Genoese Naval Forces in The Mediterranean During The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

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Genoese Naval Forces during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
GENOESE NAVAL FORCES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

DURING THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES
Michel Balard
A REPUBLIC that does not possess the art of war is deprived of that which
makes it a republic.1 Thus spoke Doge Matteo Senarega, at the end of the
sixteenth century, in a debate that involved all the ruling groups of Genoa at the
time. Was it necessary to create a real state fleet, capable of making the power
of the Republic respected and of preserving its liberty, or was it better to leave
matters in the hands of private ship-owners from whom the state could charter
services in case of a foreign threat, imperial naval obligations, or corsairs who
dared to attack the vessels of la Superba?
The imbalance between public naval forces and private ones was a constant
feature of Genoese history. The galleys of the state counted for little compared
to the fleets that the great familial clans could assemble, especially at the begin-
ning of the sixteenth century. Was this a consequence of the Genoese individu-
alism so dear to Roberto Lopez,2 or was it due to a delayed development toward
a modern state, leaving Genoa slow to put into place the means of defence
necessary for its survival? To explain the reason for these disproportions it is
necessary to determine the importance of Genoese naval forces raised during
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is also necessary to evaluate the
frequent, often debated, efforts to construct a real state fleet and, finally, to
demonstrate the conditions which were required for such efforts to establish a
fleet to be realised.
The studies of Jacques Heers, followed by those of other modern Genoese
scholars,3 allow a characterisation of the Genoese fleet over the course of the
two centuries examined here. Indeed, its major features hardly changed from
one century to the next. Merchant ships were distinguished by their ample
displacement, designed for transporting heavy goods such as alum or salt, and
1 C. Costantini, ‘Aspetti della politica navale genovese nel Seicento’, in Guerra e

commercio nell’evoluzione della marina genovese tra XV e XVII secolo, 2 vols (Genoa,
1970–3), I, 209.
2 R. S. Lopez, ‘Le Marchand génois, un profil collectif ’, in Annales. Economies. Sociétés.
Civilisations. 13e année, no. 3 (1958), 501–15, reprinted in his Su e giù per la storia di
Genova (Genoa, 1975), 17–33.
3 J. Heers, Gênes au XVe siècle. Activité économique et problèmes sociaux (Paris, 1961),
642; Guerra e commercio .
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19 September 2002 14:48:59
138 Michel Balard
the grain necessary to feed the city. They are, on the whole, much better known
than the galley, whose commercial use seemed to decline over time, the type
principally shifting to its military tasks. According to Heers, in 1458 the
Genoese fleet included twenty-six ships with a total capacity of 340,000
cantars, i.e. about 16,200 tons for an average of about 620 tons per ship.4 A
decade later, in 1465–6, the composition of the Genoese fleet had scarcely
changed: twenty-four ships represented a total of about 321,000 cantars, about
15,300 tons or close to 640 tons capacity per vessel.5 As for galleys, their
number changed according to the demands of war. Rarely did more than ten or
so take to sea at one time, and there were never more than a few under construc-
tion in the shipyard each year. In 1459, the Council of Elders, noting that the
Commune had only three galleys and two fuste, decided to arm seven to ten
galleys, under unquestionably exceptional circumstances.6
At the end of the fifteenth century, the forces provided for the naval expedi-
tion of King Charles VIII of France are known in detail. In 1494, the Genoese
fleet was composed of nineteen navi, six barche, thirty-six galioni and saette,
twenty-nine galleys, three fuste, and five brigantine, with a total of approxi-
mately 19,000 tons, excluding the galleys.7 Between 1474 and 1509, the number
of navi larger than 8000 cantars capacity ranged from a minimum of eleven
vessels in 1502 to a maximum of twenty-one in 1494. The total tonnage of the
Genoese fleet oscillated between 250,000 and 300,000 cantars, i.e. between
12,000 and 14,200 tons. That would be slightly smaller than the Venetian fleet,
which is estimated at 355,000 cantars (17,000 tons) at the end of the fifteenth
century. Genoa constructed, on average, two navi per year with an aggregate
tonnage of 30,000 to 40,000 cantars (1430 to 1900 tons). In 1548 the Genoese
fleet grew to around 20,000 tons, a figure that is slightly greater than that of the
Venetian fleet, estimated at 16,000 tons in 1560.8
That 1560 figure was the maximum, however, because beginning in the
1520s, in Genoa as in Venice, there was a crisis in naval construction arising
from the difficulty of recruiting crews and the rising price of materials, es-
pecially of timber needed by the arsenals. Further, the increasing threat of piracy
made commercial navigation ever more precarious. The scarcity of timber was
the major factor in making naval construction more expensive after 1550. To
maintain its fleet Genoa found it necessary to grant loans to ship-owners at a
rate of interest sufficiently attractive to encourage naval investment. This is one
indication of greater state intervention in maritime affairs. The government of
4 Heers, Gênes au XVe siècle, 639–42.

5 Ibid., 642–4.
6 Ibid., 270 n. 3.
7 M. Calegari, ‘Navi e barche a Genova tra il XV e il XVI secolo’, in Guerra e commercio ,
I, 15.
8 M. Calegari, ‘Legname e costruzioni navali nel Cinquecento’, in Guerra e commercio , II,
107–8.
19 September 2002 14:49:00
Genoese Naval Forces during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 139
Genoa was becoming aware that maintaining a fleet was an important element
in the power and prosperity of its citizens and even of the state itself.
Over several centuries, in fact, Genoa had entrusted the defence of its terri-
tory and the undertaking of large naval operations to private ship-owners. As
early as 1263, the Commune sent twenty-five galleys, one saetta, and five
barche under the command of Pietrino Grimaldi and Pescetto Mallone, who had
loaned their government 36,000 lire genovesi, to fight against Venice. The
government, in turn, imposed a forced loan of 30,000 lire genovesi, granting to
the creditors revenues arising from an increase in the tax on imports of grain.
For the first time the terms luoghi and colonna were used to designate the shares
held by the creditors of the state and the blocs of shares that they held.9
Table I shows the size of fleets armed by the Commune from 1298 to 1400, a
period that is well known for three great colonial wars between Genoa and
Venice. The chronicler Giorgio Stella recorded the mobilising of a fleet approxi-
mately every two years. At the beginning of the century these fleets put to sea as
the result of confrontations between Genoese Guelfs and Ghibellines. In the
years around 1330, the struggle against the Catalans took priority. From 1350 to
1354, the conflict with Venice and Catalonia required prodigious naval
endeavours. In 1373, the expedition to Cyprus was organised and, from 1378 to
1381, the War of Chioggia necessitated the mobilisation of all available units.
However, during the whole century, there was never a question of a permanent
state navy. The great Genoese alberghi, the towns of the Riviera, and the feuda-
tories of the Commune participated in financing efforts that were always consid-
ered exceptional: forced loans and increases in previously instituted taxes led to
the formation of the compere, associations of the creditors of the state who
joined together when they were not repaid, so that their collective strength could
ensure that public resources would be dedicated to the payment of the interest on
the debt. In this way the arming of fleets was the principal cause of the rise in
the public debt that led to the creation of the Banco di San Giorgio in 1408.
The process can be made more clear by looking at some examples. Under the
leadership of Simone Vignoso, the conquest of Chios was achieved in 1346.
Twenty-nine ship-owners put their galleys at the disposal of the Commune,
which could define a policy of overseas expansion but was not capable of
providing the means to carry it out.10 The Annali of Giorgio Stella are explicit in
the reporting of this event: ‘Considering that in Genoa the public treasury was
deprived of money, the Council decided to arm twenty-five galleys or more
[there were actually twenty-nine] with money taken from the citizens, in such a
way, however, that the Commune of Genoa . . . was obliged, after the expedition
was over, to pay the ship-owners a return of 20,000 lire genovesi that the
Republic receives every year from the compere of the luoghi del Capitolo and
9 C. Imperiale di Sant’Angelo, Annali genovesi di Caffaro e de’ suoi continuatori, vol. IV

(Rome, 1926), 49–50.
10 P. P. Argenti, The Occupation of Chios by the Genoese and Their Administration of the
Island 1346–1566, 3 vols (Cambridge, 1958), vol. I, 86–105.
19 September 2002 14:49:00
140 Michel Balard
other revenues.’11 Once the conquest of Chios was successfully achieved, the
ship-owners then returned to Genoa and advanced the sum of 250,000 lire to
cover the expenses of the campaign. After long deliberations, an agreement was
concluded on 26 February 1347 between the Commune and the group of its
creditors represented by Simone Vignoso. This association took the name of the
Maona of Chios. The debt owed to the ship-owners was repaid in shares, or
luoghi, to an amount of 203,000 lire genovesi. This was less than the
commanders of the ships demanded, but nonetheless they got property and the
administration of Chios and the two Phocaeas, in addition to the revenues
provided by the luoghi.12 The more-or-less forced benevolence of the ship-
owners made up for the deficiencies of the state, which was then obliged to hand
over public revenues to them to meet its obligations.
Four years later, during the War of the Bosporus (1350–5), the Commune was
again taken by surprise. On 25 November 1350, Doge Giovanni Valente
imposed a forced loan of 300,000 lire genovesi. The lenders were grouped into a
new compera, the Compera Magna Venetorum . The revenue from twenty-two
indirect taxes was assigned to them to guarantee the payment of the interest on
the loan. The Officium Guerre Venetorum, established to coordinate the war
effort, chartered merchant galleys that were easily converted into warships. Of
the sixty galleys that comprised the fleet commanded by Paganino Doria, only
eighteen were new: five constructed in Sampierdarena, five by the darsena of
Genoa, two at Sarzano, two at the Molo, one at the mouth of the Bisagno, while
three communes of the Riviera: Savona, Recco, and Sestri Levante each built a
new galley.13
The same system was used in two later expeditions to the east. In 1373, the
Commune set out to avenge the humiliations visited upon its citizens during the
riots that accompanied the coronation of Peter II of Lusignan as king of Cyprus.
It decided to levy a tax of 104,000 lire genovesi in the city and in the towns of
the Riviera, and still the Commune could equip only a few small craft. A group
of individuals had to help the government to finance the projected naval expedi-
tion: seven galleys arrived in Cyprus under the command of Damiano Cattaneo,
ahead of the main fleet of thirty-six vessels led by Pietro di Campofregoso, the
brother of the doge. Thus was the Maona Vecchia di Cipro born, made up of the
patroni of the ships that participated in the expedition and the individuals who
had provided the necessary funds. The sums advanced were divided into luoghi,
which were backed by money paid in by the king of Cyprus. A list compiled in
August 1374 contained two hundred and twenty-two names of participants,
11 Georgius and Johannes Stella, Annales Genuenses, ed. G. Petti-Balbi, Rerum Italicarum
Scriptores 2, XVII/2 (Bologna, 1975), 145.
12 M. Balard, La Romanie génoise (XIIe–début du XVe siècle), 2 vols, Bibliothèque des
Ecoles Françaises d’Athènes et de Rome no. 235 (Rome, 1978), vol. I, 123–5.
13 M. Balard, ‘A propos de la bataille du Bosphore. L’expédition de Paganino Doria à
Constantinople (1351–1352)’, in Travaux et mémoires du centre de recherche d’histoire et
civilisation byzantines, vol. IV (1970), 435, reprinted in his La Mer noire et la Romanie
génoise (XIIIe–XVe siècles), Variorum Reprints (London, 1989), II.
19 September 2002 14:49:01
among them some of the greatest alberghi of Genoa, owners of the expedition
galleys. The maona which was thus created oversaw the accounts of the
Genoese colony of Famagusta, received the remittances of the king of Cyprus
and distributed them among its members. This gave them the right to intervene
in decisions taken by the Commune regarding the affairs of Famagusta.14
In January 1403, a loan of 32,000 florins was floated to arm the expedition
planned by Marshall Boucicault, governor of Genoa for the king of France, who
intended to reply to the failed attempt by King Janus of Cyprus to take
Famagusta. Nine galleys, seven navi, a galeass, and a huissier were all fitted out
with money from individuals who formed a new maona of Cyprus.15 These
profited from the payments imposed upon King Janus by the treaty of 1403, i.e.
15,000 ducats per year realised from taxes collected in the kingdom of the
Lusignans. Boucicault, trained in the French royal school of administration,
conceived the idea of providing Genoa with a permanent fleet for defence and
for the high seas. However, the royal governor was expelled from Genoa in
September 1409 and was never able to bring this idea to fruition.
During the war against Alfonso V of Aragon the Commune had to negotiate
endlessly with private ship-owners to obtain vessels, with the protectors of the
Banco di San Giorgio for funding, and with the towns of the Riviera to institute
new taxes or to determine their individual contributions. Although an Officium
Balie Marittime had been established and was charged with organising the
arming of the fleet, its departure under the command of Tommasino di
Campofregoso for the expedition against Naples was delayed for financial
reasons. The government had to get loans from the richest citizens.16
Though entirely without suitable financing, the Commune did not turn away
from its maritime life. It immediately set about elaborating its maritime laws
that touched upon the commercial aspects of navigation as well as naval policy.
From the beginning of the fourteenth century the Officium Gazarie assumed
such tasks as the fixing of crew strengths, establishment of safety measures in
the stowage of goods, organisation of reserve shipping, and the inspection of
ships on arrival or departure. The Officium’s regulatory activities continued until
1528 even though its role began to diminish from the last years of the fourteenth
century.17 In 1498 its duties were absorbed by the Officium Maris, which, from
the time of its creation at the end of the fourteenth century, was primarily occu-
14 C. Otten, ‘Les Institutions génoises et les affaires de Chypre’, in M. Balard, ed., Etat et
colonisation au Moyen Age (Lyon, 1989), 169–70; C. Otten, ‘Les Relations politico-
financières de Gênes avec le royaume des Lusignans (1374–1460)’, in M. Balard and A.
Ducellier, Coloniser au Moyen Age (Paris, 1995), 62–3.
15 Annales Genuenses, 263; cf. F. Surdich, ‘Genova e Venezia fra Tre e Quattrocento’, in Atti
della Società ligure di storia patria, n.s. 7 (81), fasc. 2 (Genoa, 1967), 248 n. 34.
16 On all of these, see G. Olgiati, Classis contra Regem Aragonum (Genova 1453–1454).
Organizzazione militare ed economica della spedizione navale contro Napoli (Cagliari,
1990), 115–215; E. Basso, Genova: un impero sul mare (Cagliari, 1994), 243–61.
17 V. Vitale, Le fonti del diritto marittimo ligure (Genoa, 1951). Cf. M. Calegari, ‘Patroni di
nave e magistrature marittime’, in Guerra e commercio , I, 62.
19 September 2002 14:49:01
142 Michel Balard
pied with the supervision of crews and the recognition of guarantors presented
by sailors when they were recruited.18 This office also disappeared in 1528,
much to the profit of the conservatori del mare, private ship-owners who thus
got from the state prerogatives of supervision and intervention over the crafts-
men who built and repaired ships and ship fittings as well as over harbour disci-
pline. Finally, in 1559, a new commission was formed, Il magistrato delle galee ,
whose mission was to organise a state fleet for the defence of Genoese coasts
and ships.19
The first initiatives in this direction, however, began in the second half of the
fourteenth century. When Domenico Campofregoso was doge (1370–8), the
first attempt was made to finance a naval force with state funds.20 One of his
successors, Leonardo Montaldo, achieved this goal in 1383 by arming ten
galleys to free Pope Urban VI, besieged at Nocera by Louis III of Duras.21 With
Boucicault having free rein for his projects of Mediterranean expansion, two
fleets began to be prepared, one of Africa against the Barbary Coast, the other
of Cyprus and Syria against the Mamlukes. In the end, only one expedition, that
of Cyprus and Beirut, was actually carried out by the marshal in 1403.22
These were only ephemeral projects, yet by comparison to them, the lone
enduring operation of the sentry galley appears totally derisory. Beginning in
1369, one can follow in the ordinary budget of the Commune, but only very
irregularly, sums dedicated to this galley that patrolled along the Ligurian coast
with the mission of signalling the presence of hostile fleets or corsairs. One can,
nevertheless, extrapolate that practice to other zones, since a document of 1402
mentions the surveillance of Provence, Corsica, and Sardinia among the tasks
assigned to the sentry galley.23 The cost to the Commune ranged from 1500 to
12,000 lire depending on the year and, especially, on the duration of service.24
Indeed, it seems that only the officers were paid by the year while the pay of
sailors and ship’s boys was calculated according to the time that they were at
sea.25 A coastguard vessel, whose expenses did not exceed 300 lire per year, was
attached to the sentry galley beginning in 1398. The modest sums recorded in
the regular budget of the Commune for its naval defence confirms that this duty
was still essentially entrusted to private initiative. The expenses incurred were
covered by loans, by the organisation of maone, and by the assignment of indi-
18 Ibid., I, 62.
19 V. Borgese, ‘Il magistrato delle galee’, in Guerra e commercio , II, 189.
20 G.-G. Musso, ‘Armamento e navigazione a Genova tra il Tre e il Quattrocento (appunti e
documenti)’, in Guerra e commercio , II, 21.
21 R. di Tucci, ‘Costruzione di galee genovesi durante il dogato di Leonardo Montaldo’, in
Ad Alessandro Luzio – Miscellanea di studi (Florence, 1933), 331–8.
22 Surdich, ‘Genova e Venezia’, 238–65.
23 Musso, ‘Armamento, e navigazione’, 32.
24 M. Buongiorno, Il bilancio di uno Stato medievale. Genova 1340–1529 (Genoa, 1973),
374–438.
25 Calegari, ‘Navi e barche’, 41.
19 September 2002 14:49:01
rect taxes to those who really wanted to participate in the extraordinary

financing of these galleys.
Overseas, the situation was just as difficult. Caffa maintained only one galley
on duty and some brigantine to oversee commerce in the Black Sea and to
protect communications with other Genoese commercial centres.26 In 1402, the
bourgeois of Pera were required by Boucicault to commit some support to his
expedition against Cyprus. They advanced 34,838 hyperpers, 22 carats, which
the French marshal promised to repay from a portion of the excise taxes
collected at Pera after the return of peace.27 The expenses of equipping the
sentry galley, as well as the pay of its crew, were raised from the budget of each
community. These costs became intolerable when a local conflict exploded and
required the simultaneous equipping of several vessels, and especially when the
metropolis called on its overseas colonies for naval support, as happened, for
example, at the time of the various conflicts with Venice. Between April 1379
and January 1382, Caffa was required to arm five galleys, at a cost to its trea-
sury of close to 7500 sommi, while, at the same time, the podesteria of Pera and
the maona of Chios each put two galleys at the disposal of the Commune.28 Here
again, public mobilisation was financed, in part or in whole, by forced loans or
by the imposition of new indirect taxes whose yield was assigned to the creditors
of the Commune.
In spite of this constant recourse to the private ship-owners of Genoa itself
and of its overseas colonies the need for state galleys became increasingly clear
during the fifteenth century. In 1402, under the government of Boucicault, the
Officium super gubernatione Darssine Communis Janue et armamentorum
gallearum was created. It was composed of four officers who maintained the
inventory of supplies and equipment necessary for arming the galleys of the
Commune.29 Between 1400 and 1450, an average of four galleys were
constructed each year. At least some of them must have been built in the state
arsenal.30 In 1494, at the time of Charles VIII’s expedition to Italy, Genoa
prepared twenty-two galleys, of which four were owned by the Commune.31 On
the other hand, Andrea Doria had a permanent fleet of twenty to thirty galleys, a
superiority that explains why, when he chose to side with Spain, he had no diffi-
culty in imposing this choice on his city and instituting a centuries-long aristo-
cratic republic of biennial doges. Against his fleet in 1527 the city could only
deploy its two sentry galleys and two others belonging to Fabrizio Giustiniani.32
It was not until the second half of the sixteenth century that a Genoese war
fleet was established. Its creation caused much debate at Genoa. After 1528,
little by little, the idea of establishing a permanent fleet alongside that of the
26 Balard, La Romanie génoise, I, 397.

27 Ibid., I, 396–7 and 448–52.
28 Ibid., I, 451.
29 Musso, ‘Armamento e navigazione’, 32.
30 Calegari, ‘Legname e construzioni navali’, 140.
31 Ibid., 114.
32 Borghesi, ‘Il magistrato delle galee’, 199.
19 September 2002 14:49:01
144 Michel Balard
Image not available
1. The Genoese Fleet and the Arsenal of Genoa, by Christoforo Grassi.

By courtesy of the Museo Navale di Genoa
Dorias took hold. The poet Paolo Foglietta saw the surest guarantee of the
autonomy of the republic in that development.33 Though the creation of a fleet
might have been seen as a competitor threatening to Genoa’s Spanish ally, it
seems highly doubtful. Again, in 1535, at the time of the expedition against La
Goulette, the Republic could only muster three galleys, while the Doria family
had thirty afloat and one under construction.34 Until 1559 the two sentry galleys
secured coastal defence, while galleys chartered by the Republic or private
galleys undertook the expeditions launched against corsairs.
The institution of the magistrato delle galee in 1559 was a decisive turning
point that marks the final outcome of the debate on the naval rearmament of
Genoa. The four nobles who were elected to make up this new magistracy were
charged to look after the management of funds dedicated to the establishment
and maintenance of a fleet of state-owned galleys, to construct and to sell new
galleys, and to manage the Arsenal. The communities of the Riviera were
obliged to pay two-thirds of the expenses associated with each of the public
galleys. Most of the expenses were covered by income from chartering of
those galleys and by the yield from several excise taxes, in particular the Ripa
grossa, a tax on the sale of personal property.35 Results were slow in coming:
four public galleys in 1559, then only three in 1564, four again in 1583, then
six in 1586.36 Up to that date, the incomes from the various excise taxes were far
from covering expenses: 80,000 lire in receipts against 130,000 lire of expendi-
33 Ibid., 191.
34 Ibid., 199.
35 D. Gioffre, Liber Institutionum Cabellarum Veterum (Comunis Janue) (Milan, 1967),
index.
36 V. Borghesi, ‘Il magistrato delle galee’, 192.
19 September 2002 14:49:02
tures.37 Yet, the movement toward the foundation of a state navy had begun. It
was far from equalling the naval strength that Venice (twenty galleys in 1580),
the Papal States (fifteen in 1550), or even Sicily (ten galleys) could muster.
Nevertheless, Genoa had become aware of the need to preserve the integrity of
its Ligurian territory just at the moment when the Barbary corsairs were at their
most aggressive. The victory of Lepanto as well demonstrated the importance of
state fleets in the struggle against the Ottomans.
It remains to explain this surprising Genoese contrast: on one hand it had one
of the most powerful merchant marines of the Mediterranean world while on the
other its war fleet was weak, indeed laughable, in comparison with the forces of
its naval competitors. The first explanation for this situation arises from the
weakness of the Genoese state, a conglomeration of diverse economic interests
incapable of establishing a stable government and obliged to call on foreign
protectors: Valois France, Milan, then Spain. The great familial clans, recog-
nising only their own economic and financial interests, were scarcely supporters
of investing in naval forces whose under-utilisation would be obvious except in
times of great conflicts. Only then would they accept forced loans or put their
own vessels at the disposal of the state with the intent of defending its threat-
ened interests or to profit by skimming from the public purse.
The second explanation comes then from the emphasis placed upon large-
capacity merchant ships able to transport raw materials and foodstuffs over long
distances economically. Genoa was concerned with the protection of these mari-
time transports so that it required them to operate in convoys furnished with
accompanying fighting personnel who were considered indispensable.
The third explanation derives from the astonishing agility with which the
Genoese were able to transform their naval resources. A merchant ship such as
the great galley could become, in an emergency, a warship, just as a merchant
could become a corsair preying on his government’s enemies. The Arsenal of
Genoa, as illustrated in the famous picture by Christoforo Grassi,38 held a suffi-
cient reserve of galleys and war matériel to allow a naval campaign to be
launched with very little delay because of the exceptionally high degree of
competence of its workforce.
In short, the domination of the sea by the Genoese essentially meant freedom
of the trade routes to the orient and then toward the west, routes that intersected
with those of the Venetians and which might be blocked by Catalan imperialism
in the central Mediterranean. The desperate battles that Genoa fought in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, interrupted by long periods of truce and of
peace, gave rise to freedom of commerce. Curiously, it was at the time when the
Genoese passed under the protection of Spain and became the bankers of
Europe that they finally asserted the need for a public war fleet as guarantor of
the prosperity and of the autonomy of their city.
37 Ibid., 195.
38 Naval Museum of Genoa.
19 September 2002 14:49:03
Table I. Genoese fleets in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries

Years Ships Commanders Destination Source
1205 2 galleys Henry, count of Malta Romania Annali Genovesi, II,98
1206 3 galleys Constantinople Annali Genovesi, II,104
1207 7 galleys Ultramare Annali Genovesi, II,106
1208 galleys and naves Crete Annali Genovesi, II,109
1209 naves Ultramare Annali Genovesi, II,112
1210 8 galleys, 1 tarida, 3 naves Crete Annali Genovesi, II,114
1213 naves Alexandria Annali Genovesi, II,126
1217 galleys, naves, taridae Ultramare Annali Genovesi, II,144
1219 10 galleys Iohanes Rubeus de Volta, Petrus Auriae Damietta Annali Genovesi, II,153
1222 naves Beirut Annali Genovesi, II,184
1226 4 galleys, 2 sagitteae, 1 bucius Belmustus Vicecomes Savona, Albenga Annali Genovesi, III,15
1229 1 caravana of naves Ultramare Annali Genovesi, III,42–43
1229 4 galleys Octobonus Malonus Nizza Marittima Annali Genovesi, III,48
1231 naves Ultramare Annali Genovesi, III,55
1231 10 galleys Carbonus Malocellus, Nicolaus Spinula Annali Genovesi, III,56
1232 5 galleys Guglielmus son of N. Malonus Annali Genovesi, III,63
1232 10 galleys Ansaldus Boletus, Bonifacius Panzanus Ultramare Annali Genovesi, III,64
1234 14 galleys, 18 naves Lanfrancus Spinula, Octobonus de Camilla Ceuta Annali Genovesi, III,72–74
1235 4 galleys, 70 naves Ugo Lercarius Ceuta Annali Genovesi, III,75–76
1238 14 galleys Fulco Guercius, Rubeus de Turcha Ventimiglia, Galinara Annali Genovesi, III,85
1239 13 galleys Fulco Guercius Riviera Annali Genovesi, III,93
1241 1 caravana of naves Ultramare Annali Genovesi, III,115
1241 30 galleys Iacobus Malocellus Roma Annali Genovesi, III,116
1241 53 galleys and taridae Ansaldus Soldanus, Iacopus de Levanto Against the imperial fleet Annali Genovesi, III,116
1242 40 galleys Pisa Annali Genovesi, III,127
1243 10 galleys Pisa Annali Genovesi, III,146
1244 25 galleys Podestat of Genoa Ultramare Annali Genovesi, III,150
1245 galleys Trapani Annali Genovesi, III,161
1245 galleys Nicola Lercarius, lacopus de Levanto Louis IX’s Crusade Annali Genovesi, III,168
19 September 2002 14:49:04
1247 25 galleys Podestat of Genoa Pisa Annali Genovesi, III,173–174

1248 32 galleys Louis IX’s Crusade Annali Genovesi, III, 178
1251 4 galleys Pope’s escort Annali Genovesi, IV,5
1256 12 galleys Paschetus Mallonus, Petrus Advocatus Massa Annali Genovesi, IV,22
1256 24 galleys Simon Guercius, Nicola Cigala Sardinia Annali Genovesi, IV,23
1256 16 galleys Ugo Ventus, Iacopus Niger Sardinia Annali Genovesi, IV,28
1257 1 caravana of naves Ultramare Annali Genovesi, IV,29
1258 25 galleys, 4 naves Rubeus de Turcha Venice Annali Genovesi, IV,34
1258 8 galleys Tyre Annali Genovesi, IV,34
1261 10 galleys, 6 naves Marinus Buccanigra Constantinople Annali Genovesi, IV,42–43
1262 10 galleys Otto Ventus Constantinople Annali Genovesi, IV,49
1263 25 galleys, 1 sagittea, 5 barchae Petrinus de Grimaldo, Peschetus Mallonus Constantinople Annali Genovesi, IV,49
1264 3 galleys, 2 naves Acre Annali Genovesi, IV,54–55
1264 20 galleys Symon Grillus Eastern Mediterranean Annali Genovesi, IV,54
1265 10 galleys Symon Guercius Against Venice Annali Genovesi, IV,68
1266 18 galleys, 1 navis Lanfrancus Borboninus Against Venice Annali Genovesi, IV,89
1266 25 galleys Obertinus Auriae Crete Annali Genovesi, IV,91
1267 25 galleys Luchetus de Grimaldis Acre, Tyre Annali Genovesi, IV,103
1270 55 galleys, naves and ligna Tunis, Louis IX’s Crusade Annali Genovesi, IV,131
1272 2 naves Ultramare Annali Genovesi, IV,149
1280 3 galleys Ancona Annali Genovesi, V,9
1280 4 galleys Romania Annali Genovesi, V,9
1282 4 galleys Franciscus de Camilla Bonifacio Annali Genovesi, V,21
1282 galleys Romania Annali Genovesi, V,27
1285 3 galleys Constantinople Annali Genovesi, V,61
1287 5 galleys Ultramare Annali Genovesi, V,76
1288 4 galleys Leonellus Advocatus Annali Genovesi, V,82
1288 4 galleys, 1 galionum Petrus Embronus Pisa Annali Genovesi, V,84
1288 7 galleys Benedictus Iacharia Tripoli Annali Genovesi, V,89–90
1289 3 galleys Polinus Aurie Cyprus Annali Genovesi, V,95
1289 12 galleys Annali Genovesi, V,113
1290 6 galleys Enricus de Mari Pisa Annali Genovesi, V,115
19 September 2002 14:49:05
Years Ships Commanders Destination Source

1290 14 galleys Conradus Aurie Romania Annali Genovesi, V,117
1290 20 galleys Conradus Aurie Pisa Annali Genovesi, V,119
1291 2 galleys Thedisius Aurie, Ugolinus de Vivaldo Atlantic Ocean Annali Genovesi, V,124
1291 6 galleys Franceschinus Porcellus Pisa Annali Genovesi, V,124
1291 7 galleys Nicolinus de Petracio Annali Genovesi, V,124
1291 2 galleys Benedictus Iacharia Riviera Annali Genovesi, V,127
1294 18 galleys, 2 ligna Romania Annali Genovesi, II,97
1298 165 galleys Against Venice G. Stella, Annales, 35
1299 78 galleys Lamba de Auria Against Venice G. Stella, Annales, 35
1300 galleys Tedisus de Auria G. Stella, Annales, 70
1310 10 galleys Accelinus Grillus Rhodes G. Stella, Annales, 77
1312 galleys Lamba de Auria Pisa G. Stella, Annales, 78
1319 28 galleys Conradus de Auria G. Stella, Annales, 89
1319 32 galleys Gaspar de Grimaldi G. Stella, Annales, 90
1320 66 and 13 galleys Guelfs against Ghibellins G. Stella, Annales, 93–95
1321 16 and 18 galleys Petrus de Goano Guelfs against Ghibellins G. Stella, Annales, 98
1322 17 and 20 galleys Guelfs against Ghibellins G. Stella, Annales, 102
1323 10 and 16 galleys Guelfs against Ghibellins G. Stella, Annales, 105–106
1325 24 and 20 galleys Gaspar de Auria Guelfs against Ghibellins G. Stella, Annales, 108
1328 40 and 33 galleys Luchinus de Nigro Guelfs against Ghibellins G. Stella, Annales, 113–14
1330 15 galleys Aitonus de Auria G. Stella, Annales, 113–14
1332 45 galleys Antonius de Grimaldi Against Catalans G. Stella, Annales, 121
1333 10 galleys Octobonus de Marinis Against Catalans G. Stella, Annales, 122
1333 10 galleys Ianotus Cigala Against Catalans G. Stella, Annales, 122
1334 10 galleys Sologrus de Nigro Against Catalans G. Stella, Annales, 122
1335 7 galleys Odoardus de Auria Against Catalans G. Stella, Annales, 126
1335 28 galleys Odoardus de Auria G. Stella, Annales, 126
1336 14 galleys Neapolionus Spinula G. Stella, Annales, 127
1337 9 galleys Franciscus de Marinis G. Stella, Annales, 127
1338 40 galleys Aitonus de Auria For the King of France G. Stella, Annales, 128
19 September 2002 14:49:05
1340 9 galleys Simon de Quarto G. Stella, Annales, 134

1341 20 galleys Egidius Buccanigra For the King of Castille G. Stella, Annales, 134
1344 15 galleys Martinus Zacharias Smyrna G. Stella, Annales, 140
1345 19 galleys G. Stella, Annales, 143
1346 29 galleys Symon Vignosus Chios G. Stella, Annales, 145
1350 14 galleys Nicolaus de Magnerri Constantinople G. Stella, Annales, 150
1352 60 galleys Paganinus de Auria Constantinople G. Stella, Annales, 151
1353 60 galleys Antonius de Grimaldis G. Stella, Annales, 152
1354 25 galleys Paganinus de Auria G. Stella, Annales, 153
1355 15 galleys Philipus de Auria Tripoli G. Stella, Annales, 154
1371 10 galleys Thomas Muritius G. Stella, Annales, 164
1373 43 galleys Damianus Cattaneus Cyprus G. Stella, Annales, 166–67
1377 10 galleys Aron de Struppa G. Stella, Annales, 169
1378 32 galleys Ludovicus de Flisco, Lucianus de Auria G. Stella, Annales, 170–73
1379 69 galleys Petrus de Auria Against Venice G. Stella, Annales, 175
1380 13 galleys Matheus Maruffus G. Stella, Annales, 179
1380 5 galleys Ivanesius de Mari G. Stella, Annales, 181
1381 13 galleys Isnardus de Guarco G. Stella, Annales, 183
1383 10 galleys Nicolaus Maruffus Cyprus G. Stella, Annales, 189
1385 10 galleys Clemens de Facio G. Stella, Annales, 191
1388 15 galleys Raphael Adurnus G. Stella, Annales, 193
1389 40 galleys Iohanes Centurionus Tunis G. Stella, Annales, 194
1397 4 galleys Romania G. Stella, Annales, 222
1398 4 galleys Georgius Granellus Romania G. Stella, Annales, 225
19 September 2002 14:49:06

Genoese Naval Forces in The Mediterranean During The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

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Genoese Naval Forces during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

GENOESE NAVAL FORCES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

1 C. Costantini, ‘Aspetti della politica navale genovese nel Seicento’, in Guerra e

138 Michel Balard

4 Heers, Gênes au XVe siècle, 639–42.

9 C. Imperiale di Sant’Angelo, Annali genovesi di Caffaro e de’ suoi continuatori, vol. IV

140 Michel Balard

142 Michel Balard

rect taxes to those who really wanted to participate in the extraordinary

26 Balard, La Romanie génoise, I, 397.

144 Michel Balard

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1. The Genoese Fleet and the Arsenal of Genoa, by Christoforo Grassi.

Table I. Genoese fleets in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries

1247 25 galleys Podestat of Genoa Pisa Annali Genovesi, III,173–174

Years Ships Commanders Destination Source

1340 9 galleys Simon de Quarto G. Stella, Annales, 134

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