Chapter 7

Under the just and wise rule of Theodoric the province flourished; but the people always regarded the Goths as barbarians, and when the Byzantines attacked Istria in 539-544 and 552 the troops of Vitalius, Belisarius, and Narses were welcomed. They called the Greek Government "Sancta Respublica," and erected basilicas in gratitude for the freeing of the land from the Arian Goths. Justinian re-established the Roman constitution with certain alterations, among which was the power of appeal to the court of the bishop, which gave him control and surveillance over the municipal functionaries. His power was not supreme, however, the military defence of the frontier being equally important. For some sixty years the "Schism of the Three Chapters" rent this part of Christendom, and caused a great deal of ill-feeling and many questionable actions. It arose from the Emperor Justinian in 544 condemning (1) the writings of Theodore, bishop of Mopsnestia, who anticipated the heresy of Nestorius; (2) the writings of Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, against the twelve anathemas of S. Cyril of Alexandria, and the decrees of the Council of Ephesus; and (3) the letter of Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to Maris the Persian. The Latin Church, with Vigilius the pope at its head, declined to accept the Imperial decree, which was in contradiction to the Council of Chalcedon of 451. In 548 the pope, while at Constantinople, was induced to repudiate them; but, on finding how strong the opposition was, revoked his agreement in 550, and induced the emperor to summon a council, which met in 553 and condemned the three chapters and their authors. The pope returned to Rome, and died there in 554, having confirmed the decision of the Council of Constantinople, and anathematised those who refused to accept it. Notwithstanding this, the bishops of Lombardy, Venice, and Istria, with the Aquileian patriarch Macedonius at their head, and other bishops, refused, and this refusal produced the "Istrian schism," or schism of the "Tre Capitoli." Paulinus, who succeeded Macedonius, called a synod at Aquileia in 557, which repudiated the decision of the Council of Constantinople. Pelagius II., who was then pope, called in the secular arm, but the descent of the Lombards in 568 stopped the discussion. Euphrasius of Parenzo was one of the principal supporters of Macedonius, and the pope did not hesitate to make the most disgraceful charges against him. In 578 Paulinus transferred the patriarchate to Grado, so putting himself under Byzantine protection. Elias of Grado held the same opinions as his predecessor, even excommunicating his adversaries. His successor, Severus, holding the same views, Smaragdus the Exarch made an expedition to Grado in 588, took Severus and the bishops of Parenzo and Trieste to Ravenna, and kept them there in prison for a twelvemonth, till they agreed to condemn the three chapters. When they returned they found their clergy would not go with them, so a synod was convened at Marano, and there they revoked their condemnation. Smaragdus, exarch again in 603, so arranged matters that on the death of Severus (who had preached revolt) Candidiano was appointed patriarch, a man who was devoted to the papal authority, and who reconciled himself with Rome, thus ending the schism. It had caused grievous disorders, the bishops being sometimes for and sometimes against it, and the clergy sometimes in strife among themselves and sometimes with the Patriarch of Grado; but the mode in which it was ended was quite as disgraceful as any of the deeds done during its course. In 610 armed Byzantine soldiers entered the basilicas and dragged three Istrian bishops from the altars, with menaces and vituperation, compelling them to accompany them to Grado, where they were forced to bend to the Imperial commands and reconsecrate Candidiano patriarch.

The Lombards re-established the patriarchate of Aquileia, electing Abbot John, who was opposed to the pope, and thus there was a double patriarchate. The Aquileian patriarchs only became reconciled to the papacy in 698 when the Lombards had ceased to be Arians. The Istrian bishops obeyed the Patriarch of Grado until the Council of Mantua (827), which decided that they should return to Aquileia. Istria was Lombard only from 751 to 788.

When Charlemagne conquered the country in 789 feudalism was substituted for the Roman autonomy with the co-operation of the higher clergy. The Frank duke was supreme, and his underlings had arbitrary power. Public property was confiscated for the benefit of the duke and his supporters, and all kinds of arbitrary and exorbitant imposts and restraints were imposed upon the people, even to the prohibition of fishing! The result was great discontent, and at last, in 804, by the intervention of Fortunatus, Patriarch of Grado, an inquiry was held at Risano, the acts of which were embodied in the "placito" of Risano. The envoys of Charlemagne restored the communal property and the jurisdiction over foreigners, exempted freemen from servile tasks, suppressed arbitrary imposts, and restored the tribunes and other Byzantine magistrates, whom the people were allowed to select freely according to the ancient custom. In 952 Istria became a German fief by gift of Otho I. of Germany (who had conquered Italy the year before) in feud to his brother Henry, duke of Bavaria, together with Verona and Friuli. Documents show the presence of large numbers of persons of German origin during the tenth century; but the maritime cities, depending upon commerce, were forced into connection with Venice by the necessity of making arrangements for mutual defence against Slav and Saracen Corsairs, and thus the foundations were laid for the Republic's later supremacy.

Great part of the history of Istria relates to incursions by the barbarians, either beaten off, or successful, with the destruction of towns, and the carrying off of slaves and booty. The descent of the Lombards was followed by a raid of the Avars in 599, but they were beaten off. Three years later they came again in company with Slavs and Lombards. In 611 the Huns or Slovens descended on Istria, in 670 they were defeated near Cividale by Duke Vetturi, and in 718 were conquered in three battles near Lauriana by Duke Pemmo. His son Ratchis copied the bad example of the Huns, sacking and killing far into Carniola. Between 620 and 630 the Serbo-Croats descended from the Carpathians and crossed the Danube by suggestion of Heraclius, driving the Avars from Dalmatia and taking their place. The result of these constant barbarian raids was the concentration of the population in the towns on the sea-coast.

The pirates in the Adriatic were first the Narentans and next the Saracens, who devastated the coasts of Dalmatia in 840, fruitlessly besieging Ragusa for fifteen months, and afterwards taking Taranto and Bari. In 842 they defeated the Venetians at Taranto, and, on the octave of Easter, took Ossero and burnt it. They then passed on to Ancona and Adria, and as they returned captured a whole Venetian squadron. In 876 the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia raided the Istrian coast towns, but were defeated at Grado. The Emperor Basil occupied Dalmatia in 877 on the pretext of Slav piracy. He gave the tribute from the Roman cities of Dalmatia to the Croats and Narentans, so that Spalato, Zara, Traù, Arbe, and the Byzantine cities of Veglia and Ossero had to pay tribute to the Croats. The successful expedition of Pietro Orseolo II. against the Narentan pirates tended to the greater security of the coast towns and strengthened the bond which Venice was weaving.

In 933 a solemn treaty of peace was signed at Rialto between Istria and Venice by the Marquis of Istria, the bishops of Pola and Cittanova, two "locopositi," two "scabini," and twelve other trustees from Pola, Capodistria, Muggia, and Pirano, there convened. A fresh treaty was made in 977 with Capodistria, giving Venice special advantages, and these negotiations were carried on without reference to the Imperial authority, the nominal feudal lord. Walking thus warily, avoiding offence to the Emperor of Germany, Venice took 200 years of continuous political action to acquire the Istrian cities. By 1145 Venice had obtained for herself liberty of commerce in most of the Istrian towns and complete exemption from any kind of taxation; she had established at Pola and Capodistria a representative, to look after the punctual execution of treaties, and to protect Venetians from injustice, and had also made the Istrian cities pay her a tribute, either in money or products, obtaining also assistance for her navy from them whenever it was fighting beyond Zara and Ancona. The importance attached by Venice to these concessions is proved by the triumph which was given to the squadron of Morosini and Gradonico when returning victorious from Istrian waters. It was then that the doge assumed the title of "dux totius Istriæ," but the dates of the dedition of the several cities are much later. The re-organisation of the communes took place between 1150 and 1180. The podestà had a council of assessors, the "consiglio minore"; the larger "consiglio del popolo" was called together for the more important matters, such as declaration of war, conclusion of peace, legislation, imposition of taxes, election of podestà and consuls, &c.; while many documents show that the whole body of citizens was summoned to a "parlamento" for the publication of new laws, very important deliberations requiring practical unanimity, the installation of fresh magistrates, &c. The "statute" was apparently drawn up when a foreign podestà succeeded to native consuls as an assertion of the ancient judicial custom. That of Capodistria, the earliest, is of 1238-1239; that of Pola, 1264. As soon as the communes began to extend their work of domestic supervision a "fontico" was established, a place where corn was sold at little above cost price. Everything was supervised--the time of vintage and of selling the new wine was fixed, the amount of bread to be baked in each oven was prescribed, the justices tasted the wine before the taverners began to sell, cut off the tails of fish unsold by the evening, and generally looked after the strict fulfilment of the regulations affecting food. As the vintage approached, the guards in the vineyards were doubled, and, from August 3, dogs were tethered to a stake to intimidate thieves. The prices of foreign goods were fixed and, before commencing to sell, merchants were obliged to expose their wares on the quays or in the piazza for three days. Standard measures were cut in stone in conspicuous places, and at Albona the various imposts were carved on the clock-tower in the piazza. Armed men were not allowed to enter the cities, and the officials interested themselves in everything going on, an example of which may be quoted from Pirano. When S. Francesco was built in 1301, the podestà carried the first stone on his shoulder, and set it in the ground before the assembled people. Venice succeeded the patriarch as overlord of the Istrian communes in 1420, and after this the history of Istria is merged in that of the Republic.

The ravages of the plague were fearful, and practically depopulated the province, returning again and again till 1631. In the fourteenth century it decimated the Brioni Islands; no less than five Benedictine convents were abandoned--three in Pola and one near Barbana d'Arsia, as well as that on the Brioni Islands. In Muggia an inscription states that half the population died in 1347. In 1361 Ossero was so devastated that two years later the bishop abandoned it and went to live in Zara. In 1371 the country round Pola was so afflicted that of seventy-two towns only eleven preserved their names, the rest disappearing without leaving any trace. In Cittanova in 1643 there were only ten inhabitants left, the bishop abandoned it to live in Buie or Verteneglio, and in 1686, as there were not enough citizens to constitute a council, they had to add strangers to make a quorum. Angelo Morosini, podestà of Capodistria in 1646, described it as "Goddess of desolation and refuge of solitude itself." Parenzo was so severely smitten that only thirty persons remained. At Pola in 1631 there were but 300 persons left, including the garrison of foreigners, and of the citizens but three families. This was the last visitation.

VII

MUGGIA TO PIRANO

From Trieste steamers, large and small, ply to most of the places on the coast, and the islands down to Fiume. Though there is railway communication with a few places, travelling by water is much pleasanter in fine weather, and the towns are more easily accessible from the seaside. The country people throng to market in the early hours of the morning, and are ready to return by the time the average English tourist has finished his breakfast and sets out sightseeing.

We went to Muggia about midday by one of the little steamboats which round the Punta S. Andrea, and, passing the Lloyd-Arsenal, cross the bay, the Vallone di Muggia. The boat was full of belated _contadini_, for the most part rugged and picturesque, among whom was an old woman with a few long candles, which she vainly offered for sale to every person on the boat; a boy with nuts and sweets was more fortunate, and lessened his stock considerably. The deck was lumbered up with baskets, milk-cans, &c., which had been full in the early morning, and most of the passengers had bundles and parcels containing their purchases. Some thirty minutes were sufficient in the fine weather with which we were favoured to take us across, and, passing the smoky iron-works which are the principal industry of modern Muggia, we disembarked at the little quay, and immediately became objects of interest to a small crowd of impertinent boys. Our principal objective was the ancient church on the hill where Muggia Vecchia once stood. We found on inquiry that it was closed as being in a dangerous state. This entailed visits to the _municipio_ and to the parish priest, under escort of a uniformed official, who then conducted us by a steep and stony path up the hill Monte Michele, towards the summit of which, higher than the church, prehistoric graves have been found, consisting of stone slabs set roughly together, making a kind of chest which opens on to the hillside. The church stands amid fragments of ruined walls, the remains of the town destroyed by the Genoese in 1354. To the west is a stony space where wild irises grow and bloom profusely in the crevices of the rocks, and from which there is a fine view over the sea northwards to the highlands of the Karst. Between this flowery wilderness and the church is an open grassy space enclosed by a wall, and with a few trees round its edges, which was probably the atrium. Opening upon this is the narthex, an open portico level with the tower which stands at the west end of the north aisle, with a stone seat running round the wall. Two steps lead _down_ into the nave, and there is a door in the south aisle, which has two windows, the clerestory having four; though on the north side, where the graveyard lies, there are none. The building consists of a nave and aisles divided by an arcade of five round arches upon rectangular piers without caps, the two eastern bays being enclosed by dwarf walls with framings of marble slabs upon which interlacing patterns of the ninth century are carved. They return across the ends of the aisles, in each of which is an altar beneath a wagon vault, though there is no apse. The central apse is vaulted with a semi-dome, but does not show externally. The choir is raised two steps above the nave, and the altar is approached by a third. The ambo or pulpit stands outside the screen on four columns, approached by steep steps from within; an octagonal column of coloured marble supports a slab for a book-rest, facing eastwards at the foot of the steps. In plan the ambo somewhat resembles that at Grado, with six half-colonnettes projecting from the curved form, two of them terminating in heads on each side of the book-rest, itself supported on an octagonal shaft which dies into its underside with very flat vine or oak leaves spread over the surface. The whole has been so plentifully whitewashed that detail is nearly obliterated, but there is sufficient difference between the styles of various parts to make it probable that a reconstruction took place at some period, older material being employed to a great extent. The fact that two of the bases have angle claws and are manifestly not in their original position supports this theory. The altar to the left is part of a Roman sarcophagus with a funerary inscription in letters of the Imperial period:

C. IVLIO NICOSTRATO FILIO · PIISSIMO ANN · XVIII · M · VIIII · D · XII IVLIVS · NICOSTRATVS.

Upon the piers and walls are remains of paintings of various dates. On the first pier to the left is S. Catherine, vested as a Byzantine empress. Further to the east are the Madonna "Blacherniotissa" and S. Dominic, and near the ambo figures of the four Evangelists; the last apparently of the period of the foundation of the church, the ninth or early tenth century. On the last pier, which is broader than the others, and suggests a later addition (perhaps in the thirteenth century), is a gigantic S. Christopher, roughly painted, and with the well-known inscription stating that whoso looks at it will not die a sudden death that day. The aisles have lean-to roofs, and the nave roof we found shored up, the supporting timbers being wreathed with garlands of artificial flowers. The dedication is to SS. Peter and Paul.

As we descended the hill our guide, observing that flowers interested us, made a sudden dive through the gate of a garden full of wallflowers and picked a bunch for us, presenting it with as much grace as if they had been his own! a proceeding to which the rightful owners appeared to have no objection. The more modern town lay below us with its walls and towers, some of them ruinous and some restored, and looked picturesque enough except for the ancient castle which has been turned into a modern house by its latest purchaser, who has tried with more zeal than judgment to copy the style of the older portions. Through the postern by which we had left the town a number of workmen from the iron-works straggled, grimy and weary; in their modern dress and employment marking a contrast with their surroundings. Muggia Nuova first appears in history in 1235. When Paganino Doria destroyed Monticula (Muggia Vecchia) in 1354, the port Vicuna Lauri (now Muggia) increased, and twenty years later was surrounded with walls by the Patriarch Marquand da Randeck after his triumphal entry. It had nine square towers, a bastioned keep on the east, and a barbican with unequal sides, which covered the Porta a Mare, or of S. Rocco. Three other gates, the Porta Grande, which faced to the country, the Porta S. Francesco or Del Castello, and the Portizza, which joined the Imperial road of Zaule with a drawbridge, added to the defences, and a chain closed the port.

The nave of the church is of the eighteenth century, the apse twelfth, and the façade of the fifteenth century, with a wheel window of 1467 above the west door, and a gable of an ogee-trefoil shape. In the centre of the rose of sixteen rays is a little relief of the Virgin and Child; the tracery is like that of the cathedral at Trieste. The door is square-headed, with a cable moulding on the inner and a dentil on the outer edge, and with a slightly ogee tympanum above, in which are an enthroned God the Father with Christ in His lap, two kneeling figures with palms at the sides, and two little angels on the uprights of the throne. On the architrave is an Agnus Dei. Two windows, slightly ogee-headed, flank the door. Coats of arms and inscriptions give the date. The treasury contains a late Gothic ostensory with Renaissance patterns on the foot, a chalice which has portions of several dates, and a seventeenth-century processional cross. The contemporary municipal palace is now made into dwelling-houses, though the lion of S. Mark, with closed book and the date 1444, still looks down from the wall, and the shapes of the windows reveal a mediæval building.

While we were on the hill the few children had become a crowd, and our proceedings were much hampered, although our friendly guard adopted very rough measures more than once to keep them in order. The people have always been turbulent and unruly, and no doubt there is still an hereditary disposition among them to resist authority, though one must acknowledge that it was only among the young that we ourselves observed it.

Muggia Vecchia is first mentioned in a diploma of Ugo and Lothair, king of Italy, in 971, by which the Castello was given to the church of Aquileia. In 1202, when the Venetians were on their way to the Holy Land, they subjected the coast towns under the pretext of enforcing the patriarch's rights. Doge Enrico Dandolo disembarked at Muggia with part of his troops, and was received by clergy and people with the ringing of bells. The citizens being collected swore fealty and subjection to the Republic, promising not to help pirates, and to pay each S. Martin's Day twenty-five "orne" of good wine. From this date till 1420 the city was ruled by a podestà elected every six months by the council and confirmed by the patriarch. There were three judges and several "anziani," who formed the lesser council, to attend to daily business. In the thirteenth century it had its own statute, and at that time the commune paid a doctor, a surgeon, and a schoolmaster. The crest is a turreted castle, seen on the campanile of the old church borne by two figures. It was sometimes under Venice and sometimes under the patriarch till 1420. At one time four noble hostages were confined for the latter in Cividale, who were obliged to prove their presence every day; at another the procurator swore fealty to Venice and received the standard of S. Mark with much pomp. In 1371 the council decided to elect every year two upright men who should do their best to settle disputes and quarrels among the citizens, and in case of failure to report to the council, when extraordinary measures were to be taken. The next year Raffaello Steno attacked the city at the head of the exiles and killed many supporters of the patriarch, sacking their houses and proscribing his followers; and it was only at the end of 1374 that he succeeded in retaking the town, coming in person to do so. After his triumphal entry in that year a castle was built to keep the people in subjection, and a castellan with a garrison was left in it; but the town rebelled again in 1377.