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

econfirmed.
' 87 The plan was therefore well known around Constantinople by September 1203, to
both crusaders and Byzantines. By then it must have reached Genoa as well. It may have been the
case that some crusaders, and perhaps Villehardouin amongst them, believed that they were to set
out to Alexandria in the same autumn of the year 1203. Indeed, Villehardouin reported, that the
crusaders were still seriously considering re-embarking on a crusade to Alexandria at
Michaelmas. 188
In Genoa, however, diplomatic sobriety did not let anyone believe this would be
the case. Merchants' vessels were thus sent to Alexandria. Some ships sailed there directly while
other merchants and ships planned to reach Alexandria as their second or third destination. A
large number of 25 merchants registered 63 contracts in September 1203 that included Alexandria
as a destination port at some point in their venture. This figure is somewhat misleading, because
many other contracts included instructions for a first destination only, which implies that
potentially many other merchants could have planned to trade in Alexandria.
The road to Aleppo
The travel routes followed by Genoese merchants in the year 1203 are interesting to analyse.
Most of the known Genoese ships sailed in the autumn of that year to the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Genoese merchants travelled on board of at least three different ships: the Donna, the Dedonna,
and the Navara headed east together, in one large fleet. This fleet probably included also the
Torexana that sailed to Alexandria, as well as three ships that headed to Sicily, namely the Luna,
the San Giovanni and the Sposara. All contracts to the east had to be registered before the joint
embarkation date, which was probably 24 September 1203 because the last contracts of that
season were registered before that day, including a large number of nearly 150 contracts dated 23
September 1203 (though the date could have been inserted at a later date when the contracts were
put together). It is hard to estimate how many merchants went to each destination, because most
of them were only directed to their first destination and then given the choice of their subsequent
destinations. This was the case of dozens of travellers to Sicily. It is known that the Donna
planned to stop in Sicily on its way to the Latin East. It is safe to assume that the Dedonna and
the Navara did the same because Sicily was on the way and in order to maintain the safety of the
fleet. Some of the travellers of the Luna and the San Giovanni planned to stay in Messina for at
least fifteen days or in other cases at least a month; however, it is clear that they planned to
proceed with their ventures to further destinations before returning to Genoa. Some of the 42
187
Villehardouin, vol. 1, p. 190, sec. 188..
'88 Villehardouin, vol. 1, pp. 198-202, sections 195-199; See however Alfred Andrea's essay, which shows
how `the leaders, including Villehardouin, deliberately misled the army' at several different occasions
`probably out of a sense that certain information was dangerous in the wrong hands', Alfred j. Andrea,
`Essay on Primary Sources', in Queller, The Fourth Crusaede, 2nd ed., p. 303.
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