Background After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire, the city of
Genoa was invaded by Germanic tribes. The eastern Roman Empire captured the city in 537. About 643, Genoa and other Ligurian cities were captured by the
Lombard Kingdom under the King
Rothari. In 773 the Kingdom was annexed by the
Frankish Empire; the first Carolingian count of Genoa was Ademarus, who was given the title
praefectus civitatis Genuensis. During this time and in the following century Genoa was little more than a small centre, slowly building its
merchant fleet, which was to become the leading commercial carrier of the Western Mediterranean. In 934–35 the town was
thoroughly sacked and burned by a
Fatimid fleet under
Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Tamimi. This has led to discussion about whether early tenth-century Genoa was "hardly more than a fishing village" or a vibrant trading town worth attacking. In 958, a diploma granted by
Berengar II of Italy gave full legal freedom to the city of Genoa, guaranteeing the possession of its lands in the form of landed lordships. At the end of the
11th century the municipality adopted a constitution, at a meeting consisting of the city's
trade associations (
compagnie) and of the lords of the surrounding valleys and coasts. The new city-state was termed a
Compagna Communis. The local organization remained politically and socially significant for centuries. As late as 1382, the members of the Grand Council were classified by both the
compagnia to which they belonged as well as by their political faction ("noble" versus "popular").
Rise , 1098. Before 1100, Genoa emerged as an independent
city-state, one of a number of
Italian city-states during this period. Nominally, the
Holy Roman Emperor was overlord and the
Bishop of Genoa was president of the city; however, actual power was wielded by a number of "
consuls" annually elected by
popular assembly. At that time Muslim raiders were attacking coastal cities on the
Tyrrhenian Sea. Muslims raided Pisa in 1000, and in 1015 they escalated their attacks, raiding
Luni.
Mujahid al-Siqlabi,
Emir of the
Taifa of Denia attacked
Sardinia with a fleet of 125 ships.
In 1016, the allied troops of Genoa and Pisa defended Sardinia. In 1066, war erupted between Genoa and Pisa – possibly over control of Sardinia. The republic was one of the so-called "Maritime Republics" (
Repubbliche Marinare), along with
Venice,
Pisa,
Amalfi,
Gaeta,
Ancona, and
Ragusa. In the
Mahdia campaign of 1087, supported by
Pope Victor III, Italian forces led by
Hugh of Pisa attacked the North African
Zirid vassals of the
Fatimid Caliphate. Genoese and Pisan fleets, accompanied by troops from
Amalfi,
Salerno, and
Gaeta, captured the Zirid capital, but could not hold it. The Genoese and Pisan burned the fleet in the city's harbour and withdrew. The destruction of the Arab fleet gave control of the Western Mediterranean to Genoa, Venice, and Pisa. This enabled Western Europe to supply the troops of the
First Crusade of 1096–1099 by sea. In 1092, Genoa and Pisa, in collaboration with
Alfonso VI of León and Castile attacked the Muslim
Taifa of Valencia. They also unsuccessfully besieged
Tortosa with support from troops of
Sancho Ramírez,
King of Aragon. Genoa started expanding during the
First Crusade. In 1097
Hugh of Châteauneuf,
Bishop of Grenoble and
William,
Bishop of Orange, went to Genoa and preached in the
church of San Siro in order to gather troops for the
First Crusade. Twelve
galleys, one ship, and 1,200 soldiers from Genoa joined the crusade. The Genoese troops, led by noblemen de Insula and Avvocato, set sail in July 1097. The Genoese fleet transported and provided naval support to the crusaders, mainly during the
siege of Antioch in 1098, when the Genoese fleet blockaded the city while the troops provided support during the siege. In 1147, Genoa took part in the Siege of
Almería, helping
Alfonso VII of León and Castile reconquer that city from the Muslims. After the conquest the republic leased out its third of the city to one of its own citizens,
Otto de Bonvillano, who swore fealty to the republic and promised to guard the city with three hundred men at all times. This demonstrates how Genoa's early efforts at expanding her influence involved
enfeoffing private citizens to the commune and controlling overseas territories indirectly, rather than through the republican administration. In 1148, it joined the
Siege of Tortosa and helped Count
Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona take that city, for which it also received a third. Over the course of the 11th and particularly the 12th centuries, Genoa became the dominant naval force in the Western Mediterranean, as its erstwhile rivals Pisa and Amalfi declined in importance. Genoa (along with Venice) succeeded in gaining a central position in the Mediterranean slave trade at this time. This left the Republic with only one major rival in the Mediterranean: Venice. The
Genoese slave trade and the
Venetian slave trade were the main players of the slave trade in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. Genoese Crusaders brought home a green glass goblet from the
Levant, which Genoese long regarded as the
Holy Grail. Not all of Genoa's merchandise was so innocuous, however, as medieval Genoa became a major player in
the slave trade.
13th and 14th centuries (1348) in
Galata,
Istanbul. The commercial and cultural rivalry between Genoa and Venice played out throughout the thirteenth century. The
Republic of Venice played a significant role in the
Fourth Crusade, diverting "Latin" energies to the ruin of its former patron and present trading rival,
Constantinople. As a result, Venetian support of the newly established
Latin Empire meant that Venetian trading rights were enforced, and Venice gained control of a large portion of the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean. In August 1282, part of the Genoese fleet blockaded Pisan commerce near the river
Arno. In 1283 the population of the
Kingdom of Sicily revolted against the
Angevin rule. The revolt became known as the
Sicilian Vespers. As a result, the
Aragonese rule was established in the Kingdom. Genoa, which had supported the Aragonese, was granted free trading and export rights in the Kingdom of Sicily. Genoese bankers also profited from loans to the new nobility of Sicily. Corsica was formally annexed in 1347. Genoa was far more than a depot of drugs and spices from the East: an essential engine of its economy was the weaving of silk textiles, from imported thread, following the symmetrical styles of
Byzantine and Sassanian silks. As a result of the economic retrenchment in Europe in the late fourteenth century, as well as its long
war with Venice, which culminated in its
defeat at Chioggia (1380), Genoa went into decline. This pivotal war with Venice has come to be called the War of Chioggia because of this decisive battle which resulted in the defeat of Genoa at the hands of Venice. Prior to the War of Chioggia, which lasted from 1379 until 1381, the Genoese had enjoyed a naval ascendency that was the source of their power and position within northern Italy. The Genoan defeat deprived Genoa of this naval supremacy, pushed it out of eastern Mediterranean markets and began the decline of the city-state. In 1396, in order to protect the republic from internal unrest and the provocations of the
Duke of Orléans and the
former Duke of Milan, the Doge of Genoa
Antoniotto Adorno made
Charles VI of France the
difensor del comune ("defender of the municipality") of Genoa. Though the republic had previously been under partial foreign control, this marked the first time Genoa was dominated by a foreign power.
Golden age of Genoese bankers Though not well-studied, Genoa in the 15th century seems to have been tumultuous. The city had a strong tradition of trading goods from the Levant and its financial expertise was recognised all over Europe. After a brief period of French domination from 1394 to 1409, Genoa came under the rule of the
Visconti of Milan. Genoa lost
Sardinia to the
Crown of Aragon,
Corsica to internal revolt, and its colonies in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia Minor to the
Ottoman Empire. Threatened by
Alfonso V of Aragon, the Doge of Genoa in 1458 handed the Republic over to the French, making it the Duchy of Genoa under the control of
John of Anjou, a French royal governor. However, with support from Milan, Genoa revolted and the Republic was restored in 1461. The Milanese then changed sides, conquering Genoa in 1464 and holding it as a fief of the French crown. Between 1463–1478 and 1488–1499, Genoa was held by the Milanese
House of Sforza. Under the ensuing economic recovery, many aristocratic Genoese families, such as the Balbi, Doria, Grimaldi, Pallavicini, and Serra, amassed tremendous fortunes. According to
Felipe Fernández-Armesto and others, the practices Genoa developed in the Mediterranean (such as
chattel slavery) were crucial in the exploration and exploitation of the New World. At the time of Genoa's peak in the 16th century, the city attracted many artists, including
Rubens,
Caravaggio, and
van Dyck. The architect
Galeazzo Alessi (1512–1572) designed many of the city's splendid
palazzi. In the next 50 years, other palazzi were designed by
Bartolomeo Bianco (1590–1657), designer of centrepieces of the
University of Genoa. A number of
Genoese Baroque and Rococo artists settled elsewhere and a number of local artists became prominent. Thereafter, Genoa underwent something of a revival as a junior associate of the
Spanish Empire, with Genoese bankers, in particular, financing many of the Spanish crown's foreign endeavors from their
counting houses in Seville.
Fernand Braudel has even called the period 1557 to 1627 the "age of the Genoese", "of a rule that was so discreet and sophisticated that historians for a long time failed to notice it". However, the modern visitor passing brilliant Mannerist and Baroque palazzo facades along Genoa's (now Via Garibaldi) or cannot fail to notice that there was conspicuous wealth, which in fact was not Genoese but concentrated in the hands of a tightly knit circle of banker-financiers, true "
venture capitalists". Genoa's trade, however, remained closely dependent on control of Mediterranean sealanes, and the loss of
Chios to the
Ottoman Empire (1566), struck a severe blow. The opening for the Genoese banking consortium was the
state bankruptcy of
Philip II in 1557, which threw the German banking houses into chaos and ended the reign of the
Fuggers as Spanish financiers. The Genoese bankers provided the unwieldy Habsburg system with fluid credit and a dependably regular income. In return the less dependable shipments of American silver were rapidly transferred from Seville to Genoa, to provide capital for further ventures. From about 1520 the Genoese controlled the Spanish
port of Panama, the first port on the Pacific, founded by the conquest of the Americas. The Genoese obtained a concession to exploit the port mainly for the slave trade of the new world on the Pacific, which lasted until the sacking and destruction of the original city in 1671. In 1635, Don
Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, who had been governor of Panama, recruited Genoese, Peruvian, and Panamanian soldiers to fight in the
Philippines, where he had been appointed governor, against the Muslim Sultanates of
Sulu and
Maguindanao. In this situation Genoese bankers were thus active in Spain's Mediterranean and New World possessions (Peru, Mexico, and Philippines). The Genoese banker
Ambrogio Spinola, Marquess of Los Balbases, for instance, raised and led an army that fought in the
Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands in the early 17th century. The decline of Spain in the 17th century brought also the renewed decline of Genoa, and the Spanish crown's frequent bankruptcies, in particular, ruined many of Genoa's merchant houses. In 1684 the city was
heavily bombarded by a French fleet as punishment for its alliance with Spain.
Decline In May 1625, a French-Savoian army briefly laid siege to Genoa. Though that siege was eventually
lifted with the aid of the Spanish, the French would later
bombard the city in May 1684 for its support of Spain during the
War of the Reunions. In-between, a
plague killed as many as half of the inhabitants of Genoa in 1656–57. Genoa continued its slow decline well into the 18th century, losing its last
Mediterranean colony, the island fortress of
Tabarka, to the
Bey of Tunis in 1742. As its economy and power both continued to decline, in 1729 the Republic had to face another revolt in Corsica. It is seen as the first real rupture between the island and the Genoese Republic: it may also be the most important, because the representatives of the
Church and the
Roman Curia both "justified" the war. This time the Genoese government requested the help of
Charles VI. After Genoa paid a 60,000
florins lump sum and 100
scudi for each dead soldier, Charles sent 10,000 German infantry of the
Imperial Army to join the Republic's soldiers commanded by Camillo Doria. Genoa managed to contain the rebellion, but this was not to last. A revolt in 1733 had the Genoese appealing to the Emperor for help, but the Imperial Army was tied up against the French in the ongoing
War of the Polish Succession, and thus declined to intervene. Even before the rebellions, Genoa had only had loose control of the island; the Republic had effectively demilitarized itself, with only 2,000 soldiers (all spread throughout fortifications in Liguria) for a mainland population of about half a million, and law and order on Corsica were very weak, with nearly 900 murders per 100,000 people there annually from 1701 to 1733. The Genoese government tried to ban private firearm ownership on Corsica without success. A guerrilla war would continue on the island until it was sold to France in 1768. The
Convention of Turin of 1742, in which
Austria allied with the
Kingdom of Sardinia, caused some consternation in the Republic. However, when this temporary alliance was made more reliable and lasting via the 1743
Treaty of Worms, the fear of diplomatic isolation had caused the Genoese Republic to abandon its neutrality and to ally with the
House of Bourbon in the
War of the Austrian Succession. Consequently, the Republic of Genoa signed a secret treaty with
France, the
Spain and the
Kingdom of Naples, all three of which were ruled by Bourbons. On 26 June 1745, the Republic of Genoa declared war on the Kingdom of Sardinia. This decision would prove disastrous for Genoa, which later surrendered to the Austrians in September 1746 and was briefly occupied until a revolt liberated the city two months later. The Austrians returned in 1747 and, along with a contingent of Sardinian forces,
laid siege to Genoa before being driven off by the approach of a Franco-Spanish army. Though Genoa retained its lands in the
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, it was unable to keep its hold on
Corsica in its weakened state. After driving out the Genoese, the
Corsican Republic was declared in 1755. Eventually relying on French intervention to quash the rebellion, Genoa was forced to cede Corsica to the French in the 1768
Treaty of Versailles.
The end of the Republic and its brief revival in 1814 In 1794 and 1795 the ideals of France's revolution reached Genoa, thanks to Genoese propagandists then taking refuge in southeastern France, and a conspiracy against the aristocratic and oligarchic ruling class developed. In 1796, the French army under
Napoleon defeated Austria and Piedmont, gaining control of the region. In May 1797, Genoese
Jacobins, aided by French volunteers, moved to overthrow Doge
Giacomo Maria Brignole, giving rise to a civil war in the streets between opponents and supporters of the government. Napoleon's representatives then intervened. In early June, the old elites who had ruled Genoa for all of its history were overthrown. On June 14, 1797, the
Ligurian Republic was proclaimed, under the watchful care of
Republican France. After Bonaparte's seizure of power in France, a more conservative constitution was enacted, but the Ligurian Republic's life was short: in 1805 it was annexed by France, becoming the
départements of
Apennins,
Gênes, and
Montenotte. ==Government==