ANTIVARI (Antiburum; Albanian Tivari, Slavic Bar), ARCHDIOCESE of. — A maritime city on the frontier between Dalmatia and Albania, whose origin is unknown; it begins to be mentioned as an episcopal city in the 8th century, at times as subject to the Byzantine Empire and a suffragan of Durazzo, at times as belonging to the barbarian kingdom of Dioclia and a suffragan of the problematic metropolitan see of Dioclea or Spalato. In the 11th century, in competition with Ragusa, it began to claim the succession of Dioclea and hence metropolitan authority over the ancient dioceses of Praevalitana, and was supported in this by the kings of Dioclia, who preferred it to independent Ragusa; the dispute reached its critical point at the time when its archbishop was Fra Giovanni di Pian di Carpine (1248-527) and during the tenure of his immediate successors, being conducted before the Roman Curia with the support of authentic and spurious bulls on both sides. It is not known what the outcome was; it is certain, however, that from then on A. exercised metropolitan rights only over the suffragan sees of Scutari, Dulcigno, Drivasto, Suacia, Greater Pulati, Lesser Pulati or Sarda, Dagno, Sappa, and at times also Alessio and Albano, as well as over all the Latin Catholics of upper Albania and Serbia.
It was the last of the Albanian cities to be conquered by the Turks (1571), and from that moment its decline began, completed by the bombardment during the Turco-Montenegrin war of 1878. A. then had a titular bishop who was simultaneously and aque principaliter archbishop of the ancient metropolitan see of Scutari; after his death (1886), the two sees had separate titulars, while Scutari retained all the suffragans. In past centuries A. had often borne the title of primate of Serbia, which, however, was officially recognized by the Holy See only in 1902. At present, although it has only about ten parishes, mostly Albanian, it continues to bear the same title.
The most famous among its titulars were, besides the aforementioned Giovanni di Pian di Carpine, Gregorio (1172-94), whom recent hypotheses tend to identify with the famous chronicler known as the “Doclean priest”; Guglielmo d’Adamo (1324-1341), author of an important brief treatise, De modo sarracenoe exstirpandi, and probably of another even more important work for the history of the country: Directorium ad passagium faciendum; Giovanni Bruti, taken prisoner by the Turks at the capture of the city and killed by them on one of their galleys during the Battle of Lepanto (1571); and Vincenzo Zmajevich, who convened and presided over the important national Council of 1703.