Master Vivian, chaplain of the Patriarch of Aquileia and procurator of Count Meinhard III of Gorizia, presents letters to Doge Jacopo Tiepolo demanding observance of their agreement prohibiting any reprisals against the count (under penalty of 10,000 marks), prompted by a case involving robberies of Venetian citizens in the count’s jurisdictions, to which the doge affirms his compliance.
(SN) Anno Domini M CC XL primo, indictione XIIIIa, die quintodecimo exeunte mensis septembris.
In presencia dominorum, scilicet Pauli de Molino, Ançoli de Molino, Leonardi Iusti, Henrici notarii de Portu Latisana et aliorum.
Magister Vivianus cappellanus venerabilis patris patriarche Aquilegensis, procurator et nuncius nobilis viri domini M(einhardi) comitis Goricie, presentavit et dedit litteras quasdam ex parte dicti domini comitis eiusque sigillo sigillatas domino Ia(cobo) Teupulo Dei gratia duci Venecie illustri, in quibus continebatur, quod dictus dominus comes rogabat et monebat eundem dominum ducem, quod servaret promissionem factam eidem comiti sub pena X milium marcarum argenti, et non deberet permittere eum per se vel per alios sui districtus aliquatenus conveniri seu molestari occasione captionis vel spoliationis quorumdam civium Venetorum, videlicet Iohannis Barocii, Leonardi Babilonis, Bartolomei Longi et Marci de Augostino, qui dicebantur fuisse spoliati in districtu predicti domini comitis.
Quibus litteris supradictus dominus dux respondit in hunc modum:
“Bene est verum, et ego confiteor quod quicquid actum est in predicto negotio seu contractum nostra auctoritate nostrique Consilii est actum. Et nos illud modo et omni tempore usque insempiternum statuimus et afirmamus, et amodo inperpetuum volumus firmum et ratum habere et tenere, et nulla ratione vel occasione contravenire promittimus, sub prenominata pena. Quod si fecerimus, predictus comes vel sui here[des]a plenam habeant potestatem excuciendi ipsam penam a nobis et nostris heredibus, et tamen supradicti pacti in suo permaneant robore et vigore.”
Actum Veneciis in ducali pallacio.
Et ego Peregrinus sacri Imperii notarius interfui et rogatus hanc cartam scripsi, complevi et roboravi.
a) sic here A; heredes em. Banić.
As Wiesflecker (cited above) surmised based on a regestum of an otherwise lost document, the Venetian subjects had been robbed in the district of Trieste in 1240 by the subjects of the Gorizian count. Since the victims were compensated, the doge made a formal promise to Count Maynard III of Gorizia not to greenlight any further reprisals against the Gorizian or his subjects regarding the matter. This document, however, testifies that the matter was still not wholly resolved, prompting Count Maynard III to remind the doge of his promise. The doge admitted to granting reprisals in the past but promised not to do it again in the future. The document testifies to strained Veneto-Gorizian relations in the region, and to close interactions between Count Maynard III and Doge Iacopo Tiepolo, the duo that managed to prevent this incident from growing into a larger military conflict.