Arbe is a small walled bishop's town (the bishop of Arbe is a suffragan of Zara; Church map record) on a ridge above its harbour, governing the whole island.
It had been under Venice since the early 12th century, broke away in 1190 when the Venetian fleet was beaten in the war for Zara, and is most likely Venetian again on 1 January 1200, like Ossero, whose Venetian count is attested in 1198; the date of its return is not recorded. The town also claimed land on the northern tip of Pag (Lun).
Who holds it
- Name
- Not named for 1199-1200
- Title
- Count (comes) of Arbe
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (War for Zadar): Venice lost Arbe in 1190; the recovery of neighbouring Ossero by 1198 (Count of Ossero) and of Pag in 1193 makes a Venetian Arbe likely by 1200, but no source used here says so.
Lord in 1200
Venice, most likely, through a count (not pinned: lost by Venice in 1190; no record of its recovery).
Allies and rivals
Venice and Ossero on one side, Zara and the Hungarian crown on the other; Pag's northern end disputed.
How things stand that morning
Probably Venetian under a count (low confidence).
Wealth
Wine, wool, salt and fishing.
Threats
- The war for Zara.
Charter
Its own customs and its compacts with Venice; no statute of this date survives.
Council
The count, the judges and the nobles' council; the bishop.
Communities
A small Latin patriciate and Croatian villagers.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded.
Militia
Island levies and boats. No numbers recorded.
Walls and castle
Town walls on its ridge with the bell towers of its churches (the oldest of the 11th century).
Trade and crafts
Wine, sheep, salt and the woods of the island (Kalifront, Dundo); coasting trade with Venice and Zara.
Places of note
- Lopar: Northern part of the island.
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment speaks of Venice's counts in Arbe; the evidence for Venetian rule there between 1190 and 1202 is indirect.
Evidence: Only the loss of 1190 is dated.
On the map: The island is drawn as the town's district, coloured Venetian with low confidence.
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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.