Republic of Genoa

• 1. Origins And Early Expansion

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  In 1097, twelve galleys and one ship carrying 1,200 soldiers set sail from Genoa to join the First Crusade. The Genoese fleet blockaded Antioch in May of that year while troops provided support during the siege. After capturing the city on the 3rd of May 1098, Bohemond of Taranto granted them a headquarters at the church of San Giovanni and thirty houses. On the 6th of May 1098, part of the army returned with relics of Saint John the Baptist as their reward for military service. This early involvement established a pattern where Genoa exchanged naval power for commercial treaties and territorial footholds in the Levant. By 1147, Genoese forces helped Alfonso VII reconquer Almería, leasing out a third of the city to citizen Otto de Bonvillano who swore fealty to the republic. They later joined the Siege of Tortosa in 1148, receiving another third of the conquered territory. These actions demonstrated how Genoa expanded influence by enfeoffing private citizens rather than administering overseas territories directly through republican administration. The city became the dominant naval force in the Western Mediterranean by the twelfth century, leaving only Venice as a major rival.

• 2. Crusades And Eastern Colonies

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  The Republic forged alliances with Michael VIII Palaiologos, emperor of Nicaea, signing a treaty in March 1261 that led to the recapture of Constantinople on the 25th of July 1261. As a result, Genoa received free trade rights in the Nicene Empire and gained ports and way stations across many islands and settlements in the Aegean Sea. The islands of Chios and Lesbos became commercial stations alongside the city of Smyrna. In 1255, Genoa established the colony of Caffa in Crimea, followed by further colonies including Soldaia, Cherco, and Cembalo. Between 1316 and 1332, they created Black Sea colonies at La Tana and Samsun in Anatolia. By the end of the fourteenth century, the republic controlled one quarter of Constantinople and Trebizond. Genoese merchants pressed south into Muslim North Africa, establishing trading posts pursuing gold that traveled up through the Sahara. They also set up Atlantic depots as far afield as Salé and Safi. This network allowed them to control commerce in the eastern Mediterranean while simultaneously decreasing Venetian and Pisan trade.

• 3. Rivalry With Venice And Pisa

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  In August 1284, the naval Battle of Meloria saw the Genoese fleet defeat the Pisan fleet led by Albertino Morosini and Ugolino della Gherardesca. The Genoese force consisted of 93 ships under Oberto Doria and Benedetto I Zaccaria, capturing 30 Pisan ships and sinking seven. About 8,000 Pisans were killed during the battle, more than half their total force of 14,000 troops. This decisive victory resulted in Genoa gaining control of Corsica's commerce and turning Sassari into a commune controlled by Genoa. However, control of Sardinia did not pass permanently to Genoa as Aragonese kings disputed it until the fifteenth century. Later conflicts with Venice culminated in the War of Chioggia from 1379 to 1381, which ended in Genoese defeat. That pivotal war deprived Genoa of its naval supremacy and pushed it out of eastern Mediterranean markets. The decline began after this loss, though they maintained influence through banking and private enterprise for centuries afterward.

• 4. The Golden Age Of Banking

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  In 1407, the Bank of Saint George was founded in Genoa, becoming the oldest state deposit bank in the world until its closure in 1805. Another institution, the mount of piety, opened in 1483 and still exists today. By 1528, Genoese bankers provided the first loan to Emperor Charles V, marking a new era where they financed Spanish crown endeavors from counting houses in Seville. Fernand Braudel called the period between 1557 and 1627 the age of the Genoese due to their discreet yet sophisticated rule. When Philip II declared bankruptcy in 1557, Genoese bankers stepped in to provide fluid credit to the Habsburg system. They transferred American silver shipments rapidly from Seville to Genoa to fund further ventures. From about 1520, Genoese controlled the Spanish port of Panama, the first Pacific port founded by conquest of the Americas. This concession allowed them to exploit the slave trade of the New World on the Pacific until the original city's destruction in 1671. Ambrogio Spinola raised an army that fought in the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands during the early seventeenth century.

• 5. Internal Politics And The Alberghi

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  From 1339 until extinction in 1797, the ruler of the republic was the doge, originally elected for life but after 1528 elected for two-year terms. In practice, the state functioned as an oligarchy ruled by a small group of merchant families selected from whom the doges came. After the reform of 1528, many biennial Doges were elected from noble houses organized into twenty-eight Alberghi. Families like Grimaldi and Spinola each produced eleven doges, while Durazzo generated eight. De Franchi, Giustiniani, and Lomellini families provided seven doges each. Other influential dynasties included Fieschi, who produced two Popes: Innocent IV and Adrian V. Gattilusi held lordships over numerous lands in the Aegean Sea including Lemnos, Lesbos, Enez, and Samothrace. Embriaco served as lords of Gibelet for almost two hundred years. Zaccaria ruled several polities in Latin-ruled Greece including the Lordship of Chios and later the Principality of Achaea. These aristocratic families maintained power through tight control of political offices and economic resources.

• 6. Colonial Losses And Corsican Revolt

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  In May 1625, a French-Savoian army briefly laid siege to Genoa before being lifted with Spanish aid. The city faced another crisis when plague killed up to half its inhabitants between 1656 and 1657. By 1729, the Republic had to confront a revolt in Corsica that marked the first real rupture between island and republic. Representatives of the Church justified the war in full harmony with the Roman Curia. Genoa requested help from Charles VI, sending 10,000 German infantry after paying 60,000 florins and 100 scudi per dead soldier. Camillo Doria commanded Genoese soldiers who managed to contain the rebellion temporarily. Another revolt broke out in 1733 causing Genoa to appeal again to the Emperor, but Imperial Army was tied against France during the War of Polish Succession. Even before rebellions, Genoa's control remained loose with only 2,000 soldiers for a mainland population of about half a million. Nearly 900 homicides occurred per 100,000 people annually on Corsica from 1701 to 1733. A guerrilla war continued until the island was sold to France in 1768 under the Treaty of Versailles.

• 7. Napoleonic Conquest And End

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  In May 1797, Genoese Jacobins aided by French volunteers moved to overthrow Doge Giacomo Maria Brignole, triggering fratricidal warfare in the streets. Napoleon's representatives intervened in early June when old elites ruling all of history were overthrown. On the 14th of June 1797, the Ligurian Republic was proclaimed under Republican France's watchful care. After Bonaparte seized power in France, a more conservative constitution was enacted but life proved short. In 1805 it was annexed by France becoming départements of Apennins, Gênes, and Montenotte. With Napoleon's fall, Genoa regained ephemeral independence as Repubblica genovese lasting less than a year. The Congress of Vienna decreed annexation of all Genoese territories including Liguria, Oltregiogo area, and Capraia by Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by House of Savoy. This contravened principles of restoring legitimate governments despite strong traditions of republicanism making them resistant to Sardinian rule. In 1849, week-long conflict violently suppressed led to sack of city by Royal Sardinian army.