On the Origin of Alpine Slovenes
On the Origin of Alpine Slovenes Aleš Iglič University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia Some historians believe that Slovenes were drawn into the European cultural circle by (Bavarian) feudalism, although it is this very same feudalism that also prevented them access to the resources needed for their social and cultural development – it is precisely this fact, they suggest, that presented one of the most significant obstacles for the further development of the Slovene nation. We cannot agree with this viewpoint. Rather, Slovenes owe their inclusion in the medieval European civilisation, which originates from European antique traditions stemming from ancient Greece, primarily to Roman and other indigenous peoples, as well as to Christian missionaries from the non-Germanic parts of Europe (Iglič, 2007a), i.e. Ireland and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, who spread Christianity and the culture of the antiquity in the region of the Diocese of Salzburg, from where missionaries came to Carantania, Carniola and Lower Pannonia (Fig. 1). The first Apostle of Carantania Modestus, for example, was sent to Carantania on the orders of the Irish monk Vergilius of Salzburg (Gruden, 1992). Overall, Irish monks contributed greatly to the preservation of the European civilisation in the Early Middle Ages also in other parts of Europe (Cahill, 1995). By passing on the preserved antique knowledge, for example literacy, onto the barbarian peoples, Byzantine missionaries from Greece and Aquileia (Grivec, 1927; Bratož, 1990) as well as Irish missionaries (monks) preserved the European civilisation, which is based on the accomplishments of ancient Greece in the fields of philosophy, science, art, and political organisation (democracy).
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