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

The involvement of the Genoese in the Third Crusade, as participants and supporters, is therefore
evident in many ways. One interesting record from 20 March 1191 is a Societas and commenda
contract between Guido Bonaventura and Rogerio Noxentio. 44 Guido took with him £225 as
societas (for 50% of the profit) to Sicily and thence wherever he thought best (in Siciliam et inde
quo sibi videbitur melius), of which £75 was from Guido's own capital. Guido also received from
Rogerio £186 as a commenda from which he was to receive one-quarter of the profit. The venture
to Sicily was clearly made on a ship that was part of the Genoese crusading fleet, stopping in
Sicily to collect the French crusaders and then carry them to the Latin East. At the very end of the
contract Rogerio added that from the above mentioned commenda £20 was `in servicio Del et de
Ultramare, vel mittat. ' This final clause vel mittat suggests that Guido Bonaventura did not
necessarily plan to pursue his commercial venture with the crusaders to the Latin East, but did not
exclude this option either. Dozens of merchants made their way to Sicily in the spring of 1191.
Some of them stopped first in Naples or Sardinia and other sailed there directly. How many of
them did it merely for profit is not known. There is no doubt, however, that many were trying to
assist the crusade too.
Merchants organising the crusade - the shipping contract :
What was the meaning of a crusade being organised by the seamen and merchants of Genoa? One
of the interesting aspects of the Third Crusade which can be credited to the commercial and legal
experience of the Genoese, or in other words to the Genoese mentality, is the shipping contract
that the commune signed with the representatives of the king of France at the beginning of the
year 1190. The contract may be seen as a result of long experience in international trade.
Composing such a legal contract meant that both sides had to provide exact details. A payment
arrangement was set and specific numbers of people, horses and provisions had to be supplied
and agreed upon in advance. A war economy was obviously not an unknown practice for the
contemporary lords and kings; presumably they had to manage a war budget before the crusade.
However, the Genoese added their legal supplement in the form of the crusade shipping contract.
The regulations of the Third Crusade were, therefore, determined, in advance, at a summit
between France and Genoa in February 1190. The contract is printed in the Codice diplomatico
della repubblica di Genova (CDG). Genoa was represented at that important summit by its six
consuls of that year: Maurino Rodoani, Raimundo de Fresia, Simone Vento, Ido de Carmandino,
Lanfranco Piper and Enrico Piccamilio. Representing King Philip in this colloquium was Hugh
III, duke of Burgundy 45 Like Hugh of Burgundy, the Genoese consuls had personal interest in the
as GC, 1191, no. 318, from 20 March 1191
45 CDG, vol. 2, no. 191, pp. 365-366.
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