Notes on the sources regarding the history of the Benedictine Monastery of St. John the Baptist at Dajla stored at the State Archives of Pazin

Abstract

The sources regarding the history of the Benedictine Monastery of St. John the Baptist of Dajla in the second half of the 19th century, which are held in the State Archives of Pazin, provide an insight into the activities of the Monastery. They disclose the economic history of the Monastery, whose material foundations were based on agricultural production; its social history and also the history of everyday life of both monks and coloni (tenants). The sources enable us to trace the development of agriculture on the Benedictine estate, change of varieties of particular farming cultures reflecting the modernisation of the agricultural production. The book Magazzino is the most important source to study agricultural production, the foundation of the Monastery economics. Accurate records of crops, yielded both on the land farmed by the monks themselves and on the land worked by the coloni, give insight into the modernisation processes which were implemented to this estate in the second half of the 19th century. Atti Capitolari, minutes taken at the Monastery chapters, not only provide insight into the economic life of the Monastery, but also present the “history of distresses” of the monks at Dajla/Praglia after 1867. The Registro Introito ed Esito del Priorato di Daila, Giornale Daila and Giornale Cassa are accounting journals kept in accordance with the accounting principles. Besides disclosing the economic history of the Monastery, they are an invaluable source of history of the everyday life of the monks of Dajla.