Trani is the busiest port of the Terra di Bari after Bari's ruin in 1156: it ships the grain and oil of the Apulian plain across the Adriatic, above all to Venice, and its merchants and bankers include men of Amalfi and Ravello.
Its great cathedral of St Nicholas the Pilgrim was begun in 1099 and consecrated in 1143. Henry VI proclaimed his crusade in Apulia in Holy Week 1195 (it.wikipedia says from Trani; other accounts have him take the cross at Bari on Good Friday). Trani has a long record of revolt against the Norman kings, but in January 1200 it is a royal city under the regency with no known war.
Who holds it
- Name
- The crown, through its officers; Archbishop Samarus (Samaro) of Trani, in office from before February 1192 to after August 1201
- Title
- Royal city
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The king (the regency government) through its bailiff and judges; officers in January 1200 not pinned.
How things stand that morning
Royal port under the regency; no record of fighting that winter.
Charter
Customs of the sea traditionally dated 1063 (the Ordinamenta et consuetudo maris, attributed to the consuls of Trani; the date and the text's age are doubted). Frederick II's privilege of 28 April 1215, exempting the citizens from anchorage dues, is later.
Council
Royal officers, the city's judges and its leading merchants; the 'consuls' of the sea customs are a tradition, not an attested body in 1200.
Communities
A large Jewish community, swollen by refugees from Bari after 1156 (Benjamin of Tudela, about 1165: about 200 Jews); Amalfitan and Ravellese merchants (the church of Ognissanti may have stood in their hospital); Venetian traders. The Templars are present from 1142, and a document of 1191 calls the church of San Giovanni a grange of the Knights of the Temple; the Hospitallers too have a house.
Fairs and markets
Weekly markets and the port's seasonal grain shipping; fairs not pinned.
Militia
Citizens' levy and ships; no figures.
Walls and castle
The old Lombard walls with four gates of the Byzantine period; Frederick II's castle and new walls date only from 1233.
Trade and crafts
Grain, olive oil and wine to the Adriatic ports, chiefly Venice; banking and moneylending by Amalfitan and Ravellese merchants; shipbuilding. Venice's last known general treaty with the kingdom is William II's of 1175; whether Henry VI or the regency renewed it is not pinned.
Places of note
- Cathedral of St Nicholas the Pilgrim: Begun 1099, consecrated 1143
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: it.wikipedia (Trani, Ognissanti) for the cathedral, trade, Jews and Templars; officers and archbishop in 1200 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
- Trani (it.wikipedia)
- Chiesa di Ognissanti, Trani (it.wikipedia)
- Benjamin of Tudela, Itinerary (about 1165), trans. M. N. Adler (1907); figures cited from that translation, not re-checked in this run
- Arcidiocesi di Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie, cronotassi (it.wikipedia)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.