The name Genoa and Genoese comes from the Italian Genovesi. As one of the independent city-states that gained commercial importance in the Mediterranean towards the end of the Middle Ages, it has a rich and important historical past in competition with other Italian maritime republics such as Amalfi, Pisa and Venice. After gaining its independence in 1099, the Duchy of Milan between 1355-1356 and 1421-1436, France between 1396-1409, 1499-1505 and 1797-1813, and the Kingdom of Sardinia between 1814-1860.
When the treaty was signed with the Byzantine Empire on October 12, 1155, giving Pisa and the Venetians the same rights, the Genoese rivalry with Pisa and Venice was confusing the Aegean sea to the extent that the merchants could not travel. In 1204, especially thanks to the efforts of Venice, the Genoese, who fell into a difficult situation after the establishment of the Eastern Latin Empire and turned against Venice, responded by supporting the actions of their pirates who claimed Crete, Corfu and Malta.
But after a while, on 13 March 1261, the Byzantine Emperor VIII. As a result of the friendship agreement signed with Mikhail Palaiologos in Ninfeo (Nymphion), Genoa became the owner of the Mediterranean, the richest and most powerful republic. In addition to Galata, Edremit, Kadı Pier, İzmir, Chios, Foça, Lesbos, Enez, Imbros, Thassos, Finogonia (Kefken) in the Black Sea, Amasra, Sinop, Samsun, Fatsa, Trabzon, Balıklava, Kefe and Suğdak in the Aegean There were also important trading colonies in. Therefore, Genoese first entered into relations with Anatolian principalities such as Seljuks, Mongols, then Germiyanoğulları, Aydınoğulları, Menteşeoğulları, Candaroğulları and Osmanoğulları. His relations with the Ottomans started quite early thanks to the good relations with Kantakouzenos after the Pelekanon War during the time of Orhan Gazi.
Genoese’s rivalry with Venice, which managed to lure the Byzantines and Aragons to its side, also led to a war that lasted from 1350 to 1355. The Genoese “podesta” of Galata had persuaded Doria to meet with the Ottoman Sultan Orhan, after obtaining reinforcements from the homeland with a fleet of sixty galleys under the command of Paganino Doria. The outcome of the meeting was positive and a treaty was signed in early 1352.
Although the text of this treaty has not reached today, it gives an idea about the content of the events that will follow. Thus, Orhan Gazi sided with the Genoese and provided food and military support to Galata. The departure of the Venetian-Aragonese navy forced Kantakouzenos to sign a peace with Paganino Doria, and a treaty was signed that repeated the 1261 treaty with little changes.
The policy of friendship with the Genoese continued during the reign of Murad I due to his views against Byzantium. First of all, this policy gave the Ottomans the opportunity to charter ships to cross the Dardanelles to Gallipoli. As a matter of fact, starting from 1363, II. Until the time of Mehmed, the Genoese from Galata and Foça sent soldiers and people from Anatolia to be settled in Rumelia in return for a large amount of gold (60,000 gold for the first time).
Meanwhile, the Genoese of Galata entered the service of Amedeo, Count of Savoia, who had come to the east to help the Byzantine Emperor Ioannes V, interrupting the Ottoman-Genoese relations for a short time (1366). At the end of the adventure with the Count of Savoia, the Turkish-Genoese friendship continued from where it had left off and in a stronger way. When Andronikos, who had rebelled against his father Ioannes, was rescued from prison by the Genoese navy, Murad I sent an aid force consisting of 4000 torturers and 6000 cavalry.
Thanks to this force, Andronikos, after a siege of thirty-two days, was able to enter Istanbul and sit on the Byzantine throne (August 1376). As a debt of gratitude, the new emperor gave the Genoese Bozcaada, which Ioannes had left to the Venetians. In fact, due to the strategic importance of Bozcaada in the passage through the Dardanelles, both coasts of which were in the hands of the Turks, war broke out between Venice and Genoa shortly after, and peace could only be achieved with the mediation of Amedeo of Savoia on 8 August 1381 (Torino peace treaty). ).
Accordingly, Bozcaada was given neither to the Venetians nor to the Genoese; The Count of Savoia was to appoint a ruler here. Benefiting from the war between these two powerful Italian states, Murad I strengthened his position and IV. He took back Gallipoli, which had been taken by Amedeo in 1366 and left to Byzantium, in return for his help from Andronikos.
A new treaty signed between Pera podesta Lorenzo Gentile and Byzantine Emperor John V in 1382 was not well received by Murad I. Meanwhile, it is difficult to accept the thesis put forward by Manfroni and Uzunçarşılı that there was a secret agreement between Turks and Genoese in 1385 on the free movement of persons and goods. Since there is no text on this subject, it would be correct to accept the ahidnâme, which was signed on June 8, 1387, as the first friendship and trade agreement, which renewed the agreement made with Orhan Gazi. With this agreement, free trade was envisaged by paying the taxes determined between the two states and determining the behavior to be made to the captives.
A few months after the agreement, the Genoese did not hesitate to sign an agreement against the Turks with Maona of Chios, the Knights of Rhodes, Gattilusio in Lesbos and the king of Cyprus, that they would send a galley to help in case of danger. At the same time, the Genoese Municipality was trying to make an agreement with the Venetians about the Levant and Crimea. But none of these attempts materialized.
Yıldırım Bayezid’s policy was followed with suspicion and hesitation by the maritime republics, which saw their commercial interests in danger. The situation became more difficult after 1391, especially after the siege of Istanbul (1394) and the conquests on the Aegean coasts, the Balkans and the Adriatic. Although the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 was a problem for the Genoese, who could not remain neutral, the damage was done in the VII. It was limited to some economic sacrifices, such as undertaking the payment of some of the 10,000 ducats that Ioannes had to pay to the Turkish treasury.
Venice and Genoa had decided to join forces, especially in order to maintain their position in the Levant. However, traditional rivalry prevailed over this need, and even when Bayezid seized the last Byzantine port of Silivri and strengthened his pressure on Istanbul, the Genoese of Galata did everything they could to obtain peace from the sultan (1397).
In 1399, a Franco-Genoese joint navy under Marshal Boucicaut, by taking advantage of Yıldırım Bayezid’s preoccupation in Anatolia, managed to overcome the Turkish siege and reach Istanbul and bring aid. At the time of this event, Venice secretly tried to come to an agreement with the sultan, although officially taking part in the operation led by Boucicaut. When Timur came to Anatolia, the Genoese, like the Byzantines and others, offered to help Timur, in the hope of eliminating the Bayezid threat. But when the moment came to take advantage of the defeat of the Ottomans in Ankara (1402), both the Genoese and the Venetians did not hesitate to put their ships into the service of the Turks, who were withdrawing from Asia to the Rumelian side, in return for high prices.
During the decade of uncertainty before Mehmed I’s accession to the throne, Genoese neglected colonial policy. Therefore, the colonies in Galata and the Black Sea tried to come to an agreement on their own, sometimes with one, sometimes with the other, to keep the Dardanelles Strait for Istanbul and the Black Sea passage free for the Black Sea, especially within the framework of their economic interests. As a matter of fact, the Treaty of Gallipoli, signed by Süleyman Çelebi, Byzantines, Venice, Genoa, the Knights of Rhodes, the Duchy of Chios and Naxos, whose text has survived to the present day with its Italian translation made by Pietro Zeno and is in the Venice State Archive, dates back to 1403, and the balance of power is almost restored to the pre-Bayezid period. is taking.
The Genoese also played a very important role in the reorganization of the army and navy during the recovery period initiated by Çelebi Mehmed, who seized the sultanate. During the re-conquest of Izmir in 1414, there were also Rhodes knights and Genoese of Foça, Chios and Lesbos in the navy.
During II. Murad’s reign, Turkish-Genoese relations were exceptionally good. When II. Murad besieged Istanbul, the people of Pera did not support Byzantium and even agreed to build a tower using the materials and money given by the sultan on the condition that it bear the Ottoman emblems (1424). In addition, the Genoese from Foça and Chios besieged İpsili (Doğanbey) from the sea, where Aydınoğlu Cüneyd Bey, who rebelled against the sultan, took refuge (1425). On the other hand, the Genoese of Galata even attempted to besiege Istanbul (1434) after their relations with Genoa, which was under the domination of the Duchy of Milan, were loosened.
During the Battle of Varna (1444), the Genoese-Venetian rivalry and Turkish-Genoese friendship were clearly revealed. At that time, the Genoese remained formally neutral; but on the one hand, they stated that they were ready to give a ship, supplies and money to defend Istanbul, on the other hand, II. They had helped Murad to cross the Bosphorus.
During the reign of II. Mehmed, the Ottoman-Genoese relations took a different form. At the beginning of 1453, peace reigned in Pera, because the war was not directly with the Genoese colony, but between the Turks and the Byzantines. As evidenced by the Pera and Chios notary documents between 1453-1454, the usual daily business continued. With the construction of Rumelihisarı in 1452, which made it very difficult to reach the Black Sea, there was a decrease in shopping traffic.
Fear and hope were felt when the army was seen from the land and the navy from the sea under the walls of Istanbul. However, there was formal peace between the Turks and the Genoese of Galata, and therefore the Venetians accused the Genoese of helping the Turks or at least not supporting the besieged ones. According to recently published documents, Genoese II. Continuing to be at peace with Mehmed, they directly participated in the defense of the city and provided weapons, ammunition and supplies.
When the city fell, panic broke out in Pera and despite the Turks reminding the Pera people of the peace between them, everyone started to flee. However, the people of Pera had no choice but to hand over the keys of their city to the sultan on their own, and as a matter of fact, they did so on 29 May. By signing an agreement on June 1, the podesta was replaced with a local “protogerus”, personal and economic rights were given to Pera and Genoese, the right to free trade at sea and on land, and the free performance of religious rites were guaranteed.
They were left in place on the condition that new ones are not made and their bells are not rung. The people of Pera were obliged to pay tribute, but were exempted from giving devshirme for the Janissary Corps. When the new podesta Franco Giustiniani, who was sent from Genoa, who was not yet fully aware of the events in the east, instead of Angelo Giovanni Lomellino on 28 June 1453, realized that he could not reach Pera when he arrived in Chios, the last symbolic link connecting this place to Genoa was broken.
Now only the “magnifica comunità di Pera” (the extraordinary Pera community) remained. But the conquest of Istanbul marked the beginning of a new era for the former maritime republics. This particularly affected Genoa directly and resulted in the loss of the entire colonial empire within a few years.
Now that Genoese domination had disappeared, not only Maona but also other colonies began to consider themselves independent; Genoese’s weakness was evident in a series of decisions that led to a private institution, the Banco di San Giorgio, inheriting sovereignty. When a colonial administration was in difficulty or faced with the threat of an external danger, the Genoese handed over this colony to the bank in return for a fee.
In this way, Famagusta was transferred to the bank in 1447, and the colonies of Corsica and the Black Sea in 1453. However, since Banco di San Giorgio was a private institution, it could not solve the problems of its colonies, which were in trouble due to economic difficulties or the threat of the enemy. Therefore, the Genoese colonies disappeared one after another (Old and New Foça in 1455, Enez in 1455-1456, Amasra and Trabzon in 1461, Lesbos in 1462, Kefe in 1475 and Chios in 1561).
Thus, although Genoa remained an important trade power in the Mediterranean, despite the great wealth of its citizens, it lost its importance as a republic in terms of naval power. The discovery of America provided many Genoese with the opportunity to try new routes, thanks to the wealth they acquired in Mediterranean traffic.
In addition, the Genoese continued their trade in the former Genoese colonies; but their numbers were greatly reduced as their places were now largely taken by the Greeks and Armenians. In the 1477 census, only 1000 of the total population of approximately 6,000 people in Galata were “Latins”. However, the importance of the Genoese must have continued because the agreement made with them in 1453 was renewed in 1613, 1617, 1624 and 1652, and this situation lasted until the period of French occupation.
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