Era
Vol. 3: A 1077 usque ad 1209
Date
December 18, 1194
Place
Regestum

The Commune of Koper issues a decree according to which all who hold vineyards from the Bishopric and fail to pay their dues are to lose these vineyards, while those neglecting oil tithe payments to the Bishopric must render double the owed amount.

Source
The original is lost; the text survives in the following manuscript traditions:
C = Trieste, Archivio Diocesano, Diocesi di Capodistria, busta 1: Episcopi Hyeremiae Pola tomus unicus: Acta omnia ab anno 1420 usque ad 1424, book 1, pp. 53–53bis; a simple copy from 1421 based on a vidimus from December 6, 1360.
The 1421 copy has the following title above the text: Item aliud exemplum cuiusdam publici instrumenti extractum in supradicto millesimo, indictione et die, presentibus suprascriptis dominis, viris et notariis infrascriptis, cuius tenor talis est, referring to the title vidimus containing doc. 1186_CI; and the following certification: Item ad confirmacionem istius exempli supradicti viri et notarii subscripserunt se manu propria, again referring to the certification of the vidimus containing doc. 1186_CI.
T = Venice, Biblioteca Marciana di Venezia, ms. It. VI, 159 (= 6006), book 4, pp. 484–485; simple copy done by Giacomo Filippo Tomasini in mid-17th century, based on a printed copy ordered by Girolamo Rusca, bishop of Koper between 1620 and 1630, without any appended title. This Rusca’s printed copy derives either from C or from one of its derivative copies.
Previous Editions
Gian Rinaldo Carli, Delle Antichità italiche parte quarta, 2nd ed. (Milan 1795), doc. 10, pp. 268–269; based on C, including the title of the vidimus.
Giacomo Filippo Tomasini, “De Commentari storici-geografici della provincia dell'Istria libri otto con appendice”, Archeografo Triestino 4 (1837): pp. 337–338; based on T.
Pietro Kandler, Codice diplomatico istriano, 2nd ed. (Trieste 1986), doc. 187, p. 349; a curious amalgamation of Tomasini’s and Carli’s edition, done, it would seem, without consulting any manuscript copies.
FIM Edition
Diplomatic edition based on C; T is ignored as it is a much later copy, most probably deriving directly or indirectly from C.
Transcription

In nomine domini Dei eterni.

Imperante domino nostro Henrico Romanorum imperatore augusto, anno Domini millesimo centesimo nonagesimo quarto, mensis decembris XIIII die exeunte, indictione XII.

Actum Iustinopoli(tane) civitatis in publica concione.

Almericus Iustinopoli(tanus) rector de communi consilio consulum, iudicum et totius civitatis Consilio pariter et assensu, cartulam notitie et securitatis pro futuris temporibus ad memoriam retinendam me Ambrosium notarium scribere rogavit super hoc, equidem, quod in publica contione communi deliberatione, ut predictum est, statuit et promulgavit perpetuis temporibus ad honorem Dei et sui episcopatus augumentum inviolabillitera observandum: ut si qua persona iam dicte civitatis que nunc habet vel habitura est vineam ad Episcopatum pertinentem, tam de redditibus Sancti Michaelis quam de Communi dato Episcopatui, et annuatim tempore vindemie non solverit Episcopatui ex ipsa vinea, quam habet ab ipso Episcopatu, rectum et integrum redditum, vel deprehendi poterit vel convinci rationabilliter in qualitate vel in quantitate redditum defraudasse, deinde vineam quam ab Episcopatu habuerat sine aliqua exceptione restituat.b

Episcopus vero, qui pro tempore fuerit, vel eius nuncius vineam ipsam intromittendi et quicquid voluerit faciendi liberam habeat potestatem.

Item si qua persona deinceps usque ad festum Purificationis Sancte Marie annuatim non solverit nec solutum habuerit decimacionem tocius sui olei, quod sibi Deus dederit, ipsi Episcopatui vel episcopo qui tunc erit vel eius certo nuncio, ex tunc ipsam decimacionem in duplum restituat, nisi fuerit de misericordia episcopi qui tunc erit.c

Signum suprascripti Almerici, qui omnia prescripta de communi consilio, ut supra dictum est, rogavit fieri.

Ego Ambrosius predicte civitatis Iustinopoli(tane) notarius manu mea propria scripsi.

Critical apparatus

asic C et saepe sic.  b) si quis habet vineam de redditu Episcopatus et non solverit vel defraudaverit et cetera, restituat vineam add. in marg. sin. C.  c) si qua persona non solverit decimationem olei usque ad festum Purificationis duplum restituat add. in marg. dex. C.

Selected Bibliography
Giovanni de Vergottini, Lineamenti storici della costituzione politica dell’Istria durante il Medio Evo, 2nd ed. (Trieste 1974), p. 70.
Francesco Semi, Capris, Iustinopolis, Capodistria: La storia, la cultura e l'arte (Trieste 1975), pp. 49, 69–70
Ana Jenko Kovačič, Mesto in škof v Istri v srednjem veku, PhD Dissertation (Ljubljana 2022), pp. 176, 178
Editor's Notes

The hereby edited decree, aimed at securing the revenues of the city’s bishop, is tightly connected to the endowment of the Bishopric of Koper promulgated a couple of years earlier, on July 5, 1186 (edited here as doc. 1186_CI). See the editor’s comments section under doc. 1186_CI for more information.

This charter is important for the dating elements of Istrian private documents as it clearly shows that the indiction used in 12th-century Koper was not the Byzantine one (changing on September 1), but the Roman indiction which changed with the year of incarnation on December 25 (and later on January 1).

The “podestà”, here named as rector, of Koper is still Almericus (anglicized as Emery), a local who governed the commune for a particularly long period of time. As such, he is not a “podestà” typical of Italian communes of the 12th and 13th centuries, a foreigner invited to govern the community for a fixed period of time. The first such foreign rector of Koper, a podestà in the full meaning of this term, is first documented in 1222, a Venetian nobleman Nicolò Tonisto (see MGH DDFII doc. 901 soon to be edited here as well).

How to Cite
First citation: Josip Banić (ed.), Fontes Istrie medievalis, vol. 3: A 1077 usque ad 1209, doc. 1194_CI, fontesistrie.eu/1194_CI (last access: date).
Subsequent citations: FIM, 3: doc. 1194_CI.