in the case of the three great trading republics of Venice, Genoa,
and Pisa, aggravated by commercial rivalries, whilst, between the two
first of those states, and also between the two last, the bitterness of
such feelings had been augmenting during the whole course of the 13th
century.[1]
The brilliant part played by Venice in the conquest of Constantinople
(1204), and the preponderance she thus acquired on the Greek shores,
stimulated her arrogance and the resentment of her rivals. The three
states no longer stood on a level as bidders for the shifting favour
of the Emperor of the East. By treaty, not only was Venice established
as the most important ally of the empire and as mistress of a large
fraction of its territory, but all members of nations at war with her
were prohibited from entering its limits. Though the Genoese colonies
continued to exist, they stood at a great disadvantage, where their
rivals were so predominant and enjoyed exemption from duties, to which
the Genoese remained subject. Hence jealousies and resentments reached
a climax in the Levantine settlements, and this colonial exacerbation
reacted on the mother States.
A dispute which broke out at Acre in 1255 came to a head in a war which
lasted for years, and was felt all over Syria. It began in a quarrel
about a very old church called St. Sabba’s, which stood on the common
boundary of the Venetian and Genoese estates in Acre,[2] and this flame
was blown by other unlucky occurrences. Acre suffered grievously.[3]
Venice at this time generally kept the upper hand, beating Genoa by
land and sea, and driving her from Acre altogether.✛ Four ancient
porphyry figures from St. Sabba’s were sent in triumph to Venice, and
with their strange devices still stand at the exterior corner of St.
Mark’s, towards the Ducal Palace.[4]
But no number of defeats could extinguish the spirit of Genoa, and the
tables were turned when in her wrath she allied herself with Michael
Palaeologus to upset the feeble and tottering Latin Dynasty, and with
it the preponderance of Venice on the Bosphorus. The new emperor handed
over to his allies the castle of their foes, which they tore down with
jubilations, and now it was their turn to send its stones as trophies
to Genoa. Mutual hate waxed fiercer than ever; no merchant fleet of
either state could go to sea without convoy, and wherever their ships
met they fought.[5] It was something like the state of things between
Spain and England in the days of Drake.
[Illustration: Figures from St. Sabba’s, sent to Venice.]
The energy and capacity of the Genoese seemed to rise with their
success, and both in seamanship and in splendour they began almost
to surpass their old rivals. The fall of Acre (1291), and the total
expulsion of the Franks from Syria, in great measure barred the
southern routes of Indian trade, whilst the predominance of Genoa in
the Euxine more or less obstructed the free access of her rival to the
northern routes by Trebizond and Tana.
[Sidenote: Battle in Bay of Ayas in 1294.]