Trent

Who holds it

Name

Conrad of Beseno (Corrado di Beseno, Konrad von Beseno)

Title

Bishop of Trent

Since

6 December 1188

Confidence

high

Of the lords of Beseno, a castle family of the Adige valley south of Trent. About a hundred of his acts survive. In 1190 he recovered a fief from Corradino of Ora and Federico Zap (19 April), regulated property shared by two of his districts (24 June), and organised his vassals in five groups for King Henry's Roman expedition (18 July). He judged a quarrel between Arco and Drena over mountain pastures; imperial judges annulled his ruling on appeal in 1193, so his justice can be appealed to the emperor's men.

His judges include the Veronese Gerardo della Bella (1181-1201) and Baldrico of Toscolano (1189-1208). His stand between Philip and Otto is not pinned. He resigns on 10 March 1205; his successor Frederick of Wangen (1207-18) will rebuild the bishop's power and compile the church's charters in the Book of St Vigilius.

What it holds

• Trent: the city, cathedral and episcopal palace, with the bishop's court and judges
• The county of Trent: the Adige valley from Laives and Salorno to Avio, the Giudicarie, Ledro and Riva on Lake Garda, the Non and Sole valleys, Cembra, Fiemme, and the upper Valsugana around Pergine and Levico
• Superior lordship (as regulanus) over upland communities such as Brentonico, Ala, Banale and Cavedine
• Castle families as sworn vassals across the side valleys, organised for imperial service in 1190
• Bolzano: the planned market town the bishops laid out around 1170-80, with the bishop's castle and the grain market
• Shared with the counts of Tyrol: the county of Bolzano, from Merano to Laives and north to Klausen
• Claimed only: the county of the Vinschgau, from Zernez in the Engadin to Merano, in the counts of Tyrol's hands since about 1140
• Silver mines on Monte Calisio above Trent [their scale in 1200 not pinned; Bishop Frederick of Wangen's mining code follows in 1208 or 1209]

How it was acquired

Temporal powers appear under Bishop Manasses (933-945). Henry II gave the county of Trent to Bishop Ulrich I in 1004 (the date is debated). Conrad II, by a diploma of 31 May 1027, recognised the principality with ducal and margravial rights and added the counties of Bolzano and the Vinschgau, to keep the Brenner road open for German armies bound for Italy.

How things stand that morning

Conrad rules the county of Trent through his court, judges and sworn vassals, and his rulings reach upland communities from Brentonico to Banale. North of Salorno his grip fails. The market town of Bolzano is his, but the county of Bolzano has been shared with the counts of Tyrol since the later 12th century (shared rule at Terlan and Bolzano is recorded for 1184-90) and will be lost to them early in the 13th century; the Vinschgau has been theirs in practice since about 1140.

Bishop Adelpreto II's attempt to win the north back ended with his death in 1172.

Wealth

Tolls and traffic on the Brenner road between Verona and the Alps, the chief route for German kings and merchants; the Bolzano market, whose fairs (first recorded in 1202) link traders from Venice and Augsburg; wine of the Adige valley and the Lake Garda shore; timber and pasture of Fiemme and the side valleys; silver on Monte Calisio.

Threats

• The counts of Tyrol's steady capture of the northern counties
• The feud between the Tyrol and Eppan counts, fought over the bishop's lands
• A disputed throne: whoever wants the Brenner road needs Trent
• Appeals from his court to imperial judges, as in 1193

Advocates and rivals

The counts of Tyrol, from Tyrol castle above Merano, have been the church's advocates since about 1140; Count Henry of Tyrol (attested 1184) and his son Albert are pulling the northern counties away. The counts of Eppan, thought to be illegitimate descendants of the Welfs, hold the county of Eppan between Bolzano and Merano and scattered lands, serfs and mining rights from Bolzano to Fiemme, the Non valley, the Giudicarie and Lake Garda; the Tyrol counts are breaking them piece by piece. The bishop of Chur's rights overlap Trent's in the upper Vinschgau.

The bishop of Feltre's county reaches up the Valsugana towards Pergine.

Places of note

• Trent cathedral and palace: Seat of the bishop's court
• Castel Beseno: Castle of the bishop's family above the Adige south of Trent
• Bolzano market town: Market town laid out by the bishops around 1170-80, with their castle
• Tyrol castle: Seat of the counts of Tyrol, the church's advocates
• Monte Calisio: Silver mines above Trent

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1004 and 1027 grants, the three counties and Conrad's government are well documented. How power in the Bolzano county was split with the counts of Tyrol in 1200, and Conrad's choice between the two kings, are not pinned. English Wikipedia dates the mining code to 19 June 1208, Italian Wikipedia to 19 June 1209.

On the map: The county of Trent follows the Trentino's historic boundary, which matches the 1027 description; the side valleys were held through vassals and upland communities rather than directly. The Bolzano county is drawn as contested because power there was shared with the counts of Tyrol, and the Vinschgau as a claim because the Tyrol counts had held it for some sixty years. The upper Valsugana around Pergine and Levico also lay in the bishop of Feltre's county, so that edge is uncertain. The Fassa valley, later Brixen's, is left out, and Kastelruth, a Brixen court until 1272, is left to the Brixen record.

Primary sources for Trent

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.

• Charter book of the bishops of Trent (compiled 1207 to 1218; documents from the 11th century onward; edited 1852). The cartulary of the prince-bishops of Trent. Read online