 It was a small territory in the 11th and 12th centuries, stretching from rivers Devoll to Shkumbin.Arbanon did not have direct access to the sea.Robert Elsie notes that the coastal cities of modern Albania did not have noticeable Albanian communities throughout the Middle Ages, whereas the coasts of Epiros further south, despite their control by Serbs and Greeks, were primarily inhabited by Albanians according to Alain Ducellier.