Oldal 520 [520]
Residents of Lemberg as Other
valley alongside a road that formerly served as a main arterial road through these
parts. In 1244, Lemberg received market town rights! accompanied by judicial
rights and its own coat-of-arms. The market town judge was even said to have the
right to hold “Blood Court.” The Pranger (pillory) standing next to the town hall
(rotovz) still bears witness to the power of Lemberg judges (Krajevni leksikon 1937:
1139). According to folk tradition, Lemberg was encircled by seven castles, or forts.
That information alone provides evidence of the former strength of the town.
The settlement of Lemberg developed at the foothills of a castle bearing the
same name. Trade and crafts were well developed in the market town. There were
many inns, butchers, and merchants, as well as craft shops owned by nail makers,
glassworkers, comb makers, potters, and leather dealers. The latter were organized
in a guild under the patronage of St. Nicholas. It is believed that this guild financed
the erection of a church named St. Nicholas in the market town (Krajevni leksikon
1937: 1140). Apart from crafts and trade, fairs were a principal source of the town’s
income. The town had the right to hold weekly Thursday market days as well as
up to six yearly fairs and two parish fairs on St. Pancracius’s day and St. Ulrich’s
day, respectively. Descriptive of the town’s wealth are data on the Smarje pri JelSah
commune,’ including Lemberg which collected no commune contributions in 1924,
as all of the town’s expenses were covered from trade fairs’ revenue. Although Lem¬
berg had only one market street, its development peaked in the eighteenth century.
Unfortunately, the first half of the nineteenth century witnessed Lemberg’s decay
due to the transfer of the parish to Sladka Gora and a shift of street traffic from
Lemberg to another town (Lemberg 2012).
After the founding of the market town, the inhabitants of Lemberg were granted
exclusive rights to organize fairs and trading. The surrounding inhabitants, consist¬
ing mostly of farmers, could trade solely within Lemberg. Because trading outside
of the market town was forbidden, the Lembergs introduced trading taxes. Taxes
and trading rights made the residents rich and powerful. Some scholars think that
“the envy of the neighboring residents gave rise to numerous jokes and raillery at
their expense” (Krajevni leksikon 1937: 1140).
Humor and the Other
One of prominent joke researchers, Davies developed a theory explaining the for¬
mation and transfer of ethnic and other jokes and humorous stories that have
' In the Middle Ages, a city with market rights could have weekly fairs and up to six annual fairs. In
the case of Lemberg market rights included the right to a weekly market days, which was a Thursday,
and the right to six annual fairs and two parish fairs: on the day of St. Pankratius and St. Ulrich (Kra¬
jevni leksikon 1937: 1140).
? In 1875 became Smarje pri Jel&ah, the administrative center of the region. So Lemberg was no longer
the seat of government, and it became part of a large municipality. Today, Lemberg remains a part of
Smarje pri Jel$ah municipality (Smarje 2012).
517