Benedetto Zaccaria e la caduta di Tripoli (1289): la difesa d’Outremer tra ragioni ideali e opportunismo

The historian studying the Crusades and Latin East history faces several complex issues, above all those concerning to their causes. As we know, for many of those who participated, the Crusades represented a public demostrantion of faith: religious ideals and power were far more important than any other contingent reason. On the other hand, to others – possibly the majority – the overseas adventure was nothing but an excellent chance to close lucrative deals. In some cases, we can’t rule out that both of these motivations, or more precisely “tendencies” coexisted, thus occurring without any evident conflicts of interest. The line between those two motives is often a fine one. Research on the Genoese involvement in the facts occurred right before the fall of the Holy Land, i.e. in the question of Tripoli in 1289, has been integrated with abundant data from the State Archives of Genua, thus allowing the author to examine the reasons of the Italian marine municipalities’ interest towards Outremer.