Egno, bishop of Trento, enfeoffs Count Maynard III of Gorizia and his descendants with all that the late Count Ulrich of Ulten and the late brothers George and Frederick, counts of Appiano, had held as fiefs from the Church of Trento, the count swearing fealty and pledging to uphold the bishop's honor and jurisdiction as the count of Tyrol had done before him, and the bishop appointing Bertongus de Mays to induct the count into corporal possession of the fief.
Anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo quinquagesimo quarto, indictione duodecima, die martis IIIIo exeunte iulio, in civitate Iustinopolis in ecclesia sanctia Francisci, in presencia domini Henrici porgravi de Luenç, domini Filipi de Westenstayn, domini Wicardi de Petrapilosa, Henrici Premovseli scrybe infrascripti domini comitis, domini Albrici de Castrorufo, domini Wercii de Iustinopoli, domini Warnerii de Iustinopoli, domini Petri de Pelonio, domini Conradi capellani domini episcopi infrascripti et Ancii de Laiano et aliorum rogatorum testium.
Ibique dominus Egno Dei gratia Tridentinus episcopus ad rectum et honorabilem feodum investivit nobilem virum dominum comitem Maynardum de Guricia in se et suis heredibus, nominatim de omni eo toto quod dominus comes Ulricus quondam de Ultimis et domini Georius et Federicus fratres quondam comites de Piano habebant et tenebant seu possidebant in feodum ab ecclesia Tridentina de castris, hominibus et aliis possesionibus, quesitis et non quesitis, in Episcopatu, Ducatu et districtu Tridentino, ita ut dictus dominus comes predictus et eius heredes dictum feodum cum omni iure, accione et ractione, honore et iurisdictione illi feodi in integrum pertinenti habeat et teneat, secundum quod predicti comites habebant et possidebant, et exinde quicquid vellit faciat secundum consuetudinem consimilis feodi sine contradictione ipsius domini et eorum successorum. Et promissit dictus dominus episcopus per se et suos sucessores dicto domino comitti dictum feodum ab omni homine in ractione deffendere et expedire sub pena dupli dampni et dispendii, sicud pro tempore fuerit melioratumb aut valuerit sub exstimatione in consimili loco.
Qui dominus comes predictus ad sancta Dei ewangelia iuravit fidelitatem domino episcopo predicto, prout in sacramento fidelitatis continetur. Et promissit sub eodem sacramento dictus dominus comes iuvare et manutenere ipsum dominum episcopum in suo honore, iurisdictione Episcopatus Tridenti, secundum quod quondam dominus comes Tirolensis fecit, prout continetur in carta facta manu mei notarii, et recepit ipsum dominum episcopum et suum Episcopatum in sua cura et protectione.
Et ad hoc, ut presens scriptum magis robur optineat firmitatis, tam manu publica quam nostri sigili munimine fecit roborari.
Et constituit dominum Bertongum de Mays absentem, qui ponat ipsum in tenutam et corporalem possesionem.
(SN) Ego Arnoldus condam domini Mathei de Placentia imperialis aule notarius interfui et rogatus scripsi.
(SP)
a) seq. fause canc. A. b) seq. ad canc. A.
The enfeoffment represents a huge victory for the counts of Gorizia, who were at the time on their way to claiming the titles and jurisdictions of Count Albert III of Tirol, the father of Maynard III’s wife Adelaide. Although still styled solely as the count of Gorizia, this Maynard III will become the first Gorizian to also become the count of Tirol, and his sons and heirs, Maynard IV and Albert I, will divide the family’s patrimony into the Tirolean and the Gorizian branch in 1271 (doc. 1271_DG).
The document was issued in Koper, and the enfeoffment was witnessed by notable Istrian knights and Capodistrian patricians such as Philip of Kožljak, a prominent Gorizian ministerial, Weichard I of Petrapilosa, ministerial of the patriarchs of Aquileia, Werzius, the patriarch’s gastald in Koper, and Wernher of Koper (on which see Mlacović, cited above).
Finally, the document merits attention from the perspective of diplomatics. The charter is a typical notarial instrumentum publicum in everything but its corroboratio – it is written in the impersonal form and in the past tense, and it is corroborated by the notarial completio. However, the corroboration was additionally strengthened by the appending of the issuer’s hanging seal, a clear influence of the documentary practice north of the Alps. This generated the corroboratio that momentarily shifted from the impersonal to the personal style in the line “nostri sigili”, reverting back to the impersonal style and the past tense with “fecit roborari”. The charter is thus a textbook example of a mixed documentary format, the so-called sealed instrumentum publicum or notarielle Siegelurkunde.