46 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Empire. Her commerce was so great that “Western orthodoxy was shocked by the “marine monsters” from the ends of the Earth who thronged the streets of the city ; Pagans, Turks, Libyans, Parthians and Chaldeans defiled the town and blackened (her) walls: here, most of all, was to be seen the triumph of commercialism over all the barriers of Latin exclusiveness over, race, religion and language alike.” [1] None of the Republics secured more concessions and privileges than Pisa and her maritime activity though short was brilliant.
The commercial activity of these Republics while in their infancy was greatly fostered by the crusades. We are not at all concerned with the military aspects of the crusades though they were perhaps the greatest of military exploits of the time. The commercial aspect of the crusade is what demands our attention.
The sea had its dangers and fears. [2] Hardly any one tried to take a chance. “In that age it might truely be said that no landman went to sea unless obliged to do so, for a voyage was being in prison with the addition charge of being drowned.” [3] The importance of water transportation was however demonstrated to the crusaders by the wearisome experience of the landways used in the first Crusade (1096-99); and the marine transportation was in the hands of these Italian Republics. The Crusaders therefore began to indent more and more upon these republics who fed fat on this growing commerce.
“By serving the cause of Christaindom they (the Republics) served their own. They multiplied, many times over, their carrying trade ; they largely increased their export and import commerce. Above all, they acquired a privileged, a more than half political, position on the coasts of the Levant, as time went on, they became more indispensible to the crusading princes, they were able to dictate their terms more freely until the main burden of the Holy war rested upon them as the chief holders of power.” [4] The Crusades seem to have been looked upon with different perspectives. The Catholic Church had a double motive
1 Reymond Brazley— The Dawn of Modern Geography, Vol. II, pp. 427-428.
2 cf. “Nemesis of nations” p. 219-220.
3 Brasely Vol. II, p. 407.
4 Ibid, Vol. n, p. 407.