Henry IV, emperor of the Romans, re-donates the March of Carniola to the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Henricus Dei gratia tertius Romanorum imperator Augustus.
Notum sit omnibus Christi nostriquea fidelibus, tam futuris quam presentibus, qualiter nos tempore Sigerardib patriarche bone memorie pro fideli servitio eius et pro petitione aliorum fidelium nostrorum quandam Marchiam nomine Carniolam Aquileiensic ecclesie ob honorem sancte Dei genitricis Marie sanctique Hermacore dedimus; postea vero, consilio quorundam non bene nobis consulentium, eandem Marchiam predicte ecclesie subtrahendo abstulimus alii eam concedentes.
Nunc igitur recognoscentes iusticiam ad reconciliandam nobis sanctam Dei genitricem Mariam prefate ecclesie reddidimus et pro remedio anime nostre, tumd pro dilectione et fideli servitio Udelricie patriarche fidelis nostri et dilectissimi consanguinei, tumf ob interventum fidelium nostrorum, videlicet Mengenguardig Frisingensis episcopi et Dieboldi marchionis, Burchardih marchionis, Werneriii marchionis, Henrici de Hoverdorsj, Burchardi fratris Burchardik marchionisl, Adalbertim de Ortenburch, Amelrici de Busco aliorumque, quos nominare longum est, predictam Marchiam Aquileiensi ecclesie ad honorem sancte Marie sanctique Hermacore in proprium dedimus cum tali iure et iusticia, qua eam nos habuimus et antecessores nostri reges vel imperatores habuerunt, ea scilicet ratione, ut predictus scilicetn Udolricus patriarcha eiusque successores liberam potestatem inde habeant possidendi, obtinendi vel quicquid illis ad utilitatem ecclesie placuerit inde faciendi.o
Et [ut]p huius traditionis auctoritas omni evo firma et inviolata permaneat, hanc chartamq inde conscribi et sigilli nostri impressione iussimus insigniri.
Signum domini Henrici tercii Romanorum imperatoris.
Henricusr cancellarius vice Recovradis archicancellarii recognovi.
Data est IIIIo idus maiit anno ab incarnatione Domini MoLXXXXI, indictione Ia, anno autem domini Henrici regni eius XXVIII , imperii vero VIIIIou.
Actum Papie.
Feliciterv in Christi nomine, amen.
a) D; nostrisque CE. b) sic CDE; Sigehardi ed. Gladiss–Gawlik. c) Aquilegiensi et undique Aquilegia/Aquilegiensis D; Aquilegensi et undique Aquilegia/Aquilegensis E. d) E; dum CD. e) Vdolrici ed. Gladiss–Gawlik. f) E; dum CD. g) sic CDE; Meginwardi ed. Gladiss–Gawlik. h) Bruocardi D; Bruccardi E. i) E; Warnerii CD; Werinheri ed. Gladiss–Gawlik. j) sic CDE; Hoverdorf ed. Gladiss–Gawlik. k) Burcardi D. l) Wernerii—marchionis] add. signo insertionis D. m) D; Adhelberti CE; Adelberti ed. Gladiss–Gawlik. n) silicet et undique sic D; om. E. o) Restitutio Marchie Carniole ecclesie Aquileiensi que post primam donationem fuerat ei subtracta add. in marg. sin. C. p) om. CDE; em. Gladiss–Gawlik. q) cartam E. r) sic CDE: pro Humbertus, sicut em. Gladiss–Gawlik. s) sic CDE: pro Rǒthardi, sicut em. Gladiss–Gawlik. t) mai D. u) XXVIIII E. v) DE; foeliciter C.
The charter marks the second donation of Carniola to the Church of Aquileia, the first one being withdrawn due to “the advice of bad advisors” as stated in the hereby edited charter. For the first donation of Carniola in 1077 and its subsequent revocation, see doc. 1077_HCA.
The charter forms part of Henry IV’s “apology” to the Patriarchate of Aquileia, his bastion in the Alpine–Adriatic region, for having revoked both the donation of Istria and the donation of Carniola. As part of the apology, the emperor donated the regalian rights over the principal Istrian bishoprics – Trieste, Pula, and Poreč (see docs. 1081_PAP, 1081_PAT, and 1093_PAP), and ended with the re-donation of Carniola. This was also a way of thanking Patriarch Ulrich of Eppenstein for his unwavering support during the fateful Investiture Controversy (see Robinson, cited above, for the broader context).
The dating elements of the charter do not concord with each other: the first indiction concords with the year 1093 and not 1091, whereas the 9th year of Henry IV’s emperorship concords with 1093 and the 38th year of his kingship and not the 28th year as the copies have it (CD, E has the 29th). The charter’s date – May 12, 1093 – is confirmed by Henry IV’s itinerary and by the fact that two out of four dating elements point to the year 1093. The inconsistencies regarding dating elements can be easily explained as stemming from simple copyists’ errors as CDE all stem from the same source, a nowadays lost copy. The original, as Gawlik and Gladiss state, had to have featured the correct dating elements (as DD H IV 431, drafted by the same scribe and issued on the same day, but unlike this charter, preserved in the original), and it most certainly began with an invocatio, which is also missing in all the surviving copies.
For the March of Carniola, the charter is of epochal significance as it marks the official beginning of the reign of the Aquileian patriarchs, a jurisdictional change that drastically influenced the region’s historical trajectory in the centuries to come. For Istria, this was the definitive split of the personal union with Carniola. Burchard II of Moosburg, who appears in this charter along his eponymous brother (not to be identified as the future bishop of Münster!) as one of the distinguished petitioners, is thus the first documented margrave whose jurisdictional prerogatives, by virtue of his margravial title, were limited solely to Istria – all former margraves (Winther, Ulrich of Weimar, and most probably Henry of Eppenstein too) were margraves of a vast marcher region which included either Friuli and Istria (as in the case of Winther) or Carniola and Istria (as in the case of Salian era margraves up to Burchard II of Moosburg). For Istria, therefore, the charter marks the definitive transformation from a March into a distinct Margraviate (for the definition of these terms, see Banić 2021, cited above).
The publication of the facsimile of C (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Consultori in iure, ms. 345, fol. 12v) 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.
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