The Commune of Koper issues a decree according to which all who hold vineyards from the Bishopric and fail to pay their dues are to lose these vineyards, while those neglecting oil tithe payments to the Bishopric must render double the owed amount.
In nomine domini Dei eterni.
Imperante domino nostro Henrico Romanorum imperatore augusto, anno Domini millesimo centesimo nonagesimo quarto, mensis decembris XIIII die exeunte, indictione XII.
Actum Iustinopoli(tane) civitatis in publica concione.
Almericus Iustinopoli(tanus) rector de communi consilio consulum, iudicum et totius civitatis Consilio pariter et assensu, cartulam notitie et securitatis pro futuris temporibus ad memoriam retinendam me Ambrosium notarium scribere rogavit super hoc, equidem, quod in publica contione communi deliberatione, ut predictum est, statuit et promulgavit perpetuis temporibus ad honorem Dei et sui episcopatus augumentum inviolabillitera observandum: ut si qua persona iam dicte civitatis que nunc habet vel habitura est vineam ad Episcopatum pertinentem, tam de redditibus Sancti Michaelis quam de Communi dato Episcopatui, et annuatim tempore vindemie non solverit Episcopatui ex ipsa vinea, quam habet ab ipso Episcopatu, rectum et integrum redditum, vel deprehendi poterit vel convinci rationabilliter in qualitate vel in quantitate redditum defraudasse, deinde vineam quam ab Episcopatu habuerat sine aliqua exceptione restituat.b
Episcopus vero, qui pro tempore fuerit, vel eius nuncius vineam ipsam intromittendi et quicquid voluerit faciendi liberam habeat potestatem.
Item si qua persona deinceps usque ad festum Purificationis Sancte Marie annuatim non solverit nec solutum habuerit decimacionem tocius sui olei, quod sibi Deus dederit, ipsi Episcopatui vel episcopo qui tunc erit vel eius certo nuncio, ex tunc ipsam decimacionem in duplum restituat, nisi fuerit de misericordia episcopi qui tunc erit.c
Signum suprascripti Almerici, qui omnia prescripta de communi consilio, ut supra dictum est, rogavit fieri.
Ego Ambrosius predicte civitatis Iustinopoli(tane) notarius manu mea propria scripsi.
a) sic C et saepe sic. b) si quis habet vineam de redditu Episcopatus et non solverit vel defraudaverit et cetera, restituat vineam add. in marg. sin. C. c) si qua persona non solverit decimationem olei usque ad festum Purificationis duplum restituat add. in marg. dex. C.
The hereby edited decree, aimed at securing the revenues of the city’s bishop, is tightly connected to the endowment of the Bishopric of Koper promulgated a couple of years earlier, on July 5, 1186 (edited here as doc. 1186_CI). See the editor’s comments section under doc. 1186_CI for more information.
This charter is important for the dating elements of Istrian private documents as it clearly shows that the indiction used in 12th-century Koper was not the Byzantine one (changing on September 1), but the Roman indiction which changed with the year of incarnation on December 25 (and later on January 1).
The “podestà”, here named as rector, of Koper is still Almericus (anglicized as Emery), a local who governed the commune for a particularly long period of time. As such, he is not a “podestà” typical of Italian communes of the 12th and 13th centuries, a foreigner invited to govern the community for a fixed period of time. The first such foreign rector of Koper, a podestà in the full meaning of this term, is first documented in 1222, a Venetian nobleman Nicolò Tonisto (see MGH DDFII doc. 901 soon to be edited here as well).