Serving two masters. Istria between Venice and the Franks in the 8th and 9th centuries

From Firenze University Press Book: Carolingian Frontiers: Italy and Beyond

Annamaria Pazienza, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

In a previous work about the sources of the mid-eleventh-century Istoria Veneticorum by John the Deacon, I demonstrated that the chronicler was likely aware of the Plea of Rižana and other documents to which, as they were housed in the patriarchal archives, he had free access1. Likely dated to 804, and set in an unknown locality in Istria, the Placitum is well known, and there is no need here to present it in its totality. It concerns a dispute involving Istrian people, the local bishops and the Frankish representative present, i.e., a certain duke John. John is the main defendant in the court case wherein local inhabitants make several hateful allegations against him. John the Deacon’s knowledge of the Placitum is indirectly confirmed by his harsh statement about the rulership of the Venetian duke John Galbaio. The author seldom interrupts the narrative to speak out in the first person, and therefore, the passage under scrutiny is quite unique. It reads as follows: «quem (i.e., John Galbaio) neque scripto neque relatione experti sumus suae patriae commode bene tractasse», where — as I argued — the hint at the written documentation must be read as a reference to the Plea, and the poor opinion concerning the duke’s deeds as a case of mistaken identity. In other words, John the Deacon would have misinterpreted the sources at his disposal, confusing the duke John of the Plea of Rižana with the duke of Venice, John Galbaio. Building on this, and questioning my previous conclusions, in this essay I wish to verify whether John the Deacon was actually right, and if the two Johns were, therefore, the same person. To this purpose, I will analyse first the features of the Upper Adriatic as a whole, and the impact of Charlemagne’s policy on this peripheral area. I will then continue by focusing on the political developments of Venice and Istria which, although dissimilar in many ways, show a common thread, because of the economic and administrative interests of Venice in Istria, as well as the simultaneous but precarious control exerted on this latter by the Franks. Finally, I will conclude by showing how such a political situation transformed Istria into an actual political laboratory and a liminal area between two powers, i.e., into a scenario in which my working hypothesis can gain ground and take form.

DOI: 10.36253/979–12–215–0416–3.09

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