Market towns that never existed? Overlooked market towns of White Carniola and its market town that never existed

Abstract

The paper deals with four settlements in White Carniola that appeared in sources as market towns but were as such completely ignored by history. In relation to two, historians have so far disposed of very scarce data and interpretations, the other two have remained completely unknown as market towns. The first references to them in written sources appeared in the following chronological order: Poljane (present-day Stari trg ob Kolpi) in 1377, Novi trg near the Poljane Castle in 1576, Pusti Gradec in 1690 and Semič in 1754. Novi trg, which was actually only an anti-Ottoman tabor, and the parish village of Semič, were classified as market towns only once and twice, respectively. Whereas the market town Poljane, which was renamed Stari trg to be distinguished from Novi trg, actually retained its market town status until the land redemption in 1848, but was never regarded as such by the broader society and local studies literature due to the misleading name. Another market town that was left unnoticed was Pusti Gradec, a settlement adjoining the castle, to which urbarial sources consistently referred to as a market town for over one hundred years, from the end of the 17^th century to the beginning of the 19^th century.