In the partition treaty among the Crusaders, the Republic of Venice had secured recognition of her claims on the westernmost Byzantine provinces, which were crucial in view of the vital Venetian interests in the Adriatic Sea.

[5][6] For the same reason they insisted on the appointment of the city's Roman Catholic archbishop, who replaced the previous Greek Orthodox prelate, directly by Venice, without the involvement of the Pope.

Unable and unwilling to undertake the effort necessary confront him, the Venetians preferred to conclude a compromise treaty with Doukas in June 1210, which recognized him as ruler of Epirus, but as the nominal vassal of Venice, which had claimed this territory since 1204.

[8] This treaty was expedient for Doukas, but did not mean the abandonment of his own designs on Durazzo: in 1213, his forces captured the city, ended the Venetian presence, and restored a Greek Orthodox archbishop to the local see.

[6] The city continued to change hands in the 13th and 14th centuries between the Greeks of Epirus and the restored Palaiologan Byzantine Empire, the Angevins of Naples, the Serbs, and finally the Thopia.