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

Many promises were made to the Genoese in 1200 but their fulfilment was not
guaranteed. This problem might explain Genoa's reaction in the following year. The consuls of
the year 1201 were some of Genoa's most powerful personnel, including Nicola Doria and
Guglielmo Embriaco major. Some of the activities of these consuls are documented in an unusual
manner in a series of notarial contracts. The contracts were written down by the notary Guglielmo
di Sori, who is to be considered the notary of the Embriaco family. "o The fact that the contracts
were registered by this notary suggests that the decision was probably made under the influence
of Guglielmo Embriaco major. In the same cartulary one may find many commercial contracts
that Guglielmo Embriaco major and his nephew Guglielmo Embriacojunior had registered. An
analysis of this unpublished cartulary will therefore be interesting in order to understand, on the
one hand, what was Genoa's position on the eve of the Fourth Crusade, and the other hand, what
commercial interests were driving individual merchants into action. Guglielmo Embriaco the
elder and the younger registered contracts concerning the crusader states too. The Embriaco
family had been in close relationship with the crusader states since the days of the First Crusade.
One contract is particularly interesting because it concerns the administration of some of Genoa's
property in Acre. 14t Furthermore, a branch of the family had settled permanently in the Latin
East, but their story will be discussed separately in Chapter Four.
The six consuls of the year 1201 made a series of unusual notarial contracts, in which
they ordered the supply of eight ships for the service of the commune but for which they paid with
their private capital. When reading these documents, the first impression is that the consuls were
engaged in private business. Partly, this is because the contracts were written using formulae
commonly employed by the notaries. For example, one of the consuls signed a contract as a
personal guarantor, in which he promised to fulfil the agreements made by the other consuls. A
formula usually employed in contracts between individuals had been used in this case even
though the money pledged was from the commune's treasury. 142
It is possible to speculate that
there might have also been an element of risk and secrecy involved in this enterprise that
encouraged the consuls to approach this mission as if it was a private business. In any case, the
manner in which the consuls handled the affairs of the commune is not usual and thus deserves a
closer look.
On 09 May 1201, a contract was signed between the consuls of Genoa and a shipowner
named Otto Pulpo. Otto represented in this record three other shipowners: Lanfranco Roco,
140
see David Abulafia, The Two Italies, p. 19.
141 This document has been published. See Sandra Origone, `Genova, Costantinopoli e it regno di
Gerusalemme (prima meta sec. XIII)', in Gabriella Airaldi and B. Z. Kedar (eds. ) I comuni italiani nel
regno crociato di Gerusalemme (Genoa, 1986), pp. 283-316. Appendix 11/2, pp. 312-314.
14 Guglielmo di Sori, MS 102, p. 193, R4.
51