Doux of Dyrrachion

Who he is

Title

Doux (governor) of Dyrrachion

Since

Not pinned

Confidence

low

No governor is named for 1190-1205 in the sources checked. The list in en.wikipedia (after Jirecek and the seals) has Constantine Doukas about 1171 and an unnamed doux in 1203; the secondary accounts of Choniates read in this run name none for Alexios III's reign.

Overlord

The emperor Alexios III Angelos.

What it holds

• Dyrrachion: city, citadel and harbour (Dyrrachion)
• The coastal plain from the Ishem to the Seman, with the lower Shkumbin and the first stages of the Via Egnatia
• The fiscal district (chartoularaton) of Glavinitza: the Mallakaster hills round Ballsh and the plain down to the Vjosa (attached to the province in 1204)
• The fiscal district (chartoularaton) of Vagenetia: the coast from Himara to the Acheron with Butrint and Glyky (attached in 1204; listed as a separate province, with Glyky, by Marino Zeno in 1205)
• Belegrada (Berat) and the Osum valley: an imperial fortress district whose tie to Dyrrachion is not pinned
• The emperor's overlordship of Arbanon (Kruja and the Mat) through its archon (Arbanon)

How it was acquired

Imperial since Basil II's wars, apart from the Norman occupations: Robert Guiscard took the city in February 1082 and his men held it until 1085; William II's army took it in June 1185 and held it until spring 1186, after the Norman defeat at Demetritzes on 7 November 1185.

Allies and rivals

The archon of Arbanon, an imperial officer; the Venetian merchants, privileged since 1082 and confirmed in November 1198. Rivals: the Sicilian crown and the Staufen, heirs to the Norman claim (Henry VI's envoys raised claims to the former Norman possessions round Dyrrachion in 1195; Howden's 'duchy of Durazzo' granted to Margaritus at Christmas 1194 probably meant only the Ionian islands). Henry died on 28 September 1197 and the German tax raised to buy him off was abolished; the claim now lies with the regency of the boy king Frederick and with Philip of Swabia, married since 1197 to Isaac II's daughter Irene, who will shelter the young Alexios in 1201 (later).

No one is pressing it that winter; the Serbs to the north (Stefan Nemanjic took Pult from Arbanon, briefly, in 1198, according to en.wikipedia).

How things stand that morning

Byzantine. The doux holds Dyrrachion and the plain for Alexios III; no fighting is recorded here in 1199-1200. Across the borders: Arbanon round Kruja and the Mat (albania, ser) to the north-east; Vukan's Zeta (zeta, ser) beyond the Drin; the Ohrid lands (byzantium, mac) up the Via Egnatia; the province of Jericho and Kanina (Jericho and Kanina) south of the Vjosa; Dryinopolis (Dryinopolis) inland of Vagenetia; Corfu (contested) across the strait from Vagenetia; Apulia (kingdom of Sicily) across the Adriatic.

Wealth

The harbour and the short crossing to Brindisi, Bari and Otranto; the trade tax (kommerkion) on the Via Egnatia traffic, from which Venetians are exempt; the grain and pasture of the plain; the dues of the two fiscal districts.

Military

The walls and citadel of Dyrrachion, which held out for months in 1081-1082 and against Bohemond in 1107-1108; the imperial garrison; the archon of Arbanon's men when called. No numbers in any source.

Threats

• A Sicilian or Staufen revival of the Norman claim (none is in preparation that winter)
• Serbian pressure from Zeta on the northern hills
• Venice, which takes the city in 1205
• Arbanon's drift toward independence

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. Spring 1203 (beyond 1200)The crusade fleet carrying the young Alexios (Alexios IV) calls at Dyrrachion and the city accepts him (Villehardouin; not re-checked in this run).Depends on: The young Alexios's escape to the West (1201) and the diversion of the crusade Stopped by: The crusade sailing straight to the East
2. Summer 1205 (beyond 1200)After the fall of Constantinople the city's magnates surrender Dyrrachion to Venice; the Venetian duchy of Durazzo lasts until 1213.Depends on: The fall of Constantinople (1204) and the partition giving Venice the province Stopped by: A surviving empire

Places of note

• Citadel of Dyrrachion: The doux's seat
• Glavinitza (Ballsh): Head place of the chartoularaton of Glavinitza

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The province's make-up is known from the 1198 chrysobull and the 1204 partition; its governor in 1200 is not named in any source checked; the bounds with Arbanon, Avlona and Dryinopolis are not documented.

On the map: Rough outlines: no source gives the bounds in 1200. Vagenetia and Glavinitza follow the grouping of the 1204 partition; Berat is drawn with the doux for want of a separate commander's name.

Primary sources for Byzantium

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.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
• The Capture of Constantinople, Gunther of Pairis (about 1205 to 1210). Written at the Cistercian abbey of Pairis in Alsace from the account of its abbot Martin, who preached the crusade at Basel in 1200 (Gunther gives the sermon) and led a contingent from the Upper Rhine. 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 Palace Revolution of John Komnenos (31 July 1200), Nicholas Mesarites (1200 or soon after). An eyewitness narrative of the one-day coup of John Komnenos the Fat at Constantinople on 31 July 1200: the crowning of the usurper in Hagia Sophia, the mob's plunder of the Great Palace, the stand of the palace clergy and the guard at the church of the Virgin of the Pharos, where Mesarites was skeuophylax, and the recovery of the palace by Alexios III's men that night. 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 (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 History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The Balkans and Byzantium.