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

The crusade meant a mounting demand not just for ships and crews, but also for supplies of every
sort.
From the beginning of 1190 there is evidence of preparations for the crusade. Soon after
the French-Genoese summit in February in which the shipping contract was signed, the merchants
of Genoa began their arrangement. An interesting document from the cartulary of Oberto Scriba
shows merchants' enthusiasm. In 20 March 1190 a contract was made between three messengers,
representing King Philip Augustus and a Genoese lady named Mabilia, wife of the late Opizio
Lecavello. Mabilia promised to supply all the wine that she had, 13 vegetes in total, made from
her vines in Quarto (east of Genoa). The messengers paid £10 in advance and promised to pay the
rest upon collection, which was agreed to be St Peter's Day in June (29 June 1190). The price was
calculated to be 7s per mezzarola of wine. It was also agreed that if the wine spoils (fuerit
magagna) they would not have to buy it 90 John Pryor has calculated that each veges contained 6
or 12 mecaroliae. One mecarolia equals 148.86 litres or 32.75 gallons 91 According to these
figures, King Philip ordered from Mabilia a total of 11,611 litres (or 2554.437 gallons) of wine
and was to pay £27.3092 This makes a large quantity of wine, sold for much money. An initial
investment in a tavern in Genoa in the following year reached £6, which was aimed solely at
`negotiandi et comperandi vinum. '93 The comparison with the investment in wine in a tavern
gives perhaps an interesting indication of the amount of wine taken on the crusade.
Mabilia was a successful businesswoman. After her husband's death she managed the
property herself and made many contracts before the notary: she rented out shops, sold lands and
lent money. 94 She was mostly engaged in the marriage of Adalaxia, her 16-year-old daughter.
Mabilia had for her daughter's dowry the largest sum recorded in the cartularies from these years
- £1000.95 Moreover, the contract with Philip's messengers was surely a satisfactory conclusion
of the negotiations for her. She secured the transaction early in the year and sold her wine for a
higher price than average. In 1186 Bocardo de Clavari paid Ermelina de Vignolio 6s per
megarolia of wine. A record in the cartulary of Lanfranco from 1216 mention 33V2 mecaroliae of
90 OS, 1190, no. 271.
91 John H. Pryor, Geography, Technology and War, pp. 77-78. In the estimation of the mecarolia Pryor
followed H. Doursther, Dictionnaire universal des polls et mesures anciens et modernes (Brussels, 1840),
pp. 69,432. Byrne, however, used different figures. He followed Rocca and determined that mecorolia
equals 91.480 litres: Eugene H. Byrne, Genoese Shipping in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
(Cambridge Mass., 1930), pp. 41-42, n. 3; Pietro C. Rocca, Pesi e Misure antiche di Genova e del
Genovesato
(Genoa, 1871), p. 108.
92 Interestingly, when comparing the agreement reached in this document to the payment arrangement with
the consuls of Genoa, it appears that in both cases the advance payment was equal to one third of the total
sum. This might supports the translation of vegetes to six mecarolia.
93 GC, 1191, no. 974.
94 see for example: GC, 1191, nos. 94,183,796-7,808,826
95 GC, 1191, no. 189
39