Treaty of Zadar

The Treaty of Zadar, also known as the Treaty of Zara, was a peace treaty signed in Zadar, Dalmatia on February 18, 1358 by which the Venetian Republic lost influence over its Dalmatian holdings.

Preconditions

Peace of Zara ended the hostilities between Louis I of Hungary and the Republic of Venice for control of the Adriatic.

Street of Peace of Zadar 1358 in Zadar.

The Hungarian monarch was unable to form a massive shipment of 50,000 troops by joining the armies sent by the Duke of Austria from the counts of Gorizia and Alberto Mainardi, by the Lord of Padua, Francesco Carrara, and the emperor by the Patriarch of Aquileia Holy Roman Empire. Thus in 1356 the grand coalition is imposed on the Venetians in Asolo, Conegliano and reached Ceneda and lays siege to the stronghold of Treviso. At the same time, along the Dalmatian coast, the army had attacked the Hungarian-Croatian city of Zadar, Trogir, Split and Dubrovnik: If Trogir, Split and other smaller towns gave themselves freely to the king, Zara did not give up if the Hungarians for treason.

Broken by the power of armies and military reversals suffered in their own territory, the Venetians had to resign themselves to a harsh peace. The delegations met in Zadar, where February 18, 1358 treaty was signed the same name.

Consequences

Text of the Peace-treaty of Zadar. Copy on the wall of St. Francis Church in Zadar in where it was signed.

As a result of the peace treaty, the Serenissima Republic of Venice had to give all his possessions to Hungary in Dalmatia, from the Kvarner to the Bay of Kotor, but could keep the Istrian coast and the Treviso region. But it was forced to cancel, under the title of doge, any reference to Dalmatia.

Louis of Hungary entered triumphantly in Zadar in 1358 by granting extensive privileges to the nobility Zadar and erecting the city capital of the kingdom of Dalmatia. Ragusa to the city meant a liberation from the power and freedom to stay in the Venetian Hungarian kingdom, which would have been a member until 1526.

Before the treaty of Zadar

In 1301, the house of Arpad had died and a new dynasty had reclaimed the region and throne of Hungary and Croatia. The kings of Naples from the house of Anjou. The first Angevin king that would reign Croatia and Hungary's throne in 1342 was Charles Robert. They would be supported by a Croatian nobleman name Pavao Subic, he was the count of Bribir. The ruler of coastal of Split,Trogir, and Sibenik. Pavao became the Ban of Croatia and would rule as a king would, making his own coin, testing the other noblemen, conferring charters on cities and levying annual taxes on them. The other Croatian noblemen, who had had enough would rise up against Pavao and his son Mladen and would retrieve the help of King Charles to remove them.After this little situation had ended, the other feudal families had grew stronger, however, they had to submit their allegence to Louis I, who had taken out Venice from Dalmatia completely in 1358.

While the other cities in the Dalmatian region were suffering from tug of war warfare between the Venetians vs. Hungary/Croatians, Dubrovnik was geowing into an economic power house, reaching new hights by expoliting there position on the crossroads between the west and the mineral rich kingdoms of the primitive peoples of Serbia and Bosnia, as well as Dubrovnik's postion between Europe and the Levant.

The treaty itself

The treaty was signed in the Closter of Monastery of St. Francis. Based on the terms of the agreement, the Dubrovnik region and the Zadar region came under the rule of the King of Hungary (then ruled by Louis I).

This treaty marked the rise of the Republic of Ragusa as an independent and successful state. The same cannot be said for Zadar since it was later sold back to Venice by Ladislaus of Naples.

See also

• List of treaties

External links

• Template:Hr icon Zadarski list Kako je i zašto Ladislav prodao Dalmaciju, Jun 7, 2008