face page_ 42]

Its greatest prosperity was between the time of the great wanderings of
the peoples and the descent of the barbarians into Italy. Its patriarch
took the lead in establishing the government of the islands from which
the Venetian Republic sprang. In 460 Nicetas called all the bishops,
clergy, and leading officials of the islands together to deliberate on
the question of government, and, after discussion, they agreed to
establish one under the directorship of Tribunes. The first tribune was
to live at Grado, with three others, called "maggiori," but depending
upon him, one for Rivoalto, one for Candeana, and one for Dorsea, living
at Rialto, Eraclea, and Torcello respectively. They had charge of the
administration of justice, presided over the execution of the laws,
enforced discipline, and met at times in council to discuss propositions
laid before them. Grado lost its supremacy in 696, when the assembly
held at Eraclea gave it to that city, though the Patriarch of Grado,
Cristoforo, was given equality with the three tribunes which Eraclea
then had. The next year the first doge, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was
elected. It was by means of Fortunatus of Trieste, Patriarch of Grado
(803-825), that the cry of the Istrians, oppressed by the Frankish duke
and his supporters, came to the ears of Charlemagne, with the result
that after a strict inquiry held at Risano in 804, when the
representatives of the cities and castella exposed the odious
proceedings of the bishop, the duke, and their adherents, they obtained
redress. In 875 the Saracens attacked Grado, but were repulsed. The next
year a similar attack was made by the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia, but
the Doge Orso met them, defeated them, and gave back to several Istrian
towns objects of which they had been robbed.

Between Grado and Aquileia there was a constant struggle for supremacy,
which was in reality a contest between Venice and the empire, Aquileia
standing for the latter and Grado for the former. A formal peace was
concluded between them during the Lateran Council of 1180, by which the
Patriarch of Grado renounced all claims over the Istrian bishoprics,
except as regards the hundred amphoras of wine sent by Capodistria from
1075, given as a personal honour to the Doge Pietro Candiano, and by him
handed over to the Patriarch of Grado. In 452 the Patriarch of Aquileia
fled to Grado from the Huns, returning after they had passed, and in
578, when Aquileia