Counts · Commune of Venice · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Counts of Krk (island)

Krk, the largest island of the Kvarner, is held by the house of Dujam under Venice.

Dujam governed it as a Venetian subject from about 1126; after his death Venice ruled it directly until it agreed with his sons Bartol I and Vid I on 23 August 1163 to let the house hold the island by inheritance for a yearly tribute. Vid I died after 1197, and in 1198 his son Ivan I and his young nephews Vid II and Henrik made a new compact with Doge Enrico Dandolo; in 1199 Dandolo issued a charter entrusting them with the county of Krk on the earlier terms. So on 1 January 1200 Krk is quietly Venetian, governed by its counts, while the same house holds Modruš on the mainland of the Hungarian-Croatian crown (cro).

Who he is

Name
The house of Dujam: Ivan I (son of Vid I) with his young cousins Vid II and Henrik, the parties to the compact of 1198 with Doge Enrico Dandolo. A Bartol (called Bartol II in Croatian works), to whom the disputed Modruš charter of 1193 is addressed, belongs to the same generation. Who leads the house that winter is not pinned.
Title
Counts of Krk (comites Vegle), holding the island of Venice by compact
Since
1198 compact; the house has held the island under Venice since Dujam (about 1126) and by inheritance since 23 August 1163
Born
not pinned (Vid II and Henrik were minors in 1198)
Family
The later Frankopans. Dujam's sons Bartol I and Vid I (Vid I attested 1163-1197) ruled together; by 1198 the next generation had taken over.
Confidence
medium

Hrvatski biografski leksikon (Frankapan): the 1163 agreement, the 1198 compact with Dandolo and his 1199 charter entrusting the county 'under the earlier conditions'.

Overlord

Venice for the island; the Hungarian-Croatian crown for their mainland county of Modruš (Counts of Krk: Modruš and Vinodol)

What it holds

  • The island of Krk with the town of Krk (Veglia), Omišalj, Vrbnik, Baška, Dobrinj and the villages.

How it was acquired

Venetian grant to Dujam about 1126; inheritance granted 23 August 1163; renewed by compact in 1198 and by Dandolo's charter of 1199.

Allies and rivals

Venice is their lord at sea; the Hungarian crown their lord on land; the Templars of Senj and the Andechs lords of Rijeka are their mainland neighbours. Duke Andrew worked with them in 1198-1199 (cro).

How things stand that morning

Held quietly of Venice on 1 January 1200, under the compact of 1198 and the charter of 1199.

Wealth

Wine, salt, fish, sheep and shipping; the yearly tribute to Venice is a charge on it.

Military

Island ships and levies; the walled town of Krk. No numbers recorded.

Threats

  • Being caught between Venice and the Hungarian crown in the war for Zara.
  • Venice's distrust of a house that also serves the Hungarian king.

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.

  1. Autumn 1202 (later)The Venetian and crusader fleet sails down the Kvarner to Zara (taken in November 1202); the counts' loyalty to Venice is tested.Depends on: The crusade treaty with Venice (April 1201). Stopped by: The crusade not sailing with Venice.
  2. Before 1213 (later)Vid II and Henrik enter Andrew II's service; in 1213 Venice confirms only Ivan I as count of Krk.

Places of note

  • Krk town: The counts' seat and the bishop's town.
  • Omišalj: Castle village over the strait to the mainland.

Where the sources disagree

  • The Northern Italy map's Counts of Krk (island) draws the same island with the same realm (venice) and names 'Bartol, Dujam's youngest son, who dies in 1209' as head of the house. The Hrvatski biografski leksikon makes Ivan I, Vid II and Henrik the parties to the 1198 compact. Keep one of the two records on this sheet.
  • The 1193 Modruš charter to Bartol is disputed (Counts of Krk: Modruš and Vinodol).

Evidence: The 1163, 1198 and 1199 acts are dated in the Hrvatski biografski leksikon; the head of the house in 1200 is not stated.

On the map: Drawn whole. Duplicates Counts of Krk (island) (Northern Italy map): the compiler should keep one.

Primary sources for Venice

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 Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online
  • The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. 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
  • Documents on the Early Commercial and Political History of Venice, including the Partitio Romaniae of 1204 (documents 814 to 1299, edited by G. L. F. Tafel and G. M. Thomas, 3 vols (Vienna, 1856 to 1857)). Volume 1 (814 to 1205) prints Venice's treaties with Byzantium, the chrysobull of 1198 to Venice with its list of imperial provinces, the Venetian treaty with the crusaders of April 1201, and the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae of late 1204, which divides the Empire by its fiscal districts and so records the provincial structure (themes, episkepseis, estates) that was in place in 1200. Read online
  • Greek Acts and Documents of the Middle Ages, Sacred and Secular (documents of the 9th to 15th centuries, edited by F. Miklosich and J. Muller, 6 vols (Vienna, 1860 to 1890)). Volume 3 (Acta et diplomata res Graecas Italasque illustrantia, 1865) prints the imperial chrysobulls to Venice, including Alexios III's of November 1198 with its list of the provinces and towns of the Empire where Venetians traded, the best single picture of the imperial provinces as they stood on 1 January 1200, together with the Pisan and Genoese privileges. Read online

1 more in the sources library for Poland, Hungary and the Adriatic.

Sources and studies

  1. Frankapan (Hrvatski biografski leksikon)
  2. cro.json: cro-krk-mainland

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.