The Middle Ages opened a new chapter in Slovenian history. Feudalism spread and with it the religious centres with monasteries arose - important cultural centres in which literacy and the first libraries developed. Next to monasteries towns developed: Kranj and Kamnik (1228), Škofja Loka and Piran (1274), Novo mesto (1365), Celje (1451), which all became centres of craft and trade. In the 12th and 13th centuries important feudal families won recognition, and the Hapsburg Monarchy ruled over the Slovenian territories. The coastal towns became part of the Venetian Republic. The princes of Celje competed well with the Habsburgs. One of their institutions, where monks prayed for eternal rest of the Celje inhabitants, is the Chartusian Monastery Pleterje. It is still standing and the song of psalms is still heard within its walls, although the princes of Celje are long dead and the Celje Castle in ruins. In the beginning of the 15th century the Turks started invading the Slovenian territory. This period left relevant traces in the Slovenian architecture with forts to protect against the Turks being erected all over the territory. There were not only the fights with the Turks, but also peasant risings took place. Numerous monuments all around Slovenia still remind us of these risings. Towards the end of the 15th century, when the Middle Ages slowly faded away, the Slovenian territory was already divided into three regions: Carniola, Styria and Carinthia.
