Aquileia

Who holds it

Name

Pellegrino II (Peregrinus, Pilgrim)

Title

Patriarch of Aquileia

Since

1195 (elected after 9 October 1194; invested with the regalia by Henry VI at Como in June 1195)

Confidence

high

A Friulian churchman, not a German import: provost of the Cividale chapter by 1173-74, then from 1184 archdeacon of Aquileia and vicedominus, the church's chief administrator. Treccani suggests he may be a nephew or great-nephew of Patriarch Pellegrino I, of a Trentino family from Povo that settled in Friuli and took the name Manzano. English Wikipedia instead makes him a Sponheim-Ortenburg, son of Margrave Engelbert III of Istria; Treccani does not support this.

Henry VI gave him leave to revoke his predecessor's grants, for Patriarch Godfrey (died 9 October 1194) had left heavy debts and an open war with Treviso. On 30 March 1196 Celestine III let him keep the revenues of the Cividale provostship. Since Henry VI's death in September 1197 he has had no imperial backing; English Wikipedia says he stayed neutral between Philip and Otto in 1198. He shelters the bishop of Ceneda, driven out by Treviso.

His silver altar frontal in Cividale cathedral shows him kneeling before the Virgin. Age not known. He dies on 15 May 1204.

What it holds

• Friuli between the Livenza and the Timavo: comital rights with ducal power by Henry IV's grant of 3 April 1077, exercised through gastalds, castles and the patriarch's ministerials
• Cividale del Friuli: the patriarch's usual residence, with his court and chapter (the move to Udine comes only from 1238)
• Aquileia: the cathedral city and nominal seat, with its lagoon port
• Udine castle, Gemona, Venzone, San Daniele, Tolmezzo, Sacile and Monfalcone: patriarchal castles and market towns on the roads from the plain to the Alps and to the sea
• Carnia and the Canal del Ferro, the valley road to Carinthia, with the abbey of Moggio
• Tolmin and the upper Isonzo (Soča) valley [drawn as patriarchal on later evidence; not pinned for 1200]
• Muggia on the Gulf of Trieste [patriarchal; date of acquisition not pinned]
• Abbeys under his lordship: Sesto al Reghena (his since 967, drawn as its own record), Moggio, Rosazzo
• Overlordship of the county of Gorizia and of the Friulian fiefs of the counts of Gorizia, his advocates
• Fiefs held of him by western Friulian lords such as the Prata, now bound to Treviso
• Claimed: the march of Istria (granted 11 June 1077), ruled on 1 January 1200 by Margrave Berthold of Andechs, duke of Merania
• Claimed: the march of Carniola (granted 11 June 1077), divided in practice among the Andechs, the Sponheim dukes of Carinthia, the counts of Gorizia and others
• Claimed: Cadore, counted to the patriarchate since 1077 but ruled by the da Camino as counts of Cadore since 1135

How it was acquired

Henry IV rewarded Patriarch Sigeard's loyalty in the Investiture quarrel with the county of Friuli and ducal rights on 3 April 1077, and with the marches of Carniola and Istria on 11 June 1077. The two marches were repeatedly taken back and given to lay margraves: Istria has been held by the Andechs since 1173, and Carniola was carved up among the great families. Older gifts include the abbey of Sesto (967). Godfrey (1182-94) began putting the patriarch's name on his coins.

How things stand that morning

Pellegrino holds central and eastern Friuli, Carnia and the Alpine roads through his own castles, towns and ministerials, and lives at Cividale. In the west Treviso has the upper hand after its counteroffensive of 1198-99: Ceneda fell on 15 June 1199, and on 17 September 1199 Guecello di Prata had to renew his Trevisan citizenship and hand Brugnera castle to Treviso. The counts of Gorizia fight on Treviso's side. The patriarch excommunicated the Trevisans in 1197 for killing Bishop Gerardo of Belluno [whether the ban still stands is not pinned], and he shelters the exiled bishop of Ceneda.

Istria, Carniola and Cadore are claims he cannot enforce.

Wealth

Tolls and markets on the roads from Venice and the Friulian plain over the Alps to Carinthia (the Canal del Ferro and Pontebba road), with Gemona's market protected in 1184 by a ban on rival markets nearby; the patriarch's own silver coinage; rents of a large domain worked by ministerials and dependent peasants; the lagoon ports of Aquileia and Marano; wine, cattle and timber.

Threats

• Treviso and its allies Verona and Vicenza, who already hold Ceneda and Brugnera
• His own advocates, the counts of Gorizia, in open alliance with Treviso
• Western Friulian vassals bound to Treviso by citizenship pacts
• No imperial protector since Henry VI's death; neither rival king can help him
• Venice, the indispensable ally, which will ask for trade privileges in return
• Debts left by Patriarch Godfrey

Advocates and rivals

The counts of Gorizia, of the Meinhardiner house, have been the church's advocates since the early 12th century and hold Gorizia and large Friulian estates of the patriarch; on 1 January 1200 they and the western Friulian nobles are allied with Treviso against him. The commune of Treviso, allied with Verona and Vicenza, is pushing its frontier from the Piave towards the Livenza and the Noncello. The Andechs dukes of Merania hold Istria and much of Carniola.

Venice holds the sea, the lagoon of Grado and the Istrian coast towns' loyalty. Ezzelino II da Romano, who holds advocacies for the patriarch, for the abbey of Sesto and for the bishops of Feltre and Belluno, was sued by Sesto for usurping its property (1185-98). Pordenone is not the patriarch's. In 1184 Patriarch Godfrey enfeoffed Count Henry of Tyrol with lands around Gemona.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. May 1200Peace talks with Treviso at Verona fail, after Verona secretly allies with Treviso.Depends on: Treviso keeping the upper hand and Verona's alliance with it. Stopped by: A truce imposed by the pope or a king, or a Trevisan defeat before the talks.
2. June 1200Pellegrino makes an offensive and defensive league with Venice, recognising Venetian trade privileges.Depends on: The patriarch having no other ally against Treviso and Gorizia. Stopped by: A settlement with Treviso or with the counts of Gorizia first, or a quarrel with Venice.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201After besieging Pordenone, the patriarch is defeated near the Tagliamento by the league of his enemies.Depends on: The war continuing through 1200. Stopped by: A peace in 1200.
2. January 1202Peace with the counts of Gorizia at San Quirino near Cormons, brokered by the dukes of Austria and Alpine nobles: the counts renew their vassalage and leave Treviso's alliance; their advocate's rights are defined at Cividale in December 1202.Depends on: Austrian mediation and Gorizia tiring of the war. Stopped by: A decisive victory by either side.
3. 20 January 1204Peace with Treviso at Lorenzaga, largely accepting Treviso's gains in western Friuli.Depends on: Treviso keeping the advantage. Stopped by: A patriarchal victory or imperial intervention.
4. 15 May 1204Pellegrino dies; Wolfger of Erla, bishop of Passau, follows him.Depends on: His natural death. Stopped by: Nothing likely.
5. 1209The patriarchs regain the march of Istria when the Andechs are banned over Philip of Swabia's murder.Depends on: Philip's murder (21 June 1208) and the Andechs' fall. Stopped by: No murder, or the Andechs clearing themselves.

Places of note

• Cividale del Friuli: The patriarch's residence, court and chapter; his silver altar frontal is in the cathedral
• Aquileia basilica: Cathedral and nominal seat; the patriarchs are buried here
• Udine castle: Patriarchal castle on its hill; the patriarchs will make Udine their residence from 1238
• Gemona: Market town on the road to Carinthia, protected in 1184 by a ban on rival markets nearby
• Abbey of Moggio: Abbey guarding the Canal del Ferro road to Carinthia
• Abbey of Rosazzo: Abbey in the eastern Friulian hills under the patriarch
• Sacile: Patriarchal town on the Livenza, the frontier with Treviso
• Gorizia castle: Seat of the counts of Gorizia, the church's advocates, in arms against the patriarch on 1 January 1200
• Brugnera castle: Handed to Treviso by Guecello di Prata on 17 September 1199
• Pordenone: Not the patriarch's: an Austrian enclave in the 13th century [its lord on 1 January 1200 not pinned]; Pellegrino besieges it before his defeat in 1201

Where the sources disagree

• The notes call Pellegrino STAUFEN-leaning [thin]. English Wikipedia says he stayed neutral between Philip and Otto in 1198, and Treccani says he lost imperial backing after 1197 and turned to Venice. Neither source shows him acting for Philip by 1 January 1200. The value STAUFEN is kept as the notes give it. Sources: en.wikipedia 'Pellegrino II of Aquileia'; Treccani DBI 'Pellegrino II'.
• English Wikipedia says the 1202 San Quirino peace gave the counts of Gorizia 'full independence of Aquileia'; Treccani says the opposite, that the counts reaffirmed their feudal dependence. This record follows Treccani.

Evidence: Thick for the 1077 grants and for Pellegrino's career and wars (Treccani's DBI life is detailed and dated). Fair for the extent of the principality. Thin for the exact western frontier in January 1200, for Pordenone's lord, and for the patriarch's own estates inside Istria and Carniola.

On the map: The Friulian outline follows the classic Livenza-Timavo frontier of the Patria del Friuli. Its western edge is the least certain, because Treviso, the Prata and other western lords were eating into it in 1198-99, and Pordenone's lord in 1200 is not pinned. Portogruaro and Concordia, the bishop of Concordia's own lordship under the patriarch, are drawn inside the principality and not researched separately. Tolmin and the upper Isonzo are drawn on later evidence. Istria, Carniola and Cadore are drawn as claims only, and the patriarch's own scattered estates inside them are not drawn. The Val Canale (Tarvisio, Malborghetto) is left out as the bishop of Bamberg's.

Primary sources for Patriarchate of Aquileia

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
• Documents on the older commercial and political history of the Republic of Venice, part 1, 814 to 1205 (documents of 814 to 1205, edited 1856). Venice's treaties and privileges in full text. Read online