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

Pope Innocent III and the maritime communities:
Innocent III was concerned with the possibility that the trading communities might not fully
cooperate with the crusade's leaders. As late as the autumn of 1216 the Genoese had not yet taken
the cross. James Powell explains this in the light of the war between Genoa and Pisa: `despite the
success of this preaching [of James of Vitry]... the Genoese were not yet ready to commit a
formal contingent to the crusade.... ' 299 Powell, however, looked more into the high diplomacy of
the maritime powers and general European affairs rather than the commercial considerations of
the Italian cities. The pope's concern is evident already in the letter Quia major from 1213. It
seems that Innocent's attitude was ambiguous. On the one hand, he was dependent on the Italians
for the transportation of the crusade's armies; nonetheless, he was clearly concerned with their
contradictory commercial interests. The section directed to the maritime cities in Quia major
begins with a request for help: `A civitalibus vero marilimjs navale subsidium poslulamus. '300
This is followed by permission to the clerics to offer indulgences. However, the second time the
maritime cities are mentioned is in a section that forbids piracy under the threat of
excommunication. Finally, there is a warning not to sell arms to the Saracens, in which Innocent
details exactly what he means by war materials:
Innovamus preterea excommunicationis sententiam in Lateranensi concilio promulgatam
adversus eos, qui Sarracenis arma, ferrum et lignamina deferunt galearum, quique in
piraticis Sarracenorum navibus curam gubernationis exercent, eosque rerum suarum
privatione multari et capientjum servos, si capti fuerint, fore censemus.
i01
Exactly how worried Innocent was about the cooperation of the maritime cities can be
seen in the following instruction, which applied especially to them, in which lie ordered
additional preaching in the maritime cities: `precipientes, ut per omnes urbes marilimas diebus
Dominicis et festivis hujusmodi sententia publice innovetur. '302 Many details were still missing in
this letter. When were the merchants expected to stop their commerce with Egypt? In May 1213
the letters were sent around Europe. The preachers presumably followed their orders and read the
instructions every Sunday and during the holidays. The regular preaching was probably supposed
to encourage crusading enthusiasm, but also to scare the Italians from the consequences of
disobedience. However, the pope said that the excommunication would be announced in the
Lateran Council, which meant that the merchants had at least two more years before they had to
worry about withholding their trade. Even more important was the fact the king of Jerusalem John
of Brienne followed the pope's behest in 1212 and signed a four-year truce with Egypt to last
299 Powell, Anatomy of a Crusade, p. 68.
300 `Quia
maior', p. 93.
301
`Quia maior', p. 95.
302 'Quia maior, p. 95.
92