Adaptation of merchant vessels to the purposes of war.
Throughout the middle ages, the nations of the Mediterranean depended for the constitution of a navy on their merchant shipping almost as much as England. The sovereigns of Europe and the Italian republics had each, no doubt, some ships of their own, though generally these were too few for carrying on war with rival nations of any maritime position. The great barons also, during the feudal system, owned vessels as well as castles; and those especially who lived on the sea-shore possessed one or more ships, which they employed for war or commerce, in accordance with their tastes or ambition. During the period, too, of the Crusades, many noblemen who had no connection with the sea, and whose estates were far away from it, built vessels for themselves, which were always available for warlike purposes. When the time for action arrived these ships were ranged under the flag of an admiral chosen by their owners, generally though not always with the approval of the sovereign. Nor was there much difficulty in converting their trading vessels into ships of war, as most of them were already armed, and every sailor being trained to war, an extra number of men, with a few machines for throwing stones or arrows, were sufficient for the purpose.
Regulations at sea.
In the management of their ships, and in almost everything relating to maritime affairs, the Italian republics were in a great measure guided by the ancient Rhodian laws.[684] These alike regulated the conduct of merchants and masters. When a merchant sailed in a ship which he had chartered on his own account, he was almost supreme on board. If several merchants embarked, and shipped goods, having hired the vessel among them, the majority decided upon the general management of the ship. When bad weather supervened, and it was a question of shortening sail, or when it became necessary to go out of the direct course to avoid pirates, the master invariably consulted the charterers. But if the merchants gave directions that the ship, for safety, or any other purpose, should enter a certain harbour, in disregard of the master’s advice, he was no longer responsible for any event or accident arising from such a proceeding; on the other hand, if the master did anything from which fatal consequences ensued, he was liable to heavy punishment, and held responsible for all damages. In case of danger, either by tempest or an enemy, every person on board, including merchants and passengers, was bound to use his utmost endeavours for the protection of the ship and cargo; and merchants, passengers, master, pilots, steersmen, and sailors, all became soldiers whenever a suspicious craft appeared. The trade of a ship-owner, even under the best conditions one of a precarious and speculative character, was doubtless then full of danger from the number of pirates in every sea, and especially in the Mediterranean.
Stringent rules to regulate the loading of vessels.
Every merchant ship, by the laws in force among the Italian republics, was subject to prescribed rules to prevent them from being overladen. When launched, two experienced inspectors measured the ship’s capacity, and, in conformity, marked upon her sides a line which it was forbidden to submerge. At Venice this mark consisted of a cross painted or carved, or formed with two plates of iron. The ships of Genoa had a triple mark of three small plates of iron fastened upon a particular line on each side of the hull, indicating a limit in depth which was not to be exceeded; while, in Sardinia, the centre of a painted ring marked the extent of the immersion allowed by law. The laws, also, prescribed many other details in the loading of the ship and in the stowage of her cargo, which, during the whole period of the middle ages, were enforced with the utmost rigour.
FOOTNOTES:
[647] One of the most remarkable deeds of daring in the early history of Venice was the carrying away the body of St. Mark from his previous resting-place at Alexandria. This robbery is said to have been committed by the crews of ten Venetian galleys in the year A.D. 827. See Smedley, “Sketches of Venet. Hist.” i. p. 15.
[648] See, for all that is known of the early mediæval commerce of Marseilles, De Ruffi, Hist. de la Ville de Marseille, 2 vols. fol. 1696; and Fabre, Hist. de Marseille, 2 vols. 8vo. 1829. It was owing to the lead which the French took in the early Crusades, that Orientals came to designate first the Western, and then all Christians by the name of “Franks.”
[649] It is almost impossible now to determine the relative values mentioned in records so old as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Moreover, research only shows that there was the greatest confusion both as to the names and as to the values of the weights and measures of that period. The Bezant (or Byzant), taking its name unquestionably from the City of Byzantium, was a common term for gold money in Western Europe from the tenth to the fourteenth century. Thus Dunstan bought Hendon of King Edgar for two hundred Byzants (Camden’s “Remains concerning Britain”), and Wyclif, in his translation of the Bible, uses “besauntis” for the ten pieces of money in the parable. These Byzants were not always of the same weight or purity, but it is generally believed that, in the time of Constantine, seventy-two were coined to the pound, and that therefore they were worth about the same as the ducat (with which they are often confounded), viz., 9s. (Savile Script. Dec. post Bedam, fol. 76, 6. Ducange Gloss. in voce.) Those of Alex. Comnenus, A.D. 1081-1118, weigh about seventy grains English.