The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola
The honor concerning the Duchy of Carniola ( Slovenian: Slava Vojvodina Kranjske ) is a work that Baron Vajkard Valvasor published in 1689. In contemporary engravings cities, markets, monasteries, castles and palaces are in the former Duchy of Carniola, now the central part of the country of Slovenia, represented.
The work was written in German and published in Nuremberg. It consists of 15 volumes, which are divided into four sections, and includes a total of 3552 large-format pages with 24 appendices and 528 engravings. Valvasor presents his home by documenting their history, geography, topography, medicine, ethnology, biology, geology, theology and other disciplines.
Although various stories have been recorded in the past, Valvasor work is groundbreaking by the meticulous and rigorous research and documentation.
The content is wide-ranging. It covers historical events, theological discourses, philosophical discussions, descriptions of the manners and customs of the people and the nobility, descriptions of towns and castles, but also anecdotes, myths, legends, poems, etc. In this respect, the work is not an encyclopedia with alphabetical breakdown, but has similarities to a travelogue. The work is mostly written from the perspective of the author. Valvasor himself wrote that he wanted to give out no lexicon, as this could be too monotonous for the reader, and added in certain parts of several stories from the past and present at. From his work comes essential information about the history of the noble family digging stone and their representative and the ruler of the county of Gorizia. As a curiosity applies his narrative of Jure Grando, who is regarded as one of the first documented in writing vampires.
The text is divided into two columns and decorated with elaborate initials. Fourteen different fonts were used. The text has long involved sentences with different paragraphs; it contains contradictions, adverbs, adjectives, metaphors, expressions, phrases, Latin quotes and moral tales. More than 200 pictures from the " Topographia Ducatus Carniolae modernae " Valvasor used for illustration. Since the plates were too wide for the book format of "honor", they had to be curtailed by a total of 40 to 50 mm. Thus, the image composition has been affected and some revealing details were lost.
Valvasor movement was already on his appearance is of great importance, since most contemporary books that came from the Krain, were ecclesiastical works. The production of larger works was associated with a high cost. Valvasor almost had to spend his entire personal fortune for the edition of his work.
A translation from the German into Slovenian language did not exist, as they proved to be very complicated and extensive. As recently as 2009 was the first Slovenian translation out under the direction of the Zavod Dežela Kranjska. The leading people of the translation were Bozidar Debenjak (* 1935), who was born Gottscheer Doris Debenjak born Krisch ( 1936-2013 ) and their son Primoz Debenjak.