The lowest good crossing of the Danube above the delta runs from the Bugeac shore to Isaccea (ancient Noviodunum, a Roman bridgehead and fleet base) on the Dobruja bank, a road used by armies from the steppe since antiquity; the north landing is the natural way south for Cumans from Moldavia.
Nothing is recorded at the crossing for 1199-1200, and there is no settlement on the north bank.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not a lordship: a river crossing
- Title
- None
- Confidence
- low
Isaccea (Noviodunum) on the south bank faces the lowest easy crossing of the Danube above the delta; no notice for 1200.
Lord in 1200
No lord: the north bank lies in the Cuman Bugeac; the south bank (Isaccea, perhaps Vicina) belongs to the Dobruja of the Bulgaria record.
Overlord
None recorded.
What the town holds
Not recorded.
Allies and rivals
Not recorded.
How things stand that morning
An open crossing between the Cuman Bugeac and Dobruja.
Wealth
Not recorded.
Military
None recorded.
Threats
- None recorded
Council
None recorded.
Communities
None recorded.
Fairs and markets
None recorded.
Militia
None recorded.
Walls and castle
None on the north bank; the fortress of Noviodunum lies on the south bank.
Trade and crafts
None recorded.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Geography only; nothing dated 1200.
On the map: A point on the north bank opposite Isaccea.
Primary sources for The Cumans
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 Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
- The Laurentian Chronicle (the Suzdal continuation kept in the late 12th and 13th centuries; manuscript 1377). The court record of Vsevolod III of Vladimir. 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 Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
- The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
- The Tale of Igor's Campaign (about 1187 to 1200 (disputed)). A poem on Igor Sviatoslavich's defeat by the Polovtsians in 1185 that addresses the princes of the day by name: Vsevolod of Vladimir, Rurik and David Rostislavich, Yaroslav of Galich, Roman of Volhynia and the Olgovichi of Chernigov, of whom Igor himself was prince from 1198. Read online
Sources and studies
- V. Spinei, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century (Leiden 2009), pp. 159-160, 177 (archive.org full-text search)
- Vicina (town) (en.wikipedia, citing Kazhdan, ODB 1991; Atanasov 1994; Radvan 2010)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.