Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/560

 was captured by the superior forces of the Venetians. To the rivalry between the Genoese and the Venetians in the market of Constantinople, and to the long wars thence ensuing, we have already referred.

But Genoa, though defeated, persevered in her determination to curtail, if she could not grasp, the whole maritime commerce of her rival, and while protecting her own vessels, to secure a portion of those branches of trade the merchants of Venice had long monopolised. In the bloody war for the possession of Chioggia in the Adriatic, Genoa put to sea with eighty-four galleys, thirteen large ships, and one hundred and thirteen transports; and in 1293 equipped one hundred and twenty galleys, each manned by two hundred and twenty combatants. Hence, a commercial treaty in 1298 was made between the two republics, by which it was stipulated that, during thirteen years, no Venetian vessel should navigate the Black Sea or pass beyond Constantinople. The Genoese, however, though supported by a treaty with the emperor which secured to them the monopoly of the Black Sea, were not able to maintain that with Venice for the stipulated period. Repeated quarrels arose; and the Genoese, continued for more than a century the most powerful commercial rivals of the Venetians in all parts of the East. Being masters of Galata, they interrupted the landing of the Venetian ships at Constantinople, and forced the Venetian podesta resident in that city to seek another anchorage for the merchant traders of his city. But not content with this aggressive policy, they resolved to overthrow the throne of the Latins;