King Henry IV confirms the rights and possessions enjoyed by the Patriarchate of Aquileia, especially the parish (!) of Grado, bestowed upon the Patriarchate by Henry's predecessors and the Holy See.
(SC) ‡In nomine sanctae et individuae Trinitatis.‡
‡Heinricus divina favente clementia rex.‡
‡Si aeclesiarum Dei scissuras ad [pris]tini status unitatem redintegrare studemus, id non solum ad‡ animę nostrae remedium, verum etiam ad regni nostri augmentum prodesse speramus.
Quapropter universae sanctae Dei Ęcclesię nostrorumque fidelium presentium scilicet ac futurorum industria [cogn]oscat, qualiter ‡Godeboldus‡ venerabilis patriarcha sanctae Aquilegensis ęcclesię nostram adiens clementiam postulavit, quatenus nos pro Dei amore nostraeque remedio animę suae ęcclesię ac sibi successoribusque suis Gradensem plebem per nostri precepti paginam confirmare [dign]aremur, ostenditque nobis de eadem plebe preceptum nostri gloriosę memoriae genitoris nostri ‡Heinrici‡ imperatoris augusti,1 in quo continebatur qualiter antecessor suus ‡Poppo‡ patriarcha residentibus in Romana sede ‡Iohanne‡ papa reverentissimo et pretexta[to] [av]o nostro ‡Cvonrado‡ imperatore augusto in universali concilio apostolici2 et illius necnon et totius concilii clementiam humiliter adiit, quatinus diversę predecessorum suorum proclamationes pro eadem Gradensi plebe sub Luduvico3, Lothario4, Ottone5, Heinrico6 aliisque imperatoribus factae sinodali iudicio necnon imperiali decreto determinarentur. Et quia perlectis antiquis ęcclesię suae exemplariis sinodali sententia reverentisimus [aposto]licus simulque avus noster C(vunradus) de predicta plebe suisque pertinentiis eum investivit, subnixe suam imperialem cl[ementia]m exoravit, ut prenomina[ta]m plebem cum suis pertine[nt]iis, quę sib[i] sinodali iudicio reddita et apostolico est confirmata privilegio7, suo imperiali sibi d[i]gnaretur confirmare precepto, quod et factum est8.
Nos vero amborum, patris scilicet atque avi nostri, reco[g]nitis super hac re confirmationibus eorum benivolentiam pio affectu imitantes iustis suis petitionibus benignum assensum prebuimus atque eandem Gradensem plebem cum omnibus suis pertinentiis, videlicet prediis, familiis utriusque sexus, titulis, capellis, decimationibus, domibus, vineis, olivetis, campis, pratis, silvis, terris cultis et incultis, pascuis, venationibus, piscationibus, paludibus, molendinis, aquis aquarumve decursibus, et quicquid eiusdem plebis ęcclesię ab imperatoribus, regibus, episcopis, ducibus, comitibus aut quomodolibet conlatum est et quecumque in Polensibus finibus, Piriano, Capris et in omni Histriensi com[itat]u atque Boloniensi, Fanensi, Senegallia, Pisaro et in omnibus regni nostri finibus supra scriptae plebi et sancto ‡Aermagore‡ hactenus pertinere visum est aut ad presens retinere videtur aut in futuro adquirere aut investigare poterit, sanctae Aquilegensi ęcclesię et ‡Godeboldo‡ vene[rabil]i patriarchae suisque successoribus per huius precepti nostri paginam corroboramus, concedimus et in perpetuum confirmamus.
Statuentes igitur et regali nostra potentia interdicentes, ut nullus dux, marchio, comes, vicecomes nullaque Regni nostri magna parvaque persona Aquilege[nsem ęc]lesiam et ‡Godeboldum‡ eiusdem ęcclesię rectorem eiusque successores de prenominatis rebus disvestire aut aliquo modo inquietare presumat.
Si quis vero aliqua temeritate hoc facere aut huius nostri precepti paginam violare presumserit, sciat se compositurum mille [libras a]uri optimi, medietatem kamerę nostrae et medietatem predictae Aquilegensi ęcclesię eiusque rectoribus.
Quod ut verius credatur et diligentius ab omnibus observetur, ean[de]m paginam manu propria corroborantes sigilli nostri impressione, ut inferius cernitur, ins[igniri] [iussim]us.
‡Signum domni Heinrici quarti regis.‡ (SM)
‡Wicbertus cancellarius vice Annonis Coloniensis archicancellarii recognovit.‡ (SI D)
Data XVII kalendas ‡ianuari‡ anno Dominicae incarnationis MLXII, indictione I, anno autem ordinationis domni Heinrici quarti regis VIII, regni vero VI.
Actum ‡Radesbone‡.
In Dei nomine feliciter, ‡amen‡.
1) This praeceptum of Henry III must be labelled as deperditum because it cannot refer to Henry III’s confirmation charter issued to Poppo in 1040 (MGH DHIII 16, pp. 21–23, soon to be edited here as well) as there is no mention of Grado in that document. This Henry III’s deperditum served as document model for this Henry IV’s charter.
2) Reference to the 1027 Synod of Rome, see doc. 1027_SR.
3) Reference to the confirmation of the Synod of Mantua (doc. 827_SM) issued by Emperor Louis I the Pious in 828. This confirmation is another deperditum, but its existence is confirmed in a letter sent by Patriarch Venerius of Grado to Pope Gregory IV in 828, where the patriarch states “sicut cognovimus, gloriatur se idem Maxentius palam per pręceptum domini imperatoris diocesim Istriensium habere” (doc. 828_VP). See also, Harald Krahwinkler, Friaul im Frühmittelalter: Geschichte einer Region vom Ende des fünften bis zum Ende des zehnten Jahrhunderts (Vienna 1992), pp. 173–174 fn. 304.
4) Reference to the confirmation charter issued by Lothar I to the Patriarchate of Aquileia, confirming the possession of the parish of Grado. This confirmation is yet another deperditum, but its existence is attested in the confirmation charter of Lothar I’s son and heir, Louis II, issued to Aquileian Patriarch Teutmar in 855, where it is stated: “sed propter quorumdam cupiditatem et temeritatem, quia metuere potuerat, ne iterum sepe dicta questio posset emergere et redivivas denuo ecclesiis inducere concertationes, per Ebrehardum comitem supra memoratus patriarcha Andreas domni et genitoris nostri expetiit celsitudinem, ut antiquissimum ius ecclesie eius denuo confirmaretur auctoritate” (doc. 855_LPA). This Lothar I’s confirmation must have been issued sometime between 834, the age of Aquileian Patriarch Andrew, and 850, the last year that Lothar I issued charters for Italian recipients (see Theodor Schieffer (ed.), Lotharii I et Lotharii II diplomata / Die Urkunden Lothars I. und Lothars II., Monumenta Germaniae historica, Diplomata Karolinorum 3 (Berlin–Zürich 1966), doc. 186, pp. 348–349).
5) This is a mysterious reference. The Otto in question cannot refer to either Otto I or Otto II as both fostered good relations with the Patriarchate of Grado. Otto II issued a confirmation charter to the Patriarchate of Grado in 974 (doc. 974_PG) and this document reveals Otto I’s deperditum, issued to the Patriarchate of Grado on January 7, 967, following the Synod of Rome (“venerabilis Vitalis patriarcha Gradensis… depręcatus per nuncium suum nomine Audoenum est nostram clementiam genitoris nostri pręceptum affirmasse, datum secundo die mensis ianuarii anno Dominicę incarnationis nongentesimo sexagesimo septimo, imperantis vero eiusdem genitoris nostri domini Ottonis invictissimi imperatoris sexto, inditione undecima, actum Romę sub Ioanne papa, ubi tunc omnium invidorum iustitiam in synodo divini spiritus pręcibus prędictorum sanctorum atque confessoris papę Gregorii discretione qui lites sanctorum amborum patriarcharum disecans patriarchales concesserat infulas utrisque, per missos causa eiusdemque rei Gradensis Ioannem diaconum cognomine Acutum et Ioannem cognomine Contarenum obculcaverat”, doc. 974_PG; see also Ernst-Dieter Hehl (ed.), Die Konzilien Deutschlands und Reichsitaliens 916–1001, vol. 2: 962–1001, co-edited by Carlo Servatius, Monumenta Germaniae historica, Concilia 6/2 (Hannover 2007) p. 281). The only Otto that this reference may allude to is Otto III and the confirmation of the possession of the “parish of Grado” would be issued to Aquileian Patriarch John IV. That Patriarch John IV indeed petitioned the imperial confirmation of the “parish of Grado” is attested in the (near)contemporary chronicle of his deeds, where it is stated “Iohannes patriarcha sedit annos XVIII, ab Ottone III plura privilegia obtinuit, et adversus quemdam Ursonem, qui se patriarcham Gradensem dicebat, coram beato Henrico imperatore, cuius uxor fuit sancta Cunegundis virgo, de Gradu plebe sua sententiam reclamavit” (Chronicon patriarcharum Aquileiensium, ed. Bernardo Maria De Rubeis, Monumenta ecclesiae Aquileiensis (Venice 1740), appendix, p. 10). It could be that Patriarch John IV received confirmations of the possession of the “parish of Grado” from both Otto III and Henry II, both charters being deperdita.
6) Reference to the confirmation charter issued by Henry II to Patriarch John IV, confirming the possession of the parish of Grado. This confirmation is another deperditum, but its existence is attested in the (near)contemporary chronicle of Patriarch John IV’s deeds, as quoted in fn. 5 above (see also Peter Štih, "Villa quae Sclavorum lingua vocatur Goriza": Studie über zwei Urkunden Kaiser Ottos 3. aus dem Jahre 1001 für den Patriarchen Johannes von Aquileia und den Grafen Werihen von Friaul (DD. O. 3. 402 und 412) (Nova Gorica 1999), pp. 99–100).
7) Reference to doc. 1027_IP.
8) Reference to doc. 1034_CA.
“De contentis in secundo scrineo: [om.] Certa quoque imperialia et regalia iura de plebe Gradensi.” – Thesauri claritas, opus saec. XIV, ed. Giuseppe Bianchi, Thesaurus ecclesiae Aquileiensis (Udine 1847), p. 4.
The Aquileian-imperial response to the pro-Grado papal intervention of the 1053 Synod of Rome that pronounced the Patriarchate of Grado the metropolitan Church and the head of all the bishoprics in Istria (doc. 1053_PG), Henry IV charter issued to Patriarch Gotebald contains references to numerous imperial and regal confirmations of the Synod of Mantua of 827 (doc. 827_SM) and the Synod of Rome of 1027 (doc. 1027_SR), most of which are nowadays lost.
The charter shows that the dispute between the two opposing patriarchates for the metropolitan rights over Istrian bishoprics was far from over. The response of the pope and the Church of Grado was swift: immediately following his election as pope, Alexander II confirmed the metropolitan jurisdictions of the Patriarchate of Grado. This Alexander II's confirmation is yet another deperditum, but its existence is attested in the 14th-century narrative Chronica per extensum descripta by Andrea Dandolo: “Alexander autem, rogatu imperatoris, in Lombardiam descendit et Mantue concilium celebravit, in quo de simonia se iuramento purgavit; Cadolus vero simoniacus repudiatus est. In hoc concilio, papa Dominico patriarche asistenti patriarchalem dignitatem et sedis honorificencias renovavit” (Andrea Dandolo, Chronica per extensum descripta, ed. Ester Pastorello, RIS, ser. 2, 12/1 (Bologna 1958), p. 214).
In essence, the status quo remained: Aquileian patriarchs never succeeded in subjecting Grado and reducing it to a mere parish, whereas the patriarchs of Grado never managed to impose their metropolitan jurisdictions over Istrian bishoprics.
The battle between the two patriarchs would continue until 1180 (see doc. 1180_GA), but the unwavering imperial protection of the Patriarchate of Aquileia eventually tipped the scales in Aquileian favor.
Digital facsimiles of A are available online on the webpages of the MGH database.