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

Bonvicino, who were indeed new settlers in the Latin East. Ansaldo Bonvicino is mentioned in
the Genoese' short history of the kingdom of Jerusalem. He was an associate of Conrad of
Montferrat, according to that chronicle, when they sailed in 1187 from Constantinople to Acre.
Ansaldo Bonvicino is described there as lanuense privato suo (of Conrad of Montferrat) 558 When
Conrad became the commander and later the lord of what remained of the kingdom of Jerusalem
he encouraged Ansaldo to remain in the kingdom. Ansaldo became famous because Conrad
appointed him the castellan of Tyre, a title used when Ansaldo witnessed the charter from
1190.559 Ansaldo and his brother Baldovino Bonvicino appear at the top of the witness list on
what seems to be a part that belongs to the witnesses on the side of Conrad of Montferrat. The
new arrivals' destination was Tyre, Conrad's power base, where he could bestow them with
responsibilities and power.
To whom did these opportunities apply? Were they offered to crusaders and merchants
from Genoa like the Bonvicino brothers or to Genoese refugees from Tyre? The only surviving
charter that was granted to an individual Genoese by Conrad of Montferrat is included in the
Tabulae ordinis Theutonici, a collection of documents of the Teutonic Order. On 23 September
1189, Conrad of Montferrat granted Marino Rocia (or Rocia) a house in Tyre for his faithful
service, `pro bono servicio et maxima jidelitate, quam mihi in Tyro Martinus Rocia nobilis
lanuensis civis exibuit. 560
This house previously belonged to Theodore Surriani but twenty one
years later, in 1210, Marino sold the house for 60 bezants to Herman von Salza, the Master of the
Teutonic Order and through him to the Order itself. A legal dispute between the Teutonic Order
and Marino Rocia was the reason that this charter was copied and kept in the Order's archive 56'
Genoa seems to have not obtained a copy of this charter, which is interesting considering that the
charter relates to property owned by a Genoese citizen. Moreover, Marino Rocia was not the only
individual Genoese who received such concessions. Other Genoese were given similar grants and
none of these documents seem to have been copied or preserved in the archives of Genoa.
Conrad's concession to Ansaldo Bonvicino is another example. Evidence of this concession
originates from Venetian sources because in 1244 the Venetian baiulus Marsilio Zorzi
complained about it. Zorzi wrote in his report that when Conrad of Montferrat appointed Ansaldo
to the office of the castellan of Tyre in 1187 he gave him a house that used to belong to a
Venetian named Marchio. According to the Venetians, this was a violation of their rights and
558 Regni Iherosolymitani brevis historia, in Ann. Ian., vol. 1, p. 144.
559 CDG, vol. 2, no. 194, p. 371; see also Favreau-Lilie, Die Italiener im Heiligen Land, pp. 234-5.
56° Strehlke (ed. ), Tabulae ordinis Theutonici, no. 24, p. 21.
561 Ibid, no. 45, pp. 36-37.
162