Vicina

Who holds it

Name

Not pinned: no holder is recorded between the 1080s and the 1260s

Title

Lord or governor of Vicina

Confidence

low

Anna Komnene (Alexiad, written about 1148) names Bitzina among the lower Danube towns held by Pecheneg chiefs (Sesthlav and Satzas) in the 1080s; al-Idrisi (1154) names it (as Disina) and a later Arab writer calls it a rich town; the Byzantine metropolis of Vicina, the Genoese consul and trade belong to the 13th and 14th centuries (its metropolitan Hyacinth moved to Arges in 1359).

Lord in 1200

Not pinned. The ground of north Dobruja follows the Bulgaria record (Kaloyan holds Dristra upstream); no Byzantine or Bulgarian officer is recorded at Vicina in 1199-1200.

What the town holds

Not recorded.

Allies and rivals

Not recorded for 1200.

How things stand that morning

A Danube port of uncertain site and unrecorded lord on the edge of Kaloyan's Dobruja, facing the Cuman Bugeac across the river.

Wealth

River and sea trade; not recorded for 1200.

Military

Not recorded.

Threats

• Cuman raiders crossing at the Isaccea ford
• The war between Kaloyan and Byzantium at sea and on the coast (Varna is taken in March 1201, later)

Council

None recorded.

Communities

None recorded.

Fairs and markets

None recorded.

Militia

None recorded.

Walls and castle

Not known for 1200 (the site is uncertain). Isaccea has the late Roman and Byzantine fortress of Noviodunum; Nufaru a Byzantine fortress of the 10th to 13th centuries.

Trade and crafts

Later (13th-14th century) Genoese trade in grain, wax, fish and hides from the Danube lands and the steppe; Lombard cloth, linen and spices sold. For 1200 not recorded.

Places of note

• Nufaru: Proposed site (Atanasov): Byzantine fortress of the 10th-13th centuries
• Pacuiul lui Soare: Proposed site (Diaconu): Danube island by Dristra with a Byzantine fort of about 971-1000 and a later settlement

Where the sources disagree

• The realm given (bulgaria) follows the Bulgaria record, which draws north Dobruja to the St George arm as Kaloyan's thin claim (status claimed) and anchors Isaccea and Macin to him; it is not a recorded Bulgarian lordship over Vicina.

Evidence: Site unknown; no notice between al-Idrisi (1154) and the later 13th century, and no holder after the Pecheneg chiefs of the 1080s.

On the map: A point at Isaccea for a port whose site is unknown; no land is drawn.

Primary sources for Bulgaria

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.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. 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 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 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 Registers of Pope Innocent III (pontifical years 1 to 3, 1198 to 1201), Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni) and the papal chancery (1198 onwards, year by year). The register for the second and third pontifical years (February 1199 to February 1201) holds the letters that set the eastern stage for 1200: the exchange with Kaloyan of Bulgaria opened in December 1199 and continued through 1200 over union with Rome and a crown, letters to Vukan of Zeta and to Stefan of Serbia, letters to Alexios III and the patriarch John Kamateros pressing for church union and help for the crusade, the preaching commissions and the legation of Peter Capuano, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond and Leo of Armenia, letters to Aimery of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and the French interdict over Ingeborg. 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