The settlement structure of Zgornja Gorenjska in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The paper presents the settlement structure of the Zgornja Gorenjska region in the Middle Ages. It begins with the period immediately preceding the Slavic settlement, continues with describing the early Slavic settlement and concludes with the colonisation during the high Middle Ages, which mainly concentrated on lowland areas. The 13th century witnessed the settlement of economically less favourable areas in valleys and at higher elevations. The paper contains two tables indicating the numbers of farms in villages that appear in written sources for the period of around 1330 and for the end of the 15th century. The paper also provides a total number of farms in the area under discussion and attempts to give an approximate number of the population. The table referring to the end of the 15th century, in particular, is more representative and realistic.