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On the Beginnings of the Communal Movement in the Holy Land: The Commune of Tyre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Hans Eberhard Mayer
Hans Eberhard Mayer*
Affiliation:
University of Kiel
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Extract

In a revolutionary paper read in the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1965, the foremost expert on the history of the crusaders' states, Joshua Prawer, has completely altered our outlook on, and considerably enlarged our knowledge of, the medieval communes established in the Holy Land during the time of the crusaders. This is not the place to discuss the merits of Prawer's paper in all details, especially as I have done this briefly elsewhere. Let it suffice here to say that by placing the history of the communes in the general context of the institutional history of the Latin Orient rather than by viewing them as isolated phenomena, as had been done by the late and regretted John L. La Monte, Prawer demonstrated ably and beyond any doubt that in the constitutional history of the Latin Kingdom and of the crusaders' states in general there were definite traces of Estates, elements of a development towards a Ständestaat This transition from a strong monarchy to a representative system of Estates, which is so familiar in European history, is hard to detect in the history of the Latin Orient because the reconquest of the Holy Land by the Muslims cut short this line of constitutional development. Thus, although the weakness of the monarchy in the thirteenth century was clearly seen, a true representative system never came into being in the East. But Prawer showed that the crusaders' states were well on their way towards such a goal and that from about A.D. 1240 the masters of the knightly orders and the administrative heads of the exempted Italian merchant colonies, as well as representatives of the urban brotherhoods (fraries), took part in the proceedings of the Haute Cour, the highest body of legislation and jurisdiction, although they did not formally vote. Under the procedure followed in the Haute Cour, the nobility debated separately and afterwards notified the representatives of the orders, the merchants, and the urban Frankish population of their decisions. But it is obvious that the latter by their mere presence must have influenced the proceedings because it was the orders, the merchants, and the bourgeois who controlled the military establishment and the economy. The fraternities, like any reasonably organized group, became part and parcel of the institutional framework of the state. In all likelihood Prawer's final conclusion is correct: had the crusaders' states survived for another hundred years, these representatives would have been transformed from advisory groups into well established and separate Estates with full power to vote in the Haute Cour.

Type
Miscellany
Information
Traditio , Volume 24 , 1968 , pp. 443 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

1 Prawer, Joshua, ‘Estates, Communities and the Constitution of the Latin Kingdom,’ The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Proceedings 2. 6 (Jerusalem 1966).Google Scholar

2 See my review in Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 54 (1967) 109–111.Google Scholar

3 La Monte, John L., ‘The Communal Movement in Syria in the Thirteenth Century,’ Charles Homer Haskins Anniversary Essays in Mediaeval History (Boston and New York 1929) 117–131.Google Scholar

4 In tracing the history of the Commune of Tyre I shall have to rely heavily on the charters and letters issued by the Marquis Conrad of Montferrat in the Holy Land. I shall give a detailed list of these charters here and quote them henceforward in the main text by the numbers of Röhricht, Reinhold, Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (Oeniponti 1893) abbreviated as RRH. The following charters are extant: (1) RRH 665: Conrad for Pisa, October 1187. Printed by Giuseppe Müller, Documenti sulle relazioni delle città toscane coll'Oriente (Firenze 1879) 26 no. 23; (2) RRH 666: Conrad for the Provençal merchants, October 1187. Printed by Bourilly, V.-L., ‘Essai sur l'histoire politique de la commune de Marseille des origines à la victoire de Charles d'Anjou,’ Annates de la Faculté des Lettres d'Aix 13 (1921/22) 29 no. 4; (3) RRH 667: Conrad for Pisa, October 1187. Printed by Müller, , op. cit. 28 no. 24; (4) RRH 668: Conrad for Pisa, October 1187. Printed by Müller, , op. cit 30 no. 25; (5) RRH 670: Letter by Conrad to King Bela III of Hungary, January 1188. Printed by Denis, Michael, Codices manuscripti theologici Bibliothecae Palatinae Vindobonensis Latini aliarumque Occidentis linguarum I 1 (Vindobonae 1793) col. 740; (6) RRH 674: Conrad for the Pisan Society of the Red, May 1188. Printed by Müller, , op. cit 33 no. 27; (7) RRH 675: Conrad for the Pisan Society of the Red, May 1188. Printed by Müller, , op. cit. 34 no. 28; (8) RRH 676: Letter by Conrad, to Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury, September 20, 1188. Printed in Ralph of Diceto, Historical Works, ed. Stubbs, William, II (Rolls Series; London 1876) 60; (9) RRH 682: Conrad for the Genoese. Rocia, Martin, September 1189. Printed by Strehlke, Ernestus, Tabulae ordinis Theutonici (Berolini 1869) 21 no. 24: (10) RRH 691: Conrad for Genoa, April 11, 1190. Printed by Cesare Imperiale di Sant' Angelo, Codice diplomatico delta Repubblica di Genova 2 (Fonti per la storia d' Italia; Roma 1938) 369 no. 194. AH these charters are genuine as will be shown in my edition of the charters of the Latin Kings of Jerusalem, now in preparation for the German Historical Institute in Rome.Google Scholar

5 de Adam, Salimbene, Cronica, MGH SS 32.7.Google Scholar

6 In fact, Margarit himself had a dubious past which earned him such titles as archipirata; cf. Ménager, Léon-Robert, Amiratus-'Aμβϱς. L'Émirat et les origines de l'amirauté (Bibliothèque générale de l'École pratique des Hautes-Études; Paris 1960) 99. But the original version of the Itinerarium peregrinorum , ed. Mayer, Hans Eberhard (Schriften der Monumenta Germaniae Historica 18; Stuttgart 1962) 271, affirms that on the Syrian coast Margarit checked the excesses of his sailors. Google Scholar

7 Codice diplomatico della Repubblica di Genova 2 (note 4) 318 no. 170.Google Scholar

8 ‘… eo quod ipsos Genuenses ad defensionem civitatis promptos invenerunt et paratos et domno regi et regine fidelitatem servare voluntarios.’ Google Scholar

9 RRH 102, 105.Google Scholar

10 Chronique d'Ernoul et de Bernard le Trésorier, ed. de Mas Latrie, L. (Paris 1871) 179.Google Scholar

11 William of Newburgh, Historia rerum Anglicarum, ed. Howlett, R., Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, 1 (Rolls Series, London 1884) 262 f. even intimates that Reginald wanted to eject Conrad from the city. This report is demonstrably wrong, because William places the arrival of Raymond III and Reginald after the arrival of Conrad, which is directly refuted by the charter of Raymond and the barons for Genoa issued before Conrad's arrival. Ernoul (note 10) 179 ff. tells the events in the correct sequence, but also hints that Reginald was ready to surrender the city.Google Scholar

12 Groh, Friedrich, Der Zusammenbruch des Reiches Jerusalem 1187-1189 (Diss. Jena 1909) 74–78, demonstrated that the date given by William of Newburgh (July 13) is too early and that Conrad did not arrive until late in July or early in August of 1187.Google Scholar

13 Estoire d'Eracles , in Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Historiens occidentaux 2 (Paris 1859) 76f. at the bottom of the page. Cf. also de Vitry, Jacques, Historia orientalis , ed. Bongars, J., Gesta Dei per Francos 1 (Hanoviae 1611) 1119 and Salimbene de Adam, Cronica, in MGH SS 32,5: ‘… quem cives velut acephali gratanter excipiunt, se et civitatem eius moderamini supponentes’; p. 6 he calls him simply Tyrensis dominus. Google Scholar

14 Annali Genovesi di Caffaro e de'suoi continuatori 1, ed. Belgrano, Luigi Tommaso (Fonti per la storia d'Italia, Genova 1890) 145.Google Scholar

15 See note 11.Google Scholar

16 Ernoul (note 10) 174f.Google Scholar

17 Itinerarium peregrinorum (see note 6) 305f.Google Scholar

18 Archbishop Joscius of Tyre does not appear in these texts because he was then on a much publicized mission to Europe, which is mentioned in many sources.Google Scholar

19 The full text of the clause as it appears in RRH 665 is: ‘consilio et consensu magistri Monachi Cesariensis archiepiscopi et domni Leotardi Nazareni archiepiscopi et domni Odonis episcopi Sydonie et consilio et consensu fratris Terry domus milicie Templi magni preceptoris et aliorum militum Templi et consilio et consensu fratris Borelli magni preceptoris Hospitalis et aliorum fratrum et consilio et consensu militum et burgensium Tyri et totius communis civitatis.’ Google Scholar

20 In all other cases where the word commune occurs in Conrad's Syrian charters it invariably refers to a constitutionally organized Italian commune. Therefore the repeated occurrence of the expression totum commune civitatis in the case of Tyre cannot be dismissed as an incidental lapse of the pen on part of the scribe. The expression must be taken as a formal terminus lechnicus. Google Scholar

21 Ilgen, Theodor, Markgraf Conrad von Montferrat (Marburg 1880) 78.Google Scholar

22 ‘… dignum et rationabile fore duxi mecum Tyrum defendentes remunerare premiis et beneficiis ad obsequia civitatis (christianitatis) allicere. Ideoque remunerans labores et varios sudores ac sanguinis etfusionem civium Pisanorum (burgensium Sancti Egidii …).’ It is interesting that Conrad seeks to attract others to the service of the city (ad obsequia civitatis), not to his own service. This shows that the Commune, not Conrad, is considered lord of the city.Google Scholar

23 RRH 674: ‘… eo quod optime et viriliter mecum permanserunt in defensione christianitatis et Tyri’; RRH 675: ‘… quia mecum in ipsius Tyri detensionem pro honore nominis unigeniti dei filii et totius christianitatis fideliter atque constanter permansere.’ Google Scholar

24 Interestingly enough, Conrad also envisaged the foundation of a commune in Jaffa, should it be returned to Christian rule. For in RRH 667 we read: ‘De domibus autem burgensium Pisanorum extra honorem Pisani communis positis rex taliam possit percipere, si pro communi civitatis Ioppen taliam receperit.’ Google Scholar

25 RRH 665 as an example: ‘… ut omnes Pisani per quaslibet partes regni cum suis rebus secure ac libere possint ire et a nullo possint inpediri nomine regis aut alicuius baronis occasione … Si quis autem Pisanus vel Pisani naufragium sustinuerint in regno et in partibus regni, cum omnibus rebus suis sint securi et nichil eis auferatur.’ Similar passages in RRH 667–668 (where he also grants their own court to the Pisans per totum regnum). Google Scholar

26 ‘Ita quod nullum inde servicium facere teneantur neque michi neque regi vel alicui potenti.’ Google Scholar

27 Ambroise, , Estoire de la Guerre Sainte, ed. Paris, Gaston (Paris 1897) v. 2691 ff. The exact date of Geoffrey's attempt cannot be proved. In January of 1188 he was still in France; cf. Cartellieri, Alexander, Philipp II. August König von Frankreich I (Leipzig, and Paris 1899–1900) 271 note 1. In the charters of Outremer, he is first listed in RRH 683 of November 19, 1189, but his attempt to enter Tyre must have taken place earlier than that. Google Scholar

28 That Philipp II Augustus of France was ready to redistribute the Holy Land appears clearly from his charter for Genoa of August 1190; Codice diplomatico della Repubblica di Genova (note 4) 378 no. 198. On this particular aspect of Capetian politics see Richard, Jean, ‘La fondation d'une église latine d'Orient par Saint-Louis: Damiette,’ Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes 120 (1962) 39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 Itinerarium peregrinorum (note 6) 269.Google Scholar

30 Bulst, Marie Luise, ‘Noch einmal das Itinerarium peregrinorum,’ Deutsches Archiv 21 (1965) 603, already pointed out that the Templars gave their part of the money to King Guy, but she assumed it was for the ‘defense of Acre’; this is doubly mistaken because in 1187 Acre was not defended by King Guy. Perhaps she was thinking of the siege of Acre by Guy, King begun in 1189; in any case the observation is in direct conflict with the source quoted: Ernoul's statement that the money was used to pay the arrière-ban is absolutely clear; cf. Ernoul p. 157. Google Scholar

31 Chronica regia Coloniensis ed. Waitz, Georg, MGH Ss. rer. Germ. (Hannoverae 1880) 141.Google Scholar

32 Otoboni scribae annales Ianuenses , ed. Belgrano, Luigi Tommaso and di Sant'Angelo, Cesare Imperiale, Annali Genovesi di Caffaro e de'suoi continuatori 2 (Fonti per la storia d'Italia, Genova 1901) 24. Otobonus has this entry under the year 1187, but from the Royal Chronicle of Cologne (see note 31) we know that the letter to the Emperor, also mentioned by Otobonus, did not arrive at the German court until Christmas of 1189 (1188 in our present reckoning), which the emperor celebrated in Eger. So it is safe to assume that the whole series of letters mentioned by Otobonus, belongs to the fall of 1188. Google Scholar

33 Ralph of Diceto (note 4) 61: ‘Quae autem et quanta pro Christianorum salute in Tyro sustinuerim, satis clementiae vestrae propalatum. Et quia Tyrum conservavi et conservo, Guidoni de Lisigniaco quondam regi et magistro Templi molestum est et inportabile, et meo invident et derogant nomini et per se et suos iuvamina omnia subtrahere et, quod gravius est, elemosinam regis Angliae Templi magister subtraxit.’ Google Scholar

34 de Adam, Salimbene, Cronica, MGH SS 32,7. Cf. also the excerpts from later Pisan chronicles in Müller, , op. cit. (note 4) 411.Google Scholar

35 Itinerarium peregrinorum (note 6) 306.Google Scholar

36 Müller, , op. cit. 36 no. 31; 38 no. 32.Google Scholar

37 Charter of March 3, 1191 printed by Müller, , op. cit. 39 no. 33.Google Scholar

38 Roger of Hoveden, Chronica, ed. Stübbs, William III (Rolls Series, London 1870) 20.Google Scholar