Era
Vol. 3: A 1077 usque ad 1209
Date
February 10, 1199
Place
Regestum

In the name of the community of Barban, Pribislav, the gastald of Barban, subjects his village to the podestà and the Commune of Pula, promising to pay the standard dues – the quarter of the tithe and the grazing due – to the Commune of Pula and to receive justice from the podestà and the magistrates of Pula; the subjection is subsequently ratified by twelve people of Barban.

Source
The original is lost; the text survives in the following manuscript tradition:
B = Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Ducali e atti diplomatici, busta 6, doc. C/10; a vidimus based on the original, made by Venerius of late Matthew and copied together with doc. 1199_PP; both copies are authenticated by three notaries on October 3, 1339; the copy has the following heading: Hoc est exemplum quorumdam publicorum instrumentorum quorum tenor per omnia talis est. The vidimus has the following certifications:
(SN) Ego Venecianus de Valencia Polensis imperiali auctoritate notarius hoc exemplum transsumptum et transcriptum unacum infrascriptis Pincio et Venerio notariis cum suis originalibus auctenticis scriptis manu dicti Richerii notarii coram egregio et sapienti viro domino Damiano Natale honorabili Pole comite et ser Andrea quondam domini Petri et ser Bartolameo quondam domini Nicolay suis consulibus et de ipsorum mandato diligenter et ordinate et fideliter perlegi et auscultavi, et quia utrumque – et originale et exemplum predictum – concordare per omnia inveni ut decetero fides et plena probatio adhibeatur eisdem, me in testem subscripsi signumque meum apposui consuetum,
sub anno a nativitate Domini millesimo tricentesimo trigesimo nono, septima indictione, die tercio mensis octubris, sub palatio Communis Pole, presentibus testibus adhibitis ser Nicolao Ferario et Georgio notario Polensi et aliis pluribus.
(SN) Ego Pincius filius Tateri imperiali auctoritate notarius hec exempla suprascripta unacum supradicto Veneciano notario et infrascripto Venerio notario notario cum suis originalibus et veris auctenticis suis scriptis manu predicti Rikerii notarii coram prenominato domino Damiano Natale honorabili comite Pole et dictis suis consulibus et de ipsorum mandato diligenter, ordinate et fideliter abscultavi, et quia utrumque eorum concordare per omnia inveni et ut dictis exemplis decetero fides plenaria adhibeatur tanquam veris auctenticis suis predictis, me in testem subscripsi signumque meum et notam apposui consuetas in supradictis millesimo, indictione et die, loco ac presentibus testibus supradictis.
(SN) Ego Venerius quondam domini Mathei imperiali auctoritate notarius Polensis hoc exemplum sumptum ex auctentico Rikerii notarii auctoritate nobilis et sapientis viri domini Damiani Natalis honorabilis comitis civitatis Pole scripsi et exemplavi prout in eo inveni, nil addens vel minuens quod sententiam mutet seu sensum variet, nisi fore in punctis, silabis vel composicionibus litterarum, currente anno Domini millesimo trecentesimo trigesimo nono, indictione septima, die tercio mensis octubris, Pole sub palacio Communis, presentibus supradictis Viniciano de Valencia et Pincio notariis Polensis qui se huic instrumento subscripserunt.
Previous Editions
Pietro Kandler, Notizie storiche di Pola (Poreč 1876), pp. 278–279; omitting the datatio topica (= Luka Kirac, Crtice iz istarske povijesti (Zagreb 1946), pp. 303–305 with the translation of the document into Croatian).
FIM Edition
Diplomatic edition based on B. The scribe (or the 14th-century copyist) irregularly declines the noun commune, -is, n as communem in the accusative case. Also, the scribe often errs when an infinitive form of the verb needs to be written, and instead conjugates the verb (e.g. non debent sustinerent latrones instead of non debent sustinere latrones). Despite such poor Latin, the text is completely and easily understandable.
Transcription

In nomine domini nostri Iesu Christi.

Anno Eiusdem nativitatis millesimo centesimo nonagesimo VIIII, indictione secunda, die X intrante februarii, in presencia comitis Hengelpretia/1 et Federici de Cauriago et Hermanni de Duobus Castellis et Henrici de eodem loco et Lodoici de Cauriago et Valaresi filii Olderici de Valle et Federici filii quondam Thomei de eodem loco et Sclavogne de Pisino de Supra2 et Otonis de eodem loco et multorum aliorum.

Pribisclaus gastaldius Barbane venit cum hominibus Barbane ante comitem Rugerium3 potestatem Pole et Comunemb huius civitatis, coram predictis testibus promisit dictus Pribisclaus et vadiam4 dedit pro se et pro universo Comuni Barbane sub pena C marcharum in manu dicti comitis R(ugerii), recipiente pro se et pro Comuni Pole:

[1] Quod quarte et herbaticum, quem vel quam hinc retro Comuni Pole tenuerant a septem annis hucusque, sub mercede dare debet et ad libitum dicti comitis Rugerii et Communemc Pole, et amodo in antea de hinc imperpetuum debent dare omni anno quarte et herbaticum dicto Comuni, sicut faciunt alie ville que sunt posite supra teritorio Pole.

[2] Et quod ipsi stabunt ad racionem faciendam et recipiendam hominibus Pole, tam de civitate quam de villis, tam pro comuni quam pro diviso, ante comitem Rugerium potestatem Pole et suos citadinosd, et quod non evitabunt esse ante dictum comitem et citadinos Pole ad terminum unum vel plures quem vel quos potestatie et citadini eis, tam pro comuni quam pro diviso, locaverint vel constituerint, et quicquid per sententiam vel per concordiam iuste et legaliter dixerint attendere promiserint et observare, et pro se et suis, id est hominibus Barbane.

[3] Et quod debent facere omnes suos vicinos iurare ita attendere, ut superius dictum est, sub pena C marcharum argenti.

De qua vadia fideiussores fuerunt: dictus Pribisclaus, zupanus Andreas filius Dentasiof de Flaona, zupanus Drasicha de Galegnana et Iurcogna et Bosegna de Barbana.

Insuper in sero dicti diei venerunt predictus Pribisclaus cum duodecim ex vicinis suis ante dictum comitem R(ugerium) et multorumque civium Polensemg, iuraverunt supra sancta Dei evangelia quod adtendenth omnia predicta, ut superius dictum est, bona fide, sine fraude et tanto plus:

[4] Quod debent facere Pole civitati sicuti faciunt una ex villis Pole.

[5] Et quod non debent sustinerenti latrones inter se ad faciendum dapnum hominibus Pole neque de suo confinio.

[6] Et bona eorum bona fide salvarent et custodirentj debent, et per sua districta bona [de]k hominibus Pole et de sua districta ullomodo extraherent vel dimitteretl exire secundum sua posse non debent.

[7] Et debent facerentm iurare omnes vicinos suos sicuti isti XIIcim iuraverint.

[8] Et si aliquis ex vicinis suis, ut dictum est, attendere noulerint vel dictum sacramentum facere contepserint et per eos distringere non voluerint potestati Pole et hominibus, tunc manifestare debent et bona eorum, tam mobilia quam immobilia ostendere debent, et opem et consilium ad destruendam bona eorum darent et a sua vicinancia donec dictum sacramentum fecerint separari et eicere debent.

Actum in confinio Pole inter Galçanam et Barbanam.

Critical apparatus

asic B: Hengelpti cum sign. abbr. supra, non infra, litteram p; Hengelperti ed. Kandler.  bsic comune cum sign. abbr. supra ultimam syllabam B.  csic B.  dsic B: pro cives.  esic B: pro potestates.  fsic B: pro Dentasii.  g) multorumque civium Polensem] sic B.  hsic B.  isic B: pro sustinere.  j) salvarent et custodirent] sic B: pro salvare et custodire.  kom. B; em. Banić: seu bona de hominibus Pole seu bona hominum Pole.  l) extraherent vel dimitteret] sic B: pro extrahere vel dimittere.  msic B: pro facere.


1) Universally recognized as Count Engelbert III of Gorizia.
2Pisino de Supra = Stari Pazin / Pisinvecchio, Oberburg in German.
3) Universally recognized as Ruggero Morosini, a Venetian nobleman who was at the time count of Osor († 1205).
4) A word of Germanic origin (also wadium, gadium, from Gothic wadi = pledge), here in the meaning of formal promise, judicial pledge.

Medieval Recollections

The subjection of the village Prnjani to the Commune of Pula, promulgated on March 4, 1199 – edited here as doc. 1199_PP.

Selected Bibliography
Bernardo Benussi, Nel Medio Evo: Pagine di storia istriana (Poreč 1897), pp. 680–681, 708–709.
Camillo de Franceschi, Il comune polese e la signoria dei Castropola (Poreč 1905), pp. 11–12 (an interpretation steeped in the author’s imagination), 69–70.
Bernardo Benussi, Povijest Pule u svijetlu municipalnih ustanova do 1918. godine, trans. Tatjana Peruško (Pula 2002), pp. 145–147.
Giovanni de Vergottini, Lineamenti storici della costituzione politica dell’Istria durante il Medio Evo, 2nd ed. (Trieste 1974), p. 71.
Stjepan Antoljak, “Pribislav je bio samo gastald Barbana (1199),” Jadranski zbornik 2 (1957): pp. 113–120.
Lujo Margetić, “Položaj Barbana i Planje 1199. godine,” Vjesnik istarskog arhiva (1992–1993): pp. 41–48.
Editor's Notes

The document shows how the nascent Istrian communes expanded their jurisdictional areas, adding neighboring villages to their districts.

Traditionally, from Benussi onwards (cited above), this document was interpreted as a result of local warfare, one waged by the budding Commune of Pula against their neighbors with the aim of the city’s expansion. The surviving primary sources, however, do not support this thesis (as correctly noted by Margetić, cited above).

The exact reasons why the people of Barban decided to subject their village to Pula will remain unknown as it is not documented in the surviving primary sources. The fact that the subjection was witnessed by “comes Engelpretus”, that is, Count Engelbert III of Gorizia, the lord of Pazin, the advocate of the Church of Aquileia, and by far the most potent lord in the region, speaks in favor of the hypothesis that Pula’s expansion was supported by the regional nobility and ministerials, or at least a part of them.

Lujo Margetić (cited above), offered a creative and informed explanation of the forces that led to this subjection: everything was orchestrated by Count Engelbert III of Gorizia who wanted to win over the support of the Commune of Pula as he was at this specific period embroiled in a legal battle against the Archbishop of Pula for the so-called “Fief of St. Apollinaris”, a set of jurisdictions in Pula and its district of Pula de iure belonging to the Archbishopric of Ravenna but that somehow, sive iuste sive iniuste, ended up in the hands of the Gorizian (see De Franceschi, cited above, pp. 72–73 and Benussi 2002, cited above, 83–84, 182–183).

The charter has occupied the attention of Croatian scholars as it is the first written mention of Slavic communal organization in Istria, as the document features two župani (latinized as zupanus, -i). Antoljak (cited above) claimed that the document proves the existence of two such Slavic communities presided by a župan in Istria: Plomin and Grašiće, based on the phrases “zupanus Andreas filius Dentasio [sic!] de Flaona, zupanus Drasicha de Galegnana”. However, these “de Flaona” (of/from Plomin) and “de Galegnana” (of/from Gračišće) may also refer to the places of origin of these two individuals, not necessarily to the places they governed as župani.

In any case, the fact that župani appear in the charter most certainly mirrors the fact that the Istrian countryside was at this point already slavicized to a degree. Any attempt at precisely measuring this degree of slavization (or Croatization, or the resistance of non-Slavic population toward these processes) is bound to fail due to the lack of primary sources and the multilingual nature of medieval communities in Istria (and generally in all premodern regions subjected to plural ethnolinguistic influences).

Moreover, the employment of the term “župan” does not ipso facto mean that entire communities were organized differently, according to some specific “Slavic” or “Croatian” model. Instead, the term “zupanus” is used here in the same meaning as “meriga” in other rural communities in Istria, Friuli and the Veneto: both terms essentially designate the same official – a distinguished local elected by the heads of households to govern the community in most basic administrative matters and represent it before the higher jurisdiction (lord, either secular or ecclesiastical, or a city). Theoretically, the gastalds were appointed by the higher jurisdiction, whereas the župani/merige were locally elected officials. However, in smaller village communities the difference between the two officials, both tasked with simple administrative matters, slowly faded away.

Discussing this charter, Camillo de Franceschi (cited above) offered the following interpretation: “some Slavic colonies, freshly immigrated from Dalmatia or Bosnia to the Valley of Raša, were pillaging and looting in the district of Pula, committing a number of thefts and robberies”; this triggered the offensive launched against them by the Commune of Pula, backed by Count Engelbert III of Gorizia, which, in the end, resulted with this charter of subjection. This interpretation is grounded solely in De Franceschi’s fantasy and should therefore be completely abandoned.

Regarding the contents of the promise, the village of Barban was to pay the quartese and herbaticum to Pula. The herbaticum is a rent paid for the use of grazing pastures, also called grazing due or grazing tax. The quartese is a quarter of the tithe, the entire tithe being split into four parts that were variously enfeoffed by bishops. One quarter of the tithe regularly remained to the local parish church; the other three parts could by split in a variety of ways. We cannot deduce how exactly the tithes of Barbana were split, but one fourth was to go to Pula as per this document, one fourth, it is safe to infer, was to remain to the parish church; the two other fourths could remain in the hands of the bishop and/or the Chapter of Pula, but there are no primary sources that would any shed additional light.

Moreover, the village of Barban is henceforth to be considered as one of the villages of Pula. Therefore, the villagers are to receive justice from the podestà and the magistrates of Pula, whom they should heed in all matters regarding the administration of justice (article 2). The subjection was to be confirmed by twelve sworn villagers of Barban (article 3) and this was done on the same day. The twelve sworn oath-givers further promised that they will extradite to Pula all accused of theft in the city and its district; that they will safeguard the goods of the citizens of Pula; that they will make sure all the villagers of Barban swear the same oath; and that anyone who refuses to swear obedience to Pula was to be exiled from Barban and their goods seized. The oath was given in Pula’s district, in the open, somewhere between Gočan and Barban.

The charter lacks the completio. The document was transcribed in 1339 together with the subjection of village Prnjani, done just several days later (edited here as doc. 1199_PP), which has the completio at the very end: “(SN) Ego Rikerius sacri palatii tabellio rogatus in omnibus interfui et eorum iussu hoc scripsi.” It is very probable that the same completio was featured in this charter of Barban’s subjection as well, but that the 14th-century copyists, who copied both charters as one single vidimus, only appended one completio to the very end of their copy, omitting the completio of the first document.

Finally, there is the question of comes Rugerius, the first documented podestà of Pula. It has traditionally been argued that this comes Rugerius is none other than Ruggero Morosini, a noble Venetian who at the time held the title of count of Osor from the Commune of Venice. Whether he was elected by the Commune of Pula or whether he was enforced upon Pula by Venice as a sort of a punishment for the city’s 1195 “rebellion” (see doc. 1195_RP), remains an open question (De Vergottini, cited above).

Moreover, based on the surviving primary sources it cannot be deduced if this Ruggero Morosini was the original holder of the so-called “Morosini fief” in Pula. Namely, later sources, from the beginning of the 14th century, shed additional light onto this set of jurisdictions in Pula: they were originally of the bishops of Pula who enfeoffed them to “a Ruggero Morosini”; the family held the set of jurisdictions until 1286 when the bishop of Pula enfeoffed to family Ionata of Pula, sparking a great controversy which ended with the fief back in the hands of the Morosini family; in 1312, Nicoletto Morosini the Younger sold the fief to Sergio Castropola for 46 Venetian groats.

All of this is read from a nowadays lost treatise: “Compendio delle cose contenute nel lungo processo della causa e differenza trattata davanti il legato apostolico tra Sergio di Nassinguerra detto Forella da Castro Pola e Sergio vescovo di Pola per occasione dei feudi pertinenti alla famiglia predetta di Castro Pola, de’ quali esso Sergio da detto vescovo era stato spogliato l’anno 1332” written by Bishop Gaspare Negri of Poreč (1742–1778) and based on documentation nowadays presumed lost (the treatise is edited in L’Istria, ed. Pietro Kandler, vol. 2, no. 65–66 (October 1847): pp. 263–266).

De Franceschi (cited above) hypothesized that the original connection between this fief and House Morosini dates back precisely to the age of Count Ruggero Morosini who lived in the late 12th/ early 13th century and who served as the podestà of Pula in 1199. This hypothesis was subsequently taken over as “fact”. Looking at the surviving primary sources, it is impossible to precisely identify the first Morosini who received this fief from the bishop of Pula.

How to Cite
First citation: Josip Banić (ed.), Fontes Istrie medievalis, vol. 3: A 1077 usque ad 1209, doc. 1199_BP, fontesistrie.eu/1199_BP (last access: date).
Subsequent citations: FIM, 3: doc. 1199_BP.
Facsimile
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The publication of the facsimile of B (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Ducali e atti diplomatici, busta 6, doc. C/10) 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).

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