Nikola Ilić
Independent researcher
Kruševac, Serbia
nickilytch@protonmail.com
Research paper
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10898024
Received: 19. 9. 2023.
Accepted: 2. 12. 2023.
Abstract: This paper tries to analyze the claim from Anonymi Descriptio Europae Orientalis – anonymous tractate written around 1310/11 AD – that Albanians are neither true Catholics, nor true Schismatics. The assertion found in Anonymi Descriptio Europae Orientalis, according to the author of this research, most likely referred to the complicated history of the Arbanon diocese and the metropolitanate of Durrës, two Church organizations that had jurisdiction over the majority of the Albanian lands during the Middle Ages. The bishop of Arbanon, residing in Krujë, was the suffragan of the Orthodox metropolitan of Durrës in the 11th century. In the middle of the 12th century, the bishop of Arbanon had established ties with the Roman Catholic Church. In 1199, Arbanon changed its legal status to that of a bishopric of the Catholic Archdiocese of Bar. Around 1215, when it came under the control of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Ohrid, Arbanon rejoined the Orthodox Church. Once again, the alliance shifted when the Catholic bishop was chosen in 1286. However, the Byzantines drove the Catholic bishop from his post, although the Latin rite was still practiced in Arbanon. The Church of Durrës was also a place of constant struggle between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. After the Great Schism of 1054, Durrës remained on the eastern side, under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The fact that the Roman pope Alexander III made reference to Latin-rite adherents at Durrës in 1168 may indicate that the Archdiocese of Durrës had a pro-Latin group. After Byzantium fell in 1204, Roman Catholic power grew. A Latin archdeacon of Durrës was attested in 1208, and the Latin metropolitan of Durrës was chosen by the Latin patriarch of Constantinople in 1209. The Roman Catholic hegemony was short-lived; an Orthodox metropolitan of Durrës was named in 1214. With Charles I of Anjou’s capture of Durrës in 1272, the Catholic Archdiocese was reinstalled; however, the Orthodox Archdiocese persisted, resulting in two overlapping Archdioceses: a Catholic and an Orthodox one. Constant jurisdictional changes led to a muddled religious landscape where it was difficult to tell the difference between Catholics and Orthodox. This is probably the basis for Anonymi Descriptio Europae Orientalis’ claim that Albanians are neither true Catholics nor true Schismatics.
Key words: Albanians, Arbanon, Krujë, Roman Catholic Church, Archdiocese of Durrës, Archdiocese of Bar, Archdiocese of Ohrid, Regnum Albaniae.
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