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

5 The Genoese communities in the kingdom of Jerusalem
This chapter is about the Genoese who lived in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem after the war
of 1187. This topic is related to many issues already discussed in this thesis. For example, the
Genoese merchants and crusaders who sailed across the Mediterranean at the time of the crusades
were at the centre of previous chapters. However, the same people also travelled through the ports
of the kingdom of Jerusalem and often resided in the Genoese quarters of those towns. Travelling
merchants lived in the commune's loggia or rented other available accommodation. Rental ad
passagium was usually for several months between the spring and the autumn sailing periods.
Other merchants stayed longer, for a year or more S12
These travelling merchants are not the direct
subject of this chapter, but it is not always easy to distinguish between the various groups of
people, the temporary residents and the permanent inhabitants of the Latin East. This problem is a
major obstacle in the study of the Italian settlements in the Latin East and it has been discussed on
various occasions in the historiography. Recently, Marie-Luise Favreau-Lile encountered this
problem in her study of the Italians in the first kingdom of Jerusalem. 5 3
Indeed, the Genoese who settled in the Latin East stand at the core of the discussion in
the current chapter. This social group will be examined here during a time of major political and
social changes, a result of the Christian defeat at Hattin and the fall of the first kingdom of
Jerusalem. In what ways were the Genoese inhabitants of the Latin East part of the local Latin
society, and to what degree did they perceived themselves as part of the cities and communes
they left back in Italy? Chapter Four discussed the case of the Embriaco family that settled and
governed the seaport town of Byblos. It was demonstrated that this family eventually broke its
ties with Genoa and integrated into the local aristocracy. Is it possible to identify a similar process
in the case of the Genoese communities that lived in towns inside the kingdom of Jerusalem?
What percentage of the Genoese population in the Latin East settled permanently in the crusader
states?
The year 1187 is the starting point of the current study. The fall of Acre in that year
brought an end to the Genoese settlement within the kingdom of Jerusalem, which meant a great
loss of possessions. Even more remarkable was the fact that it marked an end to the Genoese
privileged-status as merchants because this status was limited to Acre. It was an overwhelming
change for the Genoese and it could have spelled a complete end for that commune in the Latin
512
On the different rental options see Robert Kool, `The Genoese Quarter in Thirteenth-Century Acre: A
Reinterpretation of Its Layout', Atiqot 31 (1997), pp. 187-188.
513 Marie-Luise Favreau-Lilie, Die Italiener im Heiligen Land.
- von ersten Kreuzzug bis zum Tode
Heinrichs von Champagne (1098-1197) (Amsterdam, 1989), p. 498. See more about the different
approaches to this problem in the following section of sources and scholarship.
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