Changing Economic Patterns in Latin Romania - Dumbarton Oaks

David Jacoby [ 231 ]
Romania reached Dubrovnik, and traders also traveled to Barcelona on their way to
Saragossa in Spain, though it is unclear on which ships. In short, by the fourteenth century
the Greeks were firmly inserted within the geographic pattern of Latin Romania’s
seaborne trade, with certain limitations. 209
The activity of these Greeks calls for a few remarks. It was generally based on relatively
small amounts of capital and conducted with the help of small and medium-sized ships
having a limited carrying capacity, manned by Greek or mixed crews. 210 Greeks only
seldom participated directly in trans-Mediterranean traffic and, in any event, were totally
excluded from commercial patterns sponsored by the Venetian government and directly
subject to its control. The transportation of precious goods on board state galleys and
the leasing of these ships were the exclusive preserve of Venetian citizens. It is therefore
obvious that, despite their numbers, in terms of capital turnover and profits the Greeks
of Latin Romania had a fairly limited share in medium and especially in long-distance
maritime trade. Nevertheless, some of them based in the major transit ports greatly benefited
from the general increase in economic and maritime activity and managed to accumulate
considerable wealth in related activities, such as banking. Çan Cremolisi, a Greek
resident of Coron, provided loans totaling 35,000 gold ducats to the lord of Corinth,
Nerio Acciaiuoli, the reimbursement of which he sought for several years after the latter’s
death in 1394. 211 In the first half of the fifteenth century, high officials of Byzantine
Morea were depositing valuables and cash in Coron and Modon in private banks operated
by Greeks, who used the same sophisticated commercial techniques as their Latin
counterparts. 212 In the same period a Greek family, the Filomati from Crete, settled in
Venice and adopted a business strategy resting on the dispersal of its members, as commonly
practiced by Venetian mercantile families, positioning some in Crete and one in
Constantinople. Incidentally, some prominent Byzantine families appear to have acted
in the same way both with respect to the Byzantine provinces and the cities of Latin
Romania, namely, Venetian Coron and Modon. 213
So far we have noted two important economic functions fulfilled by Latin Romania
209 On this pattern, see Jacoby, “Venezia d’oltremare,” 272–73; idem, “Cretan Cheese,” 57–60; idem,
“Creta,” 83–84; S. Borsari, “Ricchi e poveri nelle comunità ebraiche di Candia e Negroponte,” in Maltezou,
Plousíoi (as above, note 144), 213–14, 216–18, on Cretan Jews providing maritime loans for trade with Cyprus,
Alexandria, the Aegean islands, and Venice, partly on board Greek ships; B. Krekić, Dubrovnik (Raguse) et le
Levant au moyen âge (Paris, 1961), 99–100, 103, 125–50; Gallina, Società, 123–27.
210 See Gaspares, Nautiliakh` kínhsh, 293–305 (tables), and for a mixed crew with the sailors’ names, ibid.,
289–90 n. 9; mixed crew also on a small Venetian ship around 1270: TTh, 3:274–75. Further examples of small
vessels appear above.
211 See J. Chrysostomides, “Merchant versus Nobles: A Sensational Court Case in the Peloponnese (1391–
1404),” in Praktikà tou' D Dieqnou'" Sunedríou Peloponnhsiakw'n Spoudw'n (1992–93), 2:116–31, and
for the documents, see now Chrysostomides, Monumenta, 626, General index, s.v. “Cremolisi, Court case.”
212 See K.-P. Matschke, “Geldgeschäfte, Handel und Gewerbe in spätbyzantinischen Rechenbüchern und in
der spätbyzantinischen Wirklichkeit: Ein Beitrag zu den Produktions- und Austauschverhältnissen im byzantinischen
Feudalismus,” Jahrbuch für Geschichte des Feudalismus 3 (1979): 187–88; idem, “Griechische Kaufleute am
Übergang von der byzantinischen Epoche zur Türkenzeit,” in Lauer and Schreiner, Kultur Griechenlands (as in
note 7), 78–79.
213 Ibid., 77–78; Matschke, “Geldgeschäfte,” 195–96; on the Filomati, see now D. Jacoby, “I Greci ed altre
comunità fra Venezia ed oltremare,” in I Greci a Venezia, nel V centenario della fondazione della comunità greca, ed.
M. F. Tiepolo (Venice, 2000), in press; for the Latins, see D. Jacoby, “La dimensione demografica e sociale,” in
Cracco and Ortalli, Storia (as above, note 149), 2:703.