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Diplomacy and Legislation As Instruments in the War Against Piracy in the Italian Maritime Republics (Genoa, Pisa and Venice)

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Diplomacy and Legislation As Instruments in the War Against Piracy in the Italian Maritime Republics (Genoa, Pisa and Venice) MARIE-LUISE FAVREAU-LILIE Diplomacy and Legislation as Instruments in the War against Piracy in the Italian Maritime Republics (Genoa, Pisa and Venice) Amazingly enough, the significance of piracy as an impetus for the develop- ment of law in the Italian maritime trade cities Genoa, Pisa and Venice has yet to be the focus of systematic study. Neither has anyone thought to inquire what role diplomacy played in the maritime cities’ attempts to thwart the bane of piracy on the Mediterranean. Taking a look back at events transpiring in Pi- sa, probably in 1373, provides a perfect introduction to the topic of this paper. In that year, an esteemed Corsican, supposedly by the name of Colombano, bought two small ships. The buyer stated he intended to go on a trading expe- dition. Colombano readily swore the legally prescribed oath, but the Pisans were nonetheless suspicious and demanded he also present a guarantor as ad- ditional security. Colombano found the Pisan Gherardo Astaio, who was will- ing to vouch for him. In the event that Colombano broke his oath and set out to chase merchant ships instead of going on his trading expedition, Astaio would have to pay 800 florins. As it turned out, the distrust of the Pisan au- thorities was entirely justified: Colombano hired crews for both sailing vessels and in the early summer of 1374 proceeded to plunder in the waters off Pisa’s coast (“nel mare del commune di Pisa”) every ship he could get his hands on, regardless of origin, including ships from Pisa, from Pisa’s allies – cities and kingdoms –, as well as those of Pisa’s enemies. This the government of Pisa did not take lying down; rather, they equipped a large war galley in Livorno and placed it under the command of Filippo Alliata a member of one of the most prominent families of Pisa. He set out in search of the pirate: although Colombano and his accomplices were able to escape into the interior of an is- land (most likely Corsica), Filippo Alliata succeeded in seizing the pirate ships and towed them back to Pisa. At the mouth of the Arno he set them on fire, an impressive mise en scène of his adventus, at the same time an unmistakeable warning to all potential copycats. Now the bond fell due and Gherardo Astaio, who had vouched for Colombano’s integrity, was forced to transfer the agreed upon sum to the state treasury.1 1 This incident is recorded in a Pisan chronicle, written by an unknown author: Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, ms. Pluteo LX-17, c. 143r. Cf. Cronica di Pisa: dal ms. Roncioni 338 dell'Archivio di Stato di Pisa, ed. and commentary by Cecilia IANNELLA (Istituto storico italiano per il medioevo. Fonti per la storia dell'Italia medievale: Antiquitates 22), Rome 2005, p. 257-258. Raffaello Roncioni consulted the manuscript preserved in Flor- ence for his Memorie di Uomini illustri Pisani (Archivio di Stato di Pisa, Roncioni [famiglia] ms. 351, fol. 1v). Regarding the Alliata family see Marco TANGHERONI, Gli Alliata. Una 282 MARIE-LUISE FAVREAU-LILIE No other case of penal retribution imposed by the Pisan government for pi- racy is described in any of the city’s chronicles in such vivid detail as this small expedition. Apparently, the city’s attempts at chasing pirates were rarely successful, despite preventive measures taken intended to deter. The earliest documented legislation dates from the 14th century: affidavits and contracts of guarantee were commonly required when selling ships to foreigners – as the case of the Corsican Colombano illustrates. Since the 12th century, merchant shippers had to swear by oath, before setting sail from their home ports, to re- frain from attacking any seafaring compatriot, and all other people and ships from all (Christian and Muslim) realms with which the maritime republics were allied in friendship. Since the 12th century the latter did, however, in an attempt to fight piracy, equip galleys to chase individual pirate ships, especial- ly when the pirates originated from their own city and when their attacks against Muslims jeopardized trade relations with the victims’ home countries.2 Up until the 14th century, the community of Pisa tended to react on a case-to- case basis to the crimes being committed in their own front yard, as it were, by individual pirates, some even originating from Pisa. In these cases, they would equip galleys (fast rowboats) and send them out to chase these pirates, and to restore and maintain the safety of merchant shipping and the coastal towns. In the 12th/13th century, Pisa doubtlessly maintained individual lookout points along the stretch of the Mediterranean under her jurisdiction. It was not until the outset of the 14th century, however, that Pisa’s podestà was required to es- tablish five observation posts outside of Pisa, manned by two sentries each, and paid by the municipal treasury. Their primary duty was to keep a 24-hour watch from the banks for enemy galleys, i.e. first and foremost Genoese war- ships, posing a possible threat to merchant ships steering into the port of Pisa. In this case, the sentries had the order to hoist signals, indicating whether or not pirate ships lurked in ambush.3 The first steps towards establishing a small, regular coastal squadron on permanent duty were not taken until 1357, by order of the imperial general vicars in Tuscany, Bishop Markward of Augsburg and Walter of Hochschlitz, sometime between May and October of that year.4 In the community’s early famiglia pisana del medioevo (Pubblicazioni dell'Istituto di storia medievale e moderna dell'Università degli studi di Cagliari 12), Padua 1969. 2 Cf. an entry for the year 1166 by Bernardo MARAGONE, Annales Pisani (-1192), ed. Michele Lupo GENTILE, in: Ludovicus Antonius MURATORI, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. 6/2, Città di Castello 1930-1936, p. 36, relating the pursuit of a pirate from Pisa who had attacked Muslims, but was able to escape with the help of the Genoese. Cf. an entry for the year 1174, ibid., p. 58, relating the building of nine galleys pro guardia facienda. 3 The Breve Pisani Communis anno MCCCXIII cum correctionibus et additamentis an. MCCCXXXVII, Lib. IV (De Operibus), chap. 48, ed. Francesco BONAINI, Statuti inediti del- la città di Pisa dal XII al XIV secolo, vol. 2, Florence 1870, p. 1-439, here p. 421-422. 4 “Ordinamenti aggiunti al breve (1322-1402), Pisani Communis anno MCCCXIII cum correctionibus et additamentis an. MCCCXXXVII,” ed. Francesco BONAINI, Statuti inediti della città di Pisa dal XII al XIV secolo, vol. 2, Florence 1870, p. 612-626. .
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