Port · Smaller communes and their contadi · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Trieste

A small walled port at the head of the Adriatic between the patriarch's Muggia and the Karst.

The bishop is lord of the city; a commune of the citizens is growing beside him and will buy his rights piece by piece in the thirteenth century (the bishops formally give up their temporal power in 1236). Trieste is not yet bound to Venice by oath: it submits to Doge Enrico Dandolo only when the crusade fleet passes in 1202.

Who holds it

Name
not pinned: Bishop Woscalco (elected 1190, confirmed by the patriarch in 1192, last seen after 1192) or Enrico Rapizza (first mentioned in 1201)
Title
Bishop of Trieste, count of the city since 948 (a Church map record), with the commune beside him
Confidence
low

Lord in 1200

The bishop of Trieste, who has held the city and its district up to three miles beyond the walls since King Lothair II's grant of 948. The bishop on 1 January 1200 is not pinned (Woscalco, 1190 to after 1192; Enrico Rapizza, mentioned 1201; Gerardo, before 1203).

How things stand that morning

On 1 January 1200 the bishop rules the city with the commune beside him; Trieste owes Venice nothing by oath yet. Neighbours: the patriarch's Muggia across the bay, the Karst villages behind (the patriarch's and the lords of Duino's), Capodistria to the south.

Charter

King Lothair II's grant of 948 to the bishop (the city and three miles round it). No pact with Venice before 1202.

Council

Not pinned for 1200: the bishop's officers and the commune (its first documented podestà is in 1216).

Walls and castle

Walls round the hill of San Giusto, with the cathedral and the bishop's palace.

Trade and crafts

Salt, wine and oil; the carrying trade between the Karst roads and the sea.

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.

  1. autumn 1202Trieste and Muggia submit to Doge Enrico Dandolo as the crusade fleet sails for Zadar.Depends on: The crusaders' treaty with Venice (April 1201) and the fleet sailing. Stopped by: The crusade not being shipped by Venice.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 948 grant, the bishops' list and the 1236 renunciation from Italian Wikipedia (Diocesi di Trieste); the 1202 submission from English Wikipedia (War for Zadar).

Sources and studies

  1. Diocesi di Trieste (Italian Wikipedia)
  2. War for Zadar (1181-1202) (English Wikipedia)
  3. Istria (Enciclopedia Italiana, Treccani)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.