Page 127 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities
P. 127

A Dynasty of Mayors and a Member of Parliament


             newspapers of different political leanings are examined to present his po-
             litical trajectory. The writing alternates in perspectives. His case is used to
             illuminate the decisions that were reflected in the broader framework (e.g.
             Anton Černe’s political turn), while personal and local dimensions are con-
             textualized through the processes that permeated the southern lands of
             the Habsburg Crown at the time.
               AntonČerne wasborn in1813toMarko Černe, mayorofTomaj dur-
             ing the Illyrian Provinces and later under Austrian rule from 1826 to 1839.
             When he was only nineteen, Anton married Maria Renčelj, eight years his
             senior, the daughter of his stepmother (i.e. Marko’s wife) Neža (Marušič
             2013, 10). Anton’s education was probably provided by his uncle Jakob,
             above-mentioned cathedral canon of Trieste, who in his will listed Anton
             as a (co-)administrator of the scholarship fund.⁶Unfortunately, we have no
             documents on Anton’s educational career, but there are indications that he
             had a thorough knowledge of German and Italian (he was also supposed-
             ly familiar with Latin), while he was not proficient in literary Slovene, a
             fact that was later a cause of reproach by his political opponents, who re-
             sented his deficiencies in using literate language (labelling it derogatorily
             as ‘broken Carniolan tongue’: ferdirbana Kranjska špraha)(Cencič 2004,65;
             ‘Govori v državnem zboru o narodnih zadevah slovanskih v seji 14. in 17.
             maja t. l.’ 1862, 173–4; ‘Črnetov manifest’ 1872, 1 ). Anton was thus endowed
             with social and political capital: he was brought up in the family of a may-
             or and could count on relatives occupying socially and politically relevant
             positions. Moreover, thanks to his uncle Jakob, he also absorbed cultur-
             al capital, which facilitated acquiring necessary skills for social ascent. In
             short, the family offered outstanding career-building opportunities, as ev-
             ident also in the professional choices of other members. In Trieste there
             was Jožef, the son of Anton’s aunt Polona, who became a surgeon; Anton’s
             half-brother Franc, who followed Jakob’s footsteps and therefore also be-
             came a cathedral canon; as well as his sister Urša, who married in Trieste.
             In addition, his brother Jožef became an adjunct at the district governor’s
             office in Sežana (žat, Sila, 1913).
               In order to confirm superiority and gain footing outside the local envi-
             ronment, however, Anton Černe also needed economic power. Apparently,
             he did not inherit the property, as his father’s will was not particularly lav-
             ish and designated another son, Ivan, who married into a prominent ‘rival’
             family (bearing the same surname, hence Černe, but with the ‘domestic’


            ⁶ See the testament of Jakob Černe, pang, 939, b. 4, Testament, 18 December 1856.


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