Zara is the greatest of the Dalmatian towns, a walled Roman city on a peninsula with the best harbour of the coast, and the prize of a twenty-year war.
It belonged to Venice until it rose in 1181-1183 and put itself under the Hungarian king (Béla III) and the pope. Venice besieged it in vain in 1187, lost Pag, Arbe and Ossero in 1190 when its new fleet was beaten, took Pag back and appeared before the walls in September 1193, and drove Zara's Pisan allies out of the Adriatic in 1195-1196. On 1 January 1200 Zara is still the king's, self-governing under its count and archbishop, with no peace or truce with Venice known.
Since the 1150s Rome has made its archbishop subject to the primacy of the Venetian patriarch of Grado, a lever Venice uses. Its fall to the Venetian and crusader fleet in November 1202 is later and depends on the crusade being shipped by Venice.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not named for 1199-1200 in the sources used. Domald, later count of Šibenik and Split, appears as count of Zara only after the siege (1203 or 1204).
- Title
- Count (comes) of Zara, under the king of Hungary and Croatia
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (War for Zadar; Siege of Zara; Domald of Sidraga); Hrvatska enciklopedija (Zadar); Italian Wikipedia (Arcidiocesi di Zara) for the archbishops.
Lord in 1200
King Emeric, as king of Croatia and Dalmatia; the commune under its own count. Archbishop Nicholas (Nikola Manzavin, archbishop 1198-1202 in the lists; Church map record) is one of the prelates Duke Andrew put in, under papal inquiry (campaign notes).
Allies and rivals
King Emeric and the pope are its protectors; Pisa its ally (1188); Venice its enemy; the counts of Krk and the Kvarner islands lie on Venice's side.
How things stand that morning
The king's town, self-governing, at war with Venice without a known truce. Venice holds no part of the town or its district (Pag, off its coast, is disputed: Pag). No attack on it is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200, so no belt is drawn.
Wealth
Port tolls (two thirds kept by the town), salt, the district's farms and the islands' fisheries.
Threats
- Venice, which wants it back above all else.
- The papal inquiry into its archbishop.
- Royal displeasure if the town is seen as Andrew's.
Charter
Coloman's privileges of 1108 for the Dalmatian towns: the citizens elect their count and their bishop for the king's confirmation, keep their own law, keep two thirds of the port tolls (the king takes one third), and no Hungarian may settle inside the walls against their will. Zara's own privileges from the Hungarian kings after 1181 are not preserved; its statute is later (1305).
Council
The count, the judges (iudices) and the council of the nobles, with the assembly of the citizens; the archbishop is the other head of the town.
Communities
A Latin-speaking patriciate over a large Croatian population: in 1177 the citizens greeted Pope Alexander III with songs 'in their Slavic tongue'. The Benedictines of St Chrysogonus (Krševan) and the nuns of St Mary hold much land in the district. Venetian merchants are enemies in time of war.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded.
Militia
The citizens and their galleys; in 1187 a Hungarian force held the castle and helped the town hold out against Venice. No numbers recorded; a royal garrison in 1200 is not pinned.
Walls and castle
Lofty walls and tall towers (Villehardouin, 1202), a harbour closed by a chain and booms, and a castle where the Hungarian troops stood in 1187.
Trade and crafts
Sea trade with Apulia, the Marches (Ancona) and Pisa (alliance of 1188); salt from Pag and Nin; wine, oil and grain from the district; the road inland to the Croatian kindreds' country (Luka) and to Knin.
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.
In 1200
- During 1200 (not pinned)The papal inquiry into the archbishops Andrew installed at Split and Zara goes on (campaign notes, Part 8, 8).Depends on: The legate Gregory's mission. Stopped by: A settlement between the brothers that confirms Andrew's men.
Later, on the likely course
- 10 to 24 November 1202 (later)The Venetian and crusader fleet arrives (10 November) and takes Zara after a siege (24 November in some accounts, 23 November in others); the walls are thrown down and Innocent III excommunicates the crusaders.Depends on: The crusaders' treaty with Venice (April 1201) and their inability to pay. Stopped by: The crusade not sailing with Venice, or a Venetian-Hungarian peace.
Places of note
- St Michael's castle on Ugljan: Hill fort over the channel facing Zara (attested as a Venetian post after 1202).
- Sukošan: The archbishop's estate south of the town.
Where the sources disagree
- GM ruling 7: the lists (Italian Wikipedia, Arcidiocesi di Zara) give Nikola Manzavin as archbishop 1198-1202. That fits the campaign notes' 'archbishop installed by Andrew as duke': on 1 January 1200 Zara's see is held by Andrew's man, under papal inquiry.
- English and Croatian sources date the town's break with Venice to 1180, 1181 or 1183.
Evidence: The war and its dates are well known; the count of 1199-1200 is not named in the sources used.
On the map: The district is drawn as the town with its near mainland and the islands of Ugljan, Pašman, Dugi otok and the outer islands (Silba, Olib, Premuda, Molat, Ist, Iž, Rava), Zara's in the later middle ages; Pag is drawn separately as contested (Pag).
Primary sources for Croatia and Dalmatia
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.
- History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
- History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. 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 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
- Charters of the kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia, volume 2, 1101 to 1200 (documents of 1101 to 1200, edited 1904). The Croatian and Dalmatian charters to 1200: the acts of Duke Andrew as lord of Croatia and Dalmatia (1197 to 1204), the Hungarian kings' grants, the Templars and the bishops of Zagreb, Split, Zadar and Trogir, the communal statutes of the coastal towns, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about Ban Kulin of Bosnia and heresy. Read online
- Hungarian royal charters: Fejér's Codex diplomaticus and Szentpétery's critical calendar of the Árpád kings (documents of the 11th to 13th centuries; Fejér published 1829 to 1844, Szentpétery vol. 1 in 1923). The documentary base for Hungary in 1200: King Emeric's grants to Pannonhalma, the bishops, the Templars and Hospitallers, Duke Andrew's acts in Croatia and Dalmatia, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about his brother's rebellion and about heresy in Bosnia. Read online
- Documents on the older commercial and political history of the Republic of Venice, part 1, 814 to 1205 (documents of 814 to 1205, edited 1856). Venice's treaties and privileges in full text. Read online
Sources and studies
- War for Zadar (1181-1202) (English Wikipedia)
- Siege of Zara (English Wikipedia)
- Zadar (Hrvatska enciklopedija)
- Arcidiocesi di Zara (Italian Wikipedia), cronotassi
- campaign notes on the Church: Part 6 H, Part 8 section 8, Part 11 ruling 7
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.