Latins, Greeks and Muslims: Encounters in the Eastern Mediterranean, 10th-15th Centuries

Trade, shipping, military conquest, migration and settlement in the eastern Mediterranean of the 10th-15th centuries generated multiple encounters between states, social and 'national' groups, and individuals belonging to Latin Christianity, Byzantium and the Islamic world. The nature of these encounters varied widely, depending on whether they were the result of cooperation, rivalry or clashes between states, the outcome of Latin conquest, which altered the social and legal status of indigenous subjects, or the result of economic activity. They had wide-ranging social and economic repercussions, and shaped both individual and collective perceptions and attitudes. These often differed, depending upon 'nationality', standing within the dominant or subject social strata, or purely economic considerations. In any event, at the individual level common economic interests transcended collective 'national' and cultural boundaries, except in times of crisis. The studies in this latest collection by David Jacoby explore the multiple facets of these eastern Mediterranean encounters and their impact upon individual economic activities, with special attention to the 'other', outsiders in foreign environments, foreign privileged versus indigenous traders, the link between governmental intervention, 'naturalization', and fiscal status, as well as the interaction between markets and peasants.

Contents: Preface; The Byzantine outsider in trade (c.900-c.1350); Diplomacy, trade, shipping and espionage between Byzantium and Egypt in the 12th century; Migrations familiales et stratégies commerciales vénitiennes aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles; La colonisation militaire vénitiennne de la Crète au XIIIe siècle: une nouvelle approche; Mercanti genovesi e veneziani e le loro merci nel Levante crociato; The fonde of Crusader Acre and its tariff: some new considerations; Foreigners and the urban economy in Thessalonike, c.1150-c.1450; Thessalonique de la domination de Byzance à celle de Venise. Continuité, adaptation ou rupture?; La consolidation de la domination de Venise dans la ville de Négrepont (1205-1390): un aspect de sa politique coloniale; New evidence on the Greek peasantry in Latin Romania; Byzantine traders in Mamluk Egypt; Greeks in the maritime trade of Cyprus around the mid-14th century; Addenda and corrigenda; Indexes.

David Jacoby is an Emeritus Professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.