1086_CSG

Era
Vol. 3: A 1077 usque ad 1209
Series
Date
1086
Place
Regestum

Berthold II of Zähringen, the son of the deposed duke of Carinthia, attacks the properties of St. Gallen monastery whose abbot is Ulrich Eppenstein, the brother of Liutold, the incumbent duke of Carinthia, and Henry, the incumbent margrave of Istria (narrative account from the contemporary chronicle Continuatio casuum sancti Galli).

Source
The Continuatio casuum sancti Galli (The Continuation of the Events of St. Gallen) is a continuation of monastery chronicle written by at least three different anonymous authors, the first writing in c. 1070, the second in the late 11th-century, the third in the mid- and late 12-century; the part hereby edited was written by the second continuator who covered the period between 1077 and 1093; the Continuation survives in a manuscript from c. 1200:
B = St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, ms. 615, pp. 346–47; digitized and available online for consultation.
For other manuscripts, all of them much older (15th and 16th centuries) and all stemming from B, see this page.
Previous Editions
Ildefons von Arx (ed.), “Casuum sancti Galli continuatio II,” in Scriptores rerum Sangallensium: Annales, chronica et historiae aevi Carolini, Monumenta Germaniae historica, Scriptores 2 (Hannover 1829), p. 159.
Gerold Meyer von Knonau (ed.), Continuatio casuum sancti Galli (St. Gallen 1879), pp. 79–82.
FIM Edition
Diplomatic editions based on B.
Transcription

Marchio vero Bertoldus1 a priori infestatione non cessans, monasterium sancti Galli hostiliter invadens, preda et igne vastavit, et quidam de suis aliquos de fratribus et alios in ipsam ecclesiam sancti Galli insequentes, quendam infra sancta sanctorum gladio vulneraverunt, et quodam puero sanctam crucem quasi pro scuto sibimet in tanto periculo pretendente, arma, cum quibus Christus nos redemit, quidam profanus cum suis armis incidendo corrumpere non timuit. Unde digna ultione secuta, quidam eorum infra triduum apud oppidum Rorsak2 in amentiam versus, se in lacum mergendo est suffocatus.

Hanc autem invasionem idem marchio Ba propter hoc maxime perpetravit quia abbas et patriarcha3 suam munitionem Tivela4, urbanis ipsis sibi furtim tradentibus, ad tempus possedit. Ob hoc etiam in eundem abbatem marchio maxima invidia exarsit quia suusb frater Liutoldus aliqua sui iuris, ut sibi visum est, scilicet Ducatum Carintie, concessione regia obtinuit, et alter eius frater Marchiam Ist_c sub eadem concessione possedit.

Apparato critico

asic B: pro Bertoldus, sicut em. Arx et Meyer von Knonau.  bsic B: pro ipsius seu eius [sc. abbatis et patriarchae].  csic B et al. man. r. add. iram in marg. inf. quod Istiram dat; pro: Istriam, sicut em. Arx et Meyer von Knonau.


1) Berthold II of Zähringen, the son of Duke Berthold I of Carinthia; Berthold II was a self-titled margrave, he did not officially hold any margraviate from the Empire. The title of the margrave refers to the Margraviate of Verona which was connected to the title of Carinthian dukes and which once belonged to his father via that office.
2) Rorschach, present-day Switzerland.
3) Ulrich I of House Eppenstein, abbot of St. Gallen from 1077 and patriarch of Aquileia from 1086; he held both titles until his death in 1121.
4) Hohentwiel Castle near Lake Constance.

Selected Bibliography
Karl-Engelhardt Klaar, Die Herrschaft der Eppensteiner in Kärnten (Klagenfurt 1966), pp. 110–11.
Reinhard Härtel, “Eppenstein (di) Ulrico: Patriarca di Aquileia (?–1121),” in Nuovo Liruti: Dizionario Biografico dei Friulani, vol. 1:Il Medioevo ed. Cesare Scalon (Udine 2006), online.
Editor's Notes

This passage from the Continuation of the Events of St. Gall (Continuatio casuum sancti Galli), written by an anonymous late 11th-century chronicler and thus a contemporary to the events, narrates the fateful clash between pro-papal (Berthold II of Zähringen) and pro-imperial (House Eppenstein) supporters in the region.

The narrated battles took place in 1086, the year when Ulrich of Eppenstein, abbot of St. Gall (from 1077 to his death, † 13th of December, 1121), was made patriarch of Aquileia by King Henry IV (1086). When Ulrich journeyed beyond the Alps in the spring following his election, Berthold II seized the opportunity and attacked his mortal enemy. According to the anonymous chronicler, Berthold II did not only seek to avenge the loss of his castle Hohentwiel, occupied by Abbot Ulrich in 1085, but he was also extremely envious of the entire House Eppenstein as their members were conferred titles and jurisdictions that he believed rightfully belonged to him.

Namely, Berthold II aimed to reclaim his late father’s titles and jurisdictions, that is, the Duchy of Carinthia. However, as House Zähringen officially sided with the reform papacy and supported anti-king Rudolph, King Henry IV denied him that inheritance. Instead, following Berthold’s deposition in 1077, the Duchy of Carinthia was given to Liutold of Eppenstein. In the same year, the three regions of the Duchy of Carinthia – Friuli, Carniola, and Istria – were donated to the Church of Aquileia (docs. 1077_HFA, 1077_HCA, and 1077_HIV respectively). However, following Patriarch Henry’s pledge of allegiance to Pope Gregory VII in February of 1079 (doc. 1079_SH), King Henry IV dispossessed the Patriarchate of Aquileia of the March of Carniola and the County of Istria.

The passage hereby edited shows that Istria was given to Liutold’s brother, and this person is traditionally identified as Henry, the future duke of Carinthia and the advocate of the Church of Aquileia. Moreover, since the 1093 re-donation of the March of Carniola states that King Henry IV, after having dispossessed Patriarch Henry of it, had given it to “someone else” (doc. 1093_PAC), it is often inferred that Carniola as well had been conferred to Henry Eppenstein.

King Henry IV could bequeath the County of Istria (and most probably the March of Carniola as well) to Henry Eppenstein sometime between the February of 1079 and 1086 (as per the hereby edited passage).

Henry held Istria until the death of his brother Liutold († 12th of May, 1090) whom he succeeded as duke of Carinthia.

Once he had been made duke, Henry relinquished both Istria (and Carniola most probably) as well as his advocacy over the Church of Aquileia. Burchard of Moosburg, another staunch supporter of King Henry IV, succeeded him as the margrave of Istria and the advocate of the Church of Aquileia (although with a somewhat diminished rights as the Chapter of Aquileia had been given the right of advocacy over their own possessions; see doc. 1090_HA).

In any case, the year 1086 marks the absolute height of power of House Eppenstein: Liutold was duke of Carinthia, Ulrich was abbot of St. Gallen and patriarch of Aquileia, whereas Henry was both margrave of Istra (and probably of Carniola) as well as advocate of the Church of Aquileia (on all of this, see Klaar, cited above, to this day the best monographic treatment of House Eppenstein).

How to Cite
First citation: Josip Banic (ed.), Fontes Istrie medievalis, vol. 3: A 1077 usque ad 1209, doc. 1086_CSG, fontesistrie.eu/1086_CSG (last access: date).
Subsequent citations: FIM, 3: doc. 1086_CSG.
Facsimile
Image Source and Info

The digital facsimiles of ms. hereby dubbed B come from the website e-codices - Virtuelle Handschriftenbibliothek der Schweiz where they are available for consultation free of charge.

The editor has subsequently inserted two red arrows simply to denote the parts of the manuscript that are hereby edited.

All images remain under the copyright of their respective institutions.