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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.msu.edu> > Date: April 9, 2017 at 4:22:13 PM EDT > To: h-rev...@h-net.msu.edu > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: King on Carr, 'Merchant Crusaders in the > Aegean, 1291-1352' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.msu.edu> > > Mike Carr. Merchant Crusaders in the Aegean, 1291-1352. Suffolk > Boydell Press, 2015. xii + 196 pp. $99.00 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-84383-990-3. > > Reviewed by Matthew King (University of Minnesota) > Published on H-War (April, 2017) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > Mike Carr's monograph _Merchant Crusaders in the Aegean: 1291-1352_ > presents an innovative perspective on the history of the eastern > Mediterranean during the period following the fall of Acre in 1291 > through the middle of the fourteenth century. In writing this book, > Carr "aims to cut across the sub-genres of economic and crusading > history" by considering how people of the Latin West perceived the > Turks, how they formulated a military response to the Turks, and how > the maritime republics of Italy negotiated their mercantile goals > with the crusading ideals of the papacy (p. 6). By analyzing the > dynamic relationship between the commercial bottom line and religious > ideology, in which the interests of the latter almost always took > priority over the former for Italian merchants, Carr paints a nuanced > picture of the complexities of the eastern Mediterranean in the years > following the fall of the Levantine crusader states. > > Chapter 1 outlines the splintered and "insecure" political world of > the Aegean Sea in the late thirteenth century, which featured a > diverse landscape of peoples and polities competing over this > strategic region (p. 18). A plurality of Latins, Greeks, and Turks > sought supremacy to no avail in the region, all while the papacy > sought to motivate Latin Christians to fight against the Byzantines > in order to restore (in some form) the Latin Empire of > Constantinople. Although the 1320s saw a time of reduced Latin and > papal aggression against the Byzantines, there was still hostility > against the schismatic Greeks that would influence political policy > throughout the period. > > Chapter 2 considers how various chronicles and documentary sources > from the Latin West depicted the Turks and their _beylik_s > (principalities) in the early-to-mid fourteenth century. Carr argues > that there was a fundamental transformation of depictions of the > Turks during this time. In the early fourteenth century, Latin > sources regarded the Turks and their patchwork of beyliks in Anatolia > with both amity and ambiguity. Most Latin authors held negative views > of them, inspired by centuries of anti-Muslim rhetoric that had > fueled the Crusades, but other authors saw the Turks as potential > allies or used their victories as rationale for the sins of > Christians. As the decades progressed and Latin authors became more > familiar with the Turks, particularly their legendary hero Umur > Pasha, they consequently developed more refined rhetoric for holy war > against the Anatolian beyliks. Rhetoric that was previously > transferable between Muslims or non-Christians of different > ethnicities became distinctly "anti-Turkish" and more specific to the > political situation in the Aegean (p. 57). > > Chapter 3 traces the foundation and use of naval leagues to combat > the Turks at sea. Local Latin powers in the central and eastern > Mediterranean formed these fleets of galleys for campaigns against > the Turks. The papacy helped to facilitate the formation of naval > leagues and often granted crusader privileges to their participants. > The creation of these small fleets was a far cry from the grand > campaign of the First Crusade and other early crusades, which saw > large-scale cooperation from different polities. Instead, naval > leagues were a pragmatic solution to the fragmented political > landscape of the Aegean, in which local Latin lords cooperated for > smaller campaigns aimed to help their lands. These conflicts were > more about local politics than they were about a clash between Latins > and Turks. > > Chapter 4 explores the logistics required of the campaigns that these > naval leagues conducted. Carr outlines the development of bireme > galleys as the standard vessel for Latin powers fighting in the > Aegean against the Turks. The battles between Latin and Turkish > forces on these ships were largely amphibious affairs, in which > fleets sought to use both the coastline and the sea to their > advantage. Through an analysis of naval battles between Latins and > Turks during the mid-fourteenth century, Carr concludes that these > naval leagues "were highly effective enterprises, which combined > powerful and well-equipped fleets with skilled captains and crews" to > resist Turkish aggression in the Aegean (p. 93). > > Chapter 5 considers the role of the papacy in the campaigns of the > Latin West against the Turks in the larger context of the crusading > movement. Pope John XXII (1316-34) was reluctant to provide sweeping > crusader privileges to naval campaigns against the Turks, instead > choosing to support French campaigns targeting the Holy Land. His > only contribution to Aegean campaigns came in 1333-34, in which he > opportunistically supported a Venetian campaign after all the > logistics and financial arrangements had already been provided. The > papacy of John XII contrasts with that of Pope Clement VI (1342-52), > who was more eager to be involved in and support campaigns against > the Turks. He committed substantial papal resources, both financial > and spiritual, to campaigns in the Aegean and had a vested interest > in its success. Papal letters reveal the extent of his involvement in > these campaigns. Clement VI's support in Aegean crusading manifested > in the use of his "full arsenal of crusading mechanisms," including > the full crusade indulgence (p. 118). > > Chapter 6 moves away from military campaigns and to a discussion of > the commercial ties that bound the Aegean amidst this violence. The > changing role of the papacy is central to Carr's analysis. In the > early fourteenth century, the papacy promulgated to Christian traders > an embargo on trading with the Muslim world. This policy was > unsatisfactory to merchants (and merchant crusaders) in the Aegean, > for whom trade with Muslims in Egypt was essential to the maintenance > of their colonies. As the fourteenth century progressed, Carr argues, > the papacy came to realize the need for Christians to trade with > Muslims for the benefit of crusading. This seemingly contradictory > policy manifested in the issuance of licenses that exempted Christian > merchants from the ban on trading with Muslims. During the reign of > Clement VI, for example, some 48 cogs and 110 galleys were given > permission to trade in Mamluk Egypt. The expansion of these licenses > shows the willingness of the papacy to amend its anti-Muslim trade > policies in consideration of the economic realities of those in the > Aegean who were fighting on its behalf. > > Carr draws on a diverse array of archival sources to craft this > argument. He conducted extensive research in the Vatican archives, > which are used to particular effect in chapter 6 to show the > proliferation of trade licenses for merchant crusaders. He uses these > documents alongside a host of published Latin sources that document > papal policy during the fourteenth century. Carr complements these > papal-centric sources with archival documents from Italian archives > relating largely to trade as well as published chronicles, histories, > and treatises that provide patchwork coverage of events in the > Aegean. Turkish sources are unfortunately slim for this period, with > the _Düstūrnāme_ (an epic poem devoted to the life of Umur Pasha) > being the only one of particular relevance. > > Carr's research is part of a growing body of medieval scholarship > that transcends the boundaries of modern nation-states and instead > focuses on cross-cultural interactions around a particular body of > water. _Merchant Crusaders in the Aegean_ complements transnational > research projects that are at the center of burgeoning fields like > Mediterranean studies and Atlantic studies. His work also complements > recent scholarship on the Crusades that works to undermine the idea > that relationships between Christians and Muslims during the Middle > Ages were little more than a "clash of civilizations." Carr > convincingly argues that relations between merchant crusaders and > their Turkish adversaries were a complicated affair, one in which the > landscape was divided by divergent political, economic, and religious > motivations. By pitting interfaith conflict against the backdrop of > the larger Mediterranean world in which it was happening, Carr makes > a compelling case for the "merchant crusader," one that ought to be > considered in other theaters in which the crusading phenomenon > occurred. > > Citation: Matthew King. Review of Carr, Mike, _Merchant Crusaders in > the Aegean, 1291-1352_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. April, 2017. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=48056 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
