Bari was the old Byzantine capital of southern Italy and the greatest city of Apulia until William I razed it in 1156 for rebelling, sparing only the cathedral and the basilica of St Nicholas.
Rebuilt under William II, it is again a large port and the goal of a steady stream of pilgrims to St Nicholas's tomb. Between 1189 and 1208 it lives through a long spell of unrest between its families of Lombard and of Byzantine descent (Federiciana). In January 1200 it is a royal city under the regency, with no known German garrison.
Who holds it
- Name
- The crown, through its city officer (catepan) and judges; the officers on 1 January 1200 are not pinned
- Title
- Royal city
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The king (the regency government). A royal catepan (catepanus) and the city's judges govern under the crown: a catepan Donadeo is named before about 1212 (Federiciana); who held the office in January 1200 is not pinned. Archbishop Doferio (1188-1207) holds the cathedral; the clergy of St Nicholas hold the basilica (a Church map matter).
How things stand that morning
Royal city under the regency; restless within; no record of fighting that winter.
Charter
No general charter of liberties is known before Frederick II's privileges. The city lives by its own customary law, Lombard and Roman, which its jurists will set down as the Consuetudines Barenses (Andrea of Bari, logothete of the kingdom 1211-1238; completed by Sparano of Bari, died 1291): in 1200 the customs are in use but not yet written in their known form (date of compilation not pinned).
Council
Royal officers (the catepan, the bailiff) and the city's judges (iudices) and notaries; the leading families sit as judges and witnesses. No sworn commune.
Communities
Latin citizens of Lombard and Byzantine descent; Greek clergy and families; the canons of St Nicholas; a Jewish community driven to Trani after 1156 (Benjamin of Tudela, about 1165, found the city destroyed and uninhabited), whose return by 1200 is not pinned; resident Amalfitan, Ravellese, Pisan and Venetian traders. The Hospitallers had one of their earliest western houses here (named in Paschal II's bull of 1113); after 1156 their priory moved to Barletta.
Fairs and markets
The feast of the translation of St Nicholas (9 May) draws pilgrims and trade; markets by the port and the grain market (forum) by the walls.
Militia
The citizens' levy owed to the crown; no figures.
Walls and castle
The walls restored after 1156 (circuit not pinned); the Norman castle, later rebuilt by Frederick II in 1233; the walled precinct (corte) of St Nicholas.
Trade and crafts
A grain, oil and wine port; pilgrims bound for St Nicholas and the East; shipbuilding. In the early thirteenth century merchants from Ravello, Amalfi, Pisa and Venice, and from the East, trade here (Federiciana).
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.
- 1200-1208Continued factional unrest inside the city until Frederick's majority.Depends on: The regency's weakness Stopped by: A strong royal officer or a lord taking the city in hand
Places of note
- Basilica of St Nicholas: Pilgrimage church with the saint's relics (since 1087)
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Federiciana article (Musca) for the archbishop, the unrest and the merchants; the city's officers in January 1200 are not pinned.
Primary sources for Sicily
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.
- Annals of Montecassino; Annals of Ceccano (Fossanova) (12th and early 13th centuries; Ceccano to 1217). Two sets of annals from either side of the papal and Sicilian frontier. Read online
- Chronicle of Richard of San Germano, Richard of San Germano (first version about 1216, enlarged to 1243). The fullest southern narrative of the Hohenstaufen kingdom, written by a notary on the border of the Terra di Lavoro. Read online
- Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
- Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
- Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. Read online
- Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
- Chronicle of Sicard, bishop of Cremona, Sicard of Cremona (about 1210 to 1213). A universal chronicle whose last part is a well-placed eyewitness account by a Lombard bishop who served emperors and popes. Read online
- The Deeds of Innocent III, Anonymous (a curial official, perhaps Peter of Benevento) (about 1208 to 1209). The curia's own account of the pontificate's first decade, with letters copied in. Read online
7 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.
Sources and studies
- G. Musca, Bari, Enciclopedia Federiciana (treccani.it)
- Benjamin of Tudela, Itinerary (about 1165), trans. M. N. Adler (1907); figures cited from that translation, not re-checked in this run
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.