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

Malta in Tripoli in great detail with a clear note of pride. However, in the description of the
privileges obtained in Tripoli the annals' version is somewhat different to reality: `et insuper iura
omnia et rationes omnes que et quas lanuensis ciuitas in Tripolitana ciuitate et in Antiochia
habere et tenere solita eras, et rugam et balneum et ecclesiam et cetera omnia lanuensi ciuitati
concessit.
160i A street, a bath-house and a church were not mentioned in any of the charters.
Interestingly, this mistake attracted the attention of contemporary reader or someone who
carefully read the annals in a later period. The editors of Ogerio Pane's book have noted that in
the margins of that page in the manuscript someone had commented: Non tonsil (concessit)
balneum nec rugam nec ecclesiam. These are of course very important differences, and they
indeed highlight the fact that despite its achievements, Genoa had never secured the privileges it
aspired for and it had originally been granted in Tripoli. In 1186, Urban III wrote two letters
about Genoese rights in Tripoli. These letters, like the letters concerning Byblos, had
accomplished nothing, as a result of the fall of the entire region into the hands of Saladin's troops
in the following year. However, these letters stand out and reveal the extent to which Genoa had
reduced its demands in the northern states over the years.
Was the Genoese-Maltese expedition successful? It is plausible that they could have
demanded more than they received, if not one-third of Tripoli as had been originally promised in
the over one hundred year old charter, then at least a ruga, a fundaco and a church, or even a
small neighbourhood as Genoa had in so many markets around the Mediterranean. However, it
seems that the achievement of Henry of Malta should be mainly appreciated in the light of the
growing strength of the Venetians after the Fourth Crusade. The fact that Henry was unable to
enter the kingdom of Jerusalem is a clear indication of how powerful and influential Venice
became and how much Genoa could have lost otherwise.
Genoa and the Fourth Crusade
Genoa did not take direct part in the Fourth Crusade. However, this chapter revealed that it was
highly affected by it. Ayyubid Aleppo became a central destination for the commercial activities
of many merchants, not only Genoese. David Abulafia examined a series of medieval transcripts
compiled by notaries from San Gimignano as part of court cases. He found evidence of Tuscan
trade with Aleppo, which began in the middle of the 1220s. `Aleppo appears no less often than
Tripoli in the San Gimignano law-suits.
' In particular, Abulafia argued that `quantities of... best
saffron, were being shipped from San Gimignano via Pisa and Acre to Aleppo. '26' The interests
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Ann. Ian., vol. 2, pp. 100-1.
26! David Abulafia, `Crocuses and Crusaders: San Gimignano, Pisa and the Kingdom of Jeursalem', in
Benjamin Z. Kedar, Hans E. Mayer and Raymond C. Smail (eds. ), Outremer: Studies in the History of the
Crusading Kingdom of Jerusalem Presented to Joshua Prawer (Jerusalem, 1982), pp. 230-231.
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