History of Carniola Volume Iv: From Ancient Times to the Year 1813 with Special Consideration of Cultural Development

By August Dimitz

If you would like to know the names of the royalty and learn about their castles and their holdings, you will find the information in Volume IV annotated primarily from Valvosar's writings. Fascinating facts abound including the rise and then the suppression of the Jesuits. Empress Maria Theresa accedes to the throne of the Habsburg monarchy and brings about needed changes in education, agriculture, land reform, and roads to name a few. To increase the welfare of the state, she liberated farmers from serfdom, from the pressures of statutory labor, and from urbarial taxes. The invasion of Napoleon occurred in 1797. The reforms he brought to Slovenia were long lasting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483604183

Book preview

History of Carniola

from Ancient Times to the Year 1813

With special consideration of cultural development

By

August Dimitz,

Imperial and Royal Financial Councilor, Secretary of the

Historical Association for Carniola

Volume IV

From the Accession of Leopold I (1657)

to the End of French Rule in

Illyria (1813)

German to English Translator: Andrew J. Witter

Editor: Kathleen Dillon

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Reproduced by:

The Slovenian Genealogy Society International, Inc. (SGSI)

Rose Marie Macek Jisa, President

Copyright © 2013 by The Slovenian Genealogy Society International, Inc.

http://www.sloveniangenealogy.org

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 05/30/2013

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Contents

Foreword to the English Edition

Foreword August Dimitz

First Chapter Carniola Under Leopold I (1657—1705)

Second Chapter Valvasor’s Cultural Epoch in Carniola

Third Chapter From Joseph I to the Death of Joseph II

Fourth Chapter The Ages of Leopold II and Francis I

Fifth Chapter French Rule in Illyria (1809 to 1813).

References

Glossary – German to English

List of Subscribers

Endnotes

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Foreword to the English Edition

— Rose Marie Macek Jisa

President, SGSI

The Slovenian Genealogy Society International, Inc. (SGSI) was founded by Albert Peterlin in 1986 to enrich the lives of individuals with Slovenian ancestry by helping them forge a link to the past.

The Society is a non-profit educational organization that collects and distributes information on Slovenian family history. We do this by:

15376.jpg    Providing a forum to help individuals of Slovenian heritage or interest to discover, research, and exchange genealogy information.

15379.jpg    Preserving Slovenian genealogy records, publications, oral histories, and general information by housing and maintaining an ever-growing repository and providing the means to make this information available to all members.

15381.jpg    Building a community where personal stories and experiences specific to the culture of Slovenia can be shared.

SGSI is pleased to make this classic collection of books about the history of Slovenia available to English speakers. Thoroughly documented and painstakingly footnoted by the author, the books provide meaningful insight into the history of our homeland.

As researchers discover their own family history, their thirst for knowledge expands to wanting to learn more about Slovenia—the history, the culture, the customs, and the way of life of our ancestors. Dimitz provides this information in a style that allows readers to feel they are there, actually experiencing the events through his words … a long read, yes, but one that draws a clear picture of how our Slovenian people endured, laying the foundation for the nation it is today.

NOTE: Throughout these books, the translator maintained the German names of Slovenian towns/villages, i.e. Laibach – Lubljana. For a translated list of these places go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_exonyms_for_places_in_Slovenia.

Foreword

August Dimitz

By publishing the second part¹ of this work, I fulfill the promise made at the end of the first: I offer the history-loving public more than was originally intended. The epoch treated in the present part deserves an even more detailed treatment. It is notable in many respects and of more than local interest. During this period the first unification movement in Austria develops through the Ausschusstage, the first provincial parliaments; also the first permanent legal and administrative organization develops through the initiatives of Emperor Maximilian I; it is the time of the first peasants’ revolt against the nobility and the prelates and, after the death of the Emperor, the first far-reaching, albeit unsuccessful movement of the privileged classes against the power of the monarchy. Then comes the long, troubled, and yet in many respects fruitful reign of Ferdinand I with the continuing unification movement in the Ausschusstagen, the struggles with the Turks, and the beginnings of the Reformation, which gave rise to the first printing of books in the Slavic languages. This period has fresh and hopeful developments and is aglow with steadfast striving for the highest goals of humanity: education and freedom of conscience.

As for my sources, I owe the greatest portion of the material to the Provincial Archives of Carniola, the use of which was most generously made possible for me by the Landeshauptmann Dr. Friedrich von Kaltenegger. Landesconcipist

Pfeifer, who runs the archives with expert care, has furthered my work through his untiring readiness to provide the materials. I thank the Imperial and Royal Educational Library in Laibach and the Imperial and Royal Library of the University and Joanneum in Graz for the readily granted use of the valuable and rare works that they sent me. Regarding the history of the Reformation, I gratefully mention in particular the preliminary studies offered to me by the Venetian Pastor Theodor Elze’s "Superintendenten Krains [Superintendents of Carniola], a short but substantial work, and his biographical article Truber" in Herzog’s protestantischer Real-Encyklopädie [Protestant Specialist Encyclopedia]. They served me as an infallible guide even in my independent research in the provincial archives. I have used all printed sources that are in any way relevant, as the gentle reader himself will see. And so I close with the wish that this book may make some contribution at home and abroad to the greater knowledge of our dear homeland and its notable events.

Eighth Book

From the Accession of Leopold I (1657) to the End of French Rule in Illyria (1813)

__________

First Chapter

Carniola Under Leopold I (1657—1705)

__________

1. Election of the Emperor. Homage Done by

the Carniolan Estates.

When Ferdinand III, weary of the worldly affairs that had brought so much misery to the monarchy and afflicted by the death of his eldest son, Ferdinand IV, went to his rest (April 2, 1657), the successor to the throne, Archduke Leopold, already King of Hungary and Bohemia, was barely 17 years of age. Originally destined for the clerical class and educated by the Jesuit Father Müller, of weak health and shy disposition, with no worldly experience and therefore dependent on the guidance of others, he saw himself placed by fate at the head of an empire, impoverished and depopulated by religious warfare and struggles against the Turks, that had lost almost all vital energy and all striving for independent political activity and intellectual development under the spiritually destructive reign of the Jesuits. In the discussion that the Emperor’s brother Archduke Leopold Wilhelm held on the day of the former’s death with the privy councilors, one voice was raised in favor of instituting a regency. It was that of Ferdinand III’s prime minister, our countryman Johann Weichard von Auersperg, former ayo and high steward to the deceased Archduke Ferdinand, since 1653 the first prince from that ancient family, and since 1654 Duke of Münsterberg through the enfeoffment with Münsterberg and Frankenthal. In opposition to him Johann Ferdinand, Count Porcia,² a member of the Carniolan estates, voted that Archduke Leopold Wilhelm assume the guardianship but that the King issue all orders with his signature. The meeting that was called because of this difference of opinion and from which Auersperg asked to be excused on account of illness decided in favor of the government being taken over by the King with the assistance of the Archduke; accordingly, notifications were issued to the courts, and the privy councilors and authorities in the hereditary lands were ordered to continue conducting their business as before until further notice.³ The change of government altered nothing in Auersperg’s external position. Leopold I allowed him to remain in it, but he did not let himself be dominated absolutely by him as Ferdinand III had. Auersperg is described as a man of the best manners and of the greatest skill whose ambition and constant jealousy in preserving his old influence embroiled him in conflicts with his colleagues and made him unpopular. He represented the Spanish influence in the King’s council and hoped to base his success on the marriage of the Emperor to a Spanish Infanta.⁴

The most important concern of the new government was the election of the Emperor. Austria’s status as a great power and its influence in Europe depended on this election since the Empire’s material strength was not significant. With an area of 6000 square miles and twelve million inhabitants, Austria at that time had an army of 80,000 men and an income of barely six million florins.⁵ The election of the Emperor was delayed by the machinations of France, which was supported by the Rhenish electors; Auersperg had eagerly collaborated with the rest of the ministers in the successful solution. He was the first to apprise the King of the attempts, instigated by the French, to divide and weaken the House of Austria through the election of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm.⁶ On July 18, 1658, Leopold was elected. The court secretary Pütterer was sent to Carniola with the good news.⁷ On July 31 the provincial capital celebrated the happy event with a solemnity of thanks at the Jesuit fathers’ place and a Te Deum accompanied by discharges from 30 pieces of artillery and 120 harquebuses on the Schlossberg.⁸ In the evening all houses of the city were lit up with lanterns and transparencies (various beautiful figures with lights). The provincial governor Wolf Engelbrecht von Auersperg, brother of the prince, rode with 50 knights through the streets of the city, and at nine o’clock artillery discharges once again announced the importance of the day.⁹ On the following morning the provincial marshal produced for the assembled estates the new emperor’s notification, issued on the election day, regarding the royal election that had taken place with a unanimous vote and general applause.¹⁰ The provincial estates decided, on their own initiative and unanimously, to express to him their heartfelt joy and congratulations with a present" for travel expenses in the amount of 20,000 florins.¹¹

The oath of allegiance, as the traditional solemn expression of the bond between people and ruler, the former, to be sure, in the limited sense of the times, which knew no national citizens but only privileged estates, had already been sworn to the new sovereign by the Austrian estates in the year 1655, before the death of his father; in Carniola this act of state, no longer having its old significance, was delayed until the year 1660. By an imperial letter of July 15 the Carniolan estates were informed that the Emperor intended to receive the hereditary homage in person. On August 20 the office of the provincial governor announced the imminent arrival of the Emperor in Laibach to ensure that foodstuffs would be supplied from the province. On August 18 eighteen, on the 20th twenty, large casks of excellent wine had been procured for the imperial household. The citizenry offered the latter 100 sacks of oats, sixteen casks of Italian wine and one cask of malmsey, and six fat oxen. Imperial servants had already arrived in Laibach earlier to prepare rooms for the imperial court, for which purpose they inspected all houses with the assistance of representatives of the city and the provincial estates. The estates discussed a reception worthy of the sovereign. Since the shortness of time did not allow the erection of triumphal arches or symbols in honor of the supreme ruler, it was decided that after the departure of the Emperor his presence would be immortalized with a monument and that he would be informed of this decision with due apology. Two commissaries were selected to meet His Imperial Majesty in Klagenfurt: the appointees Baron Herbart Kazianer and Johann Jakob von Raunach, who were never able to execute their order because the Emperor had summoned the provincial governor to the provincial border. On September 2 homage was done in Klagenfurt, and on the 4th the court set out for Laibach. The envoys went ahead of them; on September 4, at two o’clock in the afternoon, the Venetian envoy had arrived in Laibach. He was thereupon followed by the papal nuncio, Caraffa, Bishop of Aversa. The latter was met in St. Veit by the suffragan of Piben (Pedena) with the chapters of Laibach and Rudolfswerth in two six-horse state coaches. In front of the church of this village the nuncio dismounted from his horse and, after having been greeted deferentially by the present high clergy, got into the one state coach with the bishop while the canons took their seats in the other with the nuncio’s auditor. With all the bells ringing, the nuncio entered Laibach through the Spital Gate and was met expectantly by the abbot of Sittich outside the gate of the Sittich manor, which the abbot, despite his sickliness, made completely available to the nuncio.

On the evening of September 5 the Emperor arrived in Neumarktl. The provincial governor Wolf Engelbrecht von Auersperg received the sovereign with a select retinue of lower nobles and gave a short but very courteous and well-worded speech that congratulated the supreme ruler on the difficult and dangerous journey that he had endured and offered him, with most deferential affection on behalf of the province that had been entrusted to him for many years, the same province’s most humble services and most obedient devotion, whereupon the Emperor replied most graciously and explained the purpose of his coming to Carniola.

The Emperor took up his night quarters at the lower end of the marketplace in the house that later belonged to the steel dealer Ignaz Jabornigg and later Paul Mally; the retinue was lodged in the grand castle belonging at that time to a Count Paradeiser on a hill above the marketplace. The Emperor stayed in Neumarktl until midday on September 6, partly to allow himself and his retinue rest after the difficult journey, partly to wait for the portion of the retinue that still remained behind in the narrow passes. Meanwhile the provincial governor rode as quickly as possible back to Laibach to make all the arrangements for the reception here. The provincial governor’s brother, Prince Johann Weichard Auersperg, had likewise gone with his wife to Laibach, where he stayed in the home of the provincial governor.

On September 6 at midday the imperial train, which Archduke Leopold Wilhelm had also joined, set out from Neumarktl. In Krainburg the judge and council were awaiting it outside the gate and presented it with the keys to the city. The citizens stood at arms on both sides of the street and fired musket volleys, whereupon several artillery pieces and mortars were discharged, unfortunately not without a casualty: despite all warnings from the men posted to operate the artillery, Lord Michael Dienstmann, doctor of both laws, was not deterred from firing one of the pieces, which, because its charge was too strong, exploded and killed the meddling doctor of law. In the evening, on the mountain nearest to the city, a fireworks display was set off and accompanied by volleys from several mortars to proclaim the loyal joy of the Krainburgers. The Emperor spent the night here and left Krainburg early in the morning to have lunch in the episcopal palace of Görtschach after a ride of two miles. The privy councilors Prince Wenzel Lobkowitz and Hannibal Gonzaga had arrived in Laibach early in the morning of the same day.

The Emperor covered the rest of the way to Laibach on the same day via a lovely road through a beautiful level valley, but the estates sent Baron Johann Gotthard von Egg to learn the supreme ruler’s will regarding the place and time of the solemn reception and entrance.

After the ministers had announced the Emperor’s will, an open pavilion decorated with the provincial coat of arms was set up a half mile from the city, below the village of St. Veit, on a plain from which the Laibach Mountain Castle was visible, not far from a tall, beautiful linden tree; the pavilion floor was covered with red cloth, and the pavilion contained a table covered with red velvet and two chairs, one with red velvet for the Emperor and the other with red satin for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. At two o’clock in the afternoon the provincial governor betook himself here with all the knights and the nobility of the province, all on stately horses and magnificently dressed to await the Emperor in fine formation.

Toward 4 o’clock Emperor Leopold arrived, alighted from the state coach, and entered the pavilion, whereupon a volley of artillery was fired from Laibach Castle. The general of the Croatian and maritime border, Herbart, Count Auersperg, accompanied by the provincial governor and the lords of the knightly class, welcomed the Emperor as heir to the province with an elegant oration, to which His Majesty replied briefly and most graciously with a very friendly countenance and then allowed all present to kiss his hand.

The knights now remounted, and the train, with trumpets and kettledrums sounding, then set forth for the city. At the head rode a company of select Croatian nobles from Carlstadt, all in tiger skins, with lances, the general’s bodyguards, led by Christoph Delisimonovitsch.

Next came a Carniolan youth, about 20 years old, born not far from Laibach, in Croatian clothing, with a feathered calpac, tiger skin around his chest, with a short tunic and Turkish scimitar, who, standing upright on an unsaddled Turkish horse, a five-ell-long lance in one hand, controlled the rein with his other hand, and after he, galloping like the wind before the Emperor, had given a sample of his horsemanship, he took part in the whole entrance firmly in the saddle on the often uneven path and bumpy pavement while artillery volleys were fired continuously.

This singular rider was followed by five very noble Turkish horses covered with exquisite blankets; after them came two pipers and two kettledrummers who played in the Turkish manner, as is the Croats’ custom.

Now came the whole throng of the Croatian cavalry, 150 men in fine array, all on fleet horses adorned with gold and silver, with feathered fur caps and tiger skins, long lances decorated with silk curls or tassels in their right hands, who were thus beheld with pleasure mixed with shuddering in this joyful procession. And the more barbaric (or foreign) this spectacle was to behold, the more it caught the eyes of the spectators, especially of the strangers and foreigners.

The Croatians were followed by the Carniolan knights in four companies, 800 men strong, all with elk-skin jerkins and silk scarves, their casquets adorned with fine feathers. Their lieutenant colonel was Baron Johann Ludwig Gall, a lord of heroic stature, who distinguished himself greatly in the German War (as the Thirty Years’ War was called at that time) through bravery and military skill. Under him, the commanders of the four companies were the lieutenants Franz Bernhard, Baron von Lichtenberg; Melchior Hasiber; Johan Jakob, Baron von Prank, knight of the Teutonic Order and captain of the German garrison of Karlstadt; and Ludwig Valerius, Baron von Barbo. Standard-bearers were: Andre Bernhardin von Oberburg; Georg Sigmund, Baron von Raumschüssel; Lord Johann Jakob von Gallenfels; Lord Julius Heinrich Apfaltrer; sergeant majors: Lord Johann Georg von Hohenwart; Georg de Leo; Gregorius Toperzer; Lord Johann Petschacher von Scheffart; corporals (two of which in each company), the lords: Franz Bernhard Gall; Andre Daniel Mordax; Heinrich Bernhardin von Raunach; Karl Franz, Baron von Barbo; Wolfgang Karl, Baron von Juritsch; Johann Siegfried, Baron von Raumschüssel; Ferdinand Ernst Apfaltrer; and Johann Georg Rasp. Two companies wore blue feathers and scarves, the other two, yellow, these being the two provincial colors. Likewise the banners were correspondingly blue and white or yellow and white, and that of the second company bore in addition the Burgundy cross and the image of the Crucified One as the Christian symbol of victory against the Turks.

The imperial retinue now followed: 1. The archducal court quartermaster. 2. Two archducal roughriders. 3. Twenty-six archducal led horses covered with beautiful blankets. 4. Six imperial mounted archers. 5. Twenty-six fine imperial led horses. 6. The imperial court quartermaster with his attendant. 7. Six archducal trumpeters. 8. Just as many imperial ones. 9. One imperial kettledrummer. 10. Six more imperial trumpeters. 11. The imperial and archducal chamberlains, counts, and barons, who were also joined by the Carniolan noble lords and other foreigners. 12. The provincial governor and the Vicedom Friedrich, Count Attems, on horseback. 13. Archduke Leopold Wilhelm on horseback with bodyguards on both sides. 14. The archducal mounted archers. 15. The heralds of the hereditary lands and the empire. 16. Substituting for the absent Count Starenberg as vice-marshal, Franz, Count von Lamberg, with sword drawn. 17. The Emperor himself on horseback, accompanied by the bodyguards with uncovered heads. 18. The papal nuncio; the Venetian envoys; Count Johann Ferdinand von Porcia, knight of the Golden Fleece, as imperial supreme court marshal, His Excellency Count von Dietrichstein as imperial grand equerry. 19. The imperial and archducal pages. 20. One kettledrummer with six imperial trumpeters. 21. The vice-captain of the imperial bodyguards, Wilhelm, Count von Oettingen. 22. The imperial mounted archers. 23. Twenty-four imperial and archducal state coaches. 24. Colonel Johann von Arizaga with his eight-company cuirassier regiment, which was quartered in Carniola at that time, all horsemen except the officers, with green cranberry crests on their casquets.

In this order the procession moved on the Oberkrainerstrasse past the monastery of the discalceates (the present civic hospital) to the convent of the Poor Clares (military commissariat) and from there to the monasteries of the Augustinians (the present Franciscan monastery) and Capuchins to the Vicedom Gate (at the entrance to the present Judengasse), near which the burgomaster and council awaited the sovereign, and the former, after making a very audible and no less well-worded speech, presented him with the keys to the city. One hundred armed citizens were posted here. Under a canopy carried by eight councilmen the Emperor now betook himself through the Vicedomgasse (the present Herrengasse) to the provincial seat, before which were stationed the rest of the armed citizens led by the captain of the city militia Ludwig Schönleben (father of our historian), divided into two troops, who lowered their heads and weapons as a sign of deference to the Emperor when he approached.

From the provincial seat the procession crossed the New Market and the (present Hradetzky) bridge to the citizen’s market (old market), then to the city hall (which already occupied its present site at that time), and ended by the cathedral church, at the entrance to the churchyard, where the Emperor was greeted by Suffragan Vaccano on behalf of the clergy. His entrance ended with a solemn Te Deum, after which the eminent guests went to the episcopal palace. The Emperor occupied the second story, the Archduke occupied the side of the third story facing the square, and the ministers Porcia and Schwarzenberg occupied the other side of the episcopal palace, which faced the water.

During supper Colonel Arizags’s cavalrymen, posted outside the palace, fired their carbines, and the citizens also fired volleys before they moved out.

At nightfall the city and castle shone in a sea of light, in which there were also transparencies with beautiful symbols and mottos. This illumination, with which Laibach is said to have outdone all the other provinces and cities, was repeated in the two following nights.

The city militia stood as guard of honor outside the Emperor’s night quarters.

On September 9, at 8 o’clock in the morning, the assembled estates in the provincial seat heard the imperial commissaries, Wilhelm, Count von Tattenbach, and Vicedom Johann Friedrich, Count von Attems, who requested of the estates, in the name of the Emperor, the oath of allegiance and received the formal promise through the vice-marshal Eberhard Leopold, Count von Blagay, acting in place of the provincial governor, whereupon they, accompanied by most of the nobility as far as their carriage, left again.

The estates then discussed the rendering of homage and decided unanimously that the provincial estates should swear the oath as usual, but that the Emperor should be exempt from it since the provincial estates placed complete confidence in the Emperor’s promise that they would continue to have their rights and privileges, and that therefore they required no further assurance, which decision was announced to the Emperor through a deputation of the estates.¹²

The Emperor and the Archduke spent the afternoon in the provincial governor’s garden, the path of which was covered with red cloth that was given up to the people after the emperor had departed – in imitation of a customary practice at German imperial coronations. Here an Italian play was performed by some provincial servants in honor of the eminent guests, and in the end a splendid supper was given for the envoys, the Knights of the Golden Fleece, and the leading court ministers; there was much merriment, and the eminent guests did not retire until late in the evening.

On September 10 the Emperor did not object to a duck hunt on the Laibach. With the equerry Count Dietrichstein, the provincial assessor Georg Sigmund von Gallenberg, who was well acquainted with the preserve and hunting grounds, and two pages to load the barrel, the Emperor boarded a boat sheathed with a blue cloth, which traveled up the river through the city and beyond. Here common fishing skiffs were boarded, and now the morning pleasure of this rare sport was enjoyed, after which the top personages attended the High Mass celebrated by the discalceates in honor of St. Nicholas of Tolentino.

The afternoon brought an excursion on the Laibach with a pleasure fleet of twenty boats. To build and steer the Emperor’s boat the estates had sent for 14 carpenters and boatmen from Italy. It was in the form of a yacht or privateer ("Fusten), decorated with artistic carving and painting, and richly gilded. From the mast unfurled three sails with excellent subtle red and white weaving. In front stood Fortuna, spreading out a silk sail. The board carried two cannons. The interior was covered with red cloth; tables and chairs with purple velvet and gold tassels were covered with a similarly decorated canopy. Helmsman and sailors were dressed in doublets of silver satin with silk scarves and very wide red breaches and also wore red caps with feathers, a costume that showed the Austrian colors in a pleasing mixture. Among the other, likewise splendidly outfitted boats those of the chapter and the city of Laibach stood out. The former displayed beautiful carving and was clouded over with a red velvet canopy, the latter conducted itself entirely in a beautiful green hue, and its shelter came to a point on which an eagle, with the city coat of arms in its talons, spread its wings. These boats were boarded by the imperial and archducal chamberlains and high servants and also by the great ones of the province." The Emperor had summoned to himself only the provincial governor. The excursion on the gently flowing Laibach, with the refreshing autumn breezes blowing, went a distance of one mile; the returning fleet was greeted by artillery volleys from the castle.

On September 11 the Emperor was consulted about the courtly formulae to be observed in the oath of allegiance. In the afternoon he went bird hawking with the Archduke.

On the next day, after the Archduke had attended the mass and sermon in the Jesuit church, the provincial governor gave the imperial court and most of the nobility a magnificent banquet, after which, at half past three o’clock, the two top personages attended the play Rudolf I von Habsburg, presented by the Jesuits.

On September 13 the loyal estates finally rendered the hereditary homage in accordance with the set program.

At seven o’clock in the morning the estates appeared at court in the episcopal palace; their commissaries requested an audience and asked the Emperor to receive homage. The persons then proceeded to the church in the following order: 1. The lords and lower nobles. 2. The holders of the hereditary offices, namely: supreme hereditary steward Heinrich Ludwig, Count von Thurn;¹³ supreme hereditary court marshal,¹⁴ as representative of the provincial governor, his brother Herbart, Count von Auersperg; supreme hereditary chamberlain, likewise as representative of the provincial governor, his next cousin Johann Andreas, Count von Auersperg; supreme hereditary equerry, Johann Georg, Baron von Lamberg;¹⁵ supreme hereditary master huntsman Johann Jakob Khisel; supreme hereditary high constable Gotthard, Baron von Egg;¹⁶ supreme hereditary cupbearer Herbart, Baron Kazianer, representing the prince von Eggenberg;¹⁷ supreme hereditary carver Maximilian, Count von Schrottenbach, representing Johan Andreas Saurer; supreme hereditary seneschal¹⁸ Lord Johann Georg von Hohenwart; supreme hereditary master falconer¹⁹ Lord Ludwig Ambros Panizoll. 3. The provincial governor. 4. The vice-provincial marshal Count Eberhard Leopold Blagay with sword drawn. 5. The Emperor. 6. The supreme chamberlain. 7. The Austrian herald. At the church gate the suffragan received the Emperor and then celebrated High Mass, after which the procession returned to the episcopal palace. Here the Emperor sat down on the throne that had been set up in front of the dining hall and was surrounded by the holders of the hereditary offices. To the right of the Emperor stood the hereditary provincial marshal with sword drawn, further to the right, somewhat downwards, the provincial governor, the bishop of Piben, and the rest of the prelates of the province with the exception of the ailing abbot of Sittich. To the left stood the imperial chancellor Johann Joachim, Count von Sinzendorf. He very eloquently conveyed to the estates the Emperor’s will concerning acceptance of the homage; on behalf of the estates Count Herbart von Auersperg, designated for this purpose by the supreme provincial hereditary marshal, the provincial governor, replied with a detailed declaration of loyalty, whereupon the Emperor spoke and assured the dear loyal estates of all high imperial and sovereign protection and administration of their privileges and rights to the fullest.²⁰1 The imperial chancellor then read out the oath formula, the provincial governor swore the oath first, then the bishop of Piben and the rest of the prelates swore it, after them the provincial officials, the privy councilors, and the lords and knights, and finally the delegates of the city and market towns. Thereupon the estates were allowed to kiss the Emperor’s hand, first the provincial governor, then the clergy, the hereditary officials, and finally about 200 nobles of the lordly and knightly class.

Now followed the Te Deum in the cathedral, during which the artillery thundered, and the city militia, standing under three flags before the episcopal palace, gaily joined in with the happily flashing artillery by firing their arms three times.

The Emperor then dined in his residence, the table being set for him alone and the hereditary officials serving. To the right of the Emperor Count Herbart Auersperg, as vice-marshal, held his unsheathed sword, to the left the hereditary provincial steward held the silver-plated staff. The first drink served to the Emperor by the hereditary cupbearer was accompanied by volleys fired by the city militia and the artillery of the castle. Throughout the meal very lovely music was performed with voices as well as instruments.

The hereditary officials then dined in the large music hall of the Corpus Christi Brotherhood next to the episcopal palace (where the cathedral rectory is now located). Each had his own table, to which he had invited his guests, and there was also a free table in addition. In total there were 96 guests, not counting the hereditary officials’ representatives. We find, from the court household and retinue: Ferdinand, Count von Harrach, Franz Adam, Count von Brandis, and Johann Joachim, Count von Slavata, imperial chamberlains; Wilhelm, Count von Daun, archducal chamberlain; Wilhelm and Friedrich, Counts von Oettingen; Count Wolfgang Andreas von Rosenberg, Vicedom of Salzburg; Count Bernhard von Urschenbeck, Count Sigmund Helfrich von Dietrichstein, Franz Adam, Count von Wallenstein, Michael, Count Kinsky, Johann Jakob, Count von Attems; Sebastian Wunibald, seneschal of Waldburg and Count von Zeil; Georg Sigmund, Count von Herberstein, Leopold Wilhelm, Count von Königseck, Ferdinand, Baron von Hohenfeld, Franz Adam, Baron von Langenmantel, Johannes, Baron von Arizaga, Andreas, Baron von Fin, Baron Paravicini, Johann Andre, Baron Zehetner; Georg Szelepcsényi, archbishop of Calocza, Hungarian chancellor; Petrus de Argento, government advisor; from the Knights of the Teutonic Order, a Lord von Tschernembl, Georg Gottfried, Baron zu Lamberg, Georg Andre von Staudach, Johann Jakob, Baron von Prank; from the Carniolan nobility: Johann Herbart and Franz, Counts von Lamberg, Johann Anton, Baron von Lamberg, Trojan, Count von Lamberg, Valerius Maximilian and Ludwig Valerius, Barons von Barbo; Johann Ludwig, Gottfried, and Franz Bernhard, Barons von Barbo; Johann Ludwig, Gottfried, and Franz Bernhard, Barons von Gall, Karl Valvasor, Johann Adam Ursini, Count von Blagay, Lord Johann Wilhelm von Neuhaus, Lord Julius Hermann von Werneck; Lords Johann Adam and Franz Christoph von Engelshausen; Lorenz and Wolfgang Augustin, barons, Georg Sigismund and Johann Ernst, Counts von Paradeiser, Gottfried and Franz Bernhard, Barons von Gall; Lords Wolfgang Friedrich and Johann Herbart Posarell, Rudolf and Johann B., Barons von Moskon; Weichard, Georg Sigmund, Erasmus, and Franz Raimund, Barons von Raumbschüssel, Lord Leonhard Fabianitsch (Mercheritsch), Georg Sigmund von Aichelburg, Johann Georg and Johann Augustin Rasp, Michael Ernst von Scherenburg, Johann Jakob von Gallenfels, Johann Friedrich and Georg Andre, Barons von Trilleck, Daniel, Baron von Egg, Sigmund Friedrich, Baron von Burgstall, Christoph von Burgstall, Adolf, Count von Wagensperg, Ferdinand, Lord von Scharfenberg, Johann Georg and Franz Bernhard, Barons von Lichtenberg, Johann Josef Taller, Johann Sigmund Guschitsch; Johann Friedrich, Georg Sigismund, Jodoc Jakob, Lords von Gallenberg, Wolfgang Karl, Baron von Juritsch, Georg and Johann B. de Leo, Johann Ludwig von Grimschitsch; Sigmund König, Burgrave of Laibach Mountain Castle; Otto Hannibal von Isenhausen, Georg von Wust, Melchior Hasiber, Franz Albert Khisel; Andreas Daniel von Raunach, canon in Laibach; Ferdinand Ernst Apfaltrer, Wolfgang Adam Mordax, Wolfgang Vincenz, Baron von Wagensberg, Franz, Baron von Coraduzzi, Georg Jankovitsch, and Thomas Chrön.

On September 14 a part of the court household departed for Gorizia, but the nuncio went upstream to Idria to inspect the famed quicksilver mine.

On the following day Emperor Leopold left Laibach, while Archduke Leopold Wilhelm stayed behind because of an indisposition to wait here for the Emperor’s nephew on the return journey from Gorizia. The court traveled on the splendid boat described above via Oberlaibach, Hasberg Castle, Alben (Planina), and Wippach, where the night from September 17 to 18 was spent in the Lanthieri counts’ castle, to Gorizia.

On September 16 Archduke Leopold Wilhelm was still unwell. On September 18 he had himself brought to the provincial governor’s garden, where he watched a target shoot arranged by the present Carniolan nobles. On September 20, because it was a beautiful temperate autumn day, the Archduke rode around the Schlossberg outside the city with a large entourage. On the 22nd he exchanged the apartment in the episcopal palace for the Teutonic House, the better to enjoy the fresh air and because of the neighboring Auersperg Garden. On October 4 the Archduke, with his household and a large part of the Carniolan nobility, traveled by water to see the Emperor, whom he met in the monastery of Freudenthal and with whom he took lunch there. In the afternoon the top personages returned to their boat, which then floated gently downriver with outspread merry sails to the sound of trumpets and kettledrums toward the approaching provincial estates and the city of Laibach. Here the arriving party was greeted by an artificial wildfire and fire of honor from the neighboring mountains, the letter A, which stood for "Austriacum, the Austrian jewel, was ignited with a flash, the guns of the fortress answered the thundering rockets, and the windows of the city twinkled everywhere with beautiful brightly shining and elegantly painted lanterns. The city militia formed guards of honor from the New Market to the episcopal palace and on their withdrawal bade His Majesty goodnight by firing their arms."

On October 5 the two top personages, though the Emperor was weary from travel and the Archduke was still ailing, gave proof of their piety by leading, on foot, the procession for the transfer of the relics of St. Peregrine from the cathedral church to the discalceates. Many thousands of people thronged there, partly out of devotion, partly out of desire to see the high leaders in the procession. Everyone celebrated; the citizens and the tradesmen marched with their banners, just as though it were the Feast of Corpus Christi. On this day the nuncio and the Venetian envoys returned from Trieste; the Spanish ambassador had joined them and was received by the Prince von Auersperg, the privy councilor Margrave Matei, and the Laibach canons.

On October 6 and 7 the Emperor was occupied with granting audiences and favors. The provincial governor was promoted to privy councilor and called at once to a council meeting; Counts Eberhard Leopold von Blagay and Johann Andreas von Auersperg received the gold key of a chamberlain. The provincial governor entertained the foremost gentlemen of the court and the envoys.

On October 7 the estates discussed the allocations occasioned by the oath swearing. Apart from the sum of 12,000 florins that was passed to help the Emperor with traveling expenses, they gave the supreme court chancellor Count von Sinzendorf a gift of 1000 ducats in gold, i.e. 3000 florins, the privy secretary Gregor Schidanitsch 1500 florins, and the secretary Christ. Abele 300 florins, the privy registrar Hermann von Berlingshof 300 florins, the two court-chancery clerks Sartorius and Kapitsch 150 florins, the government servant 40 florins, to the controller for the imperial household 500 florins, the secretary Püttrer 200 florins, the imperial master of ceremonies 20 silver crowns worth 1 florin 50 kreutzers each, the imperial quartermaster 100 silver crowns, the court quartermaster first sent to Laibach 30 crowns, the household of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm 300 florins, the officers and servants of high steward Count Ferdinand von Porcia 150 florins, the court chancellor’s secretary 25 silver crowns, and the Austrian herald 12 silver crowns.²¹

For 143 horses of the court household in the entrance, the estates granted 1430 florins.²²

On October 8 at 11 o’clock in the morning the Archduke set out, and in the afternoon the Emperor set out from Laibach, which he had honored with an unusually long sojourn. The citizenry stood at arms from the marketplace (square) through the Spitalgasse to the city gate. The knights had contributed ten six-horse coaches for the court since the court coaches had already been sent forth the day before to await the court on the other side of the Sava. There the provincial governor and the entire nobility of the province also awaited the Emperor’s train; on parting His Majesty allowed all to kiss his hand in the Spanish manner. The first night’s lodgings were in Scherenbüchl Castle, at that time in the possession of Baron Franz Ernst von Saurau. On the following day the midday meal had to be taken in the rectory of the village of Kraxen.²³

2. Prince Weichard Auersperg as Prime Minister and

His Downfall (1657–1669).

In addition to the wars that circumstances had forced on the gentle and upright Leopold and the course of which will be treated later in connection with the fortunes of our homeland, the energetic Penelopean labor of diplomacy in the negotiations regarding the Spanish inheritance went on until the close of the century. The name of our prominent countryman Prince Weichard Auersperg, as the Emperor’s prime minister, is indissolubly connected with the most interesting part of these intrigues, which remained secret until our day, and with the first treaty of partition. The history of his triumph, which took years of laborious preparation, and of his downfall, which followed almost immediately thereafter as a result of the strangest accident, is therefore inseparable from the history of our province.²⁴

Ever since the death of Philip II, the Spanish line of the Habsburgs had been in physical and mental decline. When Philip IV died (1665), he left behind one daughter, Maria Theresa, from his first marriage and one daughter, Margaret Theresa, and one son, Charles, weak of mind and body, from his second. Even before the latter was born, the Austrian line had sought to secure its claims through a union with King Philip’s elder daughter. Auersperg, prime privy councilor to Ferdinand III, attempted to bring about a speedy marriage between the young King Leopold and the elder Spanish princess immediately after Ferdinand III’s death. Spain, however, demanded help against its powerful neighbor France in return, and when the hopes for Austria’s help did not materialize Maria Theresa was married to Louis XIV in 1659, but in return for renunciation of all hereditary claims for herself and her heirs, which condition was also accepted by her spouse. The rights of Austria would therefore not be affected by this union. The Emperor now wooed Philip’s younger daughter, Margaret Theresa, but the wedding did not take place until April 25, 1666, after Philip’s death. The fact that the Spanish hereditary prince, although weak and ailing, was still alive and came to power as Charles II frustrated the French designs on the whole rich Spanish inheritance for the time being, but on Philip’s death France raised claims to the Spanish Netherlands, not on the basis of the Spanish laws of succession but on the basis of a private law that was in force in the Belgian provinces, according to which the children of different wives inherited that which the father had acquired in marrying the respective wife. Now, however, the Netherlands, which Philip II had left to his daughter Clara Eugenia and her husband Albrecht of Austria, had passed back to Spain, while Philip IV’s first wife was still alive.²⁵ Before Louis XIV took up arms, he sought to influence Austria to enter into a treaty of partition concerning the whole Spanish monarchy for the event of the decease of Charles II. When France’s negotiator, Count Wilhelm Fürstenberg, appeared in Vienna (January 1667), he passed over the prime minister, Prince Auersperg, and approached Auersperg’s rival for the court’s favor, the privy councilor Prince Wenzel Lobkowitz; he found the Emperor not disinclined and even won over the majority of the ministers, but Auersperg took revenge for his being slighted by prejudicing the Emperor against the French project. He spoke especially against the cession of Milan and the Netherlands to France as being contrary to the Emperor’s interests and the empire’s advantage. Count Fürstenberg received a negative reply (February 1667).

Although Auersperg had also protected the interests of the empire against the French intrigues, he no less than his rival Lobkowitz was lulled by Spanish carelessness and French plotting into such sureness of peace that the French envoy Gremonville’s news of the invasion of the Netherlands surprised the Viennese court (May 26, 1667). However, when Louis XIV saw that he could not restrain Austria from war, he returned once again to his proposals of partitioning. These were now received more favorably. In the first meeting (November 1667) Prince Auersperg, who earlier had been so unobliging to France, was convinced by Gremonville to be in favor of the French plans; hindered by the sly Lobkowitz, Auersperg suddenly turned from an ardent defender of Austrian interests into a zealous partisan of France. The fact that the success of so momentous an undertaking as the unification of Austria and France, the foremost continental states, rested in his hands flattered his vanity, and besides he hoped to be able to fulfill a strange ambition on this occasion. The 53-year-old prince, for 13 years a happy paterfamilias, wished to become a cardinal. Whether it was a surfeit of worldly success, a conviction that princely favor was fickle, or a pietistic streak that was not unusual in aristocratic circles at that time, or whether Auersperg intended to become an Austrian Richelieu, the prince had expressed the wish openly enough, and the Emperor himself had written to Rome on Auersperg’s behalf in 1667. The Frenchman resolved at once to exploit the minister’s particular weakness for the advantage of his king. He advised the latter to support Auersperg’s dearest wish. No reward would be too great if the prince were to lead the negotiations to a successful conclusion. On December 30, 1667, Auersperg was in fact made absolute plenipotentiary by the Emperor to negotiate with Gremonville. On the following day Auersperg and Gremonville exchanged their full authority. In the first conference of the ministers Auersperg and Lobkowitz with Gremonville (January 2, 1668) Austria’s interests were still energetically represented. Auersperg explained how the Emperor, in order to be able to obtain Spain, must possess Milan and Naples in Italy but that Sicily could not be separated from Naples. Since the French negotiator had the secret full authority to give up, of the Italian provinces, Milan and Finale at most, but Emperor Leopold attached the greatest importance to those very provinces, the negotiations came to a halt. In the meantime, Gremonville tried every means to influence the Emperor through the Austrian ministers, and Auersperg was misled by his yearning for the cardinal’s hat to promise that he would bring the matter to a good conclusion (i.e. in the French sense) if Louis XIV would intercede with the Pope for the cardinalate. Gremonville gladly undertook this obligation, but now he also insisted on Naples and Sicily for his king. On January 18 Auersperg had the envoy invited to a visit. Once more the already drafted treaty was examined, again Italy was the object of contention. Auersperg insisted on Milan and Naples; Gremonville, the adroit courtier, called out to him: Strike out the article if you wish to reap the honor of being the cardinal of peace and the prime ministers of all the courts in Europe. Once again he promised the wavering prince the intercession of the king in Rome. This had had an effect. Auersperg deigned to make one more attempt with the Emperor, and this attempt succeeded: on January 19 the prince was already able to inform the French envoy that the Emperor had given up all claim to Naples to oblige the King of France, but on condition that the treaty would be signed without delay. Naturally, Auersperg and Gremonville hastened to finish their work. At 2 o’clock after midnight they signed the contract. Auersperg embraced the envoy and congratulated him because his king, whom no other equaled in fame or good fortune, who was just as great a conqueror as he was a sovereign, had, with this treaty, dissolved the general alliance that had been on the point of forming against him. The Emperor himself, however, was no less gratified by this treaty, which he ratified with his own hand on February 28. Through it France acquired the contingent claim to the Spanish Netherlands, the Franche-Comté, the Philippines, the kingdom of Navarre, the fortress of Rosas,