This paper presents an original analysis and reinterpretation of two documents from 1238 and 1239, which are the first to mention the Koper statutes but have thus far received only sporadic mentions ...in historiography. The paper is further predicated on the study of archival sources of the Venetian Senate from the Senato Misti collection for the period after the Koper rebellion against Venice in 1348 up until 1394 when the Doge of Venice reconfirmed the Koper statutes. It is established that at least from 1238 the commune of Koper acted according to its already complex statutes. These were, with some further redactions, in force until 1348, when, due to the rebellion of Koper, they were disregarded by the Venetian authorities until 1358, along with the dissolution of the city's Major Council, and all of Koper's city offices were restructured. After 1358, the sources testify that the Venetians restored the Koper City Council and offices to their pre-rebellion state, but not the statutes, although some statutory provisions were taken into account in individual administrative or judicial cases. The Koper statutes officially came into force again in 1394, and a slightly modified redaction appeared in 1423. However, in both cases without the right to exercise criminal justice and the defence of the city, which remained in the exclusive domain of the Venetian podestà and captain until the end of the Venetian Republic in 1797.
On the case of the literary tale of Fran Levstik, Martin Krpan (1858), the article illuminates Levstik's political agenda and literary implementation of the outlaw hero, Martin Krpan, for the needs ...of Slovenia's nation-building process, a phenomenon that was characteristic of almost all emerging European nations at the time. An analysis of Levstik's Martin Krpan reveals a unique phenomenon that was tailored to a specific program: namely, the conscious desire to create a national literary character that would constitute a foundation for both further literary creation and the national political struggle. Levstik was the most prominent writer among the emerging Slovenian intellectual class in the second half of the 19th century. The value of his tale resides in its merging of mythical and literary narratives into a functionally connected organism, the simultaneity of "historical" and "nonhistorical" elements, and the interaction between symbolic and real ambiguities. Levstik's structure for both his literary-political program and his tale about Martin Krpan originates in historical realities and cultural memory of the 15th and 16th centuries: economic (transportation), social (peasant revolts), and political (defense against the Ottoman Turks). Levstik combines these elements with the fundamentals of folkloric and ethno-symbolic cultural heritage of that period. In Martin Krpan, Levstik skillfully conceals "historical realities" behind metaphors and symbolism, which is typical of myths. In this way, he provides a path toward the realization of national political ambitions. But the "real" myth Levstik created was more than simply that of Martin Krpan and his adventures. It was more than an argument for the historical origin or vocation of a nation, the defense of the civilization, or the demand for political rights or mimetic narrative prose, i.e. the ability to create a virtual real world. The "real" myth of the literary tale was the elevation of the Slovenian language to the essential distinguishing and constitutive element of the Slovenian nation-building process in comparison with the "Other(s)."
Študija je posvečena koprskim kapetanom Slovanov (Capitaneus Sclavorum Justinopolis), ki jih v virih kot poveljnike koprskega podeželja v času Beneške republike zasledimo od leta 1349 pa vse do ...začetka 19. stoletja. Vsekakor gre vsaj po imenu za edinstveno funkcijo, ki je bila doslej vse premalo raziskana. Poleg arhivskih virov nekaterih ustanov Beneške republike, pa temeljni vir za to študijo predstavlja v prilogi k članku v slovenščino prevedena knjiga kapetanov Slovanov. Knjiga vsebuje določbe, zlasti v zvezi s pobiranjem dajatev, pa tudi splošne določbe o pristojnostih kapetana Slovanov, in sicer od leta 1587 do 1724. Posebno vlogo je imel koprski kapetan Slovanov zlasti v vojaški organizaciji koprskega komuna, skrbel je za organizacijo obrambe na koprskem podeželju, za vprašanje meja med vaškimi komuni, za pobiranje davkov in dajatev, zadolžen pa je bil še za nižje sodne zadeve, za organizacijo obrambe in nadzora beneško-habsburške meje tako v času raznih vojaških spopadov kot epidemij, saj so v obrambnih postojankah s kmečkimi vojaki pod poveljstvom kapetana Slovanov oblikovali prostore za karantene za potnike, ki so prihajali iz okuženih dežel.
Franc Miklošič was undoubtedly one of the most educated, internationally renowned and influential Slovene intellectuals of the second half of the nineteenth century and is foremost regarded as a ...philologist, linguist and one of the founders of Slavic studies. However, Miklošič's intellectual versatility also led to his engagement with history, ethnography, anthropology and law, predicated on interdisciplinary and comparative approaches. Apart from a few translations of Austrian legislation into Slovene, Miklošič did not devote himself to legal matters, with the exception of blood feud in Die Blutrache bei den Slaven (1887), one of the key works on the topic at the time. Although he agreed with the evolutionist and legal positivist views of his time on the State as the pinnacle of civilization, compared to the supposed chaos of prior societies (which continue to remain popular), in Blutrache Miklošič also presented the characteristics of the customary system of conflict resolution in kinship-based societies, which attest to the complexity of social relations in premodern Europe. It is with the help of Miklošič's work that this paper reconstructs the customary ritual of conflict resolution, which was known to all premodern European societies, and presents the attitude of his and later times towards blood feud.
Based on the study of several documented testimonials concerning the dispute between the inhabitants of Piran and the Capodistrian bishop in 1201, that also include statements describing the ...investiture of the notary, this article uses the comparative and (re)interpretative method to study the ritual of notarial investiture as it was exercised from the 12th century onwards in the area of the upper Adriatic and in the neighbouring Italian territories. The study is not only focused on the question of the notarial investiture but also ventures comparatively into other secular social spheres of the European medieval investiture rituals and states, showing that the rituals were conducted in accordance with the unified, three-part inner structure as described by Galbert of Brugge (1127): homage, fides, investiture. Although the investiture ceremonies for special social spheres differed one from another with regard to symbolic gestures, objects and words (phrases) and were transformed in accordance to social needs, the inner structure of the ritual was invariable whether it concerned the investitures of emperors, kings, vassals, knights, notaries or functionaries of the other social institutions that were rapidly beginning to take shape especially from the 13thcentury onwards; furthermore, the structure is also present in the judicial sphere. The origins of the medieval ritual are manifested in the ubiquitous divine transcendence whose door was flung wide open during the Carolingian-Ottonian period (8th-11th centuries) whereas the cultural roots of the ritual extend backwards into archaic communities. The study also indicates the role and the signifi cance of notaries in the administration of governmental organs and especially in the formation of the governmental structures of autonomous cities, characteristically reflected in the investiture ritual. It was the mere investiture ritual, as it was developed from 12th century onwards, based on knights and notarial rituals, that opened the pathway towards the investitures in other social fields, especially in free vocations (artes liberales). The right to be invested was later also to be spread amongst the 'common' subjects.
ABSTRACT IN ITALIAN: Lo studio dell'istituto del notariato nell'Istria nord-occidentale e il confronto con l'attività di questa istituzione nei territori dell'Adriatico settentrionale, soprattutto ...orientale, hanno portato a concludere che questi luoghi, soprattutto nella fase iniziale di rinnovato successo del diritto romano e, con esso, del notariato dopo il XII secolo, fino alla caduta della Repubblica di Venezia nel 1797 hanno conosciuto uno sviluppo conforme all'esempio delle vicine località adriatiche nord-orientali, adeguando l'attività delle loro istituzioni a particolarità già esistenti. In questo modo ha preso forma l'istituto straordinario del vicedomino (a Trieste, Muggia, Capodistria, Isola, Pirano e Pola), incaricato non soltanto di autenticare i documenti notarili, ma anche di controllare l'attività di tutte le altre cancellerie, nonché di curare e sistemare i libri contenenti i regesti degli atti notarili, compito in altre parti affidato alla responsabilità dei notai. In certi periodi altre località lungo l'Adriatico conobbero diversi uffici, quali ad esempio i memoriali, gli esaminatori, gli auditori ecc., che avevano competenze simili, soprattutto per quanto attiene l'autenticazione, differenziandosi invece anche parecchio nelle altre mansioni. // ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: The comparative study of the functioning of the notary institution in northwestern Istria and in the upper eastern Adriatic has revealed that from the period of the revival of Roman law and the ensuing rise of the notary to the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, the development of northwestern Istria was modelled upon that of the upper eastern Adriatic area with the functioning of the Istrian institution being adapted to special local characteristics. As a result, the region saw the formation of a unique institution called »vicedominario« (in Trieste, Muggia, Koper, Izola, Piran and Pula) that was authorized not only to certify the authenticity of notarial documents, but also to supervise the operation of all other administrative offices and to keep the records of abstracts of notarial acts - a task entrusted to notaries in other places. Interestingly, in different periods other areas along the Adriatic did know different types of offices such as »memorials«, »examinatores«, »auditors«, »pristaldus«, etc. who had similar, largely certification-related competences, as well as many other obligations of a different nature.
In this article, the authors study the diverse roles of rural fortifications in
northern Istria within the context of military events and the participation of the
rural population therein. These ...events include the incursions of Turkish robber
bands as well as the first and second Austro-Venetian wars. We discuss the variety
of functions, including the symbolic one, of architecturally variously fortified
buildings: watchtowers, fortified walls with watchtowers, fortified churches and
fortified karst pits. As a comparison, we discuss a large fortification that during
the mentioned events and in peacetime was the seat of a feudal estate, Socerb.
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