Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo accepts the demands of Aquileian Patriarch Peregrine II and agrees to offer help – mainly political and diplomatic, but also, if need be, military – against the Commune of Treviso, but asks for a number of concessions in return, all of which are granted by the patriarch with the sole exception of military aid.
Pactum patriarche Peregrini ecclesie Aquilegensis
In nomine domini Dei et salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi.
Anno Dominice incarnationis millesimoa ducentesimo, mense iunii, indictione tercia, Rivoalti.
Expedit ad amicos in oportunitate recurrere, et eorum confidentia subsidia postulare.
Igitur nos quidem Henricus Dandulo Dei gratia Venecie, Dalmacieb atque Chroacie dux, quia vos domine Peregrine patriarcha Aquilegensis, cum a Trevisinis molestiam indebite substineretis frequenter, a nobis, ut ab amico, de quo vobis certa erat et indubitata fidutia a nobis auxilium requisitis instanter postulantes precibus studiosis, ut dictos Tervisinos moneremus, ne vos vel terras vestras offenderent, in quo si de plano non acquiescerent vel non promitterent per nos velc fideles nostros aut personas alias congruas et suspitione carentes, que de ipsis questionibus que inter vos et Tervisinos ipsos habentur congnosci et difiniri deberemus interdicere eis terram nostram nostrasque mercationes et nostrorum.
[1] Propter que vos domine patriarcha estis civis terre nostred Venetiarum, et hinc ad annum novum domum vobis congruentem vel terram super quam domum edificetis comparere debetis hic in Rivoalto; et si terram emeritis domum super ea edificare debeatis ad introitum prius venture quadragesime, et opus ipsius domus ad complementum ducere bona fide.
[2] Et omni anno per triginta dies infra annum continue esse ac interpolate debetis, nisi verbo nostro remaneat habitare in ea.
[3] Et si predicti Tervisini nos et terram nostram offenderent, auxilium nobis vestrume et terre nostre prestabitis.
[4] Et si nostrum Comune Veneciarum miserit decemf naves aut galeas vel inter naves et galeas decemg ad inimicos suos offendendos, dare debetis vestrum auxilium per centenarium hominum qui in eis ibunt quatuor homines nostro stipendio bene armatos in nostro et terre nostre servitio moraturos, sicut stabunt nostri.
[5] Et si milites habuerimus ad servitium nostrum usque centum, dare debetis milites decem bene armatos nostro stipendio in nostro et terre nostre servitio moraturos, quamdiu nostri stabunt.
[6] Si vero ducentos milites habuerimus in servitium nostrum et terre nostre, etiam plures dare debetis ad nostrum et terre nostre servitium milites quindecim, qui debent venire quo superius continetur de decem.
[7] Et terra vestra Foroiulii larga esse debet hominibus Veneciarum et aperta.
[8] Et cum Tervisinis iam dictis nec concordiam fatietis nec pacem sine nostro consilio nostraque voluntate.
[9] Que omnia et singula que superius sunt comprehensa in anima vestra per Ottonem Burgognonumh dato iurare fecistis servanda, excepto de viris quatuor pro quolibet centenario ut supradicta sunt et militibus decem vel quindecim ut est dictum, nisi crederetis vos degerarei contra dominum papam vel imperatorem.
[10] In quo sacramentum fuit etiam comprehensum quod de nobilibus qui sunt in parte vestra et diesmanis usque centum bona fide iurare fatietis hec que dicta sunt observari.
[11] Qui eodem sacramento tenebuntur successores suos etiam bona fide iurare facere servaturos.
[12] Franchos autem quos ___j erunt ad vestram gratiam revocati iurare modo simili fatietis.
[13] Que sacramenta nobilis vir Dyatricus de Fontanabona et Otto Burgognonusk et Conradus de Soçillol fecerunt.
[14] Precibus quoquem vestris duximus amicabiliter annuendum promittentes quod ipsos Tervisinos ne vos vel terras vestrasn offendanto monebimus, et si moniti non cessaverint aut per nos vel personam aut personas alias congruas suspitione carentes non promiserint cognoscip et diffiniri questiones queq inter vos et ipsos habentur, interdicemus eis terram nostram et nostras nostrorumque mercationes.
Ut autem scriptum presens vires et robur assumat ipsum fecimus sirici secundum nostram consuetudinem annotari et bulla plumbea typario nostro impressa etiam communiri.
[15] Nec pretermittendum est quod terram vestram vestrasque mercationes ipsis Tervisinis interdicere debetis quousque inter nos et illos non erit pax.
(SC) Signum prefati domini ducis qui hec fieri precepit.
(SC) Ego Raynerius Dandulusr manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Petrus Michael iudex manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Iohannes Tonisto iudex manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Marcus Maçamannos iudex manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Gilbertus Dandulo iudex Comunis manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Iohannes Barocit iudex Comunis manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Otamannusu Quirino consiliator manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Dominicus Contareno consiliator manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Stephanus Baduarius consiliator manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Benedictus Grilloni consiliator manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Bartholomeus Gradonico consiliator manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego ___v advocator Comunisw manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego ___x advocator Comunisy manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Iohannes Martinaçio manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Prophetaz de Molino camerarius manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Philippusa' Marcello manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Iohannes Dandulo advocator Comunisb' manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Iacobus Pino manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Henricus Navagaioso manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Andreas Donato manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) ___c' manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) ___d' manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) ___e' Iacobe manu mea subscripsi.
Egof' ___g' Contianush' manu measubscripsi.
(SC) Ego Ni[co]lausi' Michael [manu mea]j' subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Petrus Maurocenus advocator Comunisk' manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Dominicus Cuppo advocator Comunisl' manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Dominicus Michael manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Iohannes Pin consiliarius qui hec fieri rogavi.
(SC) Ego Marinus Michael manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Egom' Iohannesn' hec fieri rogavi.
(SC) Ego Iohannes Millianus manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Henricus Contarenus manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Iacobus Quirino manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Iohannes Barastro manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Henricus Georgio advocator Comunis manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Marinus Trevisanus manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Pelegrinus Gisi manu mea subscripsi.
(SC) Ego Petrus Barbani manu mea subscripsi.
a) Mo P. b) om. P. c) seq. per add. P. d) terre nostre] nostre terre inv. P. e) nobis vestrum] vestrum nobis inv. P. f) X P. g) X P. h) Burggonium P. i) degerare] lect. dub. MP; pro deierare?; de gerare ed. Härtel. j) sic spatium vacuum MP. k) Burgognus P. l) Saçillo P. m) add. sup. l. P. n) add. sup. l. P. o) seq. i exp. M. p) contra vos P. q) seq. sunt exp. M. r) Dandul P. s) Maçamano P. t) Baroçi P. u) sic MP: pro Octavianus. v) sic spatium vacuum MP. w) comuni P. x) sic spatium vacuum MP. y) comuni P. z) Ppha cum sign. abbr. MP. a') Phylippus P. b') comuni P. c') sic spatium vacuum MP. d') sic spatium vacuum MP. e') sic spatium vacuum MP. f') om. P. g') sic spatium vacuum MP. h') Contarino P (lect. dub.); Contia ed. Härtel. i') Nilaus MP; Nicolaus em. Härtel. j') manu mea] om. M. k') comuni P. l') comuni P. m') seq. litteram canc. M. n') seq. spatium vacuum P.
“Hiis diebus Peregrinus Aquilegiensis patriarcha, ut Tervisinos sibi emulos facilius comprimeret, Venetis confederatur, et civis efficitur, et posesiones congruas in Venecia emit, et erga eorum inimicos armigerum auxilia exibere annuit, dux autem victualia et comercia Tervisinis subtraxerit, ne unus absque reliquo cum illis componat, vicisim pacti sunt.” – Andrea Dandolo, Chronica per extensum descripta, ed. Pastorello, RIS, ser. 2, 12/1 (Bologna 1938), p. 276.
The pact marks the first ever offensive-defensive alliance struck between Venice and the Patriarchate of Aquileia, the motives behind the diplomatic negotiations being the war between Aquileian patriarchs and the Commune of Treviso (on this conflict, see Reinhard Härtel, “Il comune di Treviso e l’area patriarchina (secoli XII–XIV),” in Storia di Treviso, vol 2: Il Medioevo, ed. Daniela Rando and Gian Maria Varanini (Venice 1991), pp. 222–24). Venice made sure to profit from the situation as it dictated a number of demands in exchange for their political and, if needed, military help, the conditions reducing the ecclesiastical principality of the Church of Aquileia to a state of “quasi-subjection” to Venice (Härtel, cited above, p. 62).
There is some discord regarding the interpretation of the 9th chapter of the hereby-edited treaty. According to Härtel (cited above), the patriarch refused to offer any sort of military aid to Venice. Negro (cited above) read the chapter as the patriarch indeed acceding to the demand of military aid against all, except the papacy and the Empire. The wording and poor Latin coupled with the fact that the text of the treaty survives only in later copies complicates the interpretation of the 9th chapter. The word “degerare” (edited as “de gerare” by Härtel) should be read as deierare as in “to forswear oneself”. Thus, the 9th article would state that the patriarch refused to accept the three terms regarding military aid (articles 4, 5, and 6, respectively) as he did not want to make an oath that would be against the papacy or the Empire. Does that mean that no military aid at all could be expected from the patriarch due to his standing with the papacy and the Empire (as claimed by Härtel), or that Venice could count on the patriarch’s military aid against anyone, the sole exceptions being the pope and the emperor (as claimed by Negro)? The first interpretation seems more probable.
The fact remains that the military aid in question is extremely modest: four armed Aquileian soldiers per every hundred Venetian soldiers if the war is waged on the sea; ten armed soldiers per every hundred Venetian soldiers (or fifteen for every two hundred) if the battles are fought on land. According to Härtel, the obligation to provide military aid was primarily symbolic and the patriarch refused to promise it as he considered his principality an integral part of the Empire. Also, as highlighted by Härtel, no similar obligations were ever proposed by Venice in subsequent pacts negotiated with the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Moreover, it is the first pact defining the terms of Aquileian patriarchs’ Venetian citizenship and the obligations stemming from it: the requirement to purchase a house or a piece of land in Venice where the house would be constructed and to stay there for at least thirty days a year, without interruption.
Most importantly, however, the pact features a line that would usher in great changes in Veneto-Aquileian relations of the coming years, the hereby edited 7th article: “And your land of Friuli ought to be generous and open to the people of Venice”. This aptly undefined article would mark the beginning of Venetian economic supremacy throughout the Patriarchate of Aquileia, a condition that the subsequent treaties would only build upon and expand in Venice’s favor.
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