St. Michael’s monastery, represented by abbot Iuvencius and advocate Wezelin, exchanges properties with a Berthold.
(SC) In Dei nomine.
Regnante domnoa Heinrico regeb anno XVII, intrantec mensis madii XVd, indictione III, Pole.
Comutaverunte inter nos quidem Iuvencius abas unacum Wecelino nostro quidem atvocato de monasteriumf sancti Michaelis per consenso fratrum nostrorumg unacum Bertaldi filiush Audiberto iudexi: dant itaque prenominatoj Bertaldo vobisk Iuvencio abasl et vestrom atvocaton Wecelio, hoc est terram de proprio sita[m]p in Rumiano deq omnibus capiter et lateribuss circumdatamt terrisu prescripti monasteriiv, hecceptow unumx capite firmante via publica, abendiy, tenendi, donandi, comutandi vel quicquidz vobis pro utilitatema' sancti locisb' predicti monasteri[i]c' placuerintd' faciendi.
Redidite' atvicem prescripto Iuvencio abas unacum Wecelino nostrof' atvocato terramg' de proprio sita[m] in Faiano quash' fuiti' Oualicej', sitcutk' in vestral' cartulam' contenelitn', quas comutavimus cum Wecelino nostroo' atvocato.
Si quis, ego superscripto Bertaldo vel meis heredibusp', unquam tempore de his autem inquire[re]q' aut molestare aut pror' placito fatigare se presumserints' ante aliqua potestate vel iudicibus, sive ego aut aliquis ex parentelam meamt', s[c]iatu' se composituri et daturi in heodemv' monasteri[o]w' sancti Michaelis suusquex' rectoribus vel successoribus auri optimi libras duas, et post soluta pena hec nostrey' painez' comutacionis maneat in sua firmitatema''.
Acto Pole.
Testesb'' rogatisc'' his fuerunt: Petrus filius Vitalusd'', Iohanes filius Weceli, iteme'' Iohannes filius Bertaldif'', Andreas filius Bertaldi, itemg'' Iohannes filius Bertaldoh'' iudex.
Egoi'' Theghenzo tabellius rogatus a prescriptis comutatorisj'' scripsik'' et complevi.
a) domino ed. Kandler. b) rex ed. Margetić. c) om. Kandler; die ed. Margetić. d) V ed. Kandler; XVI ed. Margetić. e) sic A: pro commutavimus; Comutarunt ed. Kandler. f) sic A: pro monasterio, sicut ed. Kandler et Margetić. g) unacum Wecelino—fratrum nostrorum] om. Kandler. h) Bertaldi filius] sic A: pro Bertaldo filio. i) Audiperto iudex] sic A: seu pro Audiperti iudicis, seu pro Audiperti iudice. j) pro nominato ed. Kandler. k) nobis ed. Kandler. l) sic A: pro abbati; abati ed. Kandler et Margetić. m) Vichero ed. Kandler. n) Awocato ed. Kandler. o) Wecelino em. Margetić. p) terram—sita] sic A; em. Banić. q) da ed. Kandler. r) sic A: pro capitibus; capitt(ibus) ed. Margetić; capittibus ed. Kandler. s) latibus ed. Margetić. t) circundatam ed. Kandler. u) titulo ed. Kandler; terre ed. Margetić. v) monasteri ed. Kandler et Margetić. w) sic A: pro excepto; hec certo ed. Kandler et Margetić. x) sic A: pro uno. y) sic A. z) quidquid ed. Kandler. a') sic A: pro utilitate, sicut ed. Kandler et Margetić. b') sancti locis] sic A: pro sancti loci. c') sic monasteri A; monasterii ed. Kandler et Margetić. d') placuerit ed. Kandler et Margetić. e') sic A: pro reddit. f') notario ed. Kandler. g') teram ed. Kandler. h') sic A: pro quae. i') sive ed. Margetić; dictus ed. Kandler. j') Zualice ed. Kandler; qualiter ed. Margetić. k') sic A; sicut ed. Kandler. l') nostra ed. Kandler. m') carta ed. Kandler et Margetić. n') sic A: sive pro continetur, sive pro contendit, sive pro contulit; contenetur ed. Kandler et Margetić. o') notario ed. Kandler. p') ego superscripto Bertaldo vel meis heredibus] sic A: pro ego superscriptus Bertaldus vel mei heredes. q') sic inquire A; inquirere ed. Kandler; inquire[re] em. Margetić. r') per ed. Margetić. s') sic A: pro praesumserit; presumpserint ed. Kandler. t') ex parentelam meam] sic A: pro ex parentela mea. u') sic siat A; sciat em. Margetić; siant ed. Kandler. v') sic A. w') sic monasteri A; em. Banić. x') sic A: pro suisque, sicut ed. Margetić; …mus ed. Kandler. y') hec nostre] sic A: pro haec nostra; htenore ed. Kandler; hec nostra ed. Margetić. z') sic A: pro pagina, sicut em. Margetić; paine ed. Kandler. a'') sic A: pro firmitate. b'') et ed. Kandler. c'') rogatus ed. Kandler. d'') sic A: pro Vitalii, sicut ed. Margetić. e'') testis ed. Kandler. f'') Bertaldo ed. Margetić. g'') testis ed. Kandler. h'') sic A: pro Bertaldi. i'') … De ed. Kandler; V.S. ed. Margetić. j'') a prescriptis comutatoris] Ap scriptum comutacionis ed. Kandler; hoc scriptum comutacionis ed. Margetić. k'') rogavi ed. Kandler.
(SC) In the name of God.
During the 17th year of the reign of Lord Henry the king, the 15th of the month of May, the 3rd indiction, in Pula.
We exchanged between ourselves, the very abbot Iuvencius together with Wezelin our very advocate of St. Michael’s monastery, with the consent of our brethren, and with Berthold, the son of Audibert the judge1.
The aforementioned Berthold thus gives to you abbot Iuvencius and to your advocate Wezelin, that is, his own land situated in Rumijan, surrounded from all tops and sides by the lands of the mentioned monastery except on one top that borders with a public road, to have, to hold, to donate, exchange or to do whatever you may please for the benefit of the holy place of the aforementioned monastery.
In turn, the aforementioned abbot Iuvencius, together with our advocate Wezelin, gives in exchange his own land situated in Fažana that had belonged to Ovalica, as stated in your charter, that we exchanged with our advocate Wezelin.
But if I, the aforementioned Berthold, or my heirs would ever dare to demand or disturb or harass by way of judicial hearings in front of any authority or judges this [as stated in this charter], whether I or anyone from my family, may they know that they will have to pay and give two pounds of pure gold to the same St. Michael’s monastery and to its rectors or successors, and once the fine is paid, may this our charter of exchange remain in its force.
Done in Pula.
Requested witnesses were these: Peter the son of Vitalis, John the son of Wezelin, also John the son of Berthold, Andrew the son of Berthold, also John the son of Berthold the judge.
I, Thegenzo the scribe, asked by the aforementioned parties, wrote and completed [this].
1) The iudex erroneously given in the nominative case may refer to either the Berthold or to his father Audibert. Margetić interpreted the line as Berthold being the judge, but I find it more probable that the iudex refers to his father, Audibert.
The charter’s dating presents considerable difficulties.
Namely, the 17th year of a King Henry’s reign does not concur with the third indiction (1020, 1035, 1050, 1065, 1080).
The closest match seems to be the year 1020, although that would have been Henry II’s 19th year of reign as king and 7th year of reign as emperor.
The problem with this dating, however, is that another charter written by the very scribe Thegenzo and featuring the same abbot Iuvencius, the same advocate Wezelin and the same witness (Peter the son of Vitalis) is dated 1068 with all the dating elements concurring with each other (see it edited here). Moreover, another charter featuring abbot Iuvencius is dated 1061 (see it edited here).
Thus, it would make much more sense to date this document to circa the 1060s as well, but how? There are two possibilities and both presuppose a scribal error in writing one of the dating elements:
- Either the year of Henry’s reign (and that could only be Henry IV) is written erroneously and the indiction is correct: in that case, the year of Henry IV’s reign must have been VIIII but was erroneously written as XVII, an easy mistake to make as both numbers require the same amount of minims. The year would thus be 1065 and this is the dating proposed by Kandler as well;
- Another option is that the year of Henry’s reign was indeed written correctly, but that the scribal error occurred in writing the indiction: in this case, the indiction would have to be XI instead of III, another easy mistake to make as both numbers also require the same amount of minims. The year would thus be 1073.
The advocate Wezelin mentioned in this charter is most probably the same individual to whom Pope Gregory VII issued a letter of warning in 1079 as he had dared to attack the pro-papal King Zvonimir of Dalmatia-Croatia (see Banić, cited above, for more details, and the 1079 letter edited here).
Notes on language:
Thegenzo had precious little knowledge of the Latin language and his charters, consequently, feature an abundance of agrammatical phrases and seemingly meaningless clauses. In this particular charter, the problem is the nonexistent Latin verb contenelit, most probably a highly contaminated form of either continetur or contendit or even contulit; in any case the meaning of the clause ought to be “as featured in your charter”, the cartula recording the bestowal of land to St. Michael’s monastery done by a certain Ovalica.
The appended translation mirrors the emended reading of the entire charter.
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The digital facsimile of A (Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, ms. lat. XIV 101 (= 2804), p. 306) is published free of charge by the generous concession of the Biblioteca Marciana di Venezia. We wholeheartedly thank our dear colleagues at Marciana Library for their support of open access scholarship.
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