Academic literature on the topic 'Principato vescovile di Bressanone'

Angela Grazia Mura L’archivio dell’Ufficio capitaniale e vicariale di Fassa. Sezione di Antico regime (1550-1803) Tesi di dottorato in Beni culturali e Storia medievale discussa presso l’Università degli studi di Siena a.a. 2016-2017, tutor prof. Andrea Giorgi Abstract Oggetto della ricerca è lo studio dell’archivio dell’Officio capitaniale e vicariale di Fassa di Antico regime, nell’arco di tempo compreso tra l’inizio di una organizzata e strutturata produzione documentaria (1549) e la secolarizzazione del Principato vescovile di Bressanone (1803), organismo statuale dell’Impero del quale esso amministrava la circoscrizione territoriale (giudizio) corrispondente all’omonima valle, oggi nella porzione nord-orientale del Trentino (I). Lo studio della struttura ordinamentale dell’archivio e dal suo inventario, oggetto della parte centrale del lavoro, consente di delineare il contesto di produzione, trasmissione e conservazione documentaria, il funzionamento della cancelleria principale dell’ufficio e le sue relazioni con quelle periferiche, ma anche gli strumenti di cui il potere principesco si serviva per amministrare la giustizia e le proprie rendite dal territorio. Ne emergono elementi di dettaglio per tratteggiare il quadro delle competenze istituzionali dell’ente produttore – di controllo politico e di amministrazione della giustizia, della fiscalità e delle rendite economiche vescovili in Valle –, che si sono espresse, nell’arco di questi due secoli e mezzo, attraverso la documentazione scritta. La descrizione del profilo storico-istituzionale del Giudizio di Fassa e delle relazioni verticali – con il Principato da una parte e con le sue comunità dall’altra – e trasversali, con i giudizi circumvicini con il potere principesco vescovile, che viene presentata nella prima parte del lavoro, consente di collocare opportunamente le modalità di inquadramento di terre, persone e comunità entro il quadro giuspubblicistico. Lo studio del fondo archivistico lasciato dall’Ente, oggi conservato presso l’Archivio di Stato di Trento, e l’inventario, a livello di fascicolo, delle 430 unità individuate, vengono presentati nella seconda parte del lavoro, con un’opportuna premessa sulla struttura ordinamentale e sulle vicende archivistiche otto- e novecentesche. Le opere consultate – manoscritte, al di fuori del fondo oggetto dello studio, e a stampa – sono riportate nella terza parte del lavoro, assieme all’edizione di documenti inediti relativi alla Val di Fassa ritenuti di particolare rilevanza per illuminare l’assetto costituzionale del Giudizio e le dinamiche di produzione e conservazione documentaria. I motivi di interesse storico e culturale di questa ricerca derivano dalla posizione della Val di Fassa, posta a cerniera tra l’area culturale tedesca e quella italiana, e parte integrante di un enclave ladino-dolomitico, e dal suo essere profondamente compenetrata di usi giuridici provenienti da ciascuna di queste tradizioni. Le stesse procedure di documentazione che troviamo attestate in questo distretto, mostrano dagli albori della prima Età moderna, in piena aderenza con quanto vediamo accadere nello stesso torno di anni nei territori di lingua tedesca sottoposti allo statuto della Contea del Tirolo o al principe vescovo di Bressanone, ove vigevano statuti locali allineati a quelli tirolesi, i segnali di una precoce statalizzazione delle funzioni in area italiana comunemente assolte dai notai e la progressiva assunzione della pubblica scritturalità in capo alle cancellerie degli organi locali. Questo determinante passaggio, dai primi anni del XVI secolo, segnala una radicale trasformazione nelle modalità di conferimento della riconoscibilità pubblica ai documenti: all’affievolirsi dell’istituto notarile corrisponde, infatti, una presenza più assidua del sigillo quale elemento di validazione degli atti. A cavallo tra Quattro- e Cinquecento la documentazione di tutti i rapporti di diritto civile dei soggetti privi di autonoma capacità di validare con un proprio sigillo i negozi giuridici inerenti ai propri beni e ai propri diritti (riservata al ceto nobiliare, all’alto clero e alle città, poi estesa progressivamente alla nobiltà minore, ai ministeriali, al notabilato urbano e rurale), quindi di cives e di contadini («bey Stetten und Gerichten»), venne fatta convergere verso le cancellerie dei giudizi (cittadini o rurali) e validata con il sigillo del giudice, ovvero del capitano e vicario: nella fascia territoriale governata o orientata allo Statuto tirolese non più il notaio ma l’ufficiale del giudizio – quindi l’emissario sul territorio del potere signorile – conferiva, con la sua autorità, fides publica agli accordi stipulati fra privati, apponendovi il proprio sigillo e facendo registrare l’atto stesso tra le scritture ufficiali. L’assolvimento di queste competenze impose, a partire dal primo XVI secolo, d’individuare adeguati strumenti per instaurare il controllo centrale sullo stato delle proprietà ai fini della perequazione fiscale. In questa direzione si rivelò strategico attingere allo stato delle proprietà reali e alla situazione patrimoniale della popolazione, tenendone registrazione ufficiale in appositi libri di archiviazione o d’insinuazione aggiornati e conservati dai giudizi, chiamati in lingua locale Verfachbücher. La diffusione della tipologia documentaria dei Verfachbücher riguardò le giurisdizioni tirolesi soggette ai conti del Tirolo e all’episcopato brissinese, e quindi la stessa Valle di Fassa e il confinante Giudizio di Livinallongo, mentre nelle giurisdizioni tirolesi sottratte all’episcopato trentino – come il Primiero e le altre ai Confini d’Italia – o alla Repubblica di Venezia – come Ampezzo – si lasciò sussistere il diritto vigente e con esso la prassi notarile di validazione e conservazione degli atti. Si delinea così una mappa di distribuzione abbastanza frastagliata e non immediatamente sovrapponibile né, da una parte, ai confini dei territori soggetti allo statuto del Tirolo, né, d’altro canto, ai territori ove prevaleva la lingua tedesca. In numerosi istituti del diritto di famiglia, particolarmente riguardanti il diritto di successione e la trasmissione dei diritti reali, ed in quelli del diritto comunitario, che ebbero riflessi visibili non solo nell’organizzazione delle comunità insediate e nello sfruttamento delle risorse collettive ma anche e nell’evoluzione dei nuclei abitati, la Valle di Fassa guarda invece, in prevalenza, alle vicine comunità trentine, e in particolare alla Valle di Fiemme. Lo spaccato offerto sulla storia istituzionale del Giudizio di Fassa offre dunque numerosi spunti di collegamento con i processi di sviluppo storico della regione trentino-tirolese nella Prima età moderna.
The PhD thesis deals with the archival fonds produced by the Officio capitaniale e vicariale di Fassa (the Captain’s and Vicar’s Office of Val di Fassa, I-TN), covering a period from the middle of the 16th century – when the structured organisation of the archives began – to the secularisation of the see of the Prince Bishop of Bressanone at end of the 17th century. From this small state body within the German Empire the Fassa Officio administered the territory and population of Val di Fassa, which is nowadays part of North-East Trentino. The 430 descripted units of the fonds created by this institution are now preserved in the State Archives in Trento. The first part deals with the institutional history of the Fassa Officio and the pattern of government – with the Officio on the one hand as a link between the Prince Bishop and the rural community and, on the other hand, its relationship with the other Giudizi in the surrounding territory. It gives us an insight into the management of land, persons and community from a public law point of view. The analysis of the structure and inventory of the fonds, which constitutes the central part of the thesis, sheds light on the production, transmission and conservation of the written documentation of the main Chancellery of the Officio, and its relationship with the peripheral scribes, and also the means by which the Prince Bishop administered justice and kept track of his income from his lands. The range of competence of this administrative and jurisdictional body is well documented for over two centuries. In the third part of the thesis are listed published and manuscript sources; also the transcription and comment of unpublished documents relevant to Fassa and its constitutional organisation, and to show the custom of documentation. The historical and cultural interest of this research is related to the geographical position of Val di Fassa (which in Ladin means a “strip of land”), wedged between a German-speaking area to the North and an Italian-speaking area to the South, and at the same time an integral part of a Ladino Dolomite enclave. Val di Fassa is therefore a melting pot of various judicial and cultural customs. The keeping of public documentation in this area shows from the early modern period that the work previously carried out by notaries was being taken over by public officials. Documentation was becoming progressively the task of the chancelleries of the giudizi and of the local public bodies. The same was happening in most of the neighbouring German-speaking Tyrol as well as in the rest part of Prince Bishopric of Bressanone. This significant change at the beginning of the 16th century shows a radical transformation in the method of making documents probative (i.e. imbued with publica fides, public faith and credit): the custom of putting a seal on a document as a guarantee of authenticity went hand in hand with the weakening of the function of the notaries of the Latin tradition. Between the 15th and 16th century contracts between persons (cives and peasants) who were not allowed to validate with a seal of their own their legal transactions, needed to be written by public chancelleries and validated by a judge (only nobles, high-ranking clergy and towns had their own seal, which was later extended to lower-ranking nobles and the upper middle classes in towns and in the country). In the strip of land falling within the jurisdiction of the Tyrolean statute it was no longer the notary but the judicial officer, meaning the local lord’s emissary, who authenticated – fides publica – contracts between private parties. This he did by stamping his seal on the document and by officially registering the contract. From the 16th century on, in order to establish central control over property rights for tax proposes, people’s rights to property were entered in special archival registers kept in the Giudizi, known locally as libri di archiviazione or Verfachbücher. This type of documentation also spread to areas under Tyrolean jurisdiction, governed by the Counts of Tyrol and also in the see of Bressanone, which included Val di Fassa and the neighbouring Giudizio of Livinallongo. This change in the law did not however affect areas that were now under Tyrolean jurisdiction and no longer under the Bishop of Trento – i.e. Primiero and the other Giudizi on the Italian border – or under the Republic of Venice – such as Ampezzo –, where the previous legal system continued to exist and the notary procedure continued as before. As we see, the pattern of distribution of these contract registers in the whole region is not strictly confined to German-speaking areas, nor to areas that came under the Tyrolean Statute. Val di Fassa, on the other hand, was primarily influenced by neighbouring Trentino – particularly by Val di Fiemme – with regard to the broad spectrum of private law including family law, property, testamentary law and community law. This in turn has affected not just the organisation of the community and access to jointly-owned resources, but indeed the whole pattern of settlement. Val di Fassa as case of study provides insight into the historic and institutional development of the whole Trentino-Tyrolean Region in the early modern age.

La ricerca affronta la diffusione della Riforma protestante e il commercio di libri proibiti in una statualità di confine tra mondo italiano e mondo tedesco all'inizio dell'età moderna. Affiorano voci dei protagonisti, interessanti convergenze e conflitti istituzionali tra principi-vescovi di Trento, Impero e Inquisizione romana nella pratica della censura e repressione del dissenso religioso.

La ricerca affronta la diffusione della Riforma protestante e il commercio di libri proibiti in una statualità di confine tra mondo italiano e mondo tedesco all'inizio dell'età moderna. Affiorano voci dei protagonisti, interessanti convergenze e conflitti istituzionali tra principi-vescovi di Trento, Impero e Inquisizione romana nella pratica della censura e repressione del dissenso religioso.

The subject of this research is the study of the archival fond produced by the Prince-Bishopric of Trento, an ecclesiastical principality fully included among the 'Fürstentümer' of the Holy Roman Empire: a temporal territorial dominion placed between the cultural area of German and Italian influence, subject to the sovereignty of a bishop, whose episcopal dignity and jurisdiction was associated with the role of immediate prince of the Empire. The period examined stretches mostly from the 14th century - since the identification of the first forms of structured serial-type documentary production and an embryonic chancellery’s system - to the year 1796, terminus ad quem that effectively marks the epilogue of the centuries-old experience of bishops’ temporal government over the Principality and the advent of provisional regimes, prior the definitive secularization of the Hochstift in 1803. A look, moreover, aimed at the exploration and philological reconstruction of the archival fond in the period following secularization, throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century, completes the investigation. A brief description of the historical-institutional profile of the Prince-Bishopric of Trento – examined in the context of the 'Geistliche Territorialherrschaften' of the Holy Roman Empire – introduces the subsequent treatment, that develops along three main strands of investigation strongly related to each other, to each of which has a chapter of the dissertation is dedicated: origin and evolution of the central bureaucratic structures of the ecclesiastical principality; analysis of the methods of production and documentary conservation between the 14th and 18th centuries; exploration of the princely-bishopric documentation’s 'itinera' between Innsbruck, Vienna and Munich during the 19th century and the rearrangements of the records that took place, in particular, in the post-secularization phase of the institution. The investigation relating to the reconstruction of the archival fond, combined with the analysis of the surviving documentation – which has been the object of a preliminary reconnaissance and census – have been conducted following a multi-disciplinary and comparative methodological approach, which allowed a more punctual awareness of the dynamics of fragmentation, dismemberment and subsequent disaggregated relocation of the dispersed documentation. These phenomena, in addition to having compromised the integrity of the documentary complex, have at times contributed to hinder a correct understanding and interpretation of the nature of many documentary typologies, thus limiting the fruition and valorization of the documentary heritage. The study of the archival fond’s structure - investigated in its entirety as a product of the institution’s activity on both sides of the exercise of temporal and spiritual power - constitutes the fulcrum of the dissertation. Therefore, the analytical examination of the documentation is aimed at reconstructing from a logical point of view the hypothetical structure of the documentary complex, as the end point of the historical evolution of the ordering practices implemented by the central bureaucratic apparatus of government of the principality and diocese between the 14th and 18th centuries. Ultimately, this effort is intended to delineate the final parable of this process and to provide a snapshot, albeit partial and somewhat faded of a fonds that, in its organicity, no longer exists. However, this experiment of virtual reconstruction of the archival fond into its hypothetical articulations in sub-fonds, series and sub-series takes on its most convincing meaning when one considers how the ways in which the episcopal principality organized, selected and prepared for use and conservation its own documentation are themselves a source of information for the history of the institution.

The subject of this research is the study of the archival fond produced by the Prince-Bishopric of Trento, an ecclesiastical principality fully included among the 'Fürstentümer' of the Holy Roman Empire: a temporal territorial dominion placed between the cultural area of German and Italian influence, subject to the sovereignty of a bishop, whose episcopal dignity and jurisdiction was associated with the role of immediate prince of the Empire. The period examined stretches mostly from the 14th century - since the identification of the first forms of structured serial-type documentary production and an embryonic chancellery’s system - to the year 1796, terminus ad quem that effectively marks the epilogue of the centuries-old experience of bishops’ temporal government over the Principality and the advent of provisional regimes, prior the definitive secularization of the Hochstift in 1803. A look, moreover, aimed at the exploration and philological reconstruction of the archival fond in the period following secularization, throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century, completes the investigation. A brief description of the historical-institutional profile of the Prince-Bishopric of Trento – examined in the context of the 'Geistliche Territorialherrschaften' of the Holy Roman Empire – introduces the subsequent treatment, that develops along three main strands of investigation strongly related to each other, to each of which has a chapter of the dissertation is dedicated: origin and evolution of the central bureaucratic structures of the ecclesiastical principality; analysis of the methods of production and documentary conservation between the 14th and 18th centuries; exploration of the princely-bishopric documentation’s 'itinera' between Innsbruck, Vienna and Munich during the 19th century and the rearrangements of the records that took place, in particular, in the post-secularization phase of the institution. The investigation relating to the reconstruction of the archival fond, combined with the analysis of the surviving documentation – which has been the object of a preliminary reconnaissance and census – have been conducted following a multi-disciplinary and comparative methodological approach, which allowed a more punctual awareness of the dynamics of fragmentation, dismemberment and subsequent disaggregated relocation of the dispersed documentation. These phenomena, in addition to having compromised the integrity of the documentary complex, have at times contributed to hinder a correct understanding and interpretation of the nature of many documentary typologies, thus limiting the fruition and valorization of the documentary heritage. The study of the archival fond’s structure - investigated in its entirety as a product of the institution’s activity on both sides of the exercise of temporal and spiritual power - constitutes the fulcrum of the dissertation. Therefore, the analytical examination of the documentation is aimed at reconstructing from a logical point of view the hypothetical structure of the documentary complex, as the end point of the historical evolution of the ordering practices implemented by the central bureaucratic apparatus of government of the principality and diocese between the 14th and 18th centuries. Ultimately, this effort is intended to delineate the final parable of this process and to provide a snapshot, albeit partial and somewhat faded of a fonds that, in its organicity, no longer exists. However, this experiment of virtual reconstruction of the archival fond into its hypothetical articulations in sub-fonds, series and sub-series takes on its most convincing meaning when one considers how the ways in which the episcopal principality organized, selected and prepared for use and conservation its own documentation are themselves a source of information for the history of the institution.