King Berengar I donates two forts, the Vermes (Beram in Istria ?), to the Bishopric of Trieste (10th- or 11th-century forgery).
Hoc est exemplum cuiusdam privilegii sigillati sigillo cereo, in quo sigillo cereo erat scultum quodam capud cum spatulis cum aliquibus litteris circumcirca que legi non poterant propter eius antiquitatem, cuius privilegium tenor talis est:a
In nomine sancteb et individue Trinitatis.
Berengarius rex [noverit]c omnium fidelium sancte Dei Ecclesie nostri Rengnid presenciume silicetf etg futurorum industria interventu et precationeh Hellulfii santej Mantuanensis ecclesie episcopus et dilectum fidelem nostrum quatenus nostram exorasse clemenciam, ob amore[m]k Dei animeque nostre mercedem concedere dignaremur per hoc nostrae largitionisl preceptum in sancta Tergestinae ecclesiae, que est constructa in honore preclarissimi Iusti martiris, tibique Taurino episcopo tuisque successoribus quadam castellos iuris Regni nostri qui dicitur Vermes, unus maiore et alius minore, et est infra iuris et potestatem Regni nostri cum omnibus sibi adererem pertinentibus, montibus, vallibus, planitiebus, pratis, pascuis, silvis, rupis et rupinis, aquis aquarumque decursibus, piscationibus, venationibus, cultis et incultis et cum omnibus ad eorum pertinentibus ibidem adiacentes, dono et transfundo in sancta Tergestinae ecclesiae et in honorem preclarissimi lusti martiris, cui [tu]n Taurinus episcopus in presenti presul ad esseo videtur, pro Dei amore mercedemque anime nostrae nostra preceptaria autoritatep sub omni integritate concedere adque largiri dignaremur.
Praecipientes ergo iubemus, ut nullus dux, marchio, comes, vicecomes, sculdassio, decanus aut qualibet persona in ipsis iam dictis castellis nec placito tenere neque ullamq districtionem facere presumatr nisi ante pretassatums Taurinum episcopum suosque successores tanquamt ante nos aut ante nostrum legatum palatii, per hoc nostrum regalem praceptum iure proprietario sub omni integritate concedimus et largimur, etg de nostro iure et potestate in eiusdem ecclesia sancti Iusti martiris omnino trasfundimusu ac delegamus.
Si quis igitur hoc nostre concessionis preceptum infrangerev vel violare aut inquietare temptaverit, sciat se composituri auri octimiw libras centum, medietatem camere nostre et medietatem prelibate sancte Tergestinae ecclesiaex.
Quod, ut verius credatur et diligencius ab omnibus observetur, manu propria roboratum de anulo nostro subter insigniri iussimus.
Signum domni (SM) Berengarii piissimi regis.
Iohannes cancellarius ac vicem archiepiscopi Learchi cancellarii recognovit.y (SR)
Data V kalendas iulii, anno Dominicae incarnationis DCCCCXI, domni vero Berengarii piissimi regis XV, indiccione II.
Actum Papia.
In Christi nomine feliciter, amen.
In nomine Domini, amen. Anno Eiusdem MoCCCLI, indictione IIII, die octavo mensis februarii, Venecie in episcopali palatio Castellano, presentibus discretis viris Iohannae quondam Leordi de Ancona, Albertino quondam Guilielmi de Regio, Salvano de Bononia familiaribus domini episcopi Tergestini, Bartolomeo Diodido de Trevixio, Lanfranco Antonii de Placencia notariis et aliis testibus vocatis et rogatis.
Hoc exemplum per me Corsinum subscriptum notarium sumptum ex autentico privilegio domini Berengarii regis et eius cereo sigillo inficxoz coram venerabili viro domino Carbono de Bononia canonico Faventino, vicario in spiritualibus generali venerabilis patris et domini domini Nicholai, Dei gratia episcopi Castellani, insinuatum fuit et in eius presentia per meaa Corfinum et Lanfrancum Antonii de Placencia et Bartolomeo Diodado subscriptos notarios diligenter cum autentico privilegio ascultatum et cum iudex noverit illud cum ipso autentico privilegio concordare ut adhibeatur eidem exemplo decetero plena fides suam autoritatem interposuit et decretum, et hoc ad petitionem venerabilis patris domini Antonii, Dei gratia episcopi Tergestini asserenti sua interesse.
(SN) Ego Lanfrancus filius Antonii de Placentia, imperiali auctoritate notarius publicus, hoc exemplum una cum infrascriptis Bartolomeo Diodado et Cursino quondam Cechini de Pisis notariis iuxta auctenticum privilegium domini Berengarii piissimi regis scriptum coram suprascripto domino vicario Castellano dilligenter et fideliter ascultavi et quia utrumque concordare inveni, de ipsius domini vicarii mandato et auctoritate ad eiusdem exempli bonam fidem et testimonium me subscripsi.
(SN) Ego Bartholomeus Diodato de Trevisio, imperiali auctoritate notarius publicus, hoc exemplum una cum suprascripto Lanfranco de Placentia et Corfino quondam Cechini de Pissis, infrascripto notario, iuxta autenticum privilegium domini Berengarii piissimi regis scriptum coram suprascripto domino vicario Castellano diligenter et fideliter ascultavi et quia utrumque concordare inveni, de ipsius domini vicarii mandato et auctoritate exempli bonam fidem et testimonium me subscripsi.
(SN) Ego Corfinus quondam Cechini de Pisis, imperiali auctoritate notarius publicus, hoc exemplum ex autentico privilegio domini Berengarii regis scripto et ipsius sigillo cereo sigillato et inficxo fideliter scripsi et postmodum in presentia dicti domini Carboni vicarii Castellani cum dictis Lanfranco de Placentia et Bartolomeo Diodado de Trevixio tabellionibus publicis suprascriptis diligenter et fideliter cum ipso autentico privilegio vidi et ascultavi et quia utrumque concordare inveni, de ipsius domini vicarii mandato ad eiusdem exempli bonam fidem et testimonium me subscripsi signumque meum aposui consuetum.bb
a) Hoc est — talis est add. B. b) sanctae A et ed. Schiaparelli; saepe -ae i -e mutat B. c) om. AB, em. Banic. d) sic B; nostrorumque A et ed. Schiaparelli. e) presentium A et ed. Schiaparelli; saepe -t in -c mutat B. f) scilicet A et ed. Schiaparelli. g) ac A et ed. Schiaparelli. h) interventu et precatione] sic B; interventum et petitionem A et ed. Schiaparelli. i) Heilulfi A et ed. Schiaparelli. j) sic B; sancte A et ed. Schiaparelli. k) amore B; amorem A et ed. Schiaparelli. l) largionis A. m) sic B; ad eorum A et ed. Schiaparelli. n) om. B. o) ad esse] sic B; aesse A et ed. Schiaparelli. p) sic B; auctoritate A et ed. Schiaparelli. q) ulla ed. Schiaparelli. r) presummat ed. Schiaparelli. s) praetaxatum A et ed. Schiaparelli. t) sic B; tamquam A et ed. Schiaparelli. u) sic B; transfundimus A et ed. Schiaparelli. v) sic B; infringere A et ed. Schiaparelli. w) sic B; optimi A et ed. Schiaparelli. x) Tergestinae ecclesiae] ex Tergestina ecclesia corr. B. y) ac vicem archiepiscopi Learchi cancellarii recognovit] sic B sed perperam; recte: ad vicem Ardiggi episcopi et archicancellarii recognovi et subscripsi, sicut A et ed. Schiaparelli. z) ex infixo corr. B. aa) ex mei corr. B. bb) In nomine Domini, amen — aposui consuetum add. B.
Emperor Frederick II's charter to the Bishopric of Trieste from 1230 - to be edited here presently.
The pseudo-original is written on a scrapped original charter issued by Charles III the Fat in 884. The forger tries to imitate the hand of the original 884 document, but the difference in handwriting is very noticeable.
The forger mixed up the parts of the charter's corpus, nesting the dispositio inside the narratio. Moreover, the verbs are first written in 1st person plural ("concedere dignaremur") in narratio, then in 1st person singular ("dono et transfundo") in dispositio, and then again in 1st person plural ("largiri dignaremur"). As was noted by Schiaparelli, the use of 1st person singular verbs is utterly contrary to the chancellery practice of the age. Similar is the case with 1st persons pronouns ("tibi," "tuis," "tu") which were not used in the public diplomata of the period.
The formula datationis is also erroneous, betraying the charter as a clumsy forgery: the anno Domini dating (911) conforms to the 14th indiction – not to the 2nd as stated in the document – and the 24th year of Berengar's reign – not to the 15th as stated in the document. Thus, some authors date the charter to 914, according to indiction – but that still does not concord with Berengar's years of reign.
Other formulae, including the petition of Heilulf, the bishop of Mantua, are perfectly consonant with the practices of Berengar's chancellery. Thus, it is communis opinio that the charter was forged based on an unidentifiable authentic diploma issued by Berengar I.
Although the charter is a forgery, it was nonetheless customarily interpreted as a primary source attesting to the Bishopric of Trieste's jurisdictions in Istria because the toponym "castellos iuris Regni nostri qui dicitur Vermes" were interpreted as Beram (Ital. Verme) and Podberam in Istria. Such an interpretation, however, makes little sense as both Beram and Podberam were neither under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Trieste (neither in spiritualibus nor in temporalibus) nor did the bishops of Trieste ever tried to assert their dominion over these places that were subjected to the bishops of Poreč and, from late 12th century onwards, formed part of the County of Istria.
Beram is subsequently mentioned only in 1309 when Odersius, the bishop of Pićan, enfeoffed the right to settle colonists in Beram to an Ancon of Pazin (the document will be edited here presently). The fact that it was the bishop of Pićan who issued this privilege suggests that the dominus in temporalibus of Beram was the Bishopric of Pićan, not the Bishopric of Trieste.
However, in 1333 the bishop of Trieste Pax invested the Venetian nobleman Andrea Dandolo (the future doge of Venice and the author of the famous chronicle account of Venetian history, the Chronica per extensum descripta) with the vast majority of temporal possessions of the Bishopric of Trieste (the document will be edited here presently). Among these possessions features the following: "Item simili modo in castro seu territorio de Vermes posito iuxta Parentium." Thus, the only logical conclusion would be that the "castellos iuris regni nostri qui dicitur Vermes" were indeed the Istrian Beram and a nowadays lost fort in its vicinity, but that the bishops of Trieste either willingly gave over their jurisdictions over it to the Bishopric of Pićan (and subsequently forgot about it in the 1333 investiture), or that they never managed to assert their dominion over Beram that subsequently fell to the potestas of the Bishopric of Pićan.
The 1333 investiture, however, should not be taken for granted. In this charter the bishop of Trieste simply enumerated the possessions that the Bishopric of Trieste still managed to cling on to, as well as the possessions that it aspired to based on old forged charters. Whether Andrea Dandolo got anything tangible in Umag, Monfalcone and Beram is highly doubtful as is the bishops' de facto jurisdiction in Beram between 911 and 1333.
Bearing all that in mind, another hypothesis may be formed: the Vermes of the forged Berengar's donation were originally not Beram and Podberam in Istria, but Gornje and Dolnje Vreme by Divača in present-day Slovenia (cf. Milotić cited above). Geographically, that interpretation would make much more sense as these two forts would defend the eastern borders of Trieste. However, the two forts had been abandoned and, at some point between the 10th/11th century and the 13th/14th, forgotten about. Thus, when the bishops of Trieste relinquished the large majority of their temporal possessions in 1333, they had to somehow interpret the Vermes in question and they did so by equating it with Beram in Istria, the only Vermo that they could think of. The interpretation is highly conjectural, but it does explain all the inconsistencies and historiographical problems that have remained unsolved for centuries regarding Vermes, Beram, and the putative jurisdiction of the bishops of Trieste in this part of Istria (cf. Galović and Orbanić cited above).
In any case, with 1374 and the advent of House Habsburg in Istria as the heirs of the extinct Albertian line of the Counts of Gorizia, Beram formed part of the County of Pazin and it was thus featured in the tax rolls of the County of Pazin from 1437 ("Item cze Verm Geori [St. George's day, 24th of April] V marken, Michaelis [St. Michael's day, 29th of September] VII marken"). The tax rolls are published in Matjaž Bizjak, Srednjeveške računske knjige za Slovenijo 1: Deželnoknežji obračuni za Kranjsko 1436–1448 / Landesfürstliche abrechnungen für Krain 1436–1448, Thesaurus memoriae: Fontes 12 (Ljubljana 2016), pp. 100-103, quotation on 100.
The only temporal possession of the Bishopric of Trieste in Istria was the fort Gradina (Ital. Calisedo, Lat. Calixedo/Caliseto) that was, interestingly, not mentioned in the 1333 investiture because the possession had been enfeoffed to House Giroldi from Pula already before 1183 (document to be edited here) and the investitures continued all the way into the 16th century.
The publication of the facsimile of B (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Miscellanea atti diplomatici e privati, busta 1, document number 7) 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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