Since the Pactum Warmundi of 1124 the Venetians have held a quarter in Acre, where they are 'as free as in Venice itself', and a third of Tyre and of its villages, with their own church (St Mark), market, oven, bath, mill and scales, freedom from the king's tolls, and their own court for cases between Venetians or where a Venetian is defendant.
After 1187 Conrad of Montferrat, who owed his survival at Tyre to the Genoese and Pisans, weakened the Venetians' hold on their Tyre property, and they have spent the years since trying to recover it. On 1 January 1200 Venice is about to become the decisive power of the new crusade: the envoys of the crusade barons will come to it in 1201.
Who he is
- Name
- The doge Enrico Dandolo (doge since 1192) and his officers at Acre and Tyre (names not pinned)
- Title
- The Venetian commune overseas, under the doge of Venice
- Since
- 1124 (Pactum Warmundi)
- Confidence
- medium
Rights from the Pactum Warmundi; their weakening at Tyre under Conrad from History of Tyre (Wikipedia). The names of the Venetian officers in 1200 are not pinned.
Overlord
The doge of Venice; in the kingdom, the king's justice only where a Venetian sues a non-Venetian.
What it holds
- The Venetian quarter at Acre, by the harbour, with the church of St Mark and the fondaco.
- A third of the city of Tyre and claims to a third of its villages (how much was in Venetian hands in 1200 is not pinned).
How it was acquired
Pactum Warmundi, 1124, confirmed by later kings.
Allies and rivals
Rivals of Genoa and Pisa in the ports.
How things stand that morning
Present and self-governing in Acre and Tyre on 1 January 1200; part of the Tyre property contested since Conrad's time.
Wealth
Trade in spices, silk, sugar and pilgrims; no figures in the sources used.
Military
Ships and armed merchants; fortified houses in the quarter.
Threats
- Genoese and Pisan rivalry; the crown's resistance to restoring the Tyre property.
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.
- February 1201 (later)The crusade envoys reach Venice and contract for a fleet: Venice becomes the crusade's carrier.Depends on: The crusade going by sea. Stopped by: A different route or carrier.
Places of note
- Venetian quarter of Tyre: A third of the city, with St Mark's church.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The 1124 rights are certain; their state in 1200 is known only in outline.
On the map: Quarters inside the cities are shown as small discs at approximate positions.
Primary sources for Kingdom of Jerusalem
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.
- The Book of the Two Gardens, on the Reigns of Nur al-Din and Saladin, and its Sequel, Abu Shama (Shihab al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Maqdisi) (about 1240 to 1267, at Damascus). The Rawdatayn ends with Saladin's death in 1193 and matters for 1200 as the store of Imad al-Din al-Isfahani's lost al-Barq al-Shami and of al-Qadi al-Fadil's letters, quoted at length, which describe the Ayyubid princes, the Jazira and the frontier a few years earlier. Read online
- The Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin, and later compilers (the 1187 core soon after the event; the whole in its present form 1227 to 1232). The Ibelin household's version of events in Outremer. Read online
- The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (Eracles), Anonymous continuators, the earliest drawing on Ernoul (about 1220 to 1277; the first continuation (1184 to 1197, the Lyon Eracles) compiled about 1230 from material of the 1190s). For the Latin East at 1200 it narrates the aftermath of the Third Crusade: the truce of 1192, the succession to Jerusalem through Queen Isabella's marriages to Henry of Champagne (died September 1197) and Aimery of Lusignan, Aimery's rule as king of Jerusalem from 1198 while king of Cyprus, the German crusade of 1197 to 1198 and the recovery of Beirut and Sidon, the truce with al-Adil of 1198, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond IV and Leo of Armenia, and the Pisan plot against Aimery. Read online
- 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
- The Chronicle of Smbat Sparapet (Sempad the Constable), Smbat Sparapet, brother of King Hetum I of Cilicia (about 1270 to 1276). The Cilician court chronicle, drawing on Matthew of Edessa for its early part and on family memory later. Read online
- The Eloquent Exposition of the Conquest of Jerusalem, Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (al-Katib) (about 1192 to 1193). Saladin's secretary's ornate account of the conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, ending with Saladin's death in 1193. Read online
- The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, Baha al-Din Ibn Shaddad (after 1193, probably between about 1198 and 1228, at Aleppo). Ends with Saladin's death in March 1193 and so gives no event of 1200, but it is the formative portrait of the Ayyubid house of 1200: al-Adil, al-Afdal, al-Aziz and al-Zahir Ghazi as Saladin's lieutenants, the Mosul and Jazira campaigns, the war of Acre and the treaty of Jaffa of 1192. Read online
- Calendar of the Acts of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Various, calendared by Reinhold Rohricht (documents 1097 to 1291; calendar published 1893, Additamentum 1904). A chronological calendar of every charter, letter and treaty of the Latin East then known, with date, parties, witnesses and the edition where each is printed. Read online
7 more in the sources library for The Latin East and the Ayyubids.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.