The Crusades, the Genoese and the Latin East - DSpace at ...

Les Genois transformerent vite ou laisserent se transformer leurs delegucs a
1'administration coloniale en concessionnaires a duree limitee, puls en fondataires
hereditaires; systeme qui limitait le contröle de la commune-mere... mais qui...
permettait de surveiller constamment 1'observation des concessions par les Francs de
Syrie et la securite des operations commerciales genoises
397
Jean Richard discussed the case of Gibelet and the Embriaci in several parts of his book
on the count of Tripoli. Gibelet is mentioned in the chapter on the bourgeois and Italian
commerce. He wrote briefly that `commissaires genois... ne tarderent pas ä se rendre
independants.
'398
Since Byrne concluded his work, however, many cartularies have been published while
others have been examined and re-dated. These cartularies can therefore shed more light on
several issues regarding the evolution of Genoa's relationship with the Latin East and the role
played by the Embriaco family in these developments from the late twelfth century to the
beginning of the thirteenth century. Recent scholarship on the Embriaci has carried out part of
this mission. Marie-Luise Favreau-Lilie examined the family mainly as an executor of the
interests of the commune of Genoa in the east. The race between the three Italian communities for
rights and privileges stand at the core of her research and arguments. She traced back the origin of
Genoa's unique place in the crusading states to a document from 10 August 1107 in which
Bernard of St Gilles had promised the Genoese `Gleichermaßen... sowohl für Saint-Gilles wie
auch für sein künftiges Herrschaftsgebiet das Handelsmonopol. '399 Furthermore, Favreau-Lilie,
and more recently, the Genoese historian Sandra Origone, 400
looked into the motivation behind
Genoa's lease of its property in the east at the hands of the Embriaci and pointed to the process of
integration of the family into the county of Tripoli.
Sie konnten die Verwaltung des genuesischen Besitzes durch diese im Orient ansäßige
genuesische Familie besser kontrollieren, als wenn die Kommune ihren Besitz selbst
verwaltet hätte. Und sie mochten vielleicht hoffen, daß die Embriaci sich langfristig von
ihrer Mutterstadt lösen und sich dann fest in den Lehnsverband des einigen Staatswesens
integrieren lassen würden, wozu es in der Graftschaft Tripolis später auch kommen
sollte 40'
Origone noted, following the same line of thought: `... il Comune genovese non era
interessato a gestire direttamente, perdendo col tempo il proprio legame con la cittä d'origine e
affermandosi come dinastia feudale dipendente dai signori di Tripoli. '402 The consequences of the
3971bid,
p. 498.
398 Jean Richard, Le Comte de Tripoli sous la dynastie toulousaine: 1102-1187 (Paris, 1945), p. 85.
399 Marie-Luise Favreau-Lilie, Die Italianer im Heiligen Land: von ersten Kreuzzug bis zum Tode
Heinrichs von Champagne (1098-1197) (Amsterdam, 1989), pp. 118-19.
400 Sandra Origone, `Gli Embriaci a Genova fra XII e XIII secolo', Festa antiqua et medievalia,
forthcoming.
401Marie-Luise Favreau-Lilie, Die Italianer im Heiligen Lang p. 171;
402 Sandra Origone, `Gli Embriaci a Genova fra XII e XIII secolo', p. 4.
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