عنوان

The merchant of Genoa :

TLets499484

The merchant of Genoa :

[Thesis]

Mack, Merav

the Crusades, the Genoese and the Latin East, 1187-1220s

University of Cambridge

2003

Thesis (Ph.D.)

2003

The Merchant of Genoa is a study of the Genoese engagement in the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean during the late Middle Ages. In particular, the dissertation examinesGenoa's involvement in three crusades following the fall of the first kingdom ofJerusalem as well as the role played by Genoese in commerce and in the re-establishmentof the Latin society in the crusader states. The research focuses on the people of Genoa,merchants and travellers who explored the Mediterranean Sea, crusaders and theGenoese who settled in the crusader states, far away from Genoa. What these peoplehad in common, apart from being Genoese, is that they left records of their activitiesin the form of notarial documents. This is probably the earliest time in the history ofEurope in which such documents were not only recorded but also preserved forposterity. The existence of this collection of documents from the time of the crusades,many of which are as yet unpublished, is therefore an opportunity for a freshexamination of the events from the perspective of individual merchants and exploringthe economic interests of the commune. This dissertation addresses questions about the connection between crusade andcommerce. What motivated the Genoese to help the crusaders in 1187-1192? Why didthey not provide ships for the participants of the Fourth Crusade? How did the crusadeaffect Genoa's web of commerce? Special attention is given to individual and families ofGenoese who settled in the Latin East. The case of the aristocratic Genoese family of theEmbriaco is particularly interesting because of that family's integration into thearistocracy in the kingdom of Jerusalem. Issues concerning the loyalties and identities ofGenoese settlers in the crusader states are addressed and examined in parallel with theexamination of the activities of other Genoese, merchants and travellers, who wereinvolved in commerce in Muslim centres in the same period.

Mack, Merav

University of Cambridge

http://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.16007

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[Thesis]

276903

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Y