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

Nicola's son Guglielmo Embriaco made his way to the Latin East in 1192, probably after his
father's death there, where he planned to stay for a couple of years 486 How did this long-term
sojourn affect the relationship between Genoa and Byblos and between the Embriaci and the de
Biblio?
The Genoese contingents were praised for their contribution to the siege of Acre, but
there was apparently no attempt to recover Byblos. According to the Continuation of William of
Tyre the opportunity to regain the sea-port town occurred only after Saladin died. Ernoul's
account of the recovery of Byblos paid high tribute to the role of the lady of Byblos Stephanie. In
1197, ten years after the surrender of Byblos Stephanie managed to regain possession of the city
through diplomatic channels.
En cel point que Salehadins
fig mors, avoit une haute dame ä Triple qui dame avoit este
de Gibelet. Si porcaca tant [et fist] as Sarrasins a qui Salehadins 1'avoit commande a
garden, quant it of pris le cite de Gibelet sour Crestiiens, k71 sen issirent a une ajornee,
et li dame i entra et si chevalier et si home, et si Qarni le castiel et le cite. Ensi faitement
rendi Damediex le cite [de Gibelet] as Crestiiens 487
Stephanie, the wife of Hugh III, whom Runciman described as a `Dowager Lady'488
thus
allegedly managed to recover the sea-port town from after 10 years of Muslim occupation,
although Jonathan Riley Smith also suggested that the recovering of this territory, including
Beirut and Sidon, had more to do with the arrival of the German crusade on 1197.89 In any case,
the significant length of time that passed until Gibelet was given back to its lords must have
contributed to the fact that Genoa did not claim its taxes when the town was finally recovered.
Another reason must have been the state of the town following the Muslim destruction. The repair
of the walls and other urban structures that were demolished by Saladin must have cost the lords
of Byblos much money. Interestingly, however, the economic strength of the de Biblio was not
reduced as a result of the collapse of the first kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187. On the contrary, the
construction of the impressive baptistery at the beginning of the thirteenth century shows the
wealth of the family. Jonathan Riley Smith mentioned the lord of Gibelet who in 1228 lent
Emperor Frederick 1130,000 bezants490
This is another indication of the wealth of the family.
Commercial evidence from the beginning of the thirteenth century also suggests that Byblos
benefited from the opening of the route to Aleppo and the growing volume of Genoese commerce
that, as already discussed in Chapter Two, crossed through the Syrian coast from the time of the
Fourth Crusade. Indeed, after the establishment of a new Genoese quarter in Tyre, the merchants
486
see Chapter One
487 Chronigue d'Ernoul, p. 305. See also RHC. Oc. vol. 2, pp. 217-218.
488 Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, vol. 3 (Cambridge, 1966), p. 92.
489 Jonathan Riley Smith, The Crusades, A Short History (London, 1986), p. 119
49° See Jonathan Riley Smith, The Feudal Nobility and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1174-1277 (London,
1973), p. 163.
135