| Abstract: | The author analyzes in detail the two appeals presented to the Holy See by the Poreč bishop Boniface (1282-1305). Since so far only one appeal of Boniface has been analyzed in the existing literature, and this one was wrongly dated in 1301, the author presents new critically prepared transcripts of both appeals. Both appeals have been preserved only in the transcript in the first book of privileges of the Diocese of Poreč. A thorough analysis of both appeals revealed that Boniface wrote to the Holy See at the end of the thirteenth century; more precisely, between the first quarter of 1295 and January 1296, while he was personally present in Rome. Moreover, the analysis undoubtedly points out that the Poreč bishop complained about Raymond della Torre, the Patriarch of Aquileia (1273 - 1299), who was his metropolitan and with whom he disputed about the secular authority in Poreč, Rovinj and Motovun, properties that at that time were (only de facto) under Venetian rule. The author also corrects the wrong thesis, which was first expressed by Kandler, and which has been uncritically accepted until today, according to which Vrsar, the only secular property that remained in the possession of the Poreč bishops, was attacked by the patriarch Petar of Ferentino (1299-1301) and his nephew Nikola. Moreover, the author proves that in the period between 1283 and 1289, Vrsar was attacked, looted and set on fire by the soldiers of Patriarch Rajmund, who acted together with his nephew Gottfried della Torre. Finally, the author explains why Pope Boniface VIII, although he issued a charter in January 1296 according to which all disputed properties were returned to the Diocese of Poreč, could not successfully resolve this problem due to three involved parties - the Patriarch of Aquileia, the Bishop of Poreč and the Republic of Venice. Consequently, Poreč Bishop Boniface ended his life as an excommunicated prelate without any success in his mission to recover the secular rights and possessions of his impoverished and weakened diocese. |
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