A.D. 1163.
A.D. 1190.
A.D. 1279.
Hence, during the domination of the Franks in Syria, the most intimate relations subsisted between them and the city of Marseilles. Thus, in 1163 the Marseillais lent Rodolph, bishop of Bethlehem, two thousand two hundred and eight bezants upon security of his castle and his possessions in the city of Acre. In 1190 they assisted in besieging that city, and obtained, as the price of their services, various commercial advantages. In 1279 they sent corn to the Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem, by which means their mercantile franchises were confirmed in Palestine: indeed, the history of Marseilles records many services rendered to the potentates of the time, the consideration for which was, however, invariably the concession of some commercial franchise or the confirmation of ancient privileges, so that amidst all their religious enthusiasm they never forgot their own interests.
Monopoly in shipping trade.
A.D. 1234.
The spirit of monopoly soon, however, exhibited itself at Marseilles as in other places. Her viscounts, who were the lords paramount at the time, had permitted ships belonging to the order of the Temple and of St. John of Jerusalem to frequent the port of Marseilles; but when the commonalty of that city were enfranchised from the jurisdiction of the viscounts, they refused to recognize the freedom of the ships of the military orders, and levied upon them vexatious duties. The two orders complained to the constable of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and the vessels of the Marseillais with their other property were about to be seized by force in the port of Acre, but a negotiation set on foot at Marseilles happily prevented a rupture. In 1234 the burgesses, convened together at the Hotel de Ville at Marseilles, gave permission by a solemn act to the two orders of the Temple and of St. John of Jerusalem to send respectively two ships each, annually, to their port, one at Easter and one at Midsummer, to load or unload any goods they pleased under payment of the usual duties. Each vessel might take on board any number of merchant passengers who desired to make the voyage, and fifteen hundred pilgrims. In the event of the Templars and Hospitallers requiring more vessels to carry cargo belonging to their convents, they were permitted to despatch them; but these supplementary vessels were not permitted to embark either merchants, or pilgrims, as passengers.
Customs on shipping.
Although religious differences were professedly not allowed to interfere with foreign commerce; and although in a convention made between the bishop and the commonalty it was stipulated that all Christians, Jews, and Saracens should have the right of frequenting Marseilles with their merchandise, of discharging their ships’ cargoes, and of selling and buying unrestrictedly; yet the records of the Customs show, that while the duties were one denier per livre upon numerous imports, the burgesses of Marseilles were exempt from this duty, and that the shipping of the Levant was placed in a different category. Syrian merchandise paid two bezants[649] and a half per livre; from Alexandria, the rate was one bezant and a half; and from the island of Gerbi, upon the coast of Africa, three bezants and a half. There were also other municipal dues. If a foreign ship in the port of Marseilles took on board pilgrims, passengers, or cargo for the Levant, the owner was obliged to pay the commonalty one-third of the freight. It will be seen, therefore, that Marseilles exacted as high differential duties as her republican neighbours of Italy.
Again, while the Christian religious bodies received many privileges as shippers, the Jews throughout the whole of this period were ground down under excessive taxes. In the same spirit, the Venetians shut them out from the Damascus trade; the Spaniards, as far as they could, expelled them from Spain, and they were then universally persecuted, as much, it may be, from popular indignation against the social evils they were supposed to promote, as from the hatred engendered by religious prejudice. Yet, in spite of the atrocious treatment which the Jews[650] received from the so-called Christians, they were the means of greatly developing the commerce of the middle ages, and have ever since rendered important service in promoting friendly intercourse between nations, and thereby extending civilization. To the Jews, as much as to the Lombard merchants, we are indebted for the introduction of bills of exchange, by which great facilities have been afforded for the development of trade, and a system of the most perfect security established for remittances to the most distant parts of the globe.