Upon the petition of the citizens of Koper, who suffered due to their allegiance to the Empire, Emperor Conrad II confirms their possessions, their customary law, immunities, and the freedom to trade in the Empire.
In nomine sancte et individue Trinitatis.
Conradus gratia Dei Romanorum imperator augustus.
Si necessitate et iniusta oppressione laborantibus nostre consolationis portum aperimus, ad nostre remedium anime proficere minime diffidimus.
Unde omnium sancte Dei Ecclesie nostrorumque fidelium presentium videlicet ac futurorum comperiat sollertia, qualiter homines habitatores civitatis Iustinopolis, que alio nomine Capras vocatur, nostram suppliciter adierunt clementiam, quatenus eos ab infortunio et necessitatis oppressione, que pro nostra tollerant et patiuntur fidelitate, substentare et erigere dignaremur et legem et rectam consuetudinem, qua parentes eorum vixerunt, eis consentientes nostro imperiali precepto confirmaremus.
Nos vero dignis eorum petitionibus aures nostre pietatis accommodantes concedimus omnibus in predicta civitate Iustinopolis habitantibus, videlicet: Castronovo medietatem, Fontanam Fuscam, Wardaveglam, Vallem Mauriacam, turrem Capriacam, curtem Bruçe per latere Mimilliano, que pertinet ad monasterium sancti Michaelis, et per Argaonem usque ad mare salsum, et ubicumque res ipsius civitatis fuerint, una cum castellis, villis, cappellis, campis, vineis, terris, pratis, silvis, olivetis, aquis aquarumque decursibus, molendinis, piscationibus, aldionibus et aldiabus ad predictam civitatem et ad predicta loco cum omnibus rebus pertinentibus in integrum, hoc nostro imperiali precepto, prout iuste et legaliter possumus, confirmamus, quatenus liceat eis secundum legem et rectam consuetudinem suorum parentum vivere.
Itaque nostra imperiali iubemus potentia ut nullus dux, archiepiscopus, episcopus, marchio, comes, vicecomes nullaque nostri Imperii magna vel parva persona cunctis hominibus in prefata civitate Iustinopoli habitantibus aliquam molestiam inferre, collectam vel angarias seu iniustas oppositiones superponere vel exquirere presumat, sed liceat eos quiete et pacifice vivere et queque negotia in nostro Imperio exercere, remota omnium hominum contradictione.
Si quis igitur huius nostre auctoritatis precepto contraire aut illud infringere temptaverit, sciat se compositurum auri optimi libras mille, medietatem camere nostre et medietatem iam dicte civitatis habitatoribus.
Quod, ut verius credatur et diligentius observetur ab omnibus, manu propria confirmantes nostri sigilli impressione inferius iussimus insigniri.
Signum domini Conradi invictissimi imperatoris augusti.
Herimannus sacri palatii cancellarius vice Piligrimi archiepiscopi et archicancellarii recognovi.
Datum anno Dominice incarnationis millesimo tricesimo quinto, indictione tertia, secundo nonas iunii, anno autem domini Conradi secundi regnantis undecimo, imperantis vero nono.
Actum Bavenberghe.
Feliciter, amen.
Confirmation charter of Emperor Frederick II from 1222 - to be edited in the near future.
Benussi believed this charter to be a forgery, drawn up by the citizens of Koper in 1222. Bresslau and De Vergotini argued in favor of the charter's authenticity. Indeed, the charter does not exhibit any diplomatic anomalies other than its template being based on a charter drawn up by Otto III's chancellery, a fact that in itself does not warrant a forgery.
It is unknown what "punishments and oppression" the Capodistrians suffered for their allegiance to the Empire as reported in the charter's narratio; according to Semi, these could refer to the harassment of the Venetians and the "dux" mentioned in the prohibition formula would refer to the Venetian doge. The argument remains highly conjectural.
Finally, this is the first documented mention of Momjan and the place is mentioned as belonging to St. Michael's monastery. The donation charter of Ulrich II to the Church of Aquileia from 1102 (see it here) mentions "monasterii sancti Petri et sancti Michaelis" in "villa Sancti Petri." Traditionally, due to the erroneous transcription of the charter by Hormayr (subsequently reported by Kandler, Kukuljević-Sakcinski, Schumi and Smičiklas) who read "monasterio" instead of "monasterii", it was believed that there was only one monastery in this village, in the vicinity of Buje and Momjan, and that the "sancti Petri et sancti Michaelis" referred to the "monasterium sancti Petri de Carso" mentioned in later sources.
Now, with the correct transcription of the charter showing that there were in fact two monasteries in the vicinity of Buje and Momjan, one dedicated to St. Peter, the other to St. Michael, another interpretation emerges: the monastery mentioned in this 1035 charter would be the same as the one mentioned in Ulrich II's 1102 donation charter and it would be situated in Vižinada by Buje and Momjan (not to be confused with the Vižinada by Poreč).
Thus, it would seem that the progenies of House Weimar, Ulrich I and his eponymous son, managed to acquire the monasteries in the vicinity of Buje, most probably by way of advocature. That would explain the numerous possessions in the area around Buje and Momjan with which Ulrich II freely disposed of in 1102.
The publication of the facsimile of B (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Miscellanea atti diplomatici e privati, busta 2, document number 85) is granted free of charge by Archivio di Stato di Venezia by way of the “simplified procedure” of publishing archival facsimiles (La circolare della Direzione generale archivi n. 39 del 29 settembre 2017: procedura semplificata: pubblicazioni online che perseguano finalità scientifiche o pedagogiche, non beneficino di inserzioni pubblicitarie o commerciali e non siano soggette ad accesso a pagamento).
Photo by the editor.
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