Granting the petition of the envoys of Koper, Aquileian Patriarch and Istrian Margrave Gregory of Montelongo grants the Commune of Koper the right to elect a Venetian as their podestà for a term of one year.
In nomine Christi, amen.
Anno a nativitate Eius millesimo ducentesimo quinquagesimo sexto, quartodecime indictionis, apud Civitatem in anticamera patriarchatus, die octavo exeunte aprili, presentibus dominis Grehemberco priore Siticensis et Gilberto monacho Cisterciensis ordinis, Matheo archipresbitero Sancti Stephani de Pinea de Urbe capellanis et Bartholomeo Grasso de Padua et Rogerino ostiario familiaribus venerabilis patris domini G(regorii) Dei gratia sancte sedis Aquilegensis electi testibus et aliis.
Dominus Thomadus quondam Iohannis Ambrosii et Almericus quondam Decuini cives et ambasiatores nobilis viri M(arci) Zeni potestatis, Consilii et Communis civitatis Iustinopolitane predicto domino G(regorio) Aquilegensi electo ex parte predictorum potestatis, Consilii et Comunis Iustinopolis presentaverunt litteras quasdam sigillatas sigillo Comunis Iustinopolis, quarum continentia talis erat:
“Reverendo in Christo patri et domino G(regorio) Dei gratia sancte sedis ecclesie Aquilegensis electo, Istrie atque Carniole marchioni, M(arco) Zeno potestas Iustinopolis, Consilium et Comune civitatis eiusdem ad vestra omnia beneplacita et mandata vestre paternitati harum serie volumus esse notum, quod vestre magnitudini transmittimus hos nobiles concives et ambasiatores nostros, videlicet dominum Thomadum quondam Iohannis Ambrosii et Almericum quondam Decuini, et quod que vestre dominationi ex parte nostra dicent, illud eis firmiter credatis.”
Quibus litteris a predicto domino Aquilegensi electo intellectis predicti ambasiatores dixerunt eidem domino Aquilegensi electo:
“Potestas, Consilium et Comune Iustinopolis commiserunt nobis quod inclinaremus vobis ex parte ipsorum tamquam domino et patri eorum et nos ex commissione etiam nobis facta per dictos potestatem, Consilium et Comune, nomine ipsorum et pro ipsis supplicamus dominationi vestre quatenus de speciali gratia detis eis verbum et licentiam et vobis placeat quod ipsi habeant in eorum potestatem aliquem de civitate Veneciarum pro ipsorum regimine pro anno proximo venturo.”
Et predictus dominus Aquilegensis electus dixit eisdem ambasiatoribus:
“Intellecta petitione ipsorum, nos habebimus consilium et respondebimus vobis.”
In circuitu vero predicti sigilli scriptum erat quoddam sic sonans: “Iustinopolis mittit quod presens littera dicit”. In medio vero ipsius sigilli erat sculptum pictura quedam in modum civitatis.
Post quatuor vero dies apud Civitatem, in predicto loco, presentibus dominis R(ugerino) electo Cenetensis, Al(berto) vicedomino, magistro Nicolo de Lupico plebano de Tricesimo, Laurentio de Parma plebano de Cumino et Rugerino de Mediolano ostiario testibus et aliis.
Venerunt predicti ambasiatores coram predicto domino Aquilegensi electo, supplicantes ei pro parte dictorum potestatis, Consilii et Comunis Iustinopolis ut de gratia speciali concederet eis verbum et licentiam supradictam. Memoratus vero dominus G(regorius) Aquilegensis electus sic respondit ambasiatoribus supradictis:
“Nos respectum habentes ad pure devotionis obsequia que Comune Iustinopolis, quos pure diligimus, habuerunt et habent erga nos et ecclesiam Aquilegensem, de speciali gratia vestris pro parte ipsorum supplicationibus inclinati concedimus eis ut ipsi potestem pro ipsorum regimine de Veneciis eligant pro anno proximo futuro.”
“Item qualiter Commune Iustinopolis supplicavit domino Gregorio patriarche, quod eis daret verbum et licentiam habendi potestatem de Venetiis pro anno venturo, quorum supplicationibus idem dominus patriarcha inclinatus eis concessit licentiam habendi potestatem de Venetiis pro anno Domini MCCLVI.” – Thesauri claritas, opus saec. XIV, ed. Giuseppe Bianchi, Thesaurus ecclesiae Aquileiensis (Udine 1847), doc. 572, p. 232.
This is the first of several supplicationes issued by Istrian communes to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo, asking for the election or confirmation of the elected podesta who ought to govern the community for a year, that is preserved in extenso.
Here is the table of these petitions, confronting those whose text survives in extenso, in extracto, and the requests recorded in Thesauri claritas:
| Supplication | Thesauri claritas | Individual elected as podestà | FIM Edition |
| the Commune of Piran to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1252 | docs. 562 and 568, pp. 230 and 231 of Bianchi’s edition; both regesta must refer to the same document and the same election | unknown from the first regestum, based on the second regestum, which has to refer to the same document, the elected was Wernher (orig. Varnerio) de Gillaco of Koper | to be edited here based on the regesta in Thesauri clartias |
| the Commune of Piran to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1253/4 | docs. 529 and 570, pp. 226 and 231 of Bianchi’s edition; both regesta refer to the same election and confirmation | Wernher (orig. Varnerio) de Gillaco of Koper | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Koper to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1255 | / | not specified in the petition, based on other sources, the elected was a Venetian, Marco Zeno (Carlo de Franceschi, “Chartularium Piranense: Raccolta di documenti medievali su Pirano, con una dissertazione sulle origini e lo sviluppo del comune di Pirano,” Atti e memorie della Società istriana di archeologia e storia patria 36 (1924): doc. 93, pp. 123–124). | in extracto copy, edited in Gian Rinaldo Carli’s, Appendici di documenti spettanti alla parte quarta delle Antichità italiche (Milan 1791), p. 231; soon to be edited here as well |
| the Commune of Koper to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo on April 8, 1256 | doc. 572, p. 232 of Bianchi’s edition | a Venetian | hereby edited document, doc. 1256_EPI |
| the Commune of Motovun to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo on July 5, 1257 | / | Senisio de Bernardis of Padua | doc. 1257_EPM |
| the Commune of Poreč to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1258 | doc. 573, p. 232 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Motovun to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1258 | doc. 573, p. 232 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Muggia to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1258 | doc. 574, p. 232 of Bianchi’s edition | Senisio de Bernardis of Padua | in extracto edition published in Carli’s, Appendici, pp. 238–239; soon to be edited here as well |
| the Commune of Piran to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1258 | doc. 575, p. 232 of Bianchi’s edition | … of Momjan, most probably Biaquino | in extracto edition published in Carli’s, Appendici, p. 243; soon to be edited here as well |
| the Commune of Motovun to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1258 | / | Senisio de Bernardis of Padua | in extracto edition published in Carli’s, Appendici, pp. 232–234; soon to be edited here as well |
| the Commune of Poreč to Patriarch Montelongo on January 14, 1259 | / | Çaninus de Marco of Koper | doc. 1259_EPP |
| the Commune of Poreč to Patriarch Montelongo on April 1, 1261 | doc. 576, p. 232 of Bianchi’s edition | Biaquino of Momjan | doc. 1261_EPP |
| the Commune of Sveti Lovreč to Patriarch Montelongo on May 1, 1261 | doc. 576, p. 232 of Bianchi’s edition | Senisio de Bernardis of Padua | doc. 1261_EPL |
| the Commune of Poreč to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1262 | doc. 578, p. 233 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Pula to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1262 | doc. 580, p. 233 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Poreč to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1263 | docs. 581 and 585, pp. 233 and 234 of Bianchi’s edition; both regesta seem to refer to the same document | unknown from the regesta | soon to be edited here based on the regesta from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Motovun to Patriarch Montelongo on May 1, 1263 | doc. 583, p. 233 of Bianchi’s edition | Biaquino of Momjan | doc. 1263_EPM |
| the Commune of Koper to Patriarch Montelongo on February 27, 1264 | / | a Venetian: either Giovanni Badoer, Giacomo Dolfin or Angelo Morosini | doc. 1264_EPI |
| the Commune of Poreč to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1265 | doc. 586, p. 234 of Bianchi’s edition | a Venetian, Marco Corner | in extracto edition published in Carli’s, Appendici, p. 231; soon to be edited here as well |
| the Commune of Pula to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1266 | doc. 584, pp. 233–234 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Muggia to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1266 | doc. 584, pp. 233–234 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Muggia to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1267 | doc. 587, p. 234 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Buje to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo in 1267 | doc. 587, p. 234 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
| the Commune of Muggia to Patriarch-Margrave Gregory of Montelongo on April 9, 1269 | / | a Venetian, Giovanni Tiepolo | Sebastiano Blancato (ed.), Le note di Giovanni da Lupico (Rome 2013), doc. 21, pp. 209–212; soon to be edited here as well |
| the Commune of Pula to the Chapter of Aquileia on July 8, 1272 | / | unknown from the document | doc. 1272_EPP |
| the Commune of Bale to Patriarch-Margrave Raymond della Torre | doc. 589, p. 234 of Bianchi’s edition | unknown from the regestum | soon to be edited here based on the regestum from Thesauri claritas |
These supplications were, it would seem, a standard, everyday affair, and Istrian communities who governed themselves regimine Latinorum – that is, as civic communes – would regularly come before Patriarch Gregory with such requests. The patriarch, it would seem, would approve all of them as no rejection is documented. Thus, the whole interaction was essentially a scripted play in which the envoys of Istrian communes took the part of faithful subjects, allowing the patriarch to perform his role of the merciful, accommodating ruler. For the Guelph Patriarch Gregory, however, strong and faithful urban communities were preferred over towns and cities dominated by the Friulian nobility and ministeriales loyal to House Gorizia, the region’s leading Ghibellines.
The publication of the facsimile of B (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Miscellanea atti diplomatici e privati, busta 4, doc. 157) 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 the editor.
The digital facsimile remains under the exclusive copyright of Archivio di Stato di Venezia.