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

Wahrheit nicht niedergelassen hatten. 522 Favreau-Lilie thus highlighted the problematic
conclusion in Prawer's work. She also demonstrated how many of the people counted by Prawer
as permanent inhabitants of the Latin East were in fact merchants or crusaders, Venetians who
passed by the crusader state but never settled there. In contrast to Prawer's theory, Favreau-Lilie
therefore suggested a different approach of research, in which the survey of names would include
only people who are explicitly known to have lived in the Latin East, preferably those who are
known to have had family there or who were mentioned in the text with a new surname that
indicates that they were indeed inhabitants of the Latin East.
Favreau-Lilie's methodology and her suggestion to exclude the names of people who are not
explicitly described in the contemporary sources as inhabitants of one of the Italian quarters is
problematic. It is especially so because the information given in the documents about individual
merchants or settlers is often limited to people's names. As a result of this approach, Favreau-
Lilie was left with not enough data to offer an alternative conclusion about the nature of the
Venetian society in the Latin East. This is probably why scholars such as Michel Balard accepted
Prawer's theory that the Venetian aristocracy, in particular the families listed by Prawer, had
strong relations with the Latin East 523
The reestablishment of the Genoese commune and the foundation of the Syrian
consulate, 1187 -1195
The Genoese inhabitants of the kingdom of Jerusalem were at a fragile state after the fall of the
first kingdom. Whoever did not die or fall into Muslim captivity in 1187 found refuge in Tyre. In
many respects, they were in the same boat as every other Christian inhabitant of the Latin East
but in comparison to the other Italian communities the Genoese were in an inferior position. The
Genoese community was the only major Italian community, which did not have a base in Tyre
before 1187, let alone a quarter with full commercial and accommodation facilities, as the
Venetians and Pisans had had. Therefore, with the fall of the first kingdom of Jerusalem the
Genoese lost everything, mobile and immobile properties, rights and all sources of income. What
happened to the Genoese who escaped to Tyre? Did the community manage to sustain its
integrity despite the lack of communal facilities?
One of the interesting facts about the Genoese community in the Latin East was its fast
recovery after 1187. Within a few years they gained concessions, including rights and property,
sources of income in the form of bath-houses, gardens, mills and ovens as well as designated
territory for the establishment of their own quarter in an advantageous
location by the harbour of
322 Marie-Luise Favreau-Lilie, Die Italiener im Heiligen Land, p. 498.
323 Balard, Michel, `Les republiques maritimes Italiennes', p. 333.
149