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Eagle and Lion: Intergation, Immigration, and Conflict on the Istrian Frontier in the Sixteenth Century

This dissertation analyzes the sixteenth century Istrian frontier from the perspective of the subject population in the rural parts of the peninsula. Istria, presently divided between Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, was a frontier region of the Holy Roman Empire throughout the Middle Ages. Following the elimination of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, the peninsula was divided between the dominant Venetian Republic holding two thirds of the coast and the Habsburgs ruling the interior but isolated heartlands. Both powers reigned over a rural subject population that was overwhelmingly Slavic. Split along political lines that made them either “Austrian” or “Venetian” these subjects bore the brunt of their respective lieges’ power struggles and yet, faced with meager resources and a mutually dependent economy, the needed to coexist and cooperate in order to survive and thrive. The sixteenth century in particular is an age of great upheavals in the region. Two wars delineate this period: the War of the League of Cambrai (1508- 1516) and the Uskok War (1615-18). The time in between was one of uncertainty as the emergent Habsburg power reinforced by the acquisition of the Spanish Crown sought to challenge Venetian dominance of the region in order to assert its own claim to supremacy in the Adriatic. This was even further strengthened by Ferdinand ascension in neighboring Croatia and Hungary. In the shadow of this grand struggle the subject population, decimated and suffering from outbreaks of the plague and malaria, wars, and famine, became the (un)willing pawns of their princes, forced to contend not only with each other, but also with the new population of refugees from the Dalmatian hinterlands, settled in Istria by the rival powers to repopulate the region. The author is focused primarily on the subjects of these rural areas, living close to state boundaries, and leaving aside the predominantly Italian urban population of the coastal cities. He also aims to ascertain the dynamics of frontier life, and to determine whether these frontier communities were receptive to migrants of Istrian and external origin, how the boundaries affected the interaction between the subjects and what role the boundary disputes played on the peninsula. The three different, but complementary chapters of this dissertation outline a remarkable period in Istrian history. Against the backdrop of wars and a changing balance of power in the region, as well as the influx of a large number of culturally similar, but more violent Morlaks, Istrian peasants were caught between hammer and anvil. They needed to draw new settlers to replenish their dwindling numbers, but these migrants were often more trouble than they were worth. Furthermore, they had to maintain good relations with their neighbors in order to marry find work and feed their livestock. At the same time they were forced to vigorously, and often violently defend their lands against those very same neighbors. The Istrian peasant faced seemingly impossible choices, and yet, he was able to balance all this pragmatically and endure in a period of great calamities and disasters, both natural and manmade.

the 16th Century; Venetian and Austrian Istria; coexistence; intolerance

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