Building Castles, Changing and Inventing Traditions
KATARINA PREDOVNIK (*) A BRAVE NEW WORLD? BUILDING CASTLES, CHANGING AND INVENTING TRADITIONS ABSTRACT - Following the period of Magyar incursions, the south-eastern border- lands of the Holy Roman Empire witnessed a process of gradual feudalisation. By the late 12th century, the territory of modern-day Slovenia had been divided up into several large dominions under the rule of secular and religious feudal lords of mostly foreign, German origin. Newly established administrative and socio-spatial structures were cen- tred on castles as foci of feudal power. These have replaced earlier, Slavic central plac- es. Material evidence for these processes comes from some early castles, such as Bled/ Veldes, Mali Grad Kamnik/Stein, Ljubljana/Laibach, Stari Trg Pri Slovenj Gradcu/ (Windisch)Grätz and Ptuj/Pettau, where traces of early Slavic settlements and, above all, burial sites have been excavated. In order to legitimize their rule over land and people, the new feudal authorities have clearly mobilized existing spatial structures and symbolic meanings to establish a relationship with the past social order. This rela- tionship might be understood either as antagonistic, signifying a complete break with the old world, or as affirmative, signifying its continuation. KEY WORDS - Bled, Ptuj, Kamnik, Early castles, Feudalisation, Spatial strategies, Invention of tradition. RIASSUNTO - Dopo le incursioni magiare, la frontiera sudorientale del Sacro Roma- no Impero assistette a un processo di graduale feudalizzazione. Nel tardo XII secolo, il territorio dell’attuale Slovenia fu suddiviso in ampi distretti governati da signori feuda- li, laici e religiosi, prevalentemente di origine straniera e segnatamente germanica. Le nuove strutture amministrative, sociali e territoriali avevano il loro centro nei castelli, nuclei del potere feudale.
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