Page 126 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Aleksander Panjek and Miha Zobec

both mutual interlacement in the form of kinship ties as well as antago-
nisms were present. However, in the nineteenth century, when Jakob and
Anton Černe, uncle and nephew, respectively, obtained the posts of cathe-
dral canon and state and regional deputy in Vienna and Gorizia, it was the
Černe family that managed to further consolidate its position, both within
and outside the village.
AntonČerne wasamanofboththe ‘old’and the‘new,’ modern world,
a landowner whose political activities at the regional and state levels
strengthened his position as a village dignitary. Despite his success out-
side the village, he still tied the fruits of his functions to his place of ori-
gin. While he competed for positions and roles in the ‘big world,’ he still
liked to invest in the expansion of his domestic holdings. Anton Černe’s
case therefore offers a starting point for understanding the modernization
processes the lands of the former Inner Austria, and Goriška in particular,
saw in the nineteenth century. Needless to say, transformations from the
ancien régime to modernity should not be understood schematically: the
nineteenth century did not result in sudden changes. Village elites were,
as the chapter has aimed to explain, connecting with the world beyond the
local communities long before Anton Černe. Similarly, the countryside dif-
ferentiation alongside landholdings fragmentation had been present long
before (Panjek 2015, 62).
By following the Tomaj deputy, we can therefore trace the changes the
countryside experienced with the penetration of capitalism, the rise of na-
tional movements, and the beginnings of political activities in the Austrian
constitutional era. Bringing his life trajectory under scrutiny also means
focusing on the relationships Anton Černe established in the context of
the changes of the nineteenth century both in his community of origin
and in the wider region. It therefore helps to illuminate the relationships
between the community, its bigwigs (one of them being Anton Černe), and
the regional and state public authorities.
The biographical sketch of Anton Černe is based on the premise that his
economic success was linked to his political activity, and that the even-
tual protest of the Karst people against the politics of the Tomaj strong-
man, even though having a national label, was underpinned also by socio-
economic relations. While Černe managed to gain considerable support
among the Karst people in the beginning of his political ascent in Vienna,
they later turned their backs on him, allegedly as a result of his national
apostasy. The economic aspect of Anton’s activities is presented through
wills, sales contracts and promissory notes; Slovene and Germanophone

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