Wolfger, the patriarch of Aquileia and margrave of Istria, confirms the boundaries of the territories under the jurisdictions of the bishops of Poreč (13th-century forgery).
Anno Domini M CC tercio, indictione VI, die vero IIII intrante novembri.
Actum Parentii in maiori ecclesia, presentibus domino Popone Petenensi episcopo, Henrico archidiacono Acquilegiensi, Conrado de Sancto Georgio, Thoma et Otone de castro Vallis et aliis multis.
Cum dominus Volcherus patriarcha Aquilegiensis et marchio Istrie sederet pro tribunali in maiori ecclesia sancti Mauri, conparuit coram ipso dominus Fulcerus Parentinus episcopus, conquerendo quod multi conantur destruere et minuere terminum proprietatis sancti Mauri, silicet terminum illustrissime domine Elice Istriensium comitisse, unde predictus episcopus fecit vocare coram dicto domino patriarcha viros idones et honestos, qui compelli deberent per dictum dominum patriarcham ostendere et assignare confines predicti termini sancti Mauri.
Qui vocati sunt de Parentio: Artuicus filius condam Ottonis, Cadulus condam Rocii, Iohannes condam de Paulina, Iohannes Maleosse, Cadolus Homodei de Duobus Castellis, Odolricus, Dominicus de Parentio, Andreas de Miripet diaconus, Nopo de Sancto Laurentio, Bernardus gastaldio et Gerungus frater eius, Martinus de Curte, Ditardus diaconus, Vetelo de Grimaldo iudex de Montona, Albinus de Balbo gastaldio, Iohannes de Parci, Martinus de presbitero Ursone, Maricus, qui omnes supradicti coram predicto patriarcha et per ipsum compulsi dicere et assignare confines termini sancti Mauri iuraverunt et dixerunt omnes concorditer per sacramentum:
“Hos esse confines termini, proprietatis et territorii sancti Mauri: incipiendo a Munglono, veniendo a Manuchera recto tramite, et de Manuchera veniendo ad Diglanum, quod est Sancte Marie de Campo, et de Diglano veniendo ad rosam presbiteri Albini, et de inde veniendo ad montem Messium, quod est desuper monasterium sancti Michaelis de Subterra versus orientem, et de inde veniendo iuxta lacum Visignani, et de dicto lacu veniendo iuxta Ponzanum, et de Ponzano veniendo recto tramite iuxta ecclesiam sancte Margarite castri Sancti Laurentii, et de inde veniendo usque locum qui dicitur Sablonere, et de loco dicto veniendo ad montem Lezosum, et de dicto monte veniendo ad horam montis castri Caliseti versus occidentem, et de inde veniento ad ripam paludis etiam versus occidentem, et de inde veniento usque ad campum Basilium, quod est Sancti Michaelis de Lemo.”
Unde dictus patriarcha et marchio, his auditis et diligenter examinatis, sententialiter dixit et precepit, quod non liceat alicui persone amodo in antea frangere seu devastare aliquo modo predictum terminum sancti Mauri, nec modo aliquo gravare ecclesiam Parentinam de illo quod testificatum est coram ipso, et qui contrafecerit, subiaceat damno nonaginta bizanziorum patriarce et marchioni, qui per tempus fuerit, et episcopo Parentino penna mille librarum denariorum Aquilegensium, [que] pena soluta [vel non] hoc instrumentum semper firmum et ratum permaneat.
Ego Henricus inperiali auctoritate notarius interfui, rogatus a predicto patriarcha et episcopo scripsi et roboravi.
The document in question is an undisputed forgery as Patriarch Wolfger became the margrave of Istria only in 1209 (see doc. 1209_W5). Moreover, the forgery is indubitably based on the authentic document from 1214 as the list of witnesses is absolutely identical in both charters (ineditum, soon to be published here).
The reason for drawing up this forgery lies in the long struggle between the bishops of Poreč and the Commune of Sv. Lovreč over the territories belonging to the jurisdiction of Gradina (castrum Calisedi), a temporal possession of the bishops of Trieste. Namely, the disputed territory was enjoyed both by the subjects of Sv. Lovreč as well as the bishop's subjects from Vrsar. The legal dispute ended up involving three Venetian officials - the captain of Sveti Lovreč, Francesco Corner, who was helped by Francesco Polani, the podestà of Poreč, and Francesco Bono, the podestà of Bale - who judged the case in 1340 (Pietro Kandler (ed.), Codice diplomatico istriano (cited above), doc. 680, pp. 1168–1170, soon to be edited here as well).. During this trial, the representative of the bishops of Poreč, Otto de Artizanibus, presented three charters in support of his case: this forgery from 1203, purportedly copied in 1292 from the original; the act of demarcation between Vrsar and the Commune of Sv. Lovreč from 1305 (nowadays lost, but it featured Bishop Boniface who invoked the donations of Countess Azica); and another forgery, the donation charter of Istrian Countess Azica (doc. 1040_AZ).
The 1203 forgery, most probably drawn up in 1292, was made to legitimize the territorial pretensions of the bishops of Poreč up to Mount Bumbažin (campus Basilium), an area that included the territories of Gradina that were enjoyed by the subjects of Sv. Lovreč.
Interestingly, Azica's forgery – a document that was drawn up to achieve the same goal as the 1203 forgery – denotes the territory between Mount Bumbažin and the territories of the Bishopric as belonging to St. Michael's monastery by Lim Bay, an ecclesiastical institution that came under the potestas of the bishops of Poreč during the 13th century. Thus, the two forgeries present two different paths that Bishop Boniface undertook in trying to achieve the same goal: expand the territorial jurisdiction of his bishopric at the expense of Gradina and, indirectly, the Commune of Sv. Lovreč. The bishop ultimately failed in this endeavor.