Emperor Charlemagne exempts the four ships of Fortunatus II, "the patriarch of the Venetians and Istrians," from all the tolls.
In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, amen.
Karolus serenissimus augustus a Deo coronatus, magnus, pacificus imperator Romanum gubernans Imperium, qui et per misericordiam Dei rex Franchorum et Longobardorum.
Omnibus fidelibus nostris presentibus et futuris notum sit quia petiit celsitudinem nostram vir venerabilis Fortunatus, Venetiarum et Istriensium patriarcha, ut teloneum de navibus suis quatuor ei concedere deberemus.
Cuius petitionem eius servitio et meritis compellentibus denegare noluimus, sed ita in helemosina nostra concessisse et in omnibus confirmasse cognoscite.
Precipientes enim iubemus ut nullus quilibeta de fidelibus nostris de suprascriptis navibus 4 Fortunati patriarchę ullum teloneum nec siliquaticum nec laudaticum nec cispitaticum neque ullas redhibitiones ab hominibus suis pro hoc exigere vel exactare presumat, nisib liceat eis suprascriptis navibus 4 ubicumque in Regno Christo propitio nostro negociandoc pro utilitate sanctę suę ecclesię absque illiusd detentione vel contradictione ubicumque volueri[n]te pergere et iterum in Dei nomine ad propria remanere.
⟨Hoc autem non solum Fortunato, verum etiam cunctis successoribus eius concedimus.⟩
Et ut haec auctoritas firmiterf habeatur vel per tempora melius conservetur, de anulo nostro subter sigillari iussimus.g
a) quislibet em. Mühlbacher. b) sublineavit B, fort. ut errorem transcriptionis significaret: pro sed. c) seq. pergere voluerint sublineavit pro deletione B. d) sic B: pro ullius, sicut em. Sickel et Mühlbacher. e) voluerit B et sic ed. Mühlbacher; voluerint em. Sickel. f) firmior em. Mühlbacher. g) seq. videtur deesse finis add. B.
The document, in the form in which survives today, is undated and features a later interpolation: hoc autem—eius concedimus. Notwithstanding this later addition, the charter is held to be authentic in its main content – the exemption of Patriarch Fortunatus II’s four ships from all the tolls.
The missing datatio cronica and datatio topica of the document are traditionally held to be the same as those of Charlemagne’s concession of immunities to the Church of Grado and Patriarch Fortunatus II: 14th of August, 803 in Salz (present-day Bad Neustadt) by the River Saale (see the edition of the charter here).
Thus, it is argued that Fortunatus II journeyed to Charlemange in Salz in order to set the groundwork for the planned placitum, the famous Plea of Rižana (see the edition of the document here). While there, Fortunatus II managed to procure two official imperial charters for his Church: the already mentioned concession of immunities and the exemption of his four ships from tolls.
During this period, even though Istria had already been formally incorporated into Charlemagne’s restored Roman Empire (see the sources on these events here), Istrian bishoprics remained under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the formally Byzantine Patriarchate of Grado (hence the title accorded to Fortunatus II in this document Venetiarum et Istriensium patriarcha), not the Frankish Patriarchate of Aquileia, a See to which Charlemagne appointed his trustworthy grammaticus magister, Paulinus, and endowed with privileges (see the charters here and here).