Ulrich / Voldoricus von Treven (dec 31, 1161 – dec 30, 1182)

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He supported Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, (1122–1190) in his unsuccessful struggle for supremacy over the northern Italian states and the papacy. He was also involved in a dispute over jurisdiction with the Patriarch of Grado where he was ultimately successful.

Ulrich was the son of Count Wolfrad I von Treffen, ruler of the town of Treffen in Austria.[1] His mother Hemma was the daughter of Margrave Starchand.[2] Ulrich became Patriarch of Aquileia in 1161, succeeding Pellegrino di Ortenbourg.[3]

Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, aimed to bring northern Italy into his domains. Barbarossa entered Italy with his armies in 1154, and in 1161 established control of the mainland around Venice.[5] In 1162, while Venice was involved in a war with Padua and Ferrara, Patriarch Ulrich of Aquileia attacked Grado.[7] Ulrich led forces from the region of Friuli into Grado, which he declared to be a precinct of Aquileia.[5] Enrico Dandolo, the Patriarch of Grado, was forced to flee to Venice.[7]

Ulrich's move was clearly part of a campaign to bring Venice under German subjugation.[5] The doge, Vitale II Michiel, responded forcefully.[7] He sent a powerful fleet to Grado, which he surrounded and captured.[5] He took Ulrich prisoner and destroyed several of his castles in Friuli.[7] He brought Ulrich and twelve of his canons back to Venice, with seven hundred captives.[5] Eventually Pope Alexander III intervened to make a peace. The patriarch and the twelve canons were released in exchange for payment of an annual tribute of a bull, twelve pigs and 300 loaves of bread. The animals would be slaughtered in a public ceremony to commemorate the victory.[7] This ceremony persisted as an element of the Venetian carnival for hundreds of years.[8]

Ulrich II continued to support the rival popes of the emperor until late in the 1160s, when he transferred his allegiance to Alexander III.[9] On 29 May 1176 Frederick Barbarossa was defeated at the Battle of Legnano.[10] On 24 July 1177 Sebastiano Ziani, the doge of Venice, and Ulrich II von Treven escorted the emperor from San Nicolò al Lido into Venice, where he met the pope and was reconciled in an emotional public scene in front of St Mark's Basilica.[10] The Treaty of Venice, ratified on 1 August 1177, temporarily resolved the differences between the emperor, the papacy and the north Italian city-states of the Lombard League. The emperor formally acknowledged Pope Alexander III as pope.[10]

Ulrich II, as a confidant of both the pope and the emperor, had been instrumental in reconciling the two and healing the division in the church. For this, Frederick confirmed and extended the secular jurisdiction of the patriarchate of Aquileia. In 1177 Alexander III confirmed that Aquileia had metropolitan authority with jurisdiction over sixteen bishoprics.[11] On 24 July 1180 Patriarch Dandolo of Grado agreed to a final and formal resolution of the ancient disputes with the patriarchate of Aquileia.

In the presence of Alexander III and Ulrich II of Aquileia, Dandolo renounced his claims to the disputed dioceses in Istria and to the relics and treasures that Poppo of Aquileia had taken from Grado at the start of the 11th century.[14]

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