TheMarch of Istria, or theMargraviate of Istria (German:Markgrafschaft Istrien) was a historical frontier county, ormarch centered on theIstrian peninsula. It was established after theCarolingian conquest at the end of the 8th century, and continued to exist in various territorial scopes and administrative forms within theHoly Roman Empire, consequently becoming integrated into theAustrian Kingdom of Illyria, and theAustrian Littoral. In time it lost its most western (coastal) regions, that became pat of theVenetian Istria, while the Istrian frontier county, or march was reduced to central and eastern parts of the Istrian peninsula. Those regions were reintegrated after 1797, and the reunited Istrian march was finally abolished in 1918.[1]
The settlement area of the ancientHistri tribes had been conquered by theRoman Empire in 178 BC and was incorporated into the northeasternVenetia et Histria region under EmperorAugustus. Upon theDecline of the Roman Empire and theMigration Period, theLombards under KingAlboin from 568 onwards conqueredVenetia, where they established theDuchy of Friuli, part of theirKingdom of Italy. The Istrian peninsula remained underByzantine (Eastern Roman) influence, whileSouth Slavic tribes (Croatians andSlovenes) settled in the east and north.
Aistulf, King of the Lombards from 749, attacked the remaining Byzantine territories in Italy and even threatened theByzantine Papacy inRome. AsPope Zachary expected no help fromConstantinople, he forged an alliance withPepin the Short, the powerfulMayor of the Palace of theFrankish kingdom north of theAlps, whom he legitimized asKing of the Franks. In 755, Pepin invaded Italy and forced Aistulf under Frankish suzerainty. Pepin's sonCharlemagne in 773/774 finally incorporated the Italian kingdom into theCarolingian Empire.
Charlemagne at first attached the Istrian peninsula to the Lombard Duchy of Friuli, part of the CarolingianKingdom of Italy under his sonPepin. Though officially a duchy, Friulide 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 DukeEric of Friuli in the 799Siege of Trsat on the Frankish border withLittoral Croatia. Istria was enfeoffed to the Frankish countHunfrid, who also bore the title of adux Foroiulanus. The original Carolingian march stretched from theJulian Alps and theKarst Plateau down to theGulf of Kvarner. It was one of three marches, along with Friuli andCarantania, guarding Italy from theAvars,Slavs, andMagyars successively. In the first decade of the 9th century, Istria was ruled by one DukeJohn, 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 conquerVenice on the Adriatic coast, his father Emperor Charlemagne under the 812Treaty 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 dukeBaldric, EmperorLouis the Pious at the 829Reichstag inWorms divided his vast duchy into four marches. Istria with theMarch of Friuli was ruled fromAquileia by MargraveEberhard and hisUnruoching descendants. It became part ofMiddle Francia after the 843Treaty of Verdun, and was allotted to EmperorLouis II's Italian kingdom in 855. The Unruoching margraveBerengar of Friuli even succeededCharles the Fat as King of Italy in 888.
After the German kingOtto I had campaigned northern Italy under Berengar's grandson KingBerengar II, in 952 he merged Friuli into the vastMarch of Verona, which he granted to his brother DukeHenry I of Bavaria, who already controlled the adjacentCarinthian andCarniolan marches. After the deposition of Henry's son and successor DukeHenry the Wrangler in 976, EmperorOtto II separatedCarinthia from the Bavaria as a duchy in its own right, ruled by DukeHenry the Younger who was also given suzerainty over the southeastern Bavarian marches, including Verona, Istria, Carniola andStyria.
There appear counts of Istria late in the 10th century, but Istria together with theMarch of Carniola was separated from the Carinthian duchy in 1040, when both were bestowed on the Thuringian CountPoppo of Weimar, heir by marriage to the last known Friulian margraveWeriand (Werigand (Friaul)). The Carniolan margraves gradually acquired the northeastern territories of the peninsula, while the western and southern coast was gradually occupied by theRepublic of Venice. The German kingHenry IV nominally assigned the remaining march to thePatriarchate of Aquileia, the margravial title and the Istrian territories were however retained by Carniola. In 1173 theHohenstaufen EmperorFrederick Barbarossa enfeoffed the Bavarian nobleHouse of Andechs, who attached Istria to theirDuchy 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 sonPhilip 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 theirVogt officials, theCounts of Görz. The Görz territories were finally acquired by theHabsburg archdukes ofAustria in 1374, who since 1335 had held the Carniolan march. In 1382 they also gained control over the City ofTrieste.
After the secular territory of the patriarchs of Aquileia had been completely conquered by Venice in 1420, most of Istria belonged toLa Serenissima. The AustrianHouse of Habsburg only held a small territory in the interior of the peninsula aroundPazin (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 theHabsburg monarchy (theAustrian Empire after 1804) according to the 1797Treaty of Campo Formio but was subsequently seized byNapoleon in the 1805Peace of Pressburg, forming part of theKingdom of Italy. It was then incorporated into theFrench Empire as part of theIllyrian Provinces in 1809. In 1815, after Napoleon had been defeated, the territory was returned to Austria as part of theKingdom of Illyria by the 1815Congress of Vienna.
After the partition of the Illyrian kingdom in 1849, the Margravate of Istria became a subdivision of theAustrian Littoralcrown land. It received considerable autonomy as a crown land in its own right with the establishment of theDiet of Istria atParenzo by the 1861February Patent.
The title was held afterwards by the Habsburg monarch and the "Margrave of Istria" was included in thegrand title of the Emperor of Austria.
