the province of Carniola, later the duchy and state of Carniola of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In the eleventh century no one could predict or even suspect that some day there would exist the duchy of Carniola and the ethnic German island of Gottschee surrounded by Slovenes. The later linguistic island in this chalk region arose rather at the end of a seemingly endless chain of events and coincidences, developments and decisions in the political sphere. They entwined, again coincidentally, during a definite and brief period into a knot: into the largest but also last colonization undertaken by Carinthian nobility in the southern foothills of the eastern Alps. If only one single link had been missing in this chain, the word "Gottschee" would never have been seen on a map of Carniola. Let us now try to lift the partially buried links of this chain into the daylight of historiography and put them together again in the correct sequence.
Around the year 1070 there appeared on the political stage of Carinthia a noble house which called itself "von Ortenburg" and held the title of count, subject to the emperor only. Its origins were disputed far into the twentieth
century. Genealogists believed that the Ortenburgers had the same origins as the Carinthian dukes of the house of Spanheimer, who were the dukes from 1122 to 1269. According to this theory, they not only had to be of the same ancestry as the counts of Ortenburg in Carinthia but also of the house of the same name in Bavaria. The research of the genealogist Dr. Camillo Trottar has brought this viewpoint from the nineteenth century up to date. The former cathedral dean of Regensburg, Dr. E. Count of Ortenburg-Trambach, also refers to him in his two-
volume opus "Geschichte des herzoglichen, reichsständischen und graflichen Gesamthauses Ortenburg", which refers to the Bavarian Ortenburgers. In the supplement, however, he includes, among others, the following details about the ancestry of the counts of Ortenburg in Carinthia: "The origin of these Ortenburgers, who according to Jaksch (history of Carinthia) appeared as counts in 1142 but whose origins can be traced to the year 1070, was obscure until very recently. Huschberg takes these Ortenburgers to be later-born sons of the dukes of Spanheim.
This cannot be so if only because this line is mentioned in documents even before the Spanheimers received the dukeship in Carinthia. Other writers such as Tangl in his "Geschichte der Grafen von Ortenburg in Kärnten" consider "Friderikus, filius comites eppois" who appears in documents in 1058 as the progenitor of the counts of Ortenburg
in Carinthia and Bavaria. Only the research of the recognized, skilled, and thorough genealogist Dr. Camillo Trottar clearly showed us that the counts of Ortenburg originated in Carinthia. It also gave us the irrefutable evidence that there is no connection between the counts of Ortenburg in Carinthia who became extinct in the fifteenth century and the counts of Ortenburg (more correct: "Ortenberg") in Bavaria who descended from the dukes of Spanheim. Dr. Graf von Ortenburg-Trambach also tells us that there is an entry for a "Dominus Adalbertus de Carinthiae, that is, a Mr. Adalbert from Carinthia, son of the magistrate of Freising," in the Book of Traditions of the monastery of St. Castulus in Moosburg/Upper Bavaria, which is only a few kilometers from the bishop's seat of Freising founded in 739. The magistrate, also then referred to as "vice-canon" and "vice-dominus," administered the fiefs of the bishopric of Freising am Lurnfeld as the vice-canon of Freising. "Since this Adalbert of Ortenburg is
furthermore designated as the magistrate of Freising in a privilege of Emperor Henry IV for the monastery of St. Lambrecht, dated Verone 1096, there can be no doubt that the one called Adalbert de Hortenburg (Ortenburg) in the documents of 1093 and 1096 is the same Adalbert, vice-canon of Freising, mentioned in the Book of Traditions of the Monastery St. Castulus. Thanks to Trottar's research, we now also know that this vice-canon, that is, magistrate, had two sons, Adalbert and Otto. We must take this Otto, who undoubtedly is of Bavarian descent, to
be the progenitor of the counts of Ortenburg."
Thus, we are not beinq too rash if we summarize the ancestry of the counts of Ortenburg as follows: the counts of Ortenburg in Carinthia came from Bavaria and the Bavarian counts of Ortenburg came from Carinthia.
This brief genealogical survey was necessary in order to prevent confusion. Thus it is clear that only the counts of Ortenburg in Carinthia could have colonized the later linguistic island of Gottschee. Although they were free counts, they too could not unilaterally dispose of arable land wherever they wished. All of the land belonged to the elected German king. He then gave it "in fief" to the nobility, the bishops, monasteries, abbeys, and cloisters. In short, all of the land, including the subjects living on it, was in the hands of the nobility and the church.
The immediate feudal tenants of the king were allowed to give their fiefs to the lower nobility. "Fief" always meant taxes. Other revenue-yielding income could also be given as a fief, as for instance, tolls, tariffs, right to strike coinage, and so forth.
As was already established in the introduction, the counts of Ortenburg in Carinthia had received their fiefs in Lower Carniola from the patriarchs of Aquileia. They themselves were direct feudal tenants of the king, who was also Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. We could just stop here and start immediately with the colonization. All the historiographies on Gottschee up to now have done that. That is why the Gottscheers still do not know exactly when and from which patriarch the Ortenburgers received their fiefs in Lower Carniola and if the primeval forest in which their forefathers settled already belonged to them then. The granting of the fiefs to the counts from Carinthia by the patriarchs, the defensive and offensive alliance which lasted for 350 years, and the allegiance to the high prince of the church which was based on the humane and moral character of the Ortenburgs, were the unalterable prerequisites for the beginning of Gottschee.
Before we follow the first Ortenburger to Lower Carniola, we should take a look at the history of the patriarchy of Aquileia. The bishopric of Aquileia was probably already founded in the second century A.D. by St. Hermagoras. The city of Aquileia, at that time still a port city located on the upper Adriatic between Trieste and Venice, was originally a military outpost of the Romans. The bishops of Aquileia declared themselves patriarchs in 568 on their own authority. When at the beginning of the sixth century - after the withdrawal of the Romans - Slavic tribes began to infiltrate the region of the eastern Alps and that of present-day Slovenia, Aquileia was directed to Christianize them. Thus, the church province known by this name was extended considerably towards the east and now covered, among others, wide regions of the eastern Alps and its foothills, as well as the later bishopric of Carniola and the Wendian Marches. The patriarch, elevated to archbishop, was at the same time ruler of a state, of the "patriarchal state." As such, he held the title of a duke of Friaul and of a prince of the Holy Roman Empire in Italy. His power was tied to the existing state of discord between the emperors and the popes.
The patriarch occupied a key position in northern Italy. Both parties wanted to have men of whom they could be sure in the seat of St. Hermagoras. According to previous agreements between emperors and popes, the emperor named the patriarch whereas the pope bestowed upon him the "confirmation," that is, the confirmation as archbishop. As long as the emperor had the right to appoint the bishops in Germany, German counts reigned in Aquileia.
The year 811 is particularly significant for our topic. In 739 St. Boniface founded the bishoprics of Freising/Upper Bavaria and Salzburg. In 789 Charlemagne got the papacy to elevate Salzburg to an archbishopric. Salzburg began to colonize extensively the region of the eastern Alps. The archbishop - the patriarch of Aquileia - perceived this as an encroachment on his sphere of influence. Disputes, jealousies, and warlike conflicts were the result. Charlemagne ended this in 811 by declaring the Drava as the demarcation line between the two quarreling arch-
bishoprics. Hence, the Drava also became the language boundary.
In 1075 the "Investiture Dispute," the dispute about the appointment of the bishops, broke out into the open. Pope Gregory VII forbade the appointment of bishops by laymen. This was aimed particularly at Emperor Henry IV (1056- 1106) because he was, according to church law, a layman. In a countermove Henry IV granted the bishops greater worldly power by giving them larger fiefs. This was to strengthen their ties to him and the empire. He particularly bestowed worldly fiefs in Carniola upon the patriarch of Aquileia. In the meantime, the district of Carniola had become part of Carinthia as a mostly independent administrative district. Since there just happened to be a "sedisvacanz" (vacant seat), the emperor went out of his way, and in 1077 appointed a man who had his personal confidence, his chancellor Sieghard, as patriarch.
In the meantime, the bishopric of Freising in eastern Carniola had also begun to colonize. It had established a colonial center in the Puster valley by taking over the cloister Innichen. From there the bishops repeatedly sent new colonizers to their Carniolean fiefs.
Back to the counts of Ortenburg.
Their close association with the patriarchs of Aquileia must have already existed in the last third of the eleventh century. Among others, the statement by Türk, on page 9 of his book about the city of Spittal an der Drau, that the ancestral seat of the counts of Ortenburg was already finished in 1093 supports this. It stood, as the ruins still testify today, south of the Drau near Baldramsdorf, thus clearly in the Aquileian sphere of influence. When the fief of Lurnfeld was granted to the Ortenburgers, that is, when they were granted the title of dukes, cannot be determined for certain by the research data available today. In any case, one does not find any references to it in the registers of the reign of Henry IV. We have thus returned to this question: When did which patriarch give the fief in Lower Carniola to the counts of Ortenburg? The answer is found in the patriarchal register of Klebel (see Carinthia I, Volume 153, page 325). It lists the following patriarchs for the period outlined above:
| 1086 to 1121 | Ulrich I, presumably a count of Treffen |
| 1130 to 1132 | Ulrich Count of Ortenburg, chosen "prior to May 30, 1130" by the pope as patriarch, that is, archbishop but not confirmed |
| 1132 to 1161 | Peregrin I, son of a duke of the House of Spanheim |
| 1161 to 1182 | Ulrich II, Count of Treffen |
| 1191 to 1204 | Peregrin II, according to Klebel perhaps a nephew of Peregrin I. |
The key figure in this series is without a doubt Count Ulrich of Ortenburg. He was legally elected to be the head of the patriarchy by the appropriate board and thus nominated to be patriarch. Since, however, the Holy Seat, that is the College of Cardinals, refused to confirm him, he had to withdraw as the ruler according to the constitution. The actual reasons for the position of the papacy can no longer be fully elucidated. Possibly Ulrich was too young for the old gentlemen in Rome and not yet experienced enough in his priestly duties. Nevertheless, as the head of the state until his successor was elected, he had full authority and could make decisions as he saw fit. Thus, Ulrich had almost two years in which he could increase the wealth of his house by granting new fiefs in Lower
Carniola. To be sure, there does not exist in the literature found so far any record as to when he granted the fief, but a later familial event supports the just posed logical conclusion and allows us to fix the date for the year 1131.
In the year 1140 Count Otto I of Ortenburg, already known to us, married Agnes, the daughter of an Auersperg noble. We first mention the year 1140 in order to quickly acquaint you with the House of Auersperg. The librarian Franz Xaver Richter, almost totally unknown up to now in the literature on Gottschee, has written extensively about this family. His nineteen contributions about the dukes and counts of Auersperg were published in 1830 in the Viennese "Neuen Archiv für Geschichte, Staatenkunde, Literatur und Kunst." According to the subtitles, he bases his writings on documents that had until then not yet been published. The Auerspergers coming from Swabia, most likely surfaced already as "free nobles" in the tenth century in Carniola. They called themselves "Ursperg." The name of the primogenitor Adolph has been established. He died around 1060. A second branch of the Auerspergers settled around the same time in Friaul. There they produced several new generations who called themselves by Italian names. Nevertheless, the familial ties with the Carniolian line were maintained. Both groups stood out in the politics of their states. In Friaul, the family Cucagna gained the largest influence at the court of the patriarch, that is, in the parliament of the patriarchal state. In Carniola, the Auerspergers quickly gained recognition and influence by closely aligning themselves with the Carinthian ducal family. They were particularly active as ministers, that is, as officials at the ducal court. They very soon were chamberlains and marshals of the patrimonial dominions. Adolfs sons Konrad I and Peregrin I - not to be confused with the Patriarch Peregrin I - built the family fortress of their line near Reifnitz, which was to be called "Oberhaus" (Upper House) in the history of Carniola.
In the time in which we find ourselves, the Auerspergers were only "free nobles" even though they carried out the already mentioned high offices. Nevertheless, they did not succeed in raising their noble rank. They were, however, very skilled at marrying into the higher and highest ranks of the nobility - thus also into the Ortenburg family. Both families had sensible reasons for this marriage, which was then not quite happy. When they took possession of their fiefs in Lower Carniola, the Ortenburgers had become immediate neighbors of the Auerspergers. At that time, however, this proximity did not mean a peaceful risk-free coexistence. Even minor differences of opinion were settled in private wars, the "feuds." Being related did not preclude these disputes which often took a very bloody course. Through marriage with Agnes, the clever Ortenburgers wanted to acquire a piece of ancient Carniolian land, because in the eyes of the old established nobility they were "newcomers." The Auerspergers, however, saw the marriage as another increase in status, thus as a matter of prestige.
Three sons and two daughters issued from this marriage between Otto and Agnes. The second-born, Otto II, became the primogenitor of his line. It was he who around 1165 started the first heated feud with his relatives, the Auerspergers. In 1160 the father of his mother Agnes had died. This Agnes now demanded her share of the paternal inheritance from her tribe. They refused. When peaceful negotiations remained unsuccessful, Otto attacked the "Oberhaus" and partially destroyed it. (See F. X. Richter, page 618.) During this private war, Otto von
Ortenburg was based in the Ortenegg fortress. It was located several kilometers south of the "Oberhaus" and likewise not far from Reifnitz, where the greater parish of the patriarch of Aquileia, which was responsible for all of Lower Carniola, was housed. The fortress of the counts of Carinthia was located on an easily defended mountain ridge. Its wall remnants were still standing at the beginning of the 1970's. The designation of Ortenegg immediately precludes the idea that someone other than an Ortenburger could have built this fortified site or - what has to be
unlikely - have given this name to an already existing fortress. In both cases, it has been proven that the counts of Ortenburg had jurisdiction over Fort Ortenegg according to the then existing feudal laws. No one, however, was allowed to build on or assume ownership of land and soil that did not belong to him, that is, was not given to him in fief. If he did so, then, already at that time, the erected structure belonged to the owner of the land. In addition, no one was allowed to settle on land that was not given to him. Furthermore, since a structure of this size took years to build, the counts of Ortenburg must have already received the rights to the building site years before.
If one dismisses the idea that Count Ulrich of Ortenburg became the feudal lord of his relatives after being chosen the head of the patriarchal state, then only his successor Peregrin I, ducal son of Carinthia, could have been it. The time of the granting of the fief thus would have shifted only slightly. Due to a lack of documentary evidence, one circumstance cannot, however, be conclusively explained: Did the primeval forest between Reifnitz and Kulpa, the later settlement region of the Gottscheers, already belong to the original fiefs of the Ortenburgers in Lower Carniola? Probably not. We only know for sure that it was a possession of Reifnitz. There will be more to say about that in later discussions of the thirteenth century.
We cannot leave the twelfth century without reference to the founding of a city by the Ortenburgers, a city which, to be sure, only became significant for the Gottscheers in the second half of the twentieth century: "Spittal an der Drau" in the center of Upper Carinthia. It came about with the founding of a hospital for the poor and the needy. Türk gives the following account:
"On the founding day, April 11, Archbishop Albert (of Salzburg, notation by the author) issued a charter in the presence of many outstanding worldly and religious persons. This charter proclaimed that for the sake of their salvation the counts of Ortenburg, Archpriests Hermann and Otto II (sons of Otto I), have erected a chapel with a hospital on their own land, "in proprio fundo", and have equipped it with properties for the benefit of the poor." The keyword in this charter is: salvation.
The thirteenth century to which we now turn is an age which saw the further decline of the empire both inwardly and outwardly, the self-laceration of the nobility, the growth of the cities, in which the citizens ruled and set new standards. Trade flourished and the robber barons exploited the efforts of the citizens. The church directed the thinking of the faithful totally to the hereafter. It promised all classes all the joys of eternal life if only they performed good deeds here on earth. Cathedrals, parish churches, cloisters, and foundations arose in ever increasing numbers. The Gothic church spire aspiring to the heavens is the most eloquent expression of this spiritual attitude. The nobles, monks, and nuns filled the monasteries; participation in the crusades reached its peak. Ordinary piety was carried to the extreme. Nevertheless, evil deeds predominated on earth.
To be sure, the counts of Ortenburg are not quite children of their time in this. They too founded numerous religious stablishments, namely in Carniola, but they hardly participated in feuds. The two most prominent figures of the House of Ortenburg in the thirteenth century, Frederick I and Frederick II, rather have the reputation of being successful and magnanimous peacemakers.
The severe internal strife among the nobility finally brought about the "Interregnum," the "emperor-less and horrible time." It lasted from 1254 to 1273. In this period of nearly 20 years there were, to be sure, German kings, but the empire had no real leader. Lawlessness and intellectual confusion prevailed throughout the land.
With the decline of the nobility and its feudal rule, the peasant gained in dominion in a two-fold sense. To be sure, towards the end of the century everyone still had to have a lord, but the relationship of the peasantry to the lord had changed. The peasant stepped out of his unconditional dependence. He could now make contracts, that is, he became a contractual equal of his lord. The term "Holde" (gracious one) for the peasant comes into use and becomes reality. In its most profound meaning, this word means being mutually agreeable, that is, the customary feudal relationship that until now had only existed among the nobility was transferred in an altered form to the relationship between lord and subject. The lord is obligated to protect his peasants and they in turn have to supply
certain yields and services, particularly military service, as soon as they are called upon to do so. The flight from the homestead, which with the growth of the cities at times resembled a flight from the land, was no longer punished as severely as previously. It had become increasingly difficult to track down the fleeing. Understandably, the self-assurance of the peasants increased with the raising of their rank to the level of contractual equals. Here and there, resistance manifested itself against those lords who still dealt with their peasants with traditional harshness.
But let us now select from this wealth of events of the thirteenth century those links which were essential for the origin of Gottschee: With the decline of the empire, the fate of Aquileia was also sealed. Venice had become an economic and military power and the patriarchs of Aquileia felt pressured and moved to Udine at the beginning of the century. Their palace still stands there. Emperor Frederick II (he reigned from 1212 to 1250) finally relinquished for himself and his descendants the right to participate in the appointments of the bishops. Already in 1251, upon the death of the last patriarch of German descent, Berthold of Andechs-Meran (1208-1251), the pope appointed an Italian as his successor.
A decisive event is connected with the name of the last German patriarch for the time being. Patriarch Berthold gave Reifnitz and its possessions, which also included the primeval forest, the later settlement region of the Gottscheers, in fief to the counts of Ortenburg in 1247. The Auerspergers had declined the fiefship for reasons which are not essential here. At the same time, the Castle of Zobelsberg was bestowed upon the Ortenburgers as fief. Reifnitz also appears as a fief of the Ortenburgers in the division agreement between Count Frederick II and his brother Henry. Thus, it is proven that the Carinthian Counts of Ortenburg knew by 1247 at the latest that the patriarch intended to open to them the primeval forest in Lower Carniola for colonization. However, almost three generations were to pass before its German colonization was vigorously undertaken.
The long delay was due mainly to developments on the large political scene. Only at the end of September 1273 did the electors agree to elect the Swiss Count Rudolf of Hapsburg to be the German king. With surprising energy, he asserted himself against the nobility, the robber barons, and the young conqueror Ottokar II, King of Bohemia. In his political scheme, he named Count Frederick II of Ortenburg to be the ruling head in Carniola. Frederick had three sons: Meinhart I, Otto V, and Albrecht II. After the death of his brother Henry, the aging count was sole lord of the possessions of the Ortenburgers in Carinthia and Carniola. It suggests itself and is certainly not wishful thinking by the Gottscheers, if they assume that Count Frederick already occupied himself with plans for settling the primeval forest towards the end of the thirteenth century. That those plans matured only slowly was not solely due to the general political state in the empire and in Carinthia. This undertaking surely required reflection. Frederick of Ortenburg was not the kind of man who rushed into things. He resided in Laibach (now called Ljubljana) and, already before the turn of the century, he left much of the administration of the properties in Lower Carniola to his oldest son.
No document reveals when the plans for the "primeval forest colonization" took concrete form. Particularly absent is any indication if Frederick II himself still took the first direct step to begin the colonization, or if his son Meinhart did so. Whichever Ortenburger did begin, he knew that a colonizing undertaking of this magnitude could not succeed without thorough preparation. Who carried it out?
("Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer", Dr. Erich Petschauer)
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