The settlement area of the ancient
Histri tribes had been conquered by the
Roman Empire in 178 BC and was incorporated into the northeastern
Venetia et Histria region under Emperor
Augustus. Upon the
Decline of the Roman Empire and the
Migration Period, the
Lombards under King
Alboin from 568 onwards conquered
Venetia, where they established the
Duchy of Friuli, part of their
Kingdom of Italy. The Istrian peninsula remained under
Byzantine (Eastern Roman) influence, while
South Slavic tribes (
Croatians and
Slovenes) settled in the east and north.
Aistulf, King of the Lombards from 749, attacked the remaining Byzantine territories in Italy and even threatened the
Byzantine Papacy in
Rome. As
Pope Zachary expected no help from
Constantinople, he forged an alliance with
Pepin the Short, the powerful
Mayor of the Palace of the
Frankish kingdom north of the
Alps, whom he legitimized as
King of the Franks. In 755, Pepin invaded Italy and forced Aistulf under Frankish suzerainty. Pepin's son
Charlemagne in 773/774 finally incorporated the Italian kingdom into the
Carolingian Empire.
Carolingian march Charlemagne at first attached the Istrian peninsula to the Lombard Duchy of Friuli, part of the Carolingian
Kingdom of Italy under his son
Pepin. Though officially a duchy, Friuli
de facto was a march with a merely titular ducal dignity, from 776 ruled by Frankish appointees. An Istrian margraviate itself first emerged following the death of Duke
Eric of Friuli in the 799
Siege of Trsat on the Frankish border with
Littoral Croatia. Istria was enfeoffed to the Frankish count
Hunfrid, who also bore the title of a
dux Foroiulanus. The original Carolingian march stretched from the
Julian Alps and the
Karst Plateau down to the
Gulf of Kvarner. It was one of three marches, along with Friuli and
Carantania, guarding Italy from the
Avars,
Slavs, and
Magyars successively. In the first decade of the 9th century, Istria was ruled by one Duke
John, nominally according to its ancient Byzantine customs, but in fact as a Frankish vassal. The region then had nine cities,
Trieste foremost among them. After King Pepin had made several attempts to conquer
Venice on the Adriatic coast, his father Emperor Charlemagne under the 812
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle finally recognised the formal Byzantine control over the city along with Istria, at least its western coast. After this, it falls into obscurity, but perhaps the Byzantines never succeeded in re-establishing their government in the returned territories, if they were actually handed over. The remaining parts of Istria were probably eventually just re-integrated into the Carolingian duchy of Friuli. When after the deposition of the last Friulian duke
Baldric, Emperor
Louis the Pious at the 829
Reichstag in
Worms divided his vast duchy into four marches. Istria with the
March of Friuli was ruled from
Aquileia by Margrave
Eberhard and his
Unruoching descendants. It became part of
Middle Francia after the 843
Treaty of Verdun, and was allotted to Emperor
Louis II's Italian kingdom in 855. The Unruoching margrave
Berengar of Friuli even succeeded
Charles the Fat as King of Italy in 888.
Imperial march After the German king
Otto I had campaigned northern Italy under Berengar's grandson King
Berengar II, in 952 he merged Friuli into the vast
March of Verona, which he granted to his brother Duke
Henry I of Bavaria, who already controlled the adjacent
Carinthian and
Carniolan marches. After the deposition of Henry's son and successor Duke
Henry the Wrangler in 976, Emperor
Otto II separated
Carinthia from the Bavaria as a duchy in its own right, ruled by Duke
Henry the Younger who was also given suzerainty over the southeastern Bavarian marches, including Verona, Istria, Carniola and
Styria. There appear counts of Istria late in the 10th century, but Istria together with the
March of Carniola was separated from the Carinthian duchy in 1040, when both were bestowed on the Thuringian Count
Poppo of Weimar, heir by marriage to the last known Friulian margrave
Weriand (
Werigand (Friaul)). The Carniolan margraves gradually acquired the northeastern territories of the peninsula, while the western and southern coast was gradually occupied by the
Republic of Venice. The German king
Henry IV nominally assigned the remaining march to the
Patriarchate of Aquileia, the margravial title and the Istrian territories were however retained by Carniola. In 1173 the
Hohenstaufen Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa enfeoffed the Bavarian noble
House of Andechs, who attached Istria to their
Duchy of Merania. Aquileia regained Istria in 1209, when the Andechs margraves were banned due to alleged entanglement in the assassination of the German king, Frederick Barbarossa's son
Philip of Swabia. By mid-century most of the Istrian coast had been conquered by Venice. The patriarchs had ceased appointing margraves and had given the remaining interior of the peninsula into the direct control of their
Vogt officials, the
Counts of Görz. The Görz territories were finally acquired by the
Habsburg archdukes of
Austria in 1374, who since 1335 had held the Carniolan march. In 1382 they also gained control over the City of
Trieste.
Habsburg Margraviate After the secular territory of the patriarchs of Aquileia had been completely conquered by Venice in 1420, most of Istria belonged to
La Serenissima. The Austrian
House of Habsburg only held a small territory in the interior of the peninsula around
Pazin (
Mitterburg), which it administered from its Carniolan duchy. The Habsburg rulers nevertheless added the title of a "Margrave of Istria" to their other titles, persisting until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918. Venetian Istria fell to the
Habsburg monarchy (the
Austrian Empire after 1804) according to the 1797
Treaty of Campo Formio but was subsequently seized by
Napoleon in the 1805
Peace of Pressburg, forming part of the
Kingdom of Italy. It was then incorporated into the
French Empire as part of the
Illyrian Provinces in 1809. In 1815, after Napoleon had been defeated, the territory was returned to Austria as part of the
Kingdom of Illyria by the 1815
Congress of Vienna. After the partition of the Illyrian kingdom in 1849, the Margravate of Istria became a subdivision of the
Austrian Littoral crown land. It received considerable autonomy as a crown land in its own right with the establishment of the
Diet of Istria at
Parenzo by the 1861
February Patent. ==Margraves==