Changing Economic Patterns in Latin Romania - Dumbarton Oaks

David Jacoby [ 207 ]
in the following spring Giovanni Corner, already encountered five years earlier, invested
in Constantinople in a business venture with Crete and Venice. 60 Not surprisingly, therefore,
the first wave of military settlers leaving Venice for Crete in the autumn of 1211
included merchants such as Tommaso Viadro, who had previously traded in Crete, and
others who had surely obtained information about the economic potential of the island.
In addition, merchants arriving on their own in Crete also settled on the island in that
period. 61 It is noteworthy that the charter delivered by Doge Pietro Ziani to the military
contingent of 1211 contains several detailed provisions regarding the future settlers’ trade
in the island’s products. One of them deals with state control over wheat exports, a
sensitive issue connected with Venice’s food supply. 62 Military settlers became involved
in internal trade and in the export of local commodities shortly after their arrival in the
island. Some of them also invested in maritime ventures and from 1218, or 1222 at the
latest, even directly undertook trade journeys overseas. 63
A similar conjunction of commercial, fiscal, and strategic factors and interplay between
private and state initiatives provided the background for the invasion of Crete by
Enrico Pescatore in 1206 and for his efforts to secure his rule over the island, which
eventually collapsed in 1211. Although Pescatore’s expedition was a private enterprise,
Genoa displayed vivid interest in it and provided large-scale naval, military, and financial
assistance to ensure its success. In 1208 the Commune responded to Pescatore’s request
by sending him ships, men-at-arms, and supplies, as well as money for the purchase
of horses, obviously in Crete itself. In 1210 he requested further financial assistance
and, in return, promised Genoa a quarter with its facilities in each Cretan city, jurisdiction
in the whole island, as well as full exemption from taxes to Genoese merchants.
The charter he delivered was obviously modeled after those obtained by Genoa in the
Crusader Levant. Pescatore further promised the reimbursement in three yearly installments
of the financial assistance provided by the Commune, to the amount of 18,000
Genoese pounds, beginning two years after the total subjection of the island to his rule.
Finally, he stated that the Commune would inherit Crete should he die without legitimate
heirs. 64
Genoa’s interest in the economic and fiscal exploitation of the island was clearly con-
60 DCV, nos. 516, 518.
61 See Jacoby, “Colonisation,” 299–300, 303–8.
62 G. L. F. Tafel and G. M. Thomas, eds., Urkunden zur älteren Handels- und Staatsgeschichte der Republik
Venedig (Vienna, 1856–57) (hereafter TTh), 2:132 (victualia, here clearly wheat), 140.
63 See Jacoby, “Colonisation,” 305–6, 308; M. Gallina, “Finanza, credito e commercio a Candia fra la fine
del XIII secolo e l’inizio del XIV,” Memorie della Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, II. Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche
e Filologiche, 5th ser., 7–8 (1986): 13–21, 23–31, 41–68, passim. Borsari, Dominio, 85–87, suggests that those
who settled in Crete opted for security with less income, rather for the high risk involved in maritime trade.
This assumption is not convincing, nor is it plausible that the prestige of armed service acted as an additional inducement
to settlement in Crete, considering the attitudes, values, and interests of the mercantile milieu. The
case of Doge Ranieri Zeno to which Borsari refers cannot be considered typical.
64 See G. Gerola, “La dominazione genovese in Creta,” Atti dell’I. R. Accademia di Scienze e Lettere ed Arti degli
Agiati in Roverete, 3d ser., 8.2(1902): 134–75; Borsari, Dominio, 21–25, 27; D. Abulafia, “Henry Count of
Malta and His Mediterranean Activities, 1203–1230,” in A. T. Luttrell, ed., Medieval Malta: Studies on Malta before
the Knights, Supplementary Monographs of the British School at Rome (London, 1975), 113–19, repr. in
D. Abulafia, Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean, 1100–1140 (London, 1987), no. iii; Maltezou, “Creta,” 763–67.