Page 113 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

A Dynasty of Mayors and a Member of Parliament

a hundred ducats, while Just Černe, his companions, and even the mayor
were fined 25 ducats each (ast, atta, 208.1, 13).
In the same period, that is in the first two decades of the seventeenth
century, Just Černe seems to have been quite active on the land market.
Although we found no information on the consistency of the landed prop-
erty of the family, this is testified by several trials involving immobile as-
sets brought in 1619–1622 (ast, atta, 196.1.1, 6, 34, 47, 93, 108, 177, 191,
199, 200, 207). Among these there was a house and, most interesting to the
topic here, the purchase of a half-farm in Tomaj, that Just Černe bought
in 1613. At the trial he presented an ex-post registration in the form of a
notary copy record dated 1618, but the widow of the then seller, who in
the meantime had remarried, doubted its authenticity and requested the
handover of the property (ast, atta, 195.1.1, 1; ast, atta, 196.1.1, 6, 134
and 154). Just Černe paid 87 ducats for the half-farm and 36 for the house,
amounting to the considerable outlay of 123 ducats, which corresponded to
the value of about 40 hectolitres of wheat. The series of court files is inter-
rupted before the lawsuits regarding immobile property reached a conclu-
sion. From one of them we learn that Just’s brother, Andrej, moved from
Tomaj and settled in the nearby village of Dobravlje, as well as that Just
had a son named Ivan, who in 1619 was old enough to represent his father
in the trial hearings.
The Tomaj parish registers of baptisms reveal that the position of a
parish priest was quite desirable among the noble and urban elite families
from the nearby towns of Trieste and Gorizia. Several parish priests and
even their co-operators (cooperatore) stem from such families during the
seventeenth century. Moreover, it was quite common that when moving
to Tomaj these churchmen were accompanied by relatives, such as sisters
or nephews, who then often acted as godfathers or godmothers at bap-
tisms and, in some cases, settled in one of the parish’s villages. From this
point of view, the appearance of the Černe family in the village following
the appointment as a parish priest is an example of a common pattern at
the time. Somewhat surprising is the fact that the parish priest Baptista
Černe brought with him (at least) two sons, since he acted in a Catholic
parish. A possible explanation may be sought in the turmoil of the Luther-
an reformation in this area during the sixteenth century, to which Černe
might have been inclined. A second hypothesis would be that he took his
vows later in life. As far as the noble and urban origin is concerned, it is
possible that, following the aforementioned pattern, Baptista Černe was
appointed as Tomaj parish priest through virtue of being a member of the

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