Janez Vajkard Valvasor and literary folklore in his intellectual horizon

Written by Marija Stanonik, 1989

Abstract

Even though it is written in German, which deprives the subject matter, being a part of a living work of art, of its authentic form (its actual wording in Slovene), Valvasor’s Die Ehre des Herzothums Crain is of much greater significance to the study of literature folklore than has been thought hitherto, either in terms of its quantity – it numbers several hundreds of units – or the quantity of its interpretations.

Chapter 1 deals with the impressions Valvasor, as a foreign-born feudal lord had of individual Slovene dialects and their relation to the German language. His attitude to bits of literary folklore such as sayings and proverbs, together with his rare but important references to versified folklore, is also probed.

A classification of literary prose folklore follows. The overwhelming bulk of this kind of fiction found in Die Ehre des Herzothums Crain belongs to the genre of tales. Most of them contain more or less comprehensive etymologies of toponyms; quite often Valvasor seems to believe these tales regarding natural phenomena such as water (lakes, streams, springs), caves, minerals, plants and animals, although he seeks to reach a rational explanation for some unusual facts about them.

Continuing the diachronic focus, there follow history tales, e.g. those of the Turks, peasants’ uprisings, struggles between feudal lords, cunning nobles, famine, and the discovery of the mercury mine in Idrija. Mythology is touched upon in tales of dragons, “štrigons”, “duhovini” (evil spirit), underground gnomes, “vedavci”, as well as the devil, witches and other mythical beings. Differing in structure and message are numerous legends recorded by Valvasor, with tales of the Lutherans denying the saints as their antagonists.

Further chapters are devoted to problems relating to the theatre, terminology, Valvasor’s method of interpretation, and finally his intellectual horizons, including his struggle to break free from the clutches of magic and demonology, his attitude towards different social strata and the intellectual movements of his time.