Otto IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, confirms the donation of the Margraviate of Istria to the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Otto quartus divina favente clementia Romanorum imperator et semper augustus.
Imperialis excellencie titulos digne extollimus decenterque exornamus cum nos ea que in dampnum ecclesiarum redundare videntur inhibemus et ab omni in e[v]uma ambiguita[ti]sb nota Imperatorie equitatis lima elidimus.
Ad noticiam itaque omnium presentis etatis et in eumc successure posteritatis hominum transmitti volumus quod, cum propter enormes excessus Henrici quondam marchionis Ystrie, quos ipse nomine criminis lese maiestatis in decessore nostro domino Phylippo commisit, Marchia Carniole et Ystrie cum Comitatu et universis pertinenciis suis, et tam feudum quam alodium et omnis honor suus, in generali curia nostra Frankenfurt per sententiam principum sibi fuerint abiudicata et ad dominium Imperii Marchia Ystria libere et absolute sit addita, nos eandem Marchiam nobis et Imperio vacantem tunc * fideli nostro Ludovico duci Bavarie iure feudali concessimus.
Procedente vero tempore, dilectus princeps noster Wolfcherus patriarcha Aquilegensis ad curiam nostram apud Augustam accedens in presencia principum de predicta Marchia nobis questionem movitd, et quod ex antiqua donatione Henrici regis augusti tercii ecclesie Aquilegensi pertineret privilegiis auctenticis ipsi ecclesie * collatis evidentissime in publico curie nostre presentibus principibus nobis demonstravit.
Nos itaque manifeste sue assertionis attendentes veritatem, ne occasione nostra tanti honoris pariterque utilitatis beneficio privari videretur Aquilegensis ecclesia, ad instanciam precum nostrarum universorumque principium prefatus dux sepe dictam Marchiam sine omni contradictione in manus nostras resignavit, et nos eam, ab omni impetitionis nota ab ipso absoluta, Aquilegensi ecclesie cum omni honore et universis pertinenciis cum omni iure imperiali libere et absolute possidendam in perpetuum donavimus et tradidimus atque concessimus, et sicut * et racionabiliter in presencia principum nostrorum hanc donationem nostram a nobis factam recognoscimus, sic quoque eam presentis scripti nostri autentico ipsi ecclesie confirmamus.
Statuentes et imperiali edicto firmiter precipientes ut nulli unquam persone alte vel humili, ecclesiastice vel seculari, licitum sit hanc nostre donationis seu confirmationis divinalem paginam infringere vel ei aliquo temeritatis ausu obviare.
Quod qui facere presumpserit, in sue presumptionis pena[m] mille libras auri examinati componat, quorum medietas fisco nostro, reliqua vero medietas iniuriam passo persolvatur.
Ut autem hec donatio seu confirmatio nostra in omne evum inviolabiliter observatur, presentem exinde paginam conscribi fecimus et imperiali sigillo nostro iussimus corroborari.
Testes autem huius rei sunt: Otto Frisigensis episcopus, Menegoldus Patavensis episcopus, Artuicus Estensis episcopus, Conradus Ratisponensis episcopus, Conradus Brixinensis episcopus, Regnardus Curiensis episcopus, Fridericus Tridentinesis, Syfridus Augustensis episcopus, Iohannes Cameracensis episcopus, Ludevicus dux Bavarie, Meynardus * Goricie, comes palatinus de Tuingen, comes Albertus de Tirol, comes Ulricus de Epan, comes Egenus de Ulmo, comes Albertus de Ebersteyn, comes Burcardus de Manesfelt, burgravius Magdeburgensis, Stephanus decanus, Henricus archidiaconus, Fridericus de Cauriaco, Anselmus Tervisiensis, Bernardus de Strazoune, Walterboldus, Volcherus de Dorenberch, Iohannes de Çucula et alii quamplures.
Signum domini Ottonis quarti Romanorum imperatoris invictissimi.
Ego Conradus Spirensis episcopus et imperialis aule cancellarius vice domini Theodorici Coloniensis archiepiscopi et tocius Italie archicancellarii recognavi.
Acta sunt hec anno Dominice incarnationis MXXVIII, regnante domino Ottone quarto Romanorum imperatore gloriosissimo anno imperii eius primo et regni XII.
Data apud Cremonam per manus Walterii imperalis aule prothonotarii, VIII idus maii, indictione XIII.
a) eum B: pro evum, sicut in 1209_W5. b) sic B, sicut in 1209_W5; em. Banić. c) sic B: pro evum. d) de predicta Marchia nobis questionem movit] questionem de predicta Marchia nobis movit 1209_W5.
“Item privilegium de Marchia Istrie et Carniole concessum per dominum Ottonem imperatorem in MCCVII cum bulla cerea.” – Thesauri claritas, opus saec. XIV, ed. Giuseppe Bianchi (Udine 1847), doc. 1168, p. 340.
The famous Cremona charter is essentially a verbatim copy of the 1209 donation of Istria (see it here) with only the words "king", "kingly" and "kingship" aptly changed into imperial forms as Otto IV succeeded in being crowned emperor by the pope on the 4th of October, 1209. The actum line remained the same as in the 1209 charter because the donation had already been enacted (although the years of reign were updated accordingly), but the datum changed as this new, imperial charter was issued in May of 1210.
The main question posited by this reissue of the donation charter is why a confirmation of donation promulgated only a year ago was at this time deemed necessary.
The answer to this puzzle lies in the new precarious position the newly crowned Emperor Otto IV found himself in when he decided to oppose Pope Innocent III and when the prospect of open warfare against Frederick II of House Hohenstaufen appeared on the horizon. Otto IV wanted to be sure that could count on Patriarch Wolfger support if such a conflict would indeed arise, hence the re-issue of a gift that originally established the amicable relationship between the monarch and the patriarch. The plan did not work out as planned for Otto IV: already in 1214 Patriarch Wolfger switched sides and supported Frederick II who granted an official confirmation charter to the Patriarchate of Aquileia in the same year, confirming, among others, the secular jurisdictions over the Margraviate of Istria.
The publication of the facsimile of B (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Miscellanea atti diplomatici e privati, busta 10, doc. 333) 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 Archivio di Stato di Venezia.
The editor has overlaid a red arrow onto the facsimile simply to mark the exact place on the parchment where the edited document begins.
The facsimile remains under the exclusive copyright of Archivio di Stato di Venezia.