Lož’s Town Privileges between Norm and Practice

Abstract

The article discusses how Lož’s town privileges were exercised during the period that spanned the formal establishment of the town and the first half of the nineteenth century. Lož is one of the smallest and most recent towns of medieval origin in the territory of modern Slovenia and the only town for which the original parchment of its municipal charter has been preserved. By 1832, the said charter was followed a dozen of sovereign privileges, most of which have been preserved in transcript. The major hindrance to tracing the practical use of recorded town privileges is the chronical shortage of first-hand sources on the town administration and judiciary, owing to the town archives having been mostly destroyed. When studying the town’s functions, historians are therefore left to rely almost entirely on the archives of external factors, predominantly higher authorities. The article is divided into chapters discussing the relationship between the town of Lož and the homonymous seigniory, the rights and obligations of Lož’s burghers, as well as the town administration, judiciary, and economy.