Commune of Genoa

Who rules

Name

not pinned: the sources read do not name the officers of 1199 nor say whether a podestà or consuls governed that winter

Title

The commune's chief magistrate, a foreign podestà, or its board of consuls of the commune (consules de communi); the two regimes alternated between 1191 and 1217

Since

not pinned (the officer in office on 1 January 1200 is the one chosen for 1199)

Confidence

low

Genoa called its first foreign podestà, Manegoldo del Tettoccio of Brescia, in 1191, after suspending the consuls over factional fighting; Oberto of Olevano of Pavia followed in 1194, and when he died that year Ottone del Carretto was chosen in an irregular election; a Milanese replaced him in 1195 (the standard lists name Giacomo Manieri) and another Milanese, Drudo Marcellino, is listed for 1196 [these two names come from the standard lists and were not checked against a source here]. The Treccani encyclopedia and Repetto say that consuls and podestà alternated until 1217 (27 years). A podestà was in office in 1198, when he marched on Gavi and took Serravalle from the Tortonese (Repetto, from the annals).

For 1200 an English Wikipedia article on Guglielmo Grasso calls Guglielmo Embriaco a Genoese consul sent to Sicily that year, which may mean consuls governed in 1200, but the date and office are not pinned. Whether Genoa's officers changed on 1 January or at Candlemas (2 February) is also not pinned. The annals of Ogerio Pane (1197-1219) name every year's officers and would settle this.

Overlord

The emperor in law, as a city of the kingdom of Italy; in practice Genoa acknowledges no lord and conducts its own foreign policy, war and coinage.

What the realm holds

• Genoa itself: the walled city of 1155-1163, the port and the suburbs (borghi), with the valleys of the Polcevera and the Bisagno
• The Riviera di Ponente under Genoa's direct rule: Voltri (with its own suburban podestà by 1198), Arenzano, Cogoleto [the last two not pinned]; Varazze beyond them belongs to the marquises del Bosco and Ponzone
• The Riviera di Levante under Genoa's direct rule or protection: Recco, Camogli, Rapallo (a commune with its own consuls under Genoese protection since at least 1171), Chiavari (Genoa's walled new town, 1167), Sestri Levante (castle bought from Bobbio abbey in 1145), Portovenere (Genoese colony since 1113 or 1139, walls of 1161), Lerici (Genoese since 1152 and confirmed against the Malaspina in 1174)
• Subject or sworn lords: the counts of Lavagna (the Fieschi under Ugo Fieschi and their kin, independent until 1198), the da Passano (sworn to Genoa since 1132), the lords of Vezzano (made to swear after their raid on Portovenere in 1198), the counts of Ventimiglia (Genoa's vassals since 1146), the marquises Malaspina (vassalage renewed in 1199), the Del Carretto brothers (sworn to the Compagna in 1182)
• Subject or allied communes under sworn conventions: Ventimiglia, Albenga, Savona, Noli and the archbishop's Sanremo stand in different degrees of dependence (see their town records)
• The Oltregiogo: the castles and roads at Voltaggio and Fiaccone, Genoa's rights in Gavi (castle and borgo granted to Genoa in fief by Henry VI on 30 May 1191 and held by a Genoese castellan until the marquis Guido seized it in 1198; contested with the marquises of Gavi), Serravalle taken from Tortona in 1198 [status on 1 January 1200 not pinned], the castle of Palladio surrendered in 1198 [place not identified]
• Overseas: Bonifacio in Corsica (taken from the Pisans in 1195; the date and the story of the capture are traditional); quarters and rights at Acre and Tyre; the lordship of Gibelet (Byblos), held by the Embriaci, a Genoese family; a quarter and trading rights at Constantinople renewed by Isaac II in 1192; consuls or houses at Saint-Gilles, Montpellier and Marseille; trade at Ceuta, Bougie, Tunis and Alexandria

How it was acquired

The commune grew from the sworn associations of the early 12th century and its consuls are attested from 1099. Conrad III granted the right to coin in 1138-1139 and Frederick I recognised the commune's rights in 1162. The Riviera lords were brought to swear one by one from the 1130s onward, usually by purchase, siege and the obligation to live in the city part of each year. Genoa was not a member of the Lombard League and is not a party to the Peace of Constance (1183).

Henry VI promised Genoa Syracuse and lands in Sicily in 1191 for its fleet; after the conquest of 1194 he did not keep the promise and withdrew older privileges.

Allies and rivals

Inside the city: rival family groups built round the old consular houses (the della Volta, the de Castro, the Avvocati) fought in the streets in the 1160s-1180s, and the feuds of 1189-1190 led to the suspension of the consuls; newer houses (Doria, Spinola, Grimaldi, de Mari, Usodimare) rise through trade and office; the Embriaci, lords of Gibelet, and the Fieschi counts link the city to the Levant and to the eastern Riviera [the alignments of 1199 not pinned]. The archbishop, Bonifacio (since 1188; a Church map record), lord of Sanremo and Ceriana, is not a rival to the commune's government. Innocent III wants Genoa and Pisa at peace to serve the crusade; his legates of 1198 failed.

Rivals abroad: Pisa (war at sea since 1195 over Bonifacio, Sardinia and the Sicilian trade), Tortona and the marquises of Gavi (war of 1198), Venice in the Levant, the Lucchese and Pisan interests in the Lunigiana. Uneasy dependants: Savona, Albenga, Ventimiglia, the counts of Lavagna. Allies and friends: the Del Carretto brothers and the marquis of Montferrat (both brothers sworn Genoese; Boniface of Montferrat a long ally), the giudici of Torres and Arborea in Sardinia against the Pisan party, Piacenza on the Apennine roads [not pinned for 1200].

In the kingdom of Sicily Genoese adventurers serve Markward of Anweiler (Guglielmo Grasso joined his landing at Trapani in 1199), against the papal regency.

The realm that morning

On the morning of 1 January 1200 the commune rules its city, the Polcevera and Bisagno valleys, the coast from Cogoleto to Portovenere either directly or through sworn lords and communes, and the roads over the Giovi and the Bocchetta. The western Riviera beyond Cogoleto (Varazze of the marquises del Bosco, Savona, Noli, the Finale of the Del Carretto, Albenga, the archbishop's Sanremo, Ventimiglia) is bound to Genoa by conventions, not ruled. Who holds office that morning (the podestà of 1199 or the consuls) is not pinned.

The war with Pisa has no peace: the papal legates of 1198 did not reconcile the two cities, Genoa holds Bonifacio against Pisan claims, and in Sardinia a Genoese fleet landed near Cagliari about 1198, beat the Pisan-sworn judge Guglielmo of Massa and razed Santa Igia (a raid, not a conquest), while Genoa's friend Comita of Torres accuses Guglielmo before the pope. No truce between Genoa and Pisa is recorded for 1198-1200. On land the 1198 fighting with Tortona and the marquis of Gavi is over or quiet: Genoa held Serravalle at the end of 1198 [not pinned for 1200] and the Malaspina renewed their vassalage in 1199.

The Riviera lords who rose in 1198 (the lords of Vezzano) have sworn.

Wealth

Shipping and long-distance trade: the Levant (Acre, Tyre, Gibelet), Constantinople and Romania, Alexandria, Sicily, Sardinia, Provence and Montpellier, the Maghreb (Ceuta, Bougie, Tunis), with spices, alum, cotton, silk, grain, hides and furs, cloth from Lombardy and the north. Notarial contracts (the commenda and the societas) fund voyages; the earliest surviving cartulary (Giovanni Scriba, 1154-1164) shows how. Tolls on the Apennine roads (the Giovi, the Bocchetta, the Scrivia) and at the port; salt; the mint of Genoese pennies (denari januini).

Military

A war fleet raised from the citizens and the Riviera towns (galleys contributed by subject places such as Rapallo); a citizen militia under the podestà or consuls; castles at Portovenere, Lerici, Chiavari, Sestri, Voltaggio and in the Oltregiogo. Recent record: the fleet served Henry VI in 1191 and 1194; the commune took Bonifacio in 1195; in 1198 the podestà won at Gavi and Serravalle and beat Tortona's army led by Alberto Malaspina at the castle of Tassara [place not identified]. No source read gives numbers.

Threats

• The Pisan war: Pisan fleets on the Corsican and Sardinian routes, Pisan-backed lords in the Gulf of La Spezia
• Faction among the great families, which twice in the 1190s led to irregular or foreign rule
• Tortona and the marquises of Gavi in the Oltregiogo
• The Sicilian regency war: Genoese captains serve Markward against the pope's regency
• Savona and Albenga's wish to be free of Genoese conventions

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. early 1200 (1 January or 2 February: not pinned)The officers of 1200 take office, a podestà or consuls.Depends on: The council's choice and the balance of the factions. Stopped by: A riot or a disputed election, as in 1190 and 1194.
2. during 1200 (month not pinned)The Malaspina guarantee free passage of goods through the Lunigiana and renew their alliances with Piacenza and Milan against Parma and Pavia.Depends on: Peace between Genoa and the Malaspina holding after the vassalage of 1199. Stopped by: A new war in the Apennines.
3. July 1200Markward is beaten near Monreale; the Genoese captain Guglielmo Grasso changes sides; Genoa sends Guglielmo Embriaco, called a consul, to Sicily for Grasso's release and Markward refuses.Depends on: The Sicilian war going as it went. Stopped by: A different outcome in Sicily.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201Genoa sends Ogerio Pane and others as envoys to Alexios III at Constantinople.Depends on: Peace with the empire after the corsair quarrels. Stopped by: A rupture with Byzantium.
2. 1202The marquises of Gavi cede all their rights in Gavi to Genoa for a price; Noli makes an alliance on equal terms with Genoa; Alberto and Corrado Malaspina cede a share of their tolls in the Trebbia and Val Borbera to a Doria (April).Depends on: The settlement of the 1198 wars holding. Stopped by: A new league against Genoa in the Oltregiogo.
3. 1202-1205The Pisan war moves to Sicily, where Genoese and Pisans fight over Syracuse.Depends on: The Sicilian regency staying weak. Stopped by: A peace with Pisa (the actual peace is made at Lerici only in 1217).

Places of note

• Genoa: the port and the city: The commune's seat, port and mint
• Portovenere: Genoese colony and castle guarding the Gulf of La Spezia against Pisa
• Lerici: Genoese castle on the east side of the gulf (since 1152)
• Chiavari: Genoa's walled new town (1167) and castle facing the counts of Lavagna and the Malaspina
• Voltaggio: Castle on the road over the Bocchetta to Gavi and Novi
• Gavi: Castle on the Lemme, contested with the marquises of Gavi (sold to Genoa in 1202)

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes Part 6 E give the archbishop of Genoa as BONIFACIO [thin] and Part 11 ruling 11 lists Genoa among names not pinned. The Italian Wikipedia list (used by the Church map) gives Bonifacio as archbishop from 13 June 1188 to 22 September 1203, which supports the notes.

Evidence: The commune's structure, its overseas quarters and the wars of 1195-1198 are well attested in the Genoese annals and the modern literature, but we could not read the annals of Ogerio Pane for 1199-1200 directly: the officers in office that morning and the date the officers changed are not pinned. No source read records a truce with Pisa in 1198-1200.

On the map: Genoa's direct rule in 1200 is a coast and its valleys, not a block: the inland Apennine valleys behind the Levante belong to the counts of Lavagna, the Malaspina and lesser lords. The polygon follows the watershed roughly and should be read as the commune's district, not as uniform lordship.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
• Annals of Pisa, by Bernardo Maragone, with continuation, Bernardo Maragone (1160s to 1175, continued to 1192). Pisa's official annals stop in 1175 and their continuation in 1192, so there is no Pisan narrative for 1200 itself. Read online
• The register of San Pietro di Silki (11th to 13th centuries). A monastic register of lands, serfs, gifts and lawsuits in the giudicato of Torres (Logudoro), written in the vernacular.
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• Greek Acts and Documents of the Middle Ages, Sacred and Secular (documents of the 9th to 15th centuries, edited by F. Miklosich and J. Muller, 6 vols (Vienna, 1860 to 1890)). Volume 3 (Acta et diplomata res Graecas Italasque illustrantia, 1865) prints the imperial chrysobulls to Venice, including Alexios III's of November 1198 with its list of the provinces and towns of the Empire where Venetians traded, the best single picture of the imperial provinces as they stood on 1 January 1200, together with the Pisan and Genoese privileges. Read online