Pietro Recanelli, member of the Mahona of Chios: his life in Genova, Smyrna and Chios

Scholars consider a key figure of the Fourteenth Century Chios the Genoese Pietro Recanelli. In the sixties he played the role of Captain of Smyrna, and indeed may already have been designated as early as 1361, as we are told in a contemporary Venetian source. We know for a fact that in 1363 his ten year appointment was confirmed by Pope Urban V. He probably succeeded an Hospittaler Friar, Niccolò de Benedetti. The context did indeed include relations with the Venetians, which would explain the report of a voyage made in September 1360: a galleass armed by the Venetian Liberalis de Monte and belonging to the papal legate was engaged to sail from Chios to Koroni and return to Smyrna. We know that Pietro Recanello himself tried to carry on relations with the Venetian settlements in the Aegean area. It is well known his project to marry Fiorenza duke John Sanudo’s daughter which was stoutly opposed by Venetian Senate. Then he married Margherita, doge’s Gabriele Adorno daughter. According to Giorgio Stella’s account, Pietro Reccanelli in 1365 was homeland and helped his grandfather fighting against his enemies both in Riviera and Genova^[1], but after this year till the end of his charge he was no longer involved in Genoese politics and received no mention on the occasion of Urban V’s stay in Genova in 1367.

 

Captain of Smyrna

In the Levantine context what interests us most is his commitment to Smyrna where he was Captain until 1371. For him Smyrna was not only the place where Christianity showed its capacity to resist Islam, but also where he could manage his dealings with the Turks face to face. We think that it was for this reason that he took direct responsibility for the difficult balance between commerce and war in the region. It is no coincidence that: 1) his career corresponded with greater economic dealings with the Turks while he was Captain of Smyrna; 2) since he was very close to the Order of the Knights Hospitallers through the doge’s brother he was appointed Captain of Smyrna; 3) his mandate finished in conjunction with the pre-eminent role assumed by the Catalan Fernandez de Heredia within the Order and becoming Grand Master a few years later.

 

Mahonese and merchant: Pietro Recanelli’s business, richness, reputation in the Levant and Genoa

His mercantile role between Egypt, Cyprus, Chios and Turkey is clear not only because of his preeminence in the Mahona and Chios and his trading activities, but also because of his diplomatic jobs. He was for a time massarius and gubernator generalis in Chios. Usually, even when he left to Genova, he counted on his agents, akin his familiaris Giovannino Maçulus de Gorbio and his brother Raffo. In Chios he lived in a house with portico and terrace, where he used to take care of his business and receive the notary^[2].

Nevertheless he never forgot his position and prerogatives he enjoyed homeland. Though living in a troubled Genova he could maintain his estate and reputation. He was linked to two doges thanks to marriage ties. He himself had married Margherita Gabriele Adorno’s daughter, while his daughter Violante was married to Domenico Campogrefoso’s son Venerio. Thanks to unpublished sources we can add some detail to his portrait. When even the doge Campofregoso was overthrew in 1378, Recanello’s family was involved in a dispute about some jewels that Genoese govern wanted to confiscate^[3]. Afterward his widow who especially acted for their younger sons together with Giovanni Imperiale, had to agree with Ottobono Giustiniani olim Iohannis for leasing him the two duodena of the Mahona of Chios which were part of the legacy. A judicial act shows us that Pietro made his will on May 11th 1380 and dead after a few days, probably even before May 19th 1380, when they made an inventory of his possessions; finally an act dated June 6th, 1380, reveals that he was dead^[4]. In due course his sons went on dealing with the Mahona affairs they inherited from their father.

The richness of this family is shown by luxury and supply of precious stones from the Levant where Pietro did his business. The sentences related to his family’s goods show two relevant items referred to jewels: a balasius praised about 80 liras given to Margherita, Recanello’s wife by her son in law, Venerio; two stocks of pearls, the former praised about 800 liras, bought by Iacobo Campofregoso, another doge’s son, and deposited with Recanello’s, the latter praised even more than 1500 liras, given by the doge to Violante, Recanello’s daughter on the occasion of her marriage with Venerio. The balasius was assigned to Recanello. The pearls were assigned to the Commune, but it is not quite clear whether Violante’s pearls too were included in the stock assigned to the Commune or not.

In 1393 Margherita still acted in the name of her sons, Pietro, Gabriele, Enrico, and in 1383 she dealt with mastica trade for her sons Gabriele, Pietro and Giovanni, even if since 1391 Pietro had received some charges in Chios; in 1398 Gabriel acted in the name of his brothers Pietro and Enrico; about 1410-1413 Giovanni was dead. Gabriel probably was the most involved in Chios affairs. About 1416 he was usually named Gabriel Iustinianus^[5].

Thereby we know other aspects of the personality of our subject and his relatives: the family belonged to the popular party; they were close to the doge’s circle and collaborated with members of the doge’s family. He showed personal capabilities from an early age both as a trader and as a soldier captain and he sought opportunistic matrimonial choices both for himself and his daughter through marrying the offspring of two doges. If we extend our research to cover other admittedly less prestigious personalities, who like Pietro Recanelli held key positions both in the capital and in its overseas possessions, we may better understand the workings of the hierarchies and respective roles within the Giustiniani’s aristocratic group and the ability to collaborate with the other political and social forces in the Levant.

Archival sources

Archivio di Stato di Genova, Archivio Segreto, 496.

Archivio di Stato di Genova, Notai Antichi, 450.

Printed sources

Stella G., Annales Genuenses, a cura di G. Petti Balbi, RIS XVII/2, Bologna 1975, 158-159.

Documenti della Mahona di Chio (secoli XIV-XVI), a cura di Antonella Rovere, Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria, n.s. XIX, Genova 1979.

Balletto L., Notai genovesi in Oltremare, Atti rogati a Chio nel XIV secolo dal notaio Raffaele de Casanova, Bordighera 2015.

Bibliography

Argenti Ph. P., The occupation of Chios by the Genoese and their administration of the Island (1346-1566), Cambridge 1958.

Hopf C., Storia dei Giustiniani di Genova, tradotta da A. Wolf, Genova 1881.

Luttrell A., Venice and the Knights Hospitallers of Rhodes in the Fourteenth Century, in «Papers of the British School at Rome» , XXVI (1958), 195-212.

Setton K.M., The papacy and the Levant (1204-1571), I, Philadelphia 1971.

Balard M., Le mastic de Chio, monopole de la Mahone génoise, in Hommages à C. Cahen, Paris 1994 (Res Orientales, VI), 223-228, ripubblicato in M. Balard, Genova e il mare, Genova 2017, pp. 321-330.

Pistarino G., Chio dei genovesi nel tempo di Cristoforo Colombo, Nuova Raccolta Colombiana, Roma 1995.

Origone S., The Levantine communities in the making, in «Middle East Forum», 13 (2016), 65-78, ripubblicato in G. Airaldi, S. Origone, P. Stringa, C. Varaldo, Storie e storici del Mediterraneo medievale, a cura di S. Origone, Genova, Quaderni del CeSGO, 1, Genova 2020, 65-76.

 

1. Giorgio Stella, Annales Genuenses, a cura di G. Petti Balbi, RIS XVII/2, Bologna 1975, 158-159. ↑

2. L. Balletto, Notai genovesi in Oltremare, Atti rogati a Chio nel XIV secolo dal notaio Raffaele de Casanova, Bordighera 2015, 28, 36, 40, 41, 46, 47, 48, 53, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63; Appendice 11. ↑

3. Archivio di Stato di Genova (hereafter A.S.G.), Archivio Segreto, 496, cc. XXXVIIIv-XXXIv, LXXXVIIIr, LXXXXVIIIIr. ↑

4. A.S.G., Notai Antichi, 450, cc. 32r-35r. ↑

5. c, 22, 23, 36, 37, 46, 48, 59, 66, 68, 75,76, 109. ↑