“ Who are the Richest of the Franks? ”: Italian Merchants in the Mediterranean Maghrib, 1100–1300

This article offers an analysis of the role played by Italian merchants within the port cities of the later medieval Maghrib. It argues that Italian hegemony over the Mediterranean trade of Maghribī cities was the result of selective violence and adaptation of existing Islamic state and social institutions. The broad outlines of this phenomenon are explored below, with reference to both Italian notarial and legal evidence and local Maghribī sources. Finally, while Pisans, Genoese and Venetians did achieve a measure of domination over coastal and long-distance trade, historians should not overstate the extent of their hegemony over other regional exchange networks.