Page 45 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italian Riviera

THE HIST OR Y OF THE IT ALIAN RIVIER A  43

Genoa and the Crusades
During the 250 years of the Crusades, the maritime republics vied for
supremacy in the struggle over trade routes, colonies and beneficial
alliances. The two Crusades that brought about the conquest of
Jerusalem saw the Genoese take an active role in the naval front line,
with their condottiero Guglielmo Embriaco. In the ports of Acre and
Haifa (in modern Israel), Genoese merchants built homes and ware­
houses, as well as churches. At its peak, the city of Acre had 50,000
inhabitants and 38 churches. It was the last place in the Holy Land
to be conquered by the Arabs, in 1291. When the Christian kingdoms
present in the Holy Land found themselves in trouble, Genoa
frequently allied itself to the Knights of St John, the Armenians and
The Seige of Jerusalem in the First even the Tartars in the fight against Venice, Pisa, the Templars and
Crusade (1099) the Mameluks of Egypt.

The Meloria rocks (after which the
battle was named) lie off Livorno, some
7km (4 miles) offshore.

Battles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines
During the long struggle between the Papacy and
the Holy Roman Empire, the Guelphs supported
the former, the Ghibellines the latter. Towns seldom
had fixed loyalties but noble families did: the
Doria were famously Ghibelline.
The Battle of Meloria
One of the events that confirmed Genoese
dominance in the Mediterranean was the
Battle of Meloria, which saw Genoa fight
and defeat her rival, Pisa over possession
of Corsica. In August 1284, a Genoese fleet
under the command of Oberto Doria, took
up position close to Porto Pisano. The battle
was violent and the victor was uncertain
until the arrival of a second group of
Genoese galleys, which took her adversary
by surprise. Shown here is The Naval Battle
of Meloria by Giovanni David, in Genoa’s
Palazzo Ducale.

The Genoese fleet was
made up of 93 galleys. Banco di San Giorgio
Founded in the early 1400s, the
Bank of St George not only
Meloria was also the setting ran the domestic treasury,
for an earlier battle, in 1241, in but was also directly involved
which the Pisans, allied to Holy
Roman Emperor Frederick II, with Genoa’s colonies, such
defeated the Genoese. as Famagusta in Cyprus.
Shown here is an “8 Real”
coin minted by the bank.

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