Aquileian Patriarch John of Moravia confirms the fief called “The Third Share of the Treasury of Oprtalj” to Simon, son of late Črnja, and Dionysius, son of Stephan, his faithful subjects and citizens of Oprtalj.
Nos Iohannes Dei gratia sancte sedis Aquilegiensis patriarcha tenore presentium notum facimus universis, quod in nostra noviter constituti presentia dilecti fideles et vassali nostri Simon quondam Cirgne et Dionisius natus Stefani de castro nostro Portularum nobis cum instantia humilius supplicarunt, ut cum ipsi et progenitores ipsorum certum feudum, quod feudum appelatur “Tercia pars canipe de Portulis”, pro quo a Comuni et hominibus de Portulis singulis annis percipiunt soldi sexaginta parvorum sive bagatinorum, modia triginta tria frumenti et totidem vini, a predecessoribus nostris et nostra Aquilegiensis ecclesia diucius recognoverint, eosdem Simonem et Dionisium de feudo huiusmodi investire benignius dignaremur.
Nos, visis privilegiis et concessionibus predecessorum nostrorum de dicto feudo, et propterea supplicationibus dictorum Simonis et Dionisii tamquam in hac parte iustis et rationabilibus inclinati volentesque predecessorum nostrorum laudabilia imitari vestigia, nominatos Simonem et Dionisium coram nobis flesis genibus existentes ac pro se suisque heredibus recipientes de supradicto feudo cum omnibus iuribus et pertinentiis suis, ac eo iure quo ipsi et progenitores ipsorum illud hactenus tenuerunt et possederunt, per nos et successores nostros ac vice et nomine nostre Aquilegiensis ecclesie per fimbr[i]ama nostre tunice investivimus et tenore presentium investimus – salvo semper iure nostro, nostre Aquilegiensis ecclesie et alterius cuiuscunque.
Qui quidem Simon et Dionisius tunc nobis fidelitatis debite prestiterunt iuramentum, quod vassalus fidelis quilibet domino suo prestare in talibus consuevit.
Harum sub nostri appensione sigilli testimonio literarum.
Data in nostro patriarchali palatio nostre Civitatis Austrie die decimo februarii, anno Domini millesimo trecentesimo octuagesimo nono, indictione duodecima.
a) sic fimbram V; fimbriam em. Banić.
Confirmation and re-investiture of this fief done by the Venetian Doge Michele Steno on August 29, 1412 – edited here as doc. 1412_VP.
One of the rare surviving documents issued by Aquileian Patriarch John of Moravia to Istrian recipients, this charter of investiture depicts the ceremony of such encounters between the ruler and the ruled in the Aquileian Margraviate of Istria. The subjects would appear before their ruler and humbly request the confirmation of their old fiefs; they would pledge their oaths of fealty to the patriarch-margrave and kneel before him; the patriarch would then proceed to (re)invest them with their fiefs by ceremoniously touching the recipients with the edge of his tunic.
Tomaso Luciani, who first published the regestum of this document, read the name of the fief as "Tercia pars campe de Portulis", and I followed him in this reading in my paper published in Atti (referenced above). However, upon closer inspection of the manuscript and a detailed analysis of the terms, I realized that I had committed a grave error. The word in the manuscript is not "campe" (a putative scribal error for "campi"), but "canipe", a perfectly correct genitive of canipa, ae, f., meaning "treasury, deposit" (cf. Francesco Semi, Glossario del latino medioevale istriano (Venice 1990), s.v. "canepa," p. 64).
This new reading sheds light on two important aspects: first, it corroborates the thesis that there were multiple patriarchal canipae across the Margraviate of Istria and not only one, which moved from Kaštel to Labin or Buzet, as erroneously claimed by De Vergottini (Lineamenti, 2nd ed., p. 135); second, it shows that the fief in question was a massive source of income and not just a symbolic possession; if one third of the treasury of Oprtalj amounted to 33 modia of wheat and wine and 60 shillings, that means that the annual income was 99 modia and 180 shillings. True, 180 shillings is an extremely modest amount, but the total produce of wine and wheat is substantial. Unfortunately, the precise capacity of the modium of Oprtalj cannot be ascertained. If, however, one assumes that the modium of Oprtalj was roughly identical to the modium of Roč, where 1 modium = 38.5 liters, that would give a yearly income of around 3850 liters of wine and wheat; if the modium of Oprtalj was roughly the same as the modium of the neighboring Buzet, where 1 modium = 50 liters, that would give a yearly income of circa 5000 liters of wine and wheat (for these measures, see Danilo Klen, "Urbar Roča iz prve polovine XV. stoljeća," Jadranski zbornik 12 (1982-1985): p. 259). If one-third of either of these sums went to whoever enjoyed this fief, the incomes were substantial.
The digital facsimile comes from morevento, the official databank of Archivio di Stato di Venezia, replacing the old Divenire webpages. The entire register can be consulted here.
Image by Archivio di Stato di Venezia.
The digital facsimile remains under the exclusive copyright of Archivio di Stato di Venezia.