A Johnny Vilico bestows to St. Michael's monastery and its abbot Iuvencius his property in Rumijan under the condition that his son Martin enjoys the usufruct of this land for four years.
(SC) In Dei nomine.
Regnante domnoa Inrico anno XIIb, diec mensis februarid XVe, indictione VI, actum intra monasterium sancti Michaelis.
Cum secularia facta prudencium studiis sunt memorie tradita, multo decencius extimatorf ut opera pietatis, maxsimeg defiunth, litterarumi memorie commendentur.1
Quapropterj nos quidem Iohannik Ulicol de v[i]com Mamiliano damus adquen tradimus tibi do[m]noo Iuvencio abbatep atque Weceli advocato eiusdem monasteriiq sancti Michaelis cunteque caterve monachorumr sub tua cura, hoc ests terram super fundo Rumiano cum arboribus, sicut designata abuimust in presenciamu Thegenzo tabelium, qui supra fueruntv, quew caput et latusx [firmat in]y terra eiusdem monasterii, alio capitez in corona antiqua; latus [in]a' terra ipsiusb' Iohannic', in tali vero tinored' ut filio meo Martino ad quatuor anni ad nutriendum et literame' dimostrandum, ut de is in antea liberam potestatem abeatis tineatisf' uttendi, nostra etg' omnium hominum contradictione remota.
Si quis, nos prescriptush' Iohanii' Vilicus vel heredibus meis aut propincos meos vel extraneis meisj', [contra]k' hanc cartulaml' meaquem' comutacionis ire temptaverintn' aut corrumpereo' voluerint per aliquod iuxp' [vel]q' ingeniumr', nons' adeundo iudicio nect' suplicando principibus per ullam muhanacionemu', qui verov' fecerintw', s[c]iatx' se composituri et daturiy' auri libram unam, et soluta pena hec cartulaz' manea[t]a'' in sua firmitate.
Testesb'': Otoc'' filio Urso, Cauco, Rantulfod'', Petrus filius Vitalis et Manisclavo fratres.
Et egoe'' Thegenzof'' tabelius acg'' suprascriptamh'' chauc[ionis]i'' cartulamj'' rogatus scripsi et complevik''.
a) domino ed. Kandler. b) seq. (XX?) add. Kandler. c) diem ed. Margetić. d) februarii ed. Kandler. e) nisi XII; XII ed. Margetić. f) extimatur ed. Kandler et Margetić; seq. que add. Margetić. g) seq. desunt in membrana verba ritualia que in ecclesia add. Kandler intra parenthesis. h) sic A; Dei fiunt ed. Kandler et Margetić. i) locorum vel terrarum ed. Margetić; in terrarum ed. Kandler. j) om. et puncta posuit Kandler. k) sic A; Iohannes ed. Margetić. l) Vilico ed. Kandler et Margetić. m) de vico] de vco A; clerico ed. Kandler; de vico ed. Margetić. n) atque ed. Kandler. o) sic dono A; domno em. Margetić. p) abbati ed. Kandler. q) monasteri ed. Kandler. r) monahorum ed. Margetić. s) cuncteque—hoc est] om. Kandler et puncta posuit. t) sic A. u) presencia ed. Margetić. v) sic A: fort. pro fuit (Thegenzo—qui supra fuit). w) quod ed. Kandler et Margetić. x) et latus] de latere ed. Kandler. y) om. A; em. Banić. z) alio capite] sic A: pro aliud caput, sicut ed. Margetić. a') om. A; em. Banić. b') ipsis ed. Kandler. c') Iohannis ed. Kandler. d') sic A; tenore ed. Kandler. e') lucru ed. Kandler; lucrum ed. Margetić. f') sic A: pro tenendi; om. et puncta posuit Kandler; tenendi coni. Margetić. g') nostra et] om. et puncta posuit Kandler. h') pro scripto ed. Kandler. i') om. Margetić. j') extraneis meis] sic A; extraneos meos ed. Margetić. k') om. A; em. Banić. l') carta ed. Kandler; cartam ed. Margetić. m') meeque ed. Kandler; mee ed. Margetić. n') ire temptaverint] iritaverint ed. Kandler; retractarint ed. Margetić. o') corumpere ed. Kandler. p') sic A: pro ius; om. Margetić. q') om. A; em. Banić. r') seq. non add. Kandler. s') om. Kandler et Margetić. t') om. Kandler; aut ed. Margetić. u') sic A: pro machinationem; mahinacionem ed. Margetić. v') qui vero] quive ed. Kandler et Margetić. w') sic A: pro fecerit (qui—fecerit—sciat); fuerint ed. Kandler. x') sic siat A; em. Banić. y') qui—daturi] om. Margetić et puncta posuit. z') carta ed. Kandler et Margetić. a'') sic manea A; maneat ed. Kandler et Margetić. b'') testibus ed. Kandler. c'') uco ed. Kandler. d'') seq. et add. Kandler. e'') Et ego] V. de ed. Kandler; V. S. ed. Margetić. f'') Thengengo ed. Kandler. g'') sic A: pro hac; ec ed. Margetić. h'') supra scriptum ed. Kandler. i'') chauc A; chanc. ed. Kandler; donacionis ed. Margetić. j'') carta ed. Kandlaer; cartam ed. Margetić. k'') rogatus scripsi et complevi] rogavit presens complevit ed. Kandler.
1) The arenga is garbled here, but it is the same one as featured in the doc. 1061_MI and should thus go: "Cum secularia facta prudencium studiis sunt memorie tradita, multo decencius extimator ut opera pietatis, maxime que in Ecclesia Dei fiunt, literarum memorie comendentur."
(SC) In the name of God.
During the 12th year of the reign of Lord Henry, on the 15th day of the month of February, the 6th indiction, done inside St. Michael’s monastery.
Seeing that secular deeds are committed to memory by the efforts of the prudent, it is considered even more fitting that works of piety, especially those that were done for God’s Church, are committed to the memory of the written word.1
Therefore, we, the very Johnny2 Vilico of village Mimian3, give and bestow to you, Lord Iuvencius the abbot as well as to Wezelin the advocate of the same St. Michael’s monastery, and to the entire congregation of monks under your care, that is: a land on the estate Rumijan with trees, as we had designated it in the presence of Thegenzo the scribe, who was there4, with one top and one side bordering the lands of the same monastery, the other top [by] the old border; the side [bordering] the lands of the same Johnny; however, under these conditions: that my son Martin receives nourishment [from this land] and the written records [of the produce] for four years; so that from that point onwards you have full authority to possess and to use the land without any contradiction from us or anyone else.
But if we, the said Johnny Vilico, or my heirs, or my relatives, or people not belonging to my family, would dare to act against this charter of exchange or attempt to undo it by any ruling or subterfuge by neither going to the court nor supplicating the rulers; if, indeed, one does so, may they know that they will have to pay and give one pound of gold, and once the fine is paid, may this charter remain in its force.
Witnesses: Otto the son of Urso, Cauco, Rantulf, and brothers Peter the son of Vitalis and Manisclavo.
And I, Thegenzo the scribe, asked [to write this], wrote and completed this above-written charter of loan5.
[trans. J.B.]
1) The arenga is garbled in the text, but it was supposed to be the same one as featured in 1061_MI, so this translation follows the 1061 arenga.
2) The personal name is given as Iohanni in the nominative case throughout the text, therefore I have opted to translate the name not as John (what would correspond to Iohannes), but as Johnny.
3) Mimian is a nowadays deserted village in the discrict of Pula next to Panturan. (Camillo De Franceschi, "La toponomastica dell'antico agro polese desunta dai documenti," Atti e memorie della Società istriana di archeologia e storia patria 51-52 (1939-1940): p. 164-65)
4) The original phrase is "qui supra fuerunt" in the plural, but I fail to see how it could connect to a plural noun. Margetić interpreted it as referring to the trees that had been marked, but it makes no sense that these trees had been there once but were there not at the moment of writing. It makes more sense that the phrase refers to Thegenzo the scribe who was there for the demarcation but is now with the contractors writing the charter. Thus, I have translated the phrase as if it was written "qui supra adfuit".
5) Originally written as "chauc cartula" and expanded as chaucionis cartula, a name given to charters of loan in Venice (Dino Puncuh, "Il documento commerciale in area mediterranea," in All’ombra della Lanterna: Cinquant’anni tra archivi e biblioteche:
1956-2006, ed. Antonella Rovere, Marta Calleri, and Sandra Macchiavello (Genoa 2006), p. 801). Perhaps written by error instead of the correct "donationis cartula"?
The charter is written by Thegenzo, a scribe who had a very poor grasp of the Latin language. Due to the scribe's ignorance of Latin, the charter features an abundance of agrammatical phrases and clauses that seemingly make no sense. Arenga is one such example, but luckily the text of this particular arenga has been preserved in another charter issued in 1061 in Pula so it was easy to reconstruct it (1061_MI). The translation is provided to show the editor's reading of the document, with the translated phrases stemming from the emended version of the text.
The dating elements concur perfectly with each other and there is no doubt regarding the year of the charter's issuing: 1068. The day of the month can be read as either 15 or 12 (XV, favored by Kandler and the editor, or XII, favored by Margetić), but it seems more like an XV.
This is the second of the two charters that mention a Wezelin as the advocate of St. Michael's monastery in Pula (see the first one edited here).
Su concessione del Ministero della Cultura - Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana. Divieto di riproduzione.
The digital facsimile of A (Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, ms. lat. XIV 101 (=2804), p. 304) 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.
Photo by the editor.
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