John was the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

Duke of Istria in the early years of the 9th century, soon after its conquest by

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

. In 804, in the

Placitum of Riziano The Placitum of Riziano ( it, Placito del Risano; sl, Rižanski zbor) was a dispute that took place c. 804 around the river Riziano, probably at Rižana in modern Slovenia. The document is important for the history of Capodistria ( Koper) and Tr ...

, the denizens of the nine cities of Istria complained to Charlemagne that John was ignoring their ancient privileges. John had taken away the privileges of sea-fishing and pasturing in public forests. He had abolished the old hierarchy and either abolished the offices of

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...

, domesticus,

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

ius, and

hypatus ''Hypatos'' ( gr, ὕπατος; plural: , ''hypatoi'') and the variant ''apo hypatōn'' (, "former ''hypatos''", literally: "from among the consuls") was a Byzantine court dignity, originally the Greek translation of Latin ''consul'' (the litera ...

or filled them Franks. He seized lands and confiscated the taxes (344 '' solidi mancusi'' annually from the cities) for himself. He forced many to serve in the army personally, alongside their slaves, and to demand

corvée Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...

labour. John explained that he had been ignorant of the customs of Istria and promised to make amends and ceased exacting corvées. It is unknown if he did.

Sources

*Wickham, Chris. ''Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000''. MacMillan Press: 1981. {{Margraves of Istria Nobility of the Carolingian Empire Margraves of Istria 9th-century rulers in Europe