Ulrich II Weimar-Orlamünde and his wife Adelaide donate their possessions in the County of Istria to Patriarch Ulrich of Eppenstein and the Church of Aquileia.
(SN) In nomine domini Dei et salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi.
Anno ab incarnationisa Eiusdem nostri redemptoris millesimo Co secundo, XV kalendas decembris, indictione X, [in]b ecclesia sanctę Marię Virginis et sancti Hermachore martiris Christi, Patriarchatus sanctę Aquile[ie]nsis [ecclesie]c ubi nunc dominus Wodalricus vir venerabilis patriarcha preordinatus esse videtur.
Nos Wodalricus, filius quondam item Wodalricis marchionis, et Adeleita, iugales qui professi sumus ex natione nostra lege vivere Baioariorum, ipso namque viro meo mihi, qui supra Adeleitad, consentientem et subter confirmanteme, ofertor et ofertrix, donator et donatrix, ipsius sanctę ecclesię altario propterea diximusf:
“Ut quisquis in sanctis hacg venerabilibus locis ex suis aliquit contulerint rebus, iusta Auctoris vocem, in hoc seculo centuplum accipiat; insuper, et quod melius est, vitam possidebit eternam.”1
Ideoque, nos qui supra iugales donamus et offerimus in eadem sanctę Aquil[ei]ensis ecclesieh, pro anime nostrę mercedisi, [h]i sunt ex intigris cunctis, casis, castris, et capellis, et monasteriis cum incolasj seu servis et ancillis, et omnibus rebus iurisk nostrisl quas habere et tinerem visi sumus et nobis pertinet in Comitatu Istriano per locas quas [no]minaverimus, vel ubicumque invenire potueritis, eccepto quod ante ponimus et in nostra reservamus potestate.
Illud quod dedimus fidelibus nostris:
Hec enim Meginhardo dedimus Ronz cum suis pertinenciis;
Adalperto dedimus duo castella cum suis pertinenciis quorum nomina sunt Cernogradus et Bellegradus.
Adalperto minori dedimus Galisedum et piscationem in Lemnon cum suis pertinenciis.
Et cumo aliis omnibus rebus et familiis nobis pertinentibus in Comitatu Istriensis in eadem ecclesiam facimus traditionem:
[1] inprimis nominatim castrum Pinguent,
[2] et castrum Cholm,
[3] castrum Baniol,
[4] et castrum Vrana,
[5] et castrum Letai,
[6] et castrum Sancti Martini,
[7] et castrum Gosilach,
[8] et villa ubi dicitur Cortalba inter Latinos,
[9] castrum Veneris,
[10] villam Cuculi,
[11] et villam Mimiliani,
[12] et villam Cisterne,
[13] et villam Petre Albe,
[14] et villam Dravuie,
[15] et villam Marceniga,
[16] villam Cavedel,
[17] castrum Bulge,
[18] castrum Grisinianap,
[19] villam Castan,
[20] castrum Castiloni,
[21] villam Sancti Petri cum monasterii[s] sancti Petri et sancti Michaelis,
vel per aliis quibuscumque locis invenire potueritis de nostris iuris rebus in eodem Comitatu, tam in civitatibus quamque et de foris.
In ipsisq rebus [h]i sunt tam casis cum sedeminibus, castris, capellis, monasteriis, villis, terris, aratoriis, vineis, campis, pratis, pascuis, silvis, salcetis, sacionibus, rivis, rupinis hac paludibus, tam in montibus quamque in planiciis, locis cultis et incultis, divisis et indivisis, sortitis et insortitis, una cum finibus, terminibus, hac cessionibus et usibus aquarumr aquarumque ductibus, et cum omni iuris adiacenciis et pertinenciis earum rerum per locas et vocabulas ab ipsis casis, et omnibus rebus pertinentibus, una cum predicta familia in integrum.
Que autem istist ex integris cunctis, casis et omnibus rebus in eodem Comitatu iuris nostrisu superius dictis, una cum accessionibus et ingressorasv earum seu cum superioribus et inferioribus suis qualiter superius legitur in integrum, ab ac die in eadem sanctę Aquiliensis ecclesięw donamus et offerimus et per presentem cartulam offersionis ibidem abendum confirmamus, faciendum exinde patriarcha Wodalricus, qui nunc est vel qui pro tempore post eum in eodem Patriarchatu ordinati fuerint et Deo servierint, ad eorum usum et sumptum, tam ipsi quamque subcessores eorum,x faciendumy ex frugibus earum rerum vel censum quibus exinde anue Dominus dederit quicquit voluerint pro animę nostrę nostrorumque parentum mercedisz.
Insuper per cultellum, festucum notatumaa, wantonem, et wasonem terrę, atque ramum arboris [legitimam fecimus traditionem] et vestitura[m]bb, et nos exinde foris expelimus, warpivimus et absasnocc fecimus, et ad eadem ecclesiam abendum reliquimus, faciendum exinde partesdd ipsius ecclesię, vel cui parte[s] ipsius ecclesię dederint, iure proprietario nomine quicquit voluerint, sine omni nostra et eredum ac proeredumque nostrorum contradictionem vel repeticionem.
Si quis vero, quod futurum esse non credimus, [et]ee si nos ipsi iugales, quod absimusff, aut ullus de heredibus hac proheredibus nostris seu quislibet homo [vel]gg oposita persona, contra hanc cartam ofersionis ire quandoque temptaverimus aut eam per quidvis ingeniohh infrangere quesierimus, tunc adinferamusii ad illam partem, vel contra quem exinde litem intulerimus, multa quod exjj pena auri optimi uncias quinquaginta argenti ponderaskk C, et quod repetierimus avendicare non valeamus, sed presens anc cartam ofersionis dioturnisll temporibus firma et stabilis permaneat atque persistat inconvulsa cum stipulatione subnixa, et admm nos, qui supra iugales, et nostris heredibus hacnn proheredibus suprascripta ofersio ab omni homine defensareoo. Quępp si defendere non potuerimus, aut si aput eandem ecclesiam exinde aliquid per quodvis ingenium subtraiereqq quesierimus, tunc in duplum eadem offersionisrr ad predictam ecclesiam restituamus, sicut pro tempore fuerit melioratamss, aut valuerinttt sub estimationemuu hominum, ibidem aut in consimilis locis et [de]vv predicta familia in consimiles duplas personas. Et nec nobis liceat ullo tempore nolle quod voluemus, sed quod a nobis semel factum vel conscriptum est sub iusiurandum inviolabiliter conservare promittimus.
Et bergamena cum hanc trementario de terra levavimus, meww paginam Waltiloni, notariusxx, iudex, tradidiyy et scribere rogavi in qua etiam hic subter confirmanszz testibus quęa' optulitb' roborandam.
Actum in suprascriptam civitatem Aquilegiam.
Feliciter.
Signum (S) (S) manuum suprascripti iugales qui hanc cartam ofersionis scribere rogaverunt, et ipse Wodalricus qui eidemc' iugale sua consensid' ut supra.
Signum (S) (S) (S) (S) (S) (S) (S) manuum Wolveradi comiti[s], ete' Conradus avocatus, et Henricus de Goriza, et Adelbertus de Ortumpurg, Poppo, et Rodulfi germanus Gebahardus, Wodolscalcus, Baiuariorum rogati testes.
Signum (S) (S) manuumf' Cadulus, Gerardus, Iohannes, Poppo, Iohannes. Isti sunt Histrienses testes.
Signum (S) (S) manuumg' Adalgerus, item Adalgerus, Torengus. Isti sunt Forulienses testes.
[Ez]zo2 Dei gratia Petenensis episcopus manu sua subscripsit.h'
Ego qui supra Waltilo, notarius et iudex, scriptor huius cartule ofersionis, post tradita[m], complevi et dedi.
(SN)
a) sic: pro incarnatione. b) em. Kukuljević-Sakcinski, Franz Schumi et Tadija Smičiklas. c) em. Banic. d) qui supra Adeleita] sic: pro cui supra Adeleite. e) consentientem et subter confirmantem] sic: pro consentiente et subter confirmante. f) propterea diximus] proprium duximus ed. omnes alii, sed perperam. g) sic: pro ac et undique hac loco ac. h) sancte Aquil[ei]ensis ecclesie] sic: pro sancta Aquileiensis ecclesia. i) sic: pro mercede. j) cum incolas] lect. dubit.: pro incolis; villis ed. omnes alii, sed perperam esse videtur. k) add. supra l. l) sic: pro nostri. m) sic: pro tenere. n) Lemo cum sign. abbr. supra e. o) Et cum] lect. dub. p) Brisintina ed. omnes alii, sed perperam. q) seq. istis canc. r) add. supra. l. s) sic: pro iure. t) que autem istis] fort. quas autem istas debeat esse. u) sic: pro nostri. v) sic: pro ingressionibus. w) sanctę Aquiliensis ecclesię] sic: pro sancta Aquiliensi ecclesia. w) sic repetitum sed om. debet esse. x) tam ipsi quamque subcessores eorum] profecto error scriptoris: sive tam ipsius quamque successorum eorum sive om. et solum tam ex frugibus [quam] censu debeat esse. y) sic repetitum sed om. debet esse. z) sic: pro mercede. aa) festucum notatum] sic: pro festucam notatam. bb) Insuper—vestitura] pars profecto om. sed iuxta formulam communiter in hoc aevo adhibitam em. Banic. Cf. Codice diplomatico della Lombardia medievale (secoli VIII–XII), Cremona: Codex Sicardi, ed. Valeria Leoni, doc. 132, in interreti; Bergamo: Pergamene aa. 1002–1058, doc. 8, ed. Cristina Carbonetti, in interreti. cc) sic: pro absentem. dd) partes—parte—dederint] sic: recte pars—pars—dederit debet esse; pars hic significat “advocatus, qui actoris, vel rei partes agit et tuetur” (Du Cange et al., Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis (Niort 1883–1887), s.v. “pars,” in interreti); formula consueta est: “faciendum a presenti die pars ecclesie/monasterii iure proprietario nomine quidquid voluerit”. ee) em. Banic. ff) sic: pro absit. gg) em. Banic. hh) sic: pro ingenium. ii) sic: pro inferamus. jj) quod ex] sic: pro que est. kk) sic: pro pondera. ll) sic: pro diuturnis. mm) sic: per debet esse. nn) sic: pro ac. oo) sic: pro sit defensata. pp) sic: pro que. qq) sic: pro subtrahere. rr) eadem offersionis] sic: pro eandem offersionem. ss) sic: pro meliorata. tt) sic: pro valuerit. uu) sic: pro estimatione. vv) em. Banic. ww) sic: om. debet esse. xx) notarius, iudex] sic: pro notario, iudice. yy) levavimus—tradidi—rogavi] sic: pro levavimus—tradidimus—rogavimus. zz) sic: pro confirmantes. a') sic: pro que seu testibusque. b') sic: pro optulimus. c') lect. dub. d) qui eidem iugale sua consensi] sic: pro qui eidem iugali suae consensit. e') seq. nomina in gentivum debent esse. f') seq. nomina in gentivum debent esse. g') seq. nomina in gentivum debent esse. h') al. man., id est manus Ezzonis episcopis add.
1) Cf. Vulg. Matth., 19:29: “Et omnis qui reliquerit domum, vel fratres, aut sorores, aut patrem, aut matrem, aut uxorem, aut filios, aut agros propter nomen meum, centuplum accipiet, et vitam aeternam possidebit.”
2) Only the last two letters are visible, but the fact that Ezzo’s successor, Peter, appears in an undated source, usually dated between 1090 and 1105, it seems likely that Ezzo was still the bishop of Pićan in 1102. Hence, the dating of the document published in Cesare Scalon, Diplomi patriarcali (Udine 1983), doc. 2, pp. 23–24, and, with a very wrong date (1085), in Kandler (ed.), Codice diplomatico istriano, 2nd. ed. (Trieste 1986), vol. 1, doc. 115, p. 234, is to be corrected to after November of 1102 and before 1106, the appearance of Rivinus as the bishop of Concordia. More on Bishop Ezzo in Reinhard Härtel, “Die Rosazzer Quellen Und Die Grafen von Görz,” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 111 (2003): pp. 75–76.
In the name of our God and Savior, Lord Jesus Christ.
In the year one thousand one hundred and second of the incarnation of our Redeemer, on the sixteenth of November, tenth indiction. In the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ’s martyr Saint Hermagoras, of the holy Aquileian Church’s Patriarchate, where the venerable man lord Ulrich holds the office of patriarch at the moment.
We, husband and wife, Ulrich, the son of the late margrave also called Ulrich, and Adelaide, who hereby state that, because of our origin, are living according to the Bavarian law, and with my very husband agreeing with me, the aforementioned Adelaide, and confirming below, both as grantors and donors to the altar of this holy Church, we therefore say:
“Whoever from their own goods bestowed the holy and venerable places, as it is said according to the words of the Almighty, would receive a hundredfold in this world; above all, what is better, they would gain eternal life.”
Therefore, we, the above-mentioned husband and wife, donate and offer to the holy Church of Aquileia, for the redemption of our souls, namely, in entirety and altogether with houses, forts, chapels, monasteries with residents, servants and maids, and all our property that we lawfully have and hold and that belongs to us in the County of Istria in the places we will name or wherever you might find them, aside from what we mention first and keep under our authority.
That what we granted to those loyal to us:
Namely, this we gave to Meginhard: Roč with its dependencies.
To Adalbert we gave two fortified settlements with their dependencies named Črnigrad and Beligrad.
To Adalbert the younger we gave Gradina and a fishery in the Lim Bay with their dependencies.
All the other properties and subjects belonging to us in the County of Istria we surrender to the Church:
[1] first of all, the fortified town named Buzet,
[2] and the fortified town Hum,
[3] the fortified town Boljun,
[4] and the fortified town Vranja,
[5] the fortified town Letaj,
[6] and the fortified town Sveti Martin,
[7] the fortified town Kožljak,
[8] and a village that is among the Latins called Cortalba,
[9] the fortified town Kaštel,
[10] the village Kukov Vrh1,
[11] the village Momjan,
[12] the village Šterna,
[13] the village Beli Kamen,
[14] the village Draguć,
[15] the village Marčenegla,
[16] the village Kubed,
[17] the fortified town Buje,
[18] the fortified town Grožnjan,
[19] the village Kostanjica,
[20] the fortified town Kastion,
[21] and the village Sveti Petar with the monasteries of Saint Peter and Saint Michael,
and all that may be found in whatever other place belonging to us in this County, in cities as well as outside of them.
In these very properties there are houses with settlements, forts, chapels, monasteries, villages, arable lands, vineyards, meadows, grazing fields, forests, osier beds, cultivated lands, streams, cliffs, and swamps, as in hills so in plains, places cultivated and uncultivated, divided and undivided, allotted and unallotted, together with their borders and boundaries, with all the rights pertaining to the use of water and waterworks, and with all the rights over the dependencies and the vicinities of these properties, throughout the places and the estates mentioned, from the above-mentioned houses and all the dependencies, along with the aforementioned subjects in entirety.
This, moreover, in entirety, altogether with houses and all the above-mentioned possessions belonging to us in this County, together with their gains and incomes, superiors and inferiors, as is written above, we donate and offer in entirety from this day onward to the holy Church of Aquileia, and by the present charter of donation, we confirm that it should be owned [by that Church], therefore letting the present Patriarch Ulrich, or whoever should be appointed in the future after him and serve God in this Patriarchate, to do whatever they should wish with the crops and incomes of these properties that the Lord might give them every year from now on, to their benefit and expense, both his and of his successors, for the salvation of our souls and those of our parents.
In addition, by a knife, an inscribed stick, a glove and a clod of earth as well as a branch of tree [we enact legitimate transfer and] investiture and from this moment we remove ourselves, waive all rights and desist the property, and we bequeath it to the said Church to own and possess so that from now on the officials of the same Church, or those to whom the officials of the same Church will have bestowed it, do whatever they may please with it with full property rights, without any objection or reclamation from our side or that of our heirs or their heirs.
If, however, anyone, which we do not believe should happen, [and] if we, the very husband and wife, God forbid, or any of our heirs or their heirs, or whichever man [or] person standing in opposition, should at any time dare to act contrary to this donation charter or should seek to annul it by fraud, in that case, may we inflict upon that party, or upon those against whom we will file a suit in the future, the penalty which is a fine of fifty ounces of finest gold, hundred silver pounds, and should we try to reclaim it, we should have no right to do so, but may this present charter of donation remain valid and binding for all time, and may it stand firm, and supported by the promise and by us, the above-mentioned husband and wife, our heirs and their heirs, may the above-written offering be defended from any person. If we may not be able to defend it, or if we should wish to extract from the said Church anything in the future by any subterfuge, then we should pay compensation to the said Church double the amount of our donation in accordance with its increase in price and value in the meantime, we should make restitution either on the same location or in similar places and as for the subjects, twice their number of similar status. And may we never be able to deny our will at any time, but we promise under the sacrosanct oath to keep unbroken what we have once done and put in writing.
And the parchment with this ink-glass we lifted from the ground and gave this page to Waltilo, a notary and a judge, and asked him to put in writing this deed that we also confirmed and offered it to the witnesses for corroboration.
Done in the above-mentioned city, Aquileia.
May it be propitious.
The handwritten sign of the above-mentioned couple who asked for this donation charter to be written, and the very same Ulrich who agreed with his wife, as mentioned before.
The handwritten sign of Count Wolverad, and advocate Conrad, and Henry of Gorizia, and Adalbert of Ortenburg, Poppo, Gebhard the brother of Radulf, Wodolscalc - Bavarian witnesses whose presence was requested.
The handwritten sign of Cadul, Gerard, Iohannes, Poppo, Iohannes. These are Istrian witnesses.
The handwritten sign of Adalger, also Adalger, Toreng. These are Friulian witnesses.
Ezzo, by the grace of God the bishop of Pićan, signed by his hand.
I, the above-mentioned Waltilo, notary and judge, the composer of this donation charter, after having handed it over [for review], completed it and surrendered it.
[trans. JB with the generous help of prof. Cristian-Nicolae Gaşpar]
1) Or Čuklja between Sečovlje and Sveti Peter to the north of the river Dragonja.
"Instrumentum publicum donationis facte eccleise Aquilegensi de tota Istria, exceptis quatuor castris, per Vodalricum, filium quondam Voldorici marchionis, et Adeleytam, iugales, in MC" - Thesauri claritas (opus saec. XIV), ed. Giuseppe Bianchi, Thesaurus Ecclesiae Aquileiensis (Udine 1847), n. 505, p. 222.
The present charter is definitely among the most important documents of Istrian history, setting the course of the region's development in the centuries to come.
Namely, the properties with which Ulrich II disposed of were primarily amassed by the donator's father, Ulrich I of Weimar, the margrave of Carniola, Istria, and the March of Savinja from c. 1058 to his death († 6th of March, 1070). Ulrich I gained his properties in Istria through a variety of means: by imperial donations (see the document here), by donations from local Istrian landholders (see the source here), and, perhaps, by way of advocature over Istrian monasteries (see the document and editor's comments here). Taken together, this evidence points to the conclusion that Ulrich I was building up his lordship precisely in Istria. This project, however, ultimately failed.
Ulrich I died while his two sons, Poppo III and Ulrich II were still underaged. Thus, the family's expansion in Istria was, it would seem, halted. The two sons married into nobility opposing Emperor Henry IV: Poppo married Richarda of Spanheim, Ulrich II Adelaide, the daughter of Ludwig the Springer. However, while Ulrich II continued the family policy of supporting the emperor and the pro-imperial cause, Poppo succumbed to his wife's family's influence and became the supporter of the reform papacy under Pope Gregory VII. Thus, by way of marriages, the two brothers found themselves on diametrically opposite sides of the fateful Investiture Conflict.
This is the context in which the donation charter hereby edited took place. Namely, Ulrich II had no surviving heirs with his wife Adelaide, whom she later even rebuked (Cf. this primary source). Therefore, he needed to make sure that the family patrimony in Istria, which was substantial, does not fall in the hands of his brother's heirs and the inimical House Spanheim. Thus, the donation was made to the Church of Aquileia, the pro-Henrician bastion in the region helmed by Patriarch Ulrich of Eppenstein, whose family was one of the most loyal supporters of Henry IV, especially during the Investiture Conflict.
This charter, together with other donations of Istrian property to the Church of Aquileia from 1101 (see it here) and 1102 (see here and here), laid the foundation of Aquileian lordship and jurisdictions in Istria. The 1209 imperial donation of the entire Margraviate of Istria to the Patriarchate of Aquileia (see the charter here) was a natural outcome of the process that was catalyzed primarily by this donation enacted by Ulrich II.
On all of this, in much greater detail and with cited primary and secondary sources, see the papers cited in the "Selected Bibliography" field.
Notes on language:
Waltilo, the scribe of this donation charter, had an extremely limited grasp of the Latin language. Thus, he relied heavily on the common scribal formularies used in central and northern Italy from 8th-century onwards, but even following the standard schema proved too difficult as he managed to jumble up several distinct formulae. This overreliance on formularies makes some parts of the charter that make no sense on their own easier to reconstruct and make an educated guess of "what the author wanted to say," but it also shows the depth of the scribe's ignorance of Latin: "quod absimus" instead of "quod absit" shows pretty clearly that the writer had little idea of what exactly he was writing.
Moreover, there are multiple instances of cases not concording with prepositions ("cum monasterii" for example), adjectives not concording with nouns, verbs not concording with subjects, et cetera. Thus, numerous editorial interventions were needed in order to "uncover" the text as it was meant to be written. However, staying true to the editorial practices of Fontes Istrie medievalis - "absolute fidelity to the lexical, grammatical, and syntactical forms of the original; absolutely no “corrections” of the authors’ Latin whatsoever" - these emendations are either enclosed in square brackets or reported in the critical apparatus and the text is transcribed as written on the parchment.
Faulty language aside, the document follows the standard structure of a charta and employs the usual formulae (such as the prefessio legis, the standard arenga "Ut quisquis—possidebit eternam", enumeratio bonorum, the investiture by way of the ritualized objects and gestures, final clauses, sanctio and the standard completion formula: "post traditam, complevi et dedi"); thus, there are absolutely no reasons to doubt the charter's authenticity (Cf. Reinhard Härtel, Notarielle und kirchliche Urkunden im frühen und hohen Mittelalter (Vienna 2011), pp. 351-56).
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