Fragments from History of Lož-Laas and its Surroundings (Part 2)

Abstract

The oldest preserved documents pertaining to Lož (the Lož market, the castle, or the real estate and judicial territory) date from the beginning of the 13th century. The geostrategic position of the Lož territory was in the 13th and the 14th century of crucial importance for the Aquileia patriarchs and the Ortenburg dynasty in Carniolia, but dissipated under the Habsburgs despite the fact that the market place was then elevated to the status of a town. The ministerials and the nobility from various settlements in the region appear mainly as witnesses in the preserved documents. They were granted their patrimonial and judicial privileges as early as in the beginning of the 13th century, under the rule of the Vovbre-Haimburg family. The peasants are first mentioned in the preserved documentation from the 14th and 15th century, but more data as to their position can be acquired only from land registers and lists that date back to the 16th and 17th century. In that time, the borders of the real estate and judicial territory have shrunk, and the real estate has been increasingly atomized and localized.