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Venice and the Kingdom of Naples in the Last Years of Robert the Wise 1332–13431
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2013
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The fortunes of Venice were built, at least indirectly, on the southeastern coasts of Italy. Venetian help to the Byzantine emperor against first the Saracens and then Guiscard's Normans brought Venice its mighty privileges in Greece and Constantinople. But Venetian cooperation with those who finally came to rule over Apulia also brought rewards, in the form of prosperous trading stations which outrivalled all the achievements of the Apulian merchants themselves; in the form of regular access to supplies of wheat, oil and salted meat; and in the form of additional points of surveillance from which to protect Venetian and subject fleets. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Venetian government displayed great agility and flexibility in its dealings with the rulers of Apulia and Sicily.
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References
2 Abulafia, David, 1977, The Two Italies: economic relations between the Norman Kingdom of Sicily and the northern communes, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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7 Yver: 257–9.
8 For the Ferrara war see Soranzo, G., 1905, La guerra fra Venezia e la Santa Sede per il dominio di Ferrara (1308–1313), Città di CastelloGoogle Scholar; the war is placed in the context of the ‘political crusades’ of the fourteenth century in Housley, N. J. (forthcoming) The Italian Crusades: the papal-Angevin in alliance and the Crusades against Christian lay powers, 1254–1343, Oxford, which opens for discussion a wide range of problemsGoogle Scholar.
9 See below.
10 One chronicler with something to say is the author of the Venetiarum historia vulgo Petro Iustiniano filio adiudicata, ed. Cessi, R. and Bennato, F., 1964 (Monumenti storici, Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Venezie, n.s., xviii) Venice: 217Google Scholar.
11 Lane, F. C., 1973, Venice: a maritime republic, Baltimore: 64, 84, 127Google Scholar; McNeill, W. H., 1974, Venice: the hinge of Europe, 1081–1797, Chicago: 52Google Scholar; Longworth, P., 1974, The rise and fall of Venice, London: 76Google Scholar; but Norwich, J. J., 1977, Venice: the rise to empire, London: 295Google Scholar, is pure exaggeration.
12 Giomo, G., ed., 1887, I ‘Misti’ del Senate delta Repubblica Veneta. 1293–1311, Venice, and Carabellese-Zambler, ii. 63–78Google Scholar, for transcriptions of the rubrics of Senate decisions, the main text of which is almost entirely lost.
13 Cessi, R. and Brunetti, M., 1961, Le Deliberazioni del Consiglio del Rogati (Senato) serie mixtorum, ii, libri xv–xvi (Monumenti storici, Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria, n.s., xvi) VeniceGoogle Scholar.
14 Archivio di Stato, Venice, Misti del Senato, vols. xv–xxi—abbreviated henceforth as SM. Also, Archivio di Stato, Venice, Libri commemoriali della Repubblica di Venezia, vols. iii and iv—listed henceforth as LC. See too the invaluable register of LC documents: Predelli, R., 1878, I Libri commemoriali della Repubblica di Venezia, Regesti, ii (Monumenti storici pubblicati dalla R. Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria, ser. 1, iii) VeniceGoogle Scholar.
15 SM xv § 55 f. 8r.
16 SM xvi §l 281 f. 37v.
17 Hóman, B., 1938, Gli Angioini di Napoli in Ungheria, 1290–1403, Rome: 318Google Scholar.
18 Hóman: 367–71.
19 SM xv § 361 f. 48r.
20 SM xvi § 28 f. 5r.
21 For evidence of Sicilian interference see e.g. Balbi, G. Petti, ed., Georgii Stellae Annales Genuenses (Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, ser. 2, xvii, pt 2) 112, anno 1327Google Scholar: ‘eodem anno Fredericus, Trinaclie rex, qui cum extrinsecis Ianue adversum intrinsecos bella egerat, intuens sibi damnum accidere quod ipsi intrinseci non auderent in Siciliam navigare, concessit quod tute cum rebus suis illuc accedere ibique conversari valerent; et hoc Roberto regi vehementer displicuit’. In other words, the Sicilians were even prepared to allow Guelf shipping into their waters; perhaps in order to secure customers for Sicilian wheat, perhaps to score a diplomatic point, the Aragonese were less insistent than the Angevins upon the irreconcilability of Sicilian and Neapolitan trading interests.
22 LC iv f. 55v–56v; Predelli § 109. Also SM xx § 59 f. 8r and xx § 65 f. 9r (1341).
23 SM xx § 67 f. 10v.
24 SM xx § 70 f. 11r.
25 SM xx § 304 f. 39r–41r; SM xvii § 292–4, f. 33r–v; SM xvii § 325 f. 39r; SM xvii § 370 f. 44r. Revealing comment in SM xvii § 1040 f. 117r, of 20 December 1338: ‘super facto galee ceciliane consulunt concorditer tres sapientes quod pro complacendo domino Regi Sicilie et illis de compagna et etiam quia ipsa galea non est inuenta danificasse gentem nostram, et prestando, et permanendo in omni bono, et pacifico cum eis, ipsa galea cum integritate eis restitui debeat …’
26 SM xviii § 555 f. 66r, of 16 September 1339: negotiations to remove 4,000 salme of grain each year from Sicily; agreement was reached by 26 September—SM xviii § 575 f. 69r. SM xix § 656 f. 68r of 15 March 1341 indicates difficulties experienced in the grain trade at Messina: Marco Polo ‘non potuit adimplere intentionem nostram messane’; so he will go instead to Achaia. For Sicilian stocks in 1342: SM xx § 629 f. 73v, continuing the story of Marco Polo's difficulties; xx § 665 f. 77v; xxi § 19 f. 3r.
27 McNeill: 52.
28 LC iv f. 55v–56r.
29 LC iv f. 56v: ‘Et Veneti in dicta Insula, pro libito mercabantur, uictualia habundanter extrahendo perueniebant detestabili comodo, dominj quondam frederici, ipsius Insule detentoris, et alijs in successione uicij sequentibus detentoribus propter cabellas allias et prouentus asscendentes, ad magnas quantitates pecunie annuatim.’
30 For what follows, see Abulafia, David, 1981, ‘Southern Italy and the Florentine economy, 1265–1370’, Economic History Review, ser 2, xxxivGoogle Scholar, Yver, passim; Davidsohn, R., 1925, Geschichte von Florenz, iv, II. Teil, Berlin: 409Google Scholar.
31 Davidsohn, R., 1901, Forschungen zur Geschichte von Florenz, iii, Berlin, § 538Google Scholar; cf. § 532, § 533, § 536.
32 Giomo: 11; Abulafia: ‘Southern Italy’; cf. Yver: 266–8.
33 Yver: 251.
34 SM xviii § 731 f. 84r, § 732 f. 84r, § 734 f. 84v; but § 714 f. 82v, § 716 f. 82v, § 722 f. 82v show attempts at moderation.
35 Krekić, B., ‘Four Florentine commercial companies in Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in the first half of the fourteenth century’, in Miskimin, H. A., Herlihy, D., Udovitch, A. L., eds., 1977, The Medieval City, New Haven: 25–41Google Scholar.
36 Yver: 270–1; cf. 117, 354. Marino Grioni's career was reconstructed from the lost Angevin Rationes Thesaurariorum and from the royal registers.
37 Yver: 270n., utilising a lost register of Robert the Wise, (1333/4).
38 For Florentine careerists, see Abulafia, ‘Southern Italy’; Cutolo, A., 1924, Il Regno di Sicilia negli ultimi anni di vita di Carlo II d'Angiò, MilanGoogle Scholar; Leonard, E., 1936, Histoire de Jeanne Ire, reine de Naples, comtesse de Provence, iii, Monaco and ParisGoogle Scholar.
39 Venetiarum historia vulgo Petro Iustiniano adiudicata, 217: ‘Item, huius tempore Ianuenses pirate male dispositi cum galeis VI ceperunt bello galeas II Venetorum mercibus honeratas, que de Flandria Venecias remeabant, per fortunale tempus a galeis aliis segregatas: erat armate predicte tunc capitaneus dominus Iacobus Trivixano. Quam ob causam decretum fuit, ut ad dictas partes galee armate Veneciarum amplius non debeant navigare’. It is striking that emphasis is placed here on the rôle of the Genoese and on the importance of the Flanders trade; King Robert's involvement appears instead in the Senate discussions: SM xvii § 594 f. 67r, § 596–86b f. 67r, § 613 f. 69r, § 642 f. 72v, § 643 f. 72v, § 646–7 f. 72v; see also LC iii f. 194r–196r, Predelli § 465–7; Lane: 127. Cf. Georgii Stellae Annales Genuenses: 128, which sees the incident rather as another sorry episode in Venetian-Genoese relations; but Stella had already (p. 87) listed the Venetians among those who ‘quidam palam, quidam occulte’ aided Matteo Visconti and the Ghibellines against the Genoese Guelfs.
40 Lane: 466.
41 Robert, J.-B., 1973, Histoire de Monaco, Paris: 18Google Scholar. The lord of Monaco from 1330 to 1357 was Charles I Grimaldi, who was also architect of a policy of balance between Genoese and Provencal claims to lordship—a policy which was also used to enhance his own autonomy as seigneur: Robert: 19–21.
42 See SM xvi § 729 f. 94r of 19 December 1334: attacks on Venetian shipping throughout the Mediterranean ‘occasione guerre catalanorum et Januensium’.
43 SM xviii § 397 f. 46v–47r: the Genoese ‘insuper ceperunt in portu licij sue jurisdictionis duo ligna que combusserunt’.
44 Georgii Stellae Annales Genuenses: 86: ‘Guelfi quippe videntes quod non valebant resistere adversariorum potentie, miserunt pro Roberto rege’; and 87: ‘iurisdictionem et potestatem, quam eorum fungebatur auctoritas, renuntiarunt in manibus dicti regis … summus pontifex Iohannes XXIIus idemque rex in gubernatores et presides eius urbis electi sunt ad iustitiam ministrandum, cum mero et mixto imperio et omni iurisdictione, usque ad annos X tunc proxime secuturos’; cf. 107–8 (a. 1324) for discussions about prolonging this period of seigneury. I plan to examine the period of Robert's Genoese lordship at length in a future article; see meanwhile Monti, G. M., 1936, ‘Sul dominio di Roberto a Firenze e a Genova’, in his: Da Carlo I a Roberto d'Angiò: ricerche e documenti, Trani: 161–79Google Scholar.
45 Georgii Stellae Annales Genuenses: 124.
46 But Genoese claims to Monaco had been presented even in the mid-twelfth century: Abulafia, Two Italies: 127, 191n. Robert the Wise, like Charles Grimaldi, tried to balance his interests at Monaco: a document of 15 May 1319, ordering the confiscation of Ghibelline property at Monaco, La Turbie and Roquebrune indicates that the king did claim to dispose of rights of justice at Monaco: Archives des Bouches-du-Rhône, Cour des comptes de Provence, série B, § 449, noted by Saige, G., 1905, Documents historiques antérieurs aux XVe siècle relatifs à la seigneurie de Monaco et à la maison de Grimaldi, i, Monaco: 177nGoogle Scholar.
47 LC iii f. 195v; the Venetian view that the royal officers at Nice should involve themselves is also reflected in King Robert's documents: Saige § lxviii–lxix, 177–81, show that the king expected his officers at Nice to carry out his commands concerning Ghibelline lands at Monaco.
48 LC iii f. 194r: ‘nec galee regie fuerint neque fidelium aut subditorum aut districtualium suorum, sed januensium extrinsecorum Monachi de gencium, quia locus monachi neque ipsi extrinseci neque in dicto loco de gentes sunt districtuales neque jurisdictionis maiestatis eiusdem’; Predelli, § 467.
49 LC iii f. 76r; Predelli § 246: the king claims already to have paid compensation for attacks on Venetian vessels by Genoese and Provencal pirates; the Venetians deny knowledge of any payments (1332). But in 1343 Queen Joanna promised compensation if her own subjects were responsible for outrages: LC iv f. 55v, Predelli § 109—‘usque ad hoc tempora dampnorum, iniuriarum et offensarum huiusmodi amabillia ab eis obtinetur rependia affectantes ipsis duci et comuni in quibuslibet complacere’.
50 SM xvi § 729 f. 94r (19 December 1334); SM xvii § 624 f. 70r (13 February 1337): ‘in primis consideratis statu et conditione terre quod galee non uadant in flandria per hoc anno’; Lane: 127.
51 SM xviii § 439 f. 51v; for the negotiations of 1315–16, Yver, 262–3.
52 SM xvii § 396 f. 46v; cf. xviii § f. 76r.
53 SM xviii § 395 f. 46r; xviii § 678 f. 79r; xviii § 825 f. 93r; xviii § 838 f. 94v; xix § 64 f. 7r; xix § 231 f. 24v; xix § 900 f. 94v; xix § 931 f. 98v; xx § 59 f. 8r (9 September 1341, referring to the ‘litteris nostri consulis appulie’); xx § 65 f. 9r.
54 SM xix § 231, f. 24v; xix § 900 f. 94v; xix § 931 f. 98v; xx § 331 f. 40r; xx § 365 f. 44v.
55 SM xviii § 689 f. 80r (29 December 1339): ‘quod scribatur domino regi Roberto de casibus sinistris nostrorum ambaxatorum, quod misimus ad eum pro damnis nostrorum fidelium’.
56 SM xviii § 677–9 f. 79r–v.
57 SM xx § 577 f. 62r; xx § 578 f. 62r.
58 SM xx § 154 f. 19r: ‘procurat adduci facere bladum de mundi finibus pro substentatione vite, huius nostre credunt eos clare cognoscere’.
59 SM xx § 155–7, f. 19v.
60 Cited by Yver: 279n, who states his source as LC iii. 578 but gives no folio number; see also SM xix § 724 f. 75v.
61 SM xx § 390 f. 47r; xx § 420 f. 50v; § 443 f. 54r; § 448b f. 55r; § 449 f. 55r; § 458 f. 56r; § 470–1 f. 57r; action against Brindisi begins with § 576 f. 61v; § 577 f. 61v–62r; § 578 f. 62r; § 579 f. 62v.
62 The notary sent to Apulia: SM xxi § 87 f. 9v (23 January 1343); but cf. SM xx § 629 f. 73v, § 665 f. 77v (August 1342) for earlier worries. Cretan problems seem to emerge from SM xxi § 79 f. 9r (11 January 1343): ‘Quod ille licencie date de facto frumenti pro insula nostra Crete ad recuperandum frumentum de Sicilia et apulia remaneant in suspenso’.
63 LC iv f. 47r; Predelli iv § 104.
64 LC iv f. 47v; Predelli iv § 104.
65 LC iv f. f. 47v–48r; Predelli iv § 104.
66 For pirate licences see e.g. Cadier, L., 1891, Essai sur l'administration du royaume de Sicile sous Charles I et Charles II d'Anjou, Paris: 174–6Google Scholar; Abulafia, David, 1975, ‘Henry Count of Malta and his Mediterranean Activities: 1203–1230’ in Luttrell, A. T., ed., Medieval Malta: studies on Malta before the Knights, London: 120–1Google Scholar; also Favreau, M-L., 1978, ‘Die italienische Levante-Piraterie und die Sicherheit der Seewege nach Syrien im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert’, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschqftsgeschichte, lxvGoogle Scholar.
67 Abulafia, David, 1977, ‘Genoa and the Security of the Seas: the mission of Babilano Lomellino in 1350’, Papers of the British School at Rome, xlv: 273Google Scholar.
68 Abulafia, ‘Genoa and the Security of the Seas’: 272–9.
69 Lane: 127.
70 Kedar, B. Z., 1976, Merchants in Crisis: Genoese and Venetian men of affairs and the fourteenth-century depression, New HavenGoogle Scholar, is stimulating.
71 Lane: 64.