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

Nos sumus Christiana et specialiter lanuenses mercatores, qua postquam audiuimus de
uictoria quam Saladinus fecit, securiter cum fidutia in terram suam uenimus; unde
postulamus et habere uolumus sagittam unam ab ipso, causafidutie. '84
This excuse apparently convinced Saladin, and surely pleased Conrad's audience who
praised his wit. Reading between the lines, however, this story shows that Saladin allegedly
agreed to let Genoese merchants carry on trading in the conquered land. Furthermore, it reveals
that the people of Genoa found the story plausible. If it made sense to the readers that Genoa's
merchant vessels were able to cross the lines and trade on both sides there is no reason to believe
this was not indeed the case. Furthermore, in Chapter Three the issue of Christians in Muslim
captivity will be discussed. It will be argued that Italian merchants had played an important role
in ransoming those captives as well as paving the ground for diplomatic negotiations between the
enemies.
To summarise this issue, it seems that the evidence from 1190,1191 and 1203 suggests
that keeping away from war zones was a general policy of merchants. A combination of a lack of
contracts on commonly followed trade routes, with explicit prohibitions, signified a war zone, a
danger to merchants and a market to be avoided unless things would have changed by the time of
the merchants' actual arrival in the east. The Genoese
trusted their experienced merchants to act
in the best possible way for the profit of all sides. They therefore rarely sent a merchant directly
to such destination were the commodities would be at risk. '85
In the light of this conclusion, it is striking to find that Alexandria maintained its
popularity as a commercial destination as late as the autumn of 1203. In his descriptions of the
events of that summer, Villehardouin claimed time and again that the crusaders were assured of
embarking to Egypt at the latest at Michaelmas of that year. But in the cartularies, Genoa's
merchants showed no signs of concern about the war approaching Alexandria. Therefore, we
must assume that the Genoese either did not know or did not believe that the troops of the Fourth
Crusade intended to reach Egypt in 1203. It is highly unlikely that Genoa did not know in
September 1203 what the crusaders' plans were. Alexios IV, according to Villehardouin,
promised publicly as early as January 1203 to join the crusade on its way to Egypt (Babilloine)
with 10,000 ' 86
men. On the eve of Alexios' coronation in Constantinople these terms were
184
Regni iherosolymitani brevis historia, in Ann. Ian.. vol. 1, p. 145. `We are Christians, and particularly
Genoese merchants, who as soon as we have heard of the victory Saladin accomplished, we came to his
land safely with trust (securiter cum fidutia); we pray and ask to have from himself (Saladin) an arrow, as a
token of trust (causafrdutie)'
185 Only one such case can be found in the years of the Third Crusade, when a merchant was sent to ransom
a Genoese captive at the beginning of 1192. This case will be discussed in the following chapter.
186 Villehardouin, vol. 1, p. 92, sec. 93.
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