The Templars came to Croatia in the second half of the 12th century.
Béla III gave them the port of Senj in 1184, which they keep until 1271; it is the sea end of the road from the Adriatic into the interior. Their chief house is Vrana near Zadar, the former Benedictine abbey of St Gregory by Lake Vrana, which became the seat of the order's priory; when it passed to them is not pinned.
Who holds it
- Title
- Master of the Temple in Hungary and Slavonia (house of Vrana)
- Confidence
- low
No source read here names the Templar master for Hungary and Croatia on 1 January 1200. The order's head in the East is Gilbert Horal (see Tortosa).
What it holds
- Senj: town and port, given by Béla III in 1184
- Vrana: the former abbey of St Gregory and its estate by Lake Vrana, the order's chief house (date of acquisition not pinned)
- Other houses named by the Croatian Encyclopedia (Zagreb, Božjakovina, Dubica, Našice), not pinned for 1200 and not drawn
How it was acquired
Royal grants: Senj by Béla III in 1184; Vrana by the late 12th century, date not pinned.
How things stand that morning
Held. Croatia and Dalmatia are under Emeric that morning, Andrew being in exile.
Wealth
Senj's harbour and the trade of the road inland; Vrana's farms and lake fishery.
Threats
- Venetian pressure on the Zadar coast
- Andrew's return as duke in 1200
Advocates and rivals
The bishop of Senj (see founded 1169); the Dalmatian towns; the coastal nobles (the Frankopans of Krk get Senj in 1271); Venice, which wants Zadar back.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200 (not pinned)A papal legate reconciles Emeric and Andrew; Andrew returns to Croatia and Dalmatia and rules them as duke, minting coin and granting land.Depends on: Both brothers accepting the legate's terms. Stopped by: A new rising by Andrew, or Emeric refusing terms. (Andrew rebels again and is taken at Varaždin in October 1203.)
Places of note
- Vrana: The order's chief house in Croatia
- Senj: Templar port town
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Senj's grant of 1184 is from Wikipedia; the Croatian Encyclopedia lists the houses without dates. When Vrana passed to the Templars is not dated in any source read here.
On the map: Vrana is drawn as the commune of Pakoštane, which may overstate the estate; Senj as a disc.
Primary sources for Croatia and Dalmatia
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
- History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
- The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
- Charters of the kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia, volume 2, 1101 to 1200 (documents of 1101 to 1200, edited 1904). The Croatian and Dalmatian charters to 1200: the acts of Duke Andrew as lord of Croatia and Dalmatia (1197 to 1204), the Hungarian kings' grants, the Templars and the bishops of Zagreb, Split, Zadar and Trogir, the communal statutes of the coastal towns, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about Ban Kulin of Bosnia and heresy. Read online
- Hungarian royal charters: Fejér's Codex diplomaticus and Szentpétery's critical calendar of the Árpád kings (documents of the 11th to 13th centuries; Fejér published 1829 to 1844, Szentpétery vol. 1 in 1923). The documentary base for Hungary in 1200: King Emeric's grants to Pannonhalma, the bishops, the Templars and Hospitallers, Duke Andrew's acts in Croatia and Dalmatia, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about his brother's rebellion and about heresy in Bosnia. Read online
- Documents on the older commercial and political history of the Republic of Venice, part 1, 814 to 1205 (documents of 814 to 1205, edited 1856). Venice's treaties and privileges in full text. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.