Chronological table of the Gottscheer Volksgruppe
 



1077
During the Investitute Struggles, Emperor Henry IV grants feudal tenures in Carniola to the Patriarch of Aquileia and appoints as his Chancellor Sieghard as Patriarch.

1247
Patriarch Berthold invests the Ortenburg's (resident in Carinthia since the later part of the 11. Century and Counts since 1141), with Reifnitz (Ribnica) and its subjects, including the primeval forest, the future settlement area of the Gottscheer.

1339
In his 1. September dated letter, Bertrand, Patriarch of Aquileia grants count Otto I von Ortenburg permission to appoint a chaplain to the chapel which had been erected by the count on his Mooswald estate and dedicated to St. Bartholomew. This was granted since the nearby residents could reach the parish church in Reifnitz only with great difficulty. In addition, the creation of a cemetery was allowed, however, without affecting the rights of the parish church.

1363
On 1. May, Patriarch Ludwig confirms that within the pastoral boundaries of St. Stephan in Reifnitz, in certain meadows and forests that had been untended and unsettled, many residences had been erected and given over to agriculture. Many settlers arrived to live there and new churches (among them Gotsche and Goteniz) had been built.

1377
Mooswald, located at the foot of the mountain, looses its importance to the valley; the main village therein having been granted the status of a market in the Gotsche.

1398
The first Urbarium (land record) is drawn up; preserving the first tabulation of the settlers and their tributes to the jurisdiction in Rieg.

1400
First emergence of Nesseltal as parish; the settlers had apparently advanced with fire and plough gradually into the easternmost parts of the main land area.

1406
On 20. May, Friedrich, Count von Ortenburg lets it be known: Whoever had tended a forest, unhindered and without objection from the sovereign for nine years and one day, and this under rightful conditions, can no longer be dispossessed. The, in detail prepared "Waldordnung" (forest law), must "vill stöß vnndt Krieg geübt... vnd daraus Todtschleg und feindtschafft geraten seindt" (since the use of force and war… and from this casualty and animosity flowed) govern the right of ownership.

1415
(to this) writes Burkard Zink from Memmingen: "…. giengen also mit ainander in Krainland gen windischen landen in ainem markt haist Reisnitz ..." ( on the way together in Carniolaland toward the wends we land in a market called Resnitz (Reifnitz) …. after Lobach (Leibach) 6 miles toward Croatia". He was underway to his uncle, the priest in Rieg, who came into the Land with Margarethe von Teck, the wife of the Ortenburger Friedrich. Zink attended the school in Reifnitz; the place, once residence of the Ortenburger and in 1500, already a Slovene city.

1418
the Ortenburger die out; through law of inheritance their property

1420
transfers to the counts of Cilli. They erected, in 1424, castle Friedrichstein; thereafter occurred the tragedy of Veronika.

1456
Ulrich, the last of the counts of Cilli, murdered.

1460
After disagreement and battle with Johann, the Count von Görz, Emperor Friedrich III, secures for himself the entire inheritance of the Ortenburger in the peace of Pusarnitz.

1469
The Turks, for the first time, invade the land and burn to the ground the market; it stood in the area where later on the church of Corpus Christi was erected. The reconstruction of the settlement followed within the arch of the river Rinse.

1471
Emperor Friedrich III grants the settlement City Status with self jurisdiction ("as far as the tilled lands extend") a Coat of Arms, and full civic rights to the residents (same as to the citizens of Rudolfswert (Novo mesto). It was allowed to hold four annual market days and two Church holidays, as well as the right "for all times eternal" to elect Judges and Councilors. Twenty times (until 1598) was the land invaded by the Turks; the description of a contemporary we find in Widmer on page 151. Even on 22. January, 1574, the residents of Graflinden, Preriegel and Unterdeutschau come to apply for tax exemption, have they not tended, like their forbears, the Kreidfeuer (signal fires announcing the approaching of the Turks). However, life continues and in

1471
on the 10. of June, the Judges and Councilor's of the City of Gottschee (Kocevje) acquire the lease for castle of Friedrichstein from the regional court for two years.

1476
On 28. June Friedrich III proclaims at "Neustadt" (Novo mesto) his decision of having leased to the brothers Petritz, citizen of the Gottschee, the mining rights to the iron at Grafenwarth and Osilnitz.

1492
On 23. October, Friedrich III. grants the "Hausiererpatent" (the right to peddle in the domain), which brings the Gottscheer an new source of income. This decree was renewed 20 more times, lastly in 1841.

1497
On 9. June, Friedrich III. demands the return of the jurisdictions of Lower- and Upper "Gotsche" and that of "Riegkh", mortgaged to Caspar Rauber (26. November 1491), to bestow them on Wilhelm von Auersperg.

1507
On 1. Februar, Emperor Maximilian I. sells the three jurisdictions to Baron Jörg von Thurn. This largess was most likely due to the uprising of the peasants in the city of Gottschee. The uprising

1515
started in April; the Carniolian units were able, only with help from Styrian units, 100 horsemen and 400 foot soldiers, to suppress the revolt.

1524
Hans Ungnad becomes owner of the leasehold.

1547
On 22. February, the Leasehold was transferred to Stefan Ursini, Count of Blagay. The secretaries of this Croatian family started converting Germanic names into their Slavic meaning, thus: "Jakls sun" (Jakls son) became Jaklitsch. In 1558 Count Franz is owner of the leasehold. He caused a hill, named Neuberg near Tschermoschnitz, to be planted with grapevines and founded 25 villages with 38 3/8 Huben (hides) in the north of the enclave along the Hornwald, whereby he became the "second colonizer" of the Gottschee area.

1574
This year, on order from Karl II. of Inner-Austria, the maintenance of the Urbarium (book of deeds) was started. It shows 136 villages, in which appeared 27 still undivided full hides, 904 half-, four three - quarter, three one-third, 32 quarter- and eight one-eight hides. The biggest village then was Rieg, with 14 full hides. 10 hides each had Obermösel, Nesseltal and Reichenau. Further, Altlag had seven and Mitterdorf had six. Count Stefan the Younger drafted the Urbarium to his benefit, the peasants consequently rebelled, upon which the government of Inner-Austria, in a letter dated 8. September, of the year

1569
declared that the leaders to be kept in Ljubljana, in "the main castle in a tower for one month on bread and water…"

1618
On 1. March, Baron Hans Jakob Khiesel purchased the Gottschee estate, one third of which he already owned since 9. September 1607.

1629
On 28. May. Pope Urban names Bishop Albert von Smederevo as vicar of Gottschee with the directive to appoint German Chaplains, since German (lingua teutonica) is spoken there.

1641
Wolf Engelbrecht von Auersperg purchases the Gottschee estate. (his family was owner of Reifnitz 1220 - 1263, his younger brother, Johann Weikard, personal councilor to emperor Ferdinand II.)

1690
In this year is mentioned the first school in Gottschee, in Gottschee town.

1745
An entry records the following five parishes and the number of parishioners in the Gottschee enclave: Town of Gottschee (3,250), Rieg (1,562), Mösel (910), Nesseltal (1,665) and Tschermoschnitz (1,692). In total, 9,079 persons.

1770
Maria Theresia commands the count of all male inhabitants and the listing of their domicile. The tabulation gives information over the precise number of houses, which also records the new settling since 1574. (see Grothe, pg. 71 and Petschauer, pg. 201). During this time, until approximately 1825, occurred the final colonization, when all the land was finally distributed.

1791
After 11. November, the Auersperger are Dukes of Gottschee. The years

1809 -
1815
bring the French period, again unpleasantness: plunder of the town between 16. - 18. of October 1809. Thereafter, the "agitators" were summarily executed.

1849
The glass factory starts production.

1851
brought the end to a, from Emperor Josef I. generated, charter defining the dominion of Gottschee as a governing unit. In this the dominion was divided into political districts encompassing Gottschee (including legal districts Gottschee and Reifnitz), Tschernembl (including legal districts Tschernembl and Möttling) and Rudolfswert (legal districts Rudolfswert and Seisenberg).

1867
 and
1869
Univ. Prof. Dr. K. J. Schröer travels the enclave of Gottschee. He brings attention to the meaning of the Gottscheer language and its songs and creates a dictionary of the language of Gottschee.

1872
On 28. October, the junior high-school in the town of Gottschee was inaugurated; in 1873, a subsidy fund for needy students; in 1881 Johann Stampfl donated, on 16. May, his "Stipend fund" encompassing 100,000 Gulden (ducats) whose interest made possible, year after year, substantial donations to gifted students of limited means. (see "Mittheilungen", 15. May 1891)

1893
On 28. September, the railroad spur to Gottschee was inaugurated.

1895
This year " Die deutsche Sprachinsel Gottschee", ("The German Speech Island Gottschee") a documentation created by Dr. Adolf Hauffen of Graz, appears.

1904
On 4. January, the first issue of the "Gottscheer Bote" comes to subscribers. The publication of the newspaper is terminated by the authorities of the kingdom of the SHS on 6. June 1919. Its successor is the "Gottscheer Zeitung" starting on 1, August 1919, which ceases to exist with the resettlement. (last issue in Gottschee is 3. December 1941). Since 1955, it appears again in Klagenfurt, Austria.

1918
The authorities of the Kingdom of the SHS, dissolve or seize all German organizations. On 31. December, initially with provision, all German speaking state employees (formerly Austrian) are given notice to either teach in Slovene or be terminated; in place of German speaking convent nuns in the town orphanage appeare Slovene speaking women, the fire brigades are required to use the Slovene command language and in only 16 of 33 schools are classes in German allowed to remain. The majority of Gottscheer teachers opt, under pressure to instruct in Slovene, for emigration to Austria, others are transferred into exclusively Slovene parts of the land

1941
  to
1942
The Gottscheer-Volksdeutsche resettle into the ethnically cleansed, "Ranner triangle", at the confluence of the rivers Gurk (Krka), Sattelbach (Sottla) and the Sawe (Sava), with end of war 1945 they are driven out from there.

1952
In Germany and Austria, the émigrés gather for the purpose of reducing the material and psychological burden, erect memorials and gather locations for the gathering of the compatriots.

1980
In this year, the "650 years of Gottschee" was celebrated in Gottscheer get-togethers worldwide.


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