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

suffered as a result of the Venetian aggression. The Genoese report which covered a period of
two consulates was compiled in 1249. These Italian reports are the main historical sources
currently available about the Italian settlers and about their property in the kingdom of Jerusalem.
In an article on the Italian maritime republics, Michel Balard began the chapter on the
colonies in the Latin East with the following statement: `L'activite commerciale est bien la raison
d'etre des colonies italiennes de Syrie-Palestine. Elle s'exerce par la cooperation intime des
residents permanents et des marchands de passage. ' However, Balard noticed a change that
occurred after several decades: `peu ä peu, ä partir du milieu du XIl` siecle des visiteurs
occasionnels s'etablissent en Terre Sainte. Des families entieres prennent racine: rameaux des
clans familiaux de la metropole, facteurs des grandes societes actives dans le commerce du
Levant, marines ou artisans en quote d'aventure ou de fortune. '318 Following this introduction
Balard quoted cases from the works of Joshua Prawer, Marie-Luise Favreau-Lilie and Geo
Pistarino regarding families of Italian merchants who settled in the Latin East on a permanent
basis S19 Balard's own study of the population of Famagusta showed that many of the Genoese
who had lived in the Latin East remained there until its fall in 1291 and then moved with many of
the Latin inhabitants of the crusader states to Cyprus 520
In a chapter on the Italians in the Latin Kingdom, Joshua Prawer suggested an hypothesis
that in `Genoa the wealthy nobility controlled the eastern trade, but, as far as we can ascertain, did
not settle in the east... the Venetians... organized their administration by enfeoffing a part of
their land and income to Venetians of knightly origin against rents and military services. '521
Prawer listed the noble Venetians that he identified as inhabitants of the kingdom of Jerusalem.
These lists included the Dandolo, the Dulce, the Falieri, the Contarini and the Morosini. Prawer's
theory which was based on the reading of various Venetian documents was criticised by Marie-
Luise Favreau-Lilie: 'Eine genaue Durchsicht des von Prawer herangezogenen and sonstigen
Urkundenmaterials ergibt, daß in den venezianischen Notariatsinstrumenten genaudifferenziert
wurde zwischen den Venezianern, die sich nur temporär in den Kreuzfahrerstaaten aufhielten,
and denen, die sich dort fest niedergelassen hatten... die meisten Venezianer, die nach seiner
Interpretation schon während des 12. Jahrhunderts im Heiligen Land ansäßig waren, sich dort in
318 Balard, Michel, `Les republiques maritimes Italiennes', p. 333.
519 Joshua Prawer, `The Italians in the Latin Kingdom', Crusader Institutions (Oxford, 1980); Marie-Luise
Favreau-Lilie, Die Italiener im Heiligen Land; Geo Pistarino, 'Genova e ii vicino oriente nell'epoca del
regno latino di Gerusalemme', in Gabriella Airaldi and Benjamin Z. Kedar (eds. ), I comuni italiani nel
regno crociato di Gerusalemme (Genoa, 1986), pp. 76-82
520
Balard, Michel, 'Les republiques maritimes Italiennes', p. 334; Michel Balard, 'La Popolazione di
Famagosta all'inizio del secolo XIV', in La scoria del Genovesi, IV (Genoa, 1984), pp. 27-40.
521
Prawer, 'The Italians in the Latin Kingdom', p. 227.
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