Bohemond III of Antioch's Charter to the Consuls and the People of Genoa

Revised Regesta Regni (RRR) document #1266 is a princely charter written in Tyre in April 1189, in which Prince Bohemond III of Tripoli granted the Genoese, in agreement with his mother Sibilla and his son Raymond, the privileges of having their own court (curia) and general legal autonomy (libertas) in Antioch, Latakia and Jabala, with the exception of cases concerning treason, homicide and theft, and with the exception of those specific Genoese citizens in Antioch,Latakia and Jabala whom the Prince did not allow to enjoy such privilege. In addition, if any Genoese citizen had suffered a shipwreck at sea, the Prince would cover the cost of salvaging and taking care of the person’s corpse and his belongings. He had conceded these privileges “in perpetual heredity” to all the consuls and the Genoese on account of the service and help they rendered to Antioch. Present at the occasion and serving as witness are Aimericus, bishop of Tripoli, Gervasius de Sarmania, seneschal of Antioch, Milo de Colovardino, Petrus de Ravandello, Iohannes Paschalis, Saxus de Tripoli. All parties involved were Franks speaking different Romance languages, and the charter was drafted in Latin by Radulf, a clerk under Albertus, who in turn was the cancellarius of the Prince of Antioch and Archbishop of Tarsus.[1]
The document has survived to this day in the Archivio Segreto section of the Archivio di Stato di Genova (the Archive of the State of Genoa), with traces of the original seal still on the parchment.[2] It was then transcribed, authenticated (by one Atto Placentinus), and included in the Libri Iurium of the Genoese republic, which is a collection of legal texts sponsored by the Genoese state for official use.[3] Genoa had maintained an official apparatus for the maintenance of records and historiography throughout the Middle Ages, producing texts such as the Libri Iurium and the Annales Ianuenses; Iacopo Doria, the last author of the Annales Ianuenses and appointed archivist of the Genoese republic, had personally encountered this document in two different books of the Libri Iurium and left his comments on the margins each time.[4] That the original charter was preserved at all attests to the strength of documentary culture on the part of the Genoese state, and the inclusion of this text in Libri Iurium indicates that the Genoese state was very keen to make use of such privilege in the principality of Antioch and thought to make available the document that proved the privileged status of its citizens, should the occasion arise when they need to do so.
In addition, this charter was drafted in Tyre, the last remaining city in the Kingdom of Jerusalem after 1187, when Saladin conquered most of Palestine. Just one year before this charter was issued by Prince Bohemond, Saladin and his army took most of Northern Syria, including Latakia (on 22 July 1188) and Jabala (on 15-16 July 1188), the two cities mentioned in the charter; he almost took Antioch as well, though he stopped short from doing so by negotiating a truce with Bohemond III.[5] Genoa apparently helped with the principality’s defense and supplies, for which reason Prince Bohemond III rewarded the Genoese these tremendous privileges. It is unclear why Bohemond III would include Latakia and Jabala, two cities that were had been lost to Saladin since several months ago. Perhaps he was in hope of getting them back very soon, though he does not says so in the text. It is also unclear why the RRR attributes this charter to “Bohemond, count of Tripoli, son of Prince Bohemond of Antioch,” also known as Bohemond IV of Tripoli, who is never mentioned in the document. Genoa had been from the very start deeply involved with the Crusades, the creation and the maintenance of the Latin East, and this document attests to such deep involvement.[6]


[1] The Latin text comes from Dino Puncuh, ed., I Libri Iurium della Repubblica di Genova, vol. 2 (Genoa, 1996), 160-161.

[2] A.S.G. (Archivio di Stato di Genova), Archivio segreto, n. 2721/17. See Puncuh, 160.

[3] There are two authentic copies. One is in A.S.G., Libri iurium, I, Vetusior, c. 73 r.; the other one is A.S.G., Libri iurium, VII, c. 73 r., which is a copy of the former. There exist also a simple copy in Biblioteca Universitaria di Genova, Libri iurium, I, ms. B.IX.2., c. 73 r., which is a copy of the D document. See Puncuh, 160.

[4] See Puncuh, 160. On the Genoese archive, see Antonella Rovere and Sandra Macchiavello, “Chapter 1: The Written Sources,” in A Companion to Medieval Genoa, ed. Carrie E. Beneš (Leiden, 2018), 27–48.

[5] Malcolm Barber, The Crusader States (New Haven, 2012), 317-323.

[6] For Genoa’s participation in the Crusades, see Merav Mack, “Genoa and the Crusades,” in A Companion to Medieval Genoa, ed. Carrie E. Beneš (Leiden, 2018), 471–95. For the Third Crusade, which happened around the time when this document was drafted, see Merav Mack, ‘A Genoese Perspective of the Third Crusade’, Crusades 10, no. 1 (31 December 2011): 45–62, https://doi.org/10.1080/28327861.2011.12220447.
Written by Qianyi Fu, Fordham Department of History.