Slovene soldiers, smugglers, women and more in the modern period in the light of the Friuli historical documents

Abstract

The article offers an insight into a certain period of the modern era in the lives of the Slovenian-speaking population of the western Slovenian territory, as reflected in historical documents from this era in the Friuli region. The Late Middle Ages and Modern Period Slavs feature in the Friuli historical record, mostly in connection with individual feuds, wars or invasions and are presented as active participants in armed conflicts, while Slovenian women even feature as cold-blooded avengers. The Slovenian population is also mentioned with respect to the weekly market in Čedad (Cividale del Friuli) and trading in the capital of Friuli. Overall, however, the data about the Slavs is scarce, despite the high number of Friuli historical documents, which results from the perception of Slavs in the wider Friuli region as a domestic population who happened to speak a “Slavic” language.