A. D. 1205. 373 



before, and the fons of the principal people were generally fent to finifli 

 their education at the univerfity of Paris, then the moll celebrated fc- 

 minary in Europe. [Arnoldi Cont. Chron. Slav. L. iii, c. 5.] We fliall 

 fee reafon to beUeve that the natives of the Baltic fhores were in a few 

 years deprived of this copious fountain of wealth, not by any fault or 

 negled of their own, nor by any exertion of a rival or hoftile nation, 

 but merely by the caprice of the herrings themfelvcs. 



The hoflilities, in which the ItaUan dates were almoft perpetually en- 

 gaged, were apparently the caufe of their having many of their veflels 

 much larger, and the crews much more numerous, than their commerce, 

 and their (hort voyages, moftly in an inland fea, could poflibly require. 

 This year the Genoefe, in a large {hip called the Leompardo (which had 

 been taken from the Pifans) together with two gallies, attacked two 

 large Venetian {hips, called the Falcone and the Rofi, bound for Con- 

 {lantinople. The Venetians in the Rofa, thinking is impolUble to fave 

 their Ihip, fcuttled her, and went with their moft pretious goods onboard 

 the Falcone, the largeli and {Irongeft of the two {hips, before the enemy- 

 came up with them. The Genoefe, however, boarded the finking vel- 

 fel, and faved about 200 bales of tine cloth of fcarlet and other colours; 

 and they afterwards took the Falcone, onboard which they fay they 

 found above nine hundred men. [Caffari Ann. Gen. ap. Muratori Script. 

 V. vi, col. 392.] Though we {hould make a large allowance for exag- 

 geration in this number, ftill the trade which could afford to fupport 

 even the half of fuch a mukitude of men in two {hips, and equip every 

 ve{rel in a warlike manner, muft have had an enormous advance upon 

 the fir{l co{l. 



1 206 — The Genofe took the i{land of Candia from the Venetians, 

 who, however, foon recovered it again. Henceforth a {ierce conte{f 

 was kept up between thofe rival republics for the dominion of the Me- 

 diterranean, which fcarcely any other power could ever pretend to dif- 

 pute with either of them : for Pifa, formerly the rival of Genoa, was 

 now almo{lfunk into a mere auxiliary of Venice. The Venetians were 

 afterwards haraiTed by repeated rebellions of their Candian fubjeds, 

 wherein they were encouraged and fupported by the Genoefe, who alio 

 fupplanted the Venetians in their commercial privileges in Sicily by 

 alTifting the German emperor to wre{l that ifland from Tancred, the 

 laft king of the Norman race. Notwithftanding thefe advantages, the 

 commerce of the Genoefe with the ea{lern coa{ls of the Medherranean 

 continued to decline, while that of the Venetians increafed : and the 

 war between thofe powerful republics, which was truely a commercial 

 one, was continued, with fome intervals of infincere peace, for almolt 

 two hundred years. 



1 2C7_By orders iffued for the ofHcers of the mint to carry their die3 



