Roman king Conrad IV orders Berthold, the margrave of Vohburg-Hohenburg, to explain to the podestà of Koper, Andrea Zeno, and to the Capodistrians under his authority, how the Margraviate of Istria is an imperial land bestowed unto the late Aquileian Patriarch Berthold V of Andechs by the king’s father (Emperor Frederick II), but now, with the patriarch’s death, the Empire can again freely dispose with the Margraviate and therefore, the citizens of Koper should not swear any fealty to the newly elected Aquileian Patriarch Gregory of Montelongo, but persevere in their allegiance to the Empire.
In nomine domini Dei eterni.
Anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo quinquagesimo primo, indictione nona.
Actum super ripam apud Sanctam Mariam Rose de Pirano, die XIIIIo intrante mensis decembris. Presentibus dominis magistro Walterio de Ocre, Filipo Çeynardo nepote domini Petri Kalavrie et dominis Goyno de Manegondo, Enricoa Gibilinii militibus domini Andree Çeno potestatis Iustinopolis et dominis Leonardo de Giliaco, Alberico de Carsto, Werço Almigori, Warnerio de Giliaco, Petro Facino deb Vaçaroto, Ambrosio de Meynardo, Petro Nicolai, Eppo Açonis, Prodeçano, Ugo de Meynardo, Marthino Saraceno, Papo Ripaldo, Bonifacio Odorlici, Vitale de Laureçono, Almerico de Argento, Petro domini Thesi, Almerico Bibal, Menegosso domini Alberti et aliis pluribus.
Dominus Conradus Dei gratia electus Romanorum et Sicilie et Ierusalem rex precepit domino Bertoldo marchioni Walbr(ie)c, ut diceret pro eo. Unde dominus marchio ex precepto domini regis dixit:
“Dominus rex facit vobis dicere, domino Andree Geno potestati Iustinopolis et nobilibus hominibus qui sunt in vestra societate de civitate predicta nomine et vice Comunis Iustinopolis, quod Marchia Ystrie cecidit Imperio et pater domini regis de gratia investivit quondam dominum B[ertoldum] patriarcham Aquilegensem de dicta Marchia et modo similiter cecidit Imperio. Quare dominus rex contradicit vobis quod nullam fidelitatem facere aliquo modo debeatis de dicta Marchia domino Gregorio patriarche Aquilegensi quia de iure pertinet Imperio. Et si vobis inde aliquod dampnum vel gravamen acciderit, promittit dominus rex vos trahere et adiuvare in omnibus et per omnia.”
Et hec dixit ex precepto regis, quod dominus potestas denotare faceret per notarium suum.
Ego Albinus Iustinopolitanus et incliti B[ertoldi] marchionis notarius, ut audivi a domino marchione dicente pro domino rege et rogatus a domino potestate, ita fideliter scripsi, complevi et roboravi.
a) lect. dub. b) Facino de] lect. dub. quia attramentum evanuit. c) sic Walbr cum sign. abbr., profecto ex errato exemplatoris pro: Voheburg/Voburgensis seu Hohenburg.
The first (or the second since only this one has the complete dating) of the two regal charters issued to the Commune of Koper by the newly crowned Roman king Conrad IV. Since Pope Innocent IV appointed a zealous Guelph as the new patriarch of Aquileia, Gregory of Montelongo, the young king aimed to diminish the secular jurisdictions of this vast ecclesiastical principality by reattaching the Margraviate of Istria back to the immediate authority of the Empire and basically revoking the donation promulgated by Otto IV in 1209 (see it here) and 1210 (see it here), subsequently confirmed by the king’s father Emperor Frederick II several times.
Conrad IV failed in this undertaking as the newly appointed Aquileian patriarch not only succeeded to retain the Margraviate of Istria under the worldly jurisdiction of his Church, but also managed to strengthen the patriarchal authority in the region.
Notes on manuscript tradition:
Baraga (cited above) claims that the charter survives in two copies: one in the State Archive in Venice (the one used in this edition) and the other in the Austrian Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna. This claim is wrong and stems from Winkelmann's notes who indeed consulted the document in Vienna back in the last third of the 19th century, but a large part of that archive pertaining to Venice (and Venetian possessions in Istria) was returned to the State Archive in Venice in several waves, first in 1868 and then in 1921. Thus, the "Viennese" copy used by Winkelmann is in fact the same one that is nowadays in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia.
The publication of the facsimile of B (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Miscellanea atti diplomatici e privati, busta 4, doc. 137) 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.
The editor has overlaid a red arrow onto the facsimile simply to mark the exact place on the parchment where the edited document begins.
The facsimile remains under the exclusive copyright of Archivio di Stato di Venezia.