# From Tlemcen to Pisa. Negotiating the Peace in 1358

Mohamed Ouerfelli

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Mohamed Ouerfelli. From Tlemcen to Pisa. Negotiating the Peace in 1358. Isabella Lazzarini; Luciano Piffanelli; Diego Pirillo. Reframing Treaties in the Late Medieval and Early Modern West, 1, Oxford University Press, pp.191-210, 2025, 978-0-19-895847-5. 10.1093/9780198958505.003.0010 . halshs-05484509

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From Tlemcen to Pisa: Negotiating the Peace in 1358

Mohamed Ouerfelli

Since the 19th century, research into exchanges between Christians and Muslims has been rooted in a strong historiographical tradition that has made it possible to identify all forms of exchange and to address the issues of mutual influences and the circulation and transfer of knowledge<fnref n="1" />. The publication of numerous original documents preserved in the archives of Italian and Catalan maritime cities, notably by de Sacy and later by Amari, de Mas Latrie and Alarcon y Santón and García de Linares<fnref n="2" />, was not immediately followed by in-depth research on diplomatic relations, to such an extent that, in the 1960s, John Wansbrough once again drew attention to the value of Arab diplomatic documents preserved in Western archives, which provide a better understanding of relations between Muslims and Christians<fnref n="3" />.

Nonetheless, the XXIth century witnesses a first renewal of this field<fnref n="4" />, with the emergence of new approaches to global history based essentially on multidisciplinarity⁵;

<footnote n="1">¹ Daniel G. König, ‘Traduction et transferts de savoirs. A propos des relations entre l’Occident latin et le monde arabo-musulman’, *Trivium* 8 (2011): online : http://trivium.revues.org/3973.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Sylvestre de Sacy, ‘Pièces diplomatiques tirées des archives de Gênes’, in *Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la bibliothèque du roi et autres bibliothèques*, XI (Paris, 1827); Michele Amari, *I diplomi arabi del R. archivio fiorentino* (Florence: Felice le Monnier, 1863-1867); Louis de Mas Latrie, *Traités de paix et de commerce et documents concernant les relations des chrétiens avec les Arabes de l’Afrique septentrionale* (Paris: Henri Plon, 1866); Alarcon y Santón, Maximiliano and Ramón García de Linares, eds., *Los documentos árabes diplomáticos del archivo de la Corona de Aragón* (Madrid: Publicaciones de las Escuelas de Estudios árabes de Madrid y Granada, 1940). See also Guillaume Guillaume, ‘Les interprètes de la diplomatie en Méditerranée. Traiter à Alger (1670-1680)’, in, Jacelyne Dakhlia and Wolfgang Kaiser, eds., *Les musulmans dans l’histoire de l’Europe. II. Passages et contacts en Méditerranée* (Paris: Albin Michel, 2013), pp. 371-372.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ John Wansbrough, ‘A Mamlûk Commercial Treaty Concluded with the Republic of Florence, 894/1489’, *Documents from Islamic Chanceries*, ed. S. M. Stern, Oxford, 1965, pp. 39-79; Id., ‘Venice and Florence in the Mamluk Commercial Privileges’, *Bulletin of the School of the Oriental and African Studies* 28/3 (1965): pp. 483-523. Abd al-Hadi al-Tazi republished documents on relations between Morocco and the outside world, *Al-Tārīkh al-diblumāsī lī al-Maghrib* (*Diplomatic history of Morocco*), (Rabat, 1987), vol. 6. Similarly, as part of his research into Almohad correspondence, Ahmed Azzaoui has published many letters based on Amari’s edition, but he has not had access to the originals held in the Pisa archives; *Nouvelles lettres almohades*, (Kénitra, 1995), 2 vol.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ See, for instance, the recent works of John Tolan, ‘The historiography of Medieval Christian-Muslim relations (1960-2020),’ *De Medio Aevo*, 12 (2023), 115-123, and of Nora Berend, ‘Interconnection and Separation: Medieval Perspectives on the Modern Problem of the "Global Middle Ages",’ *Medieval Encounters*, 29 (2023), 285-314. See also Benjamin Kedar, ‘Religion In Catholic-Muslim Correspondence And Treaties,’ in Alexander Beihammer *et al*. (eds), *Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean (1000-1500) Aspects of Cross-Cultural Communication* (Leiden - Boston: Brill, 2008), 407-421; David Abulafia, ‘Mediterranean History As Global History,’ *History and Theory*, 50 (2011), 220-228; Jocelyn Dakhila, *Les musulmans dans l’histoire de l’Europe : passages et contacts en Méditerranée* (Paris: Albin Michel, 2013). Furthermore, a reference should be made to two significant projects in this historiographic context: *Diplomatic Exchanges between Islamic Mediterranean and Christian Europe* (coord. by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and the Universities of Liège and of Aix-Marseille), and *DiplomatiCon. A Connected history of Medieval Mediterranean Diplomacy* (coord. by the Universities of Antwerp and Liège, with the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and the Universities of Molise and of Bologna).</footnote>
anthropology, sociology, diplomatics, prosopography, codicology and the history of law are
now associated with history, and for some years now historiography on both sides of the
Mediterranean, and not just on the European side, has also been taken into account. These
perspectives, which are a part of what is known as the 'new diplomatic history', open up new
avenues of reflection and comparative research on the plurality of diplomatic personnel, the
figure of the ambassador, the time and languages of negotiation, and communication. Recent
publications highlight the wealth of diplomatic documents as well different ways to approach
cross-confessional diplomatic practices<fnref n="6" />, providing a better understanding them in the context
of exchanges between Muslim and Christian powers in the Middle Ages<fnref n="7" />.

Peacemaking is a long and arduous process to which medieval states, of different
legitimacies, devoted significant financial and human resources. While it can sometimes lead
to the stabilisation of a precarious situation and indeed open a new page of peaceful relations
between two states, in particular to stimulate trade, it can also be fruitless, as the expected
results of the whole process are not achieved. Nevertheless, it bears witness to a permanent
diplomatic activity which often aims at finding solutions to recurrent conflicts linked to the
diverging interests of Mediterranean states. From this point of view, the Commune of Pisa
was one of the first Italian cities to develop active diplomacy and networks in the
Mediterranean with the aim of establishing a lasting presence in the major trading centres and
protecting the vital interests of its businessmen<fnref n="8" />. Like the states of the Muslim West, which
inherited Almohad diplomatic practices, Pisa, which has had a real exchange network since

<footnote n="5">⁵ See, among others, Stéphane Péquignot's work on the Crown of Aragon: *Au nom du roi. Pratiques diplomatiques et pouvoir durant le règne de Jacques II d'Aragon (1291-1327)* (Madrid: Casa de Velázquez, 2009), and his summary on the Latin West in general with Jean-Marie Moeglin (dir.), *Diplomatie et « relations internationales » au Moyen Âge (IXe-XVe siècle)* (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2017).</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶ See, e.g., *Cross-Confessional Diplomacy and Diplomatic Intermediaries in the Early Modern Mediterranean in Journal of Early Modern History*, 19 (2015); Jarbel Rodriguez (ed.), *Muslim and Christian Contact in the Middle Ages: A Reader* (Toronto: TUP, 2015); Jose Miguel Escribano-Páez ‘Negotiating with the "Infidel" : imperial expansion and cross-confessional diplomacy in the Early Modern Maghreb (1492-1516)’, *Itinerario : International Journal On The History Of European Expansion And Global Interaction*, 40 (2016), 189-214.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ Frédéric Bauden, ‘Due trattati di pace conclusi nel dodicesimo secolo tra i Banū Ġāniya, signori delle isole Baleari, e il comune di Genova’, in *Documentos y manuscritos arabes del Occidente musulman medieval*, ed. N. Martinez de Castilla (Madrid, 2011), pp. 33-86; Id., ‘The Mamluk Documents of the Venitian State Archives: Hand-list’, *Quaderni di Studi Arabi* 20-21 (2002-2003), pp. 147-156; Id., ‘Lam baqā yuʿāriḍkum. Analyse linguistique de trois lettres rédigées par un marchand au Caire en 819/1416-820/1417’, in *Autour de la langue arabe. Études présentées à Jacques Grand’Henry à l’occasion de son 70ᵉ anniversaire*, ed. J. Den Heijer, P. la Spisa et L. Tuerlinckx (Louvain-la-Neuve, 2012), pp. 1-37; Pascal Buresi, ‘Les documents arabes et latins échangés entre Pise et l’Empire almohade en 596-598/1200-1202 : la chancellerie au cœur des relations diplomatiques’, in *Documents et histoire. Islam, VIIᵉ-XVIᵉ siècle. Actes des premières Journées d’études internationales, École Pratique des Hautes Études, IVᵉ section*, Musée du Louvre, département des Arts de l’Islam, Paris, 16-17 mai 2008, ed. Anne Regourd (Genève, 2013), pp. 13-88; Mohamed Ouerfelli, ‘Le sceau de la paix. Le traité de 669/1270 entre Philippe III et al-Mustanṣir al-Ḥafṣī’, *Annales islamologiques* 52 (2018), pp. 309-351.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸ Isabella Lazzarini, *Communication and Conflict: Italian Diplomacy in the Early Renaissance, 1350-1520* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 25-26.</footnote>
the 12th century, has contributed to the gradual development of what would later be called
international law by establishing common practices to which all Mediterranean actors
adhered.

Pisa was also the first maritime city which negotiated peace treaties with the Berber
empires: with Almoravids in 1133 and with Almohads in 1160⁹. The presence of Pisan
tradesmen in the Western Mediterranean and more particularly in the harbours of Ifrīqiya
knew a great fortune during the 13th Century<fnref n="10" />. The Tuscan commune regularly renewed
peace treaties with successive Maghrebi powers, but this regularity progressively shaded off
after the defeat of Meloria in 1284 against its rival Genova and the numerous conflicts which
Pisa had to face against the rising power of Florence from the middle of the 14th Century<fnref n="11" />.
The defeat of the Angevins and the annexation of Sicily and the Balearic Islands allowed the
Crown of Aragon to increase its pressure on Pisan interests in Ifrīqiya and to multiply its
interventions in Hafsid affairs<fnref n="12" />. In great difficulties, Pisans struggled to keep their ancient
place; they nonetheless achieved to conclude three of the most important treaties with the
Hafsids in 1353 and 1397 and with the Merinids in 1358¹³. The context of the conclusion of
this last agreement, which will be examined below, deserves to be carefully analysed in
order to better understand the major stakes of the diplomatic and commercial relationships
between the Pisans and the Merinids, which wanted to defend their own interests.

This treaty, an original document compared to the former ones, brings a lot of
information about the modalities of negotiations and the functioning of the Merinid and Pisan
chanceries, in which a numerous diplomatic staff worked in order to conduct negotiations, to

<footnote n="9">⁹ M. Lupo Gentile (ed.), ‘Gli Annales pisani di Bernardo Maragone’, *Rerum Italicarum Scriptores VI/2* (1930): p. 9; Mekkia Bensaci, *Pise et le Maghrib au Moyen Âge*, unpublished PhD, dir. Charles-Emmanuel Dufourcq, University of Paris X, 1979; Ottavio Banti, ‘I trattati tra Pisa e Tunisi dal XII al XIV secolo. Lineamenti di storia dei rapporti tra Pisa e il Maghreb’, in *L’Italia ed i paesi mediterranei. Vie di comunicazione e scambi commerciali e culturali al tempo delle Reppubliche Marinare* (Pise: Pacini Editore, 1988), pp. 47-50; Mohamed Ouerfelli, ‘Diplomatic Exchanges between the City of Pisa and the States of the Maghrib (from the 12th to the 14th Century)’, *Mediterranean World 22* (2015), pp. 97-112; *Id.*, ‘Les premiers contacts diplomatiques entre l’Ifrīqiya et la commune de Pise au XIIe siècle’, in *De la guerre à la paix en Méditerranée médiévale. Acteurs, propagande, défense et diplomatie*, ed. by Élisabeth Malamut and Mohamed Ouerfelli (Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence, 2021), pp. 207-223.</footnote>

<footnote n="10">¹⁰ The treaty of 1264 highlights the important presence of the Pisans in Ifrīqiya and their possession of numerous fondouks; Michele Amari, *I diplomi arabi del R. archivio fiorentino* (Florence: Felice le Monnier, 1863), pp. 295-302.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">¹¹ Bernard Doumerc, *Venise et l’émirat haſside de Tunis (1231-1535)* (Paris: l’Harmattan, 1999), p. 32; Cédric Quertier, *Guerre et richesse d’une nation. Les Florentins à Pise au XIVe siècle*, (Rome: École française de Rome, 2022), pp. 42-44. On the battle of Meloria, see Antonio Musarra, *1284 La battaglia della Meloria* (Bari: Editori Laterza, 2018).</footnote>

<footnote n="12">¹² Charles-Emmanuel Dufourcq, *L’Espagne catalane et le Maghrib aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles* (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1966), pp. 277-278; Doumerc, *Venise*, p. 30.</footnote>

<footnote n="13">¹³ Mohamed Ouerfelli, ‘Négocier à la cour du sultan haſside: le dernier traité conclu avec la Commune de Pise (800/1397)’, in *Culture matérielle et contacts diplomatiques entre l’Occident latin, Byzance et l’Orient islamique (XIe-XVIe siècle)*, edited by Frédéric Bauden (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2021), pp. 447-463.</footnote>
accompany ambassadors, to cover their needs, and to write and translate official acts and
reports of audiences<fnref n="14" />. Yet this treaty did not get all the interest it deserves since its
publication by Amari and de Mas Latrie<fnref n="15" />. Studies have focused mainly on its commercial
clauses, but never on its role in the construction of a diplomatic grammar and a political
interaction between an Italian city, Pisa in this case, and a Maghrebian power in search of
legitimacy in the Western Mediterranean. This is why from the perspective of a new
interpretation of the peacemaking process as a system of communication and political
interaction, we will insist in this paper on the context of the conclusion of this treaty, on its
materiality, its different versions and their links, but also on the process of negotiation
between Pisans and Merinids and ratification of the clauses of this peace agreement.

A treaty negotiated in the twilight of Merinid and Pisan powers

Since the middle of the 13th Century, the Hafsids presented themselves as a great regional power in the whole of the Muslim West; they take the title of Caliph of Muslims after the seizing of Bagdad by the Mongols and the death of the Abbasid Caliph in 1258¹⁶. The Merinids, the ‘Abdelwadids and the Nasrids were submitted for a while, so that Tunis became the master of the diplomatic and commercial game in the Muslim West<fnref n="17" />.

But since the 8th Crusade and the conclusion of the treaty of 1270 between the king of France Philip the 3rd and Charles of Anjou on one side and the Hafsid Caliph al-Mustansir on the other, which included the departure of the French armies from the Hafsid territory in return for the payment of a war indemnity (the Malikit lawyers and the high officials considered this treaty as a humiliation), the Hafsid power had lost its credibility and was destabilized. In the following years, it entered in a period of troubles, which weakened its strength and its unity<fnref n="18" />.

<footnote n="14">¹⁴ Id., ‘Personnel diplomatique et modalités des négociations entre la Commune de Pise et les États du Maghreb (1133-1397)’, in *Les relations diplomatiques au Moyen Âge. Formes et enjeux. XLIᵉ Congrès de la SHMESP*, Lyon, 3-6 June 2010 (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2011), pp. 119-132.</footnote>

<footnote n="15">¹⁵ Amari, *I diplomi arabi*, p. 309-312; Id., *I diplomi arabi. Appendice*, p. 1-8; Louis de Mas Latrie, *Traitéς de paix et de commerce*, pp. 66-69. The Arabic text of the treaty has also been edited by Moroccan researchers without really trying to analyse its form and clauses: Abd al-Hadi al-Tazi, *Diplomatic History of the Maghrib from Antiquity to day* (in arabic), vol. 7 (Rabat, 1988), pp. 175-178; Ahmed Azzaoui, *The Muslim West in the 14th-15th Centuries* (in arabic), vol. 3 (Rabat: Rabanit, 2007), pp. 516-519.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">¹⁶ Robert Brunschvig, *La Berbérie orientale sous les Hafsides. Des origines au XVᵉ siècle*, vol. 1 (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 1940), pp. 45-46.</footnote>

<footnote n="17">¹⁷ Mohamed Ouerfelli, ‘Le sceau de la paix’, pp. 313-314.</footnote>

<footnote n="18">¹⁸ Michael Lower, *The Tunis Crisade of 1270: A Mediterranean History* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018); Xavier Hélary, *La dernière croisade. Saint Louis à Tunis* (1270) (Paris: Perrin, 2016); Mohamed Ouerfelli, ‘Le sceau de la paix’, p. 338.</footnote>
This situation opened the path to the Merinids to assert themselves in the Western Mediterranean and become an important power, hence their pretentions and their intention to seize the Almohad legacy and rebuild the unity of the Muslim West<fnref n="19" />. This project started with Abū-l-Hasan (1331-1348) and ended with Abū ‘Inān (1348-1358) in 1358 because of a bitter defeat and a hasty withdrawal to Maghrib al-Aqsā.

From the middle of the 14th century, the Merinid sovereigns, who until then bore the title of Emir of the muslims, took the title of Caliph and the epithet of muğāhid<fnref n="20" />. The Merinid sources insist on their role in the Andalus ġihād: four great expeditions were organized since 1275 to defend the Andalus territory and bring help to the Nasrids<fnref n="21" />. The objective of the Merinid rulers was also to counter the Castilian expansion and to increase their control on the Strait of Gibraltar<fnref n="22" />.

Despite a difficult situation due to the Black Death, the court of the Merinid sultan became the preferred destination of Western ambassadors to negotiate alliances or peace treaties: the Portuguese, the Aragonese, the Castilians and the Italians approached Abū ‘Inān, exchanged letters or concluded peace treaties with him. This is confirmed by letters preserved in the archives of the Crown of Aragon<fnref n="23" />, but also by his private secretary al-Numayrī in his *Fayd al-‘ubāb*. In order to glorify the actions of his sovereign, he gives precise indications on the diplomatic delegations that visited the court of Abū ‘Inān<fnref n="24" />.

The Pisans were not to be outdone; anxious to maintain their privileged commercial links with Ifrīqiya, they were driven to take an interest in the Maghrib al-Aqsā and the Merinid rulers, who had become a real regional power and the masters of the whole Maghrib, with whom one had to deal and through whom one had to go in order to trade in the region.

In reality, Pisan merchants were not so much interested by the Muslim West; there, they had been supplanted by their Genoese rivals. The peace treaty reveals that the Pisans had no structure to accommodate in Maghrib al-Aqsā and had no privilege negotiated by a peace

<footnote n="19">¹⁹ Mohamed Kably, *Société, pouvoir et religion au Maroc à la fin du Moyen Âge* (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 1986), pp. 131-154.</footnote>

<footnote n="20">²⁰ Ahmed Khaneboubi, *Les institutions gouvernementales sous les Mérinides (1258-1465)* (Paris: l’Harmattan, 2008), pp. 43-44.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">²¹ Kably, *Société*, pp. 83-84; Miguel Ángel Manzano Rodríguez, *La intervención de los Benimerines en la Península Ibérica* (Madrid: CSIC, 1992), pp. 118-121.</footnote>

<footnote n="22">²² Miguel Ángel Manzano Rodríguez, ‘Les Mérinides et le détroit de Gibraltar’, in *Le détroit de Gibraltar (Antiquité-Moyen Âge). I: Représentations, perceptions, imaginaires*, edited by Françoise des Boscs, Yann Dejugnat and Arthur Haushalter (Madrid: Casa de Velázquez, 2019), pp. 343-354.</footnote>

<footnote n="23">²³ Maximiliano A. Alarcon y Santón, y Ramón García de Linares, *Los documentos árabes diplomáticos del archivo de la Corona de Aragón* (Madrid:Publicaciones de las Escuelas de Estudios árabes de Madrid y Granada, 1940), pp. 217-224.</footnote>

<footnote n="24">²⁴ Ibn al-Hāğ al-Numayrī, *Fayd al-‘ubāb wa ifādat quddāh al-’ādāb fī al-haraka al-sa‘īda ilā Qsantīna wa-l-Zāb*, edited by Mohamed Benchekroun (Rabat: Dar al-Garb al-Islami, 1990), pp. 182-193.</footnote>
treaty. We possess no archival trace which could attest of regular commercial and diplomatic exchanges between the Merinids sultans and the Pisans. The main point is rather the Pisan interests in Ifrīqiya, which the Merinid domination on eastern Maghrib could threaten.

In the middle of the 14th century, Pisans were still present in Ifrīqiya and strive to maintain their commercial position face to a hard competition led by Genoese and Catalans, firmly settled in the Hafsid territory. Just five years before the treaty of 1358, the Commune of Pisa had renewed the peace with the Hafsid Sultanate; the *Archivio di Stato* in Pisa preserves both Arabic and Latin originals of such treaty<sup>25</sup>. The second Merinid expedition (Abū ‘Inān’s one) thus induced the commune to send urgently an embassy to start negotiation in order to protect its interests, mainly in Ifrīqiya. This decision was taken when the news of the entry of Merinid troops into Tunis in September 1357 reached the Pisan authorities<sup>26</sup>. This also coincided with the rise of tensions with Florence<sup>27</sup>, hence the decision of the Pisan authorities to mobilise their diplomacy and send several embassies to the great courts in search of every possible support. In his *Memorie istoriche della citta di Pisa* and *Annali Pisani*, Canon Paolo Tronci (1585-1648) writes that some embassies were sent to secret destinations and that Pietro di Sigerio del Barba was sent to the King of Morocco<sup>28</sup>.

## Presentation of the treaty

The original of the treaty negotiated and concluded in Tlemcen by Abū ‘Inān and the Pisan ambassador Piero de Barba, on 28 rabī‘ II 759/ 7th April 1358, and then confirmed, ratified and validated in Pisa, in the palace hall of the residence of the Ancients<sup>29</sup>, in presence of the envoy and secretary of Abū ‘Inān, the Jew Jacob Ibn Moshe Rachany, 28th August 1358, has reached us in a double redaction. The Arabic version occupies the upper part of the document and it is written in Pisa in Latin, in a chancery script, from the counterpart of the treaty<sup>30</sup>.

On the back of the document, we find the name of its depositary into the archives, namely Bonaini<sup>31</sup>, but above all the registration details, which are contemporary:

<footnote n="25"><sup>25</sup> Archivio di Stato di Pisa (from now on, ASPi), *Diplomatico, Atti Pubblici*, 16 Mai 1353.</footnote>

<footnote n="26"><sup>26</sup> Ibn Khaldūn, *Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn*, vol. 7, edited by Khalil Shahada and Suhayl Zakkar (Beyrouth: Dār al-Fikr, 1996), p. 394.</footnote>

<footnote n="27"><sup>27</sup> Cédric Quertier, *Guerre et richesse d’une nation*, pp. 42-44.</footnote>

<footnote n="28"><sup>28</sup> Paolo Tronci, *Memorie istoriche della citta di Pisa* (Livorno:Vincenzo Bonfigli, 1682), pp. 388-389; *Id.*, *Annali pisani*, vol. II, (Pisa: Angelo Valenti, 1871), pp. 98-99.</footnote>

<footnote n="29"><sup>29</sup> *Actum Pisis in sala palatii residentie ipsorum dominorum Antianorum presente et audiente suprascripto domino Iacobo, secretario et nuntio suprascripti domini regis.*</footnote>

<footnote n="30"><sup>30</sup> ASPi, *Diplomatico*, dep. Bonaini, 9 April 1358/9.</footnote>

<footnote n="31"><sup>31</sup> Francesco Bonaini (1806-1874), responsible for reorganising the Tuscan archives and author of numerous publications, including the *Statuti inediti della Città di Pisa dal XII al XIV sec.*, 3 vols, (Florence: 1854-1870).</footnote>
Pace col Re di Garbo Tunisi, Bugge et Buona, Moroco [...] nel 1359.

Pax Regis Tunitii.

Although the treaty was concluded with the Merinid sultan, these references clearly show that the Pisans were not interested in Morocco, but above all in the Hafsid Ifrīqiya where their commercial interests were concentrated.

In his book on Algeria published in 1841, the baron Baude published and translated an Italian version handed down to him by Louis Alix de Nompère de Champagny (1796-1870), Duke of Cadore<fnref n="32" />. This version of the treaty nevertheless bears the erroneous date of 1374; the translation of the original text must, however, have been carried out at the same time, or even some time later, for the needs of the merchants or the Pisan chancellery. Michele Amari reedited this version in 1863, from Navaretti's manuscript<fnref n="33" />, as did Louis de Mas Latrie in his *Traité de paix et de commerce* in 1886³⁴.

The original treaty, negotiated for ten years in accordance with the rules of Muslim law, was written on a parchment 85 cm long x 42 cm wide. It featured the seal of the Merinid sovereign, with its ‘alāma, and the seal of the Pisa commune, showing an eagle in its middle, as indicated in the document: *And to make it authentic, we have affixed our usual seal and we have written our initials on it with our hand*<fnref n="35" />.

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 1: The ‘alāma of Abū ‘Inān (Written at the above date)</figcaption></figure>

Furthermore, we, the Ancients and Wise Men, our aforementioned Councillors, for the eternal memory of the facts and for the solidity of the testimony of the aforementioned, have had the present act sealed with the eagle of the Commune of Pisa<fnref n="36" />.

<footnote n="32">³² Le baron Baude, *L'Algérie*, vol. 2 (Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1841), pp. 149-156.</footnote>

<footnote n="33">³³ Michele Amari, *I diplomi arabi*, pp. 309-312.</footnote>

<footnote n="34">³⁴ Louis de Mas Latrie, *Traité*, pp. 66-69.</footnote>

<footnote n="35">³⁵ Traduction of the Arabic text.</footnote>

<footnote n="36">³⁶ *Insuper nos Antiani predicti et sapientes viri consiliarii nostri prefati ad eternam rei memoriam et in robur et testimonium predictorum presens instrumentum sigilli pendentis de Aquila Pisani comunis fecimus appensione muniri.*</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 2: The seal of the Commune of Pisa tied with red and green silk threads as mentioned by the treaty of 1358 (Archivio di Stato di Pisa)</figcaption></figure>

Both seals, which represented the validation of the treaty by both parts, have disappeared. Someone has cut the seals and the place has been restored by a piece of parchment.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3: Traces of the seals of Abū ‘Inān and Pisa</figcaption></figure>

The 1358 treaty is also mentioned in a notebook of eight folios, probably written in the second half of the 14th century or the very beginning of the following century. This notebook contains an inventory, undoubtedly redacted by the Pisan Chancellery, of all the privileges and treaties concluded by Pisa with foreign powers. The 1358 treaty is included in the section about agreements with Western Muslim sovereigns<fnref n="37" />.

<footnote n="37">³⁷ ASPi, *Comune A*, divisione 27.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 4: Mention of the treaty of 1358 in a 14th Century notebook<fnref n="38" /></figcaption></figure>

From the Arab sources, a single indication that should be handled with caution comes from the secretary of the Merinid chancellery, Ibn al-Hāġ al-Numayrī, who was well informed about the sultan's diplomatic exchanges. He mentioned, without specifying the date or place, that some Genoese ambassadors were received at the court. They wished to negotiate a treaty of peace and trade, in order to develop commercial relations with the Merinid Sultanate. They obtained satisfaction from the Sultan, who appointed one of his servants to accompany the Genoese ambassadors back in order to finalise the ratification of the peace treaty<fnref n="39" />.

At this stage, we do not know of any Genoese embassy sent to the Merinid sultan. It is highly probable that they were Pisans and not Genoese; the negotiations begun in Tlemcen and the ratification of the treaty in two stages with the dispatch of the Merinid sultan's private secretary to Pisa lead us to believe that they were Pisans and not Genoese as al-Numayrī stated.

## The nature of the negotiations

In recent decades, the study of international relations has focused on the “work of the diplomat” and on the question of negotiations, which is the most important link in the diplomatic process between two or more States<fnref n="40" />. If not, the negotiations may result in failure and the end of the whole diplomatic process. The treaty of 1358 is our only source; no record of an effective negotiation has been preserved, which does not allow us to fully grasp the entire diplomatic process. It nevertheless provides substantial information on the different

<footnote n="38">³⁸ 1 carta di pace col Re Buchineti Re de Seracini di Fossa, Mechemesi, Salis, del Moroccho et delle contrade Suça et di Buggea, Buona et di Garbo et terre di meçodi et de molte altre genti nel 1359 indictione XI adi XXI dagosto et di ratificagione facta per lo Comune di Pisa laquale pace fu facta per Piero Barba ambasciadore del Comune di Pisa et entrovi uno quaderno di expositione in vulgare.</footnote>

<footnote n="39">³⁹ Ibn al-Hāġ al-Numayrī, Fayd al-‘ubāb, p. 186-187; see also Abd al-Hadi al-Tazi, *Diplomatic History*, p. 173.</footnote>

<footnote n="40">⁴⁰ Jean-Marie Moeglin, ‘Heurs et malheurs de la négociation du Moyen Âge à l’époque moderne’, in *Negociar en la Edad Media/Négocier au Moyen Âge*, édited by María Teresa Ferrer Mallol, Jean-Marie Moeglin, Stéphane Péquignot, Manuel Sánchez Martínez (Barcelona: CSIC, 2005), pp. 5-26: 5-7; Isabella Lazzarini, *Communication*, pp. 86-102; *Ead.*, ‘Il gesto diplomatico fra comunicazione politica, grammatica delle emozioni, linguaggio delle scritture (Italia XV secolo)’, in *Gesto-immagine. Tra Antico et Mderno refessioni sulla comunicazione non-verbale*, Giornata di Studio, Isernio (18 Aprile 2007), edited by Monica Salvadori, Monica Baggio (*Antenor quaderni*, 16. Quasar, Roma, 2009), pp. 12-15.</footnote>
stages of its conclusion between Pisa and Tlemcen, on the identity of the Pisan ambassador, his translator, and the Merinid emissary sent to Tuscany, as well as on the modalities of the negotiations and the precise content of the agreement.

According to the treaty, the Pisan embassy, conducted by Piero de Barba, accompanied by Francesco Gerioli, interpreter, and probably some other people, appeared in front of the Merinid sovereign, Abū ‘Inān, in 1358 in Tlemcen. The exact location is not specified, but it is certain that this meeting took place after the failure of the Merinid troops to keep control of Tunis and the hasty return of the Sultan to Fez for fear of a plot fomented by his entourage, then to Tlemcen towards the end of February-beginning of March 1358⁴¹.

The chronology of events and the movements of the Merinid sultan between Constantine, Fez and Tlemcen reveal without doubt that the negotiations and the conclusion of the treaty took place in the latter city, where Abū ‘Inān settled between March and the end of September 1358 to supervise the military operations of his minister Sulaymān Ibn Dāwud in the region of Constantine<fnref n="42" />. It was also in Tlemcen that the sultan received several delegations who came to renew their allegiance to him and to support his action to reconquer and pacify Ifrīqiya<fnref n="43" />. The distance of the sultan from his capital and from the centre of Merinid power was undoubtedly likely to lighten the protocol for the reception of the Pisan delegation and especially the pomp of the Merinid court.

The *Archivio di Stato di Pisa* does not preserve the credential letter for the ambassador Piero de Barba, nor the instructions delivered to him. But the treaty does tell that Barba was provided with such letter, which has been examined and authenticated by the Merinid authorities, probably in front, and with the help, of the Western merchants present in the Merinid territory.

When the Christian Piero de Barba, a Pisan, appeared before us as ambassador in the name of the Ancients of the Commune of Pisa, by an act of procuration enabling him to represent them in the request for peace and the will to sign the truce, which we have satisfied and gratified, so that each of them frequenting our country.

Apart from the credential letter issued by the Pisan authorities to Piero de Barba, setting out the framework and limits of his mission, we know nothing about the itinerary of

<footnote n="41">⁴¹ Ibn Khaldūn, *Tārīkh*, vol. 7, pp. 395-396.</footnote>

<footnote n="42">⁴² Ibn Khaldūn, *Tārīkh*, vol. 7, p. 395.</footnote>

<footnote n="43">⁴³ Ibn Khaldūn, *Tārīkh*, vol. 7, pp. 395-396.</footnote>
the Pisan embassy: did it first arrive in Tunis before heading to Tlemcen, via Constantine, where the Sultan stayed? Nothing is known about their stay at court, nor about its duration; was the ambassador welcomed by the Merinid sultan or only by his representative? How were the negotiations conducted? All these questions remain unanswered due to the silence of both Merinid and Pisan sources.

The structure of the treaty recall the agreement concluded in 1281 between the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Paleologos (1261-1282) and the Mamlūk sultan al-Mansūr Qalāwūn (1279-1290), which we know thanks to al-Qalqashandī's *Subh al-'a'shā* (m. 1418), as it served as a model for writing new treaties<fnref n="44" />. It is composed of two parts:

1. the formula of the oath taken by Michael Paleologos, whose Greek text, sent to Qalāwūn, has been translated in Arabic by the Egyptian chancery;

2. the text of the oath of agreement pronounced by the sultan as an answer to the first one, being a counterpart of it.

The form of the 1358 treaty is very different from the diplomatic models then used in Muslim West. Generally, Latin ambassadors possessed full power to negotiate and ratify treaties at the sultans' court. Obviously, Piero de Barba did not have full power and the necessary instructions to validate the treaty. He appeared in front of Abū 'Inān with a list of fifteen demands, which the sultan all accepted and to which he added six supplementary clauses, which required the agreement of the commune, hence the return of the ambassador to Pisa, together with the Merinid's secretary and envoy, to ask for the final validation of the agreement.

Corrado, son of late Ricciardo, notary of Rinonichi, Pisan citizen, notary by imperial authority and public scribe of the Pisan commune's chancery, has written the two Latin acts on the same parchment below the Arabic text. The first act talked about the ratification and validation of the peace treaty in front of the Ancients of the Pisan people, the Sages of the city, their counsellors and witnesses. The second act was written at the demand of the Merinid secretary, according to the powers he was provided with, in order to notify the reception of thirteen captives (eleven women and two children) freed by the commune, according to the

<footnote n="44">⁴⁴ Al-Qalqashandī, *Subh al-'a'shā fī sinā'at al-'inshā*, vol. 14 (Cairo: 1913-1918), pp. 72-78; Marius Canard, 'Le traité de 1281 entre Michel Paléologue et le sultan Qalâw'ûn', *Byzantion*, 44 (1935), pp.669-680; *Id.*, 'Un traité entre Byzance et l'Égypte au XIIIᵉ siècle et les relations diplomatiques de Michel Paléologue avec les sultans mamlûks Baibars et Qalâ'ûn' in *Mélanges Gaudefroy-Demombynes* (Le Caire: IFAO, 1935-1945), pp. 197-224; reed. in *Byzance et les musulmans du Proche-Orient* (London: *Variorum reprints*, 1973); Franz Dölger, 'Der Vertrag des Sultans Qalâ'ûn von Ägypten mit dem Kaiser Michael VIII Palaiologos (1281)', *Serta Monacensia*, Leiden (1952), pp. 60-79; Peter M. Holt, *Early Mamluk diplomacy (1260-1290)*. *Treaties of Baybars and Qalâwûn with Christian Rulers* (Leiden-New York-Köln: Brill, 1995), pp. 118-128.</footnote>
agreement and in counterpart of the freeing of all Pisan captives by the Merinid sovereign (we
do not know their exact number).

The request of the Merinid secretary was pronounced in Arabic and translated into Latin by Francesco Gerioli, who acted as interpreter since the beginning of the negotiations at the Merinid court. We wonder if the secretary did not know the Latin and that is the reason why he used the services of the Pisan interpreter, which would be surprising as we know examples of other Jewish envoys to western court, who knew Latin; or if the Latin translation was necessary because the secretary spoke in presence of one or two Muslim lawyers, who frequently accompanied Jewish envoys sent by Muslim sovereigns. These lawyers were here to control the facts and deeds of these envoys, and to check the application of the muslim law rules.

Anyway, the diplomatic mission of Piero de Barba was a success. The Merinid sultan
did not hesitate and found useful to answer positively to every Pisan request; he even
succeeded in imposing on the Tuscans some constraining clauses.

We may wonder at the silence of the Arabic version of the agreement about the envoy
of the Merinid sovereign; we learn about his presence in Pisa as a secretary and envoy of Abū
‘Inān only thanks to the two Latin acts, but even there he was never called an ambassador<fnref n="45" />.
Jacob Ibn Moshe Rashany was probably the sovereign’s confidant; he is part of the Jewish
elite engaged to the service of the Merinid sultans for the government affairs, to the great
displeasure of the high families of Fez<fnref n="46" />. His presence as an envoy of the sultan is hardly
surprising; Jews actively participated in diplomatic exchanges and were often sent on
embassies by Maghrebian rulers<fnref n="47" />. Not to mention his name is a form of discretion from the
Merinid chancery, as an act written in Arabic was supposed to be public and could be read in
the mosque or on public places.

The content of the treaty

It is important to underscore the differences between the two versions of the treaty, which are
both stylistic and substantial. The Arabic version gives a large place to the titulature of the
Merinid sovereign, which is unabbreviated in this document in order to recall the sultan’s

<footnote n="45">⁴⁵ *Servistoris et nuntii secreti supradicti excellentissimi domini regis.*</footnote>

<footnote n="46">⁴⁶ Nicole S. Serfaty, *Les courtisans juifs des sultans marocains (XIIIᵉ-XVIIIᵉ siècle)*. *Hommes politiques et hauts dignitaires* (Paris; Bouchène, 1999).</footnote>

<footnote n="47">⁴⁷ Robert Brunschvig, *La Berbérie*, pp. 413-414; Dominique Valérian, ‘Les agents de la diplomatie des souverains avec le monde chrétiens (XIIᵉ-XVᵉ siècle)’, *Anuario de Estudios Medievales* 38/2 (2008): pp. 892-893; Mohamed Ouerfelli, ‘Une rencontre royale: Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb et Sanche IV (684/1285)’, in *Mer et rivages d’Islam. De l’Atlantique à la Méditerranée. Mélanges offerts à Christophe Picard*, eds. Alexandra Bill, Antoine Borrut, Yann Dejugnat, Camille Rhôné-Quer, Jenifer Vanz (Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2023), p. 204.</footnote>
legitimacy thanks to his filiation and to the practice of his power as caliph and emir of
believers. By the seizing of the territories of the Abdelwadids and of Ifrīqiya, and thus
recreating the Maghrib as it was during the Almohad caliphate, the Merinid sovereign
flaunted his universalist claims and bore the title of emir of believers and the *laqab* of
muğāhid, as his father Abū al-Hasan. By enumerating the many territories situated East and
West of Maghrib, and also in al-Andalus, the Merinid power affirmed its strong territorial
claims; only the city of Tunis did not appear in the list of the territories claimed by Abū ‘Inān,
which is a sign of his recent defeat<fnref n="48" />. The Pisans, on the contrary, were moved more by
commercial issues than by political or religious clauses.

If this treaty is not very different from other treaties negotiated between the two shores
of the Mediterranean as for its commercial clauses and questions of piracy, it is nonetheless
innovative in its structure and discourse. It contains twenty-one clauses concerning the freeing
of prisoners, the liberty of trade, the protection of merchants, the practice of law by the Pisan
consul or the local authorities, the modalities of conflict resolution, the fight against piracy,
and the organisation of the Pisan merchant community settled in the Merinid territory.

Abū ‘Inān forced Pisan ships to deliver a specific quantity of iron or ropes when arriving in
his realm’s harbours (*every ship, once arrived with merchandises in our country must discharge one rope or an iron harpoon*). This right of user, which already existed, shows the
great need from Maghrebi powers to import strategic goods necessary for naval construction
and weaponry, whose trade was however forbidden to Christian merchants by the Church.

The Merinid sovereign gave the Pisans the privilege to settle in a *fonduk* separated
from other Christian communities and to pay 10% of taxes on imported and exported
merchandises, as much as the Catalan merchants. These two clauses clearly show that the
Pisans had yet no structure to accommodate in the Merinid sultanate, and no privilege to
trade. The ratification of this treaty would thus build a legal frame for new trade opportunities
and the beginning of a Pisan settlement in the Merinid harbours.

But the most important clause imposed on Pisans in this treaty is that of the collective
responsibility of the Pisan community in case of treason or attack made by Pisan citizens
against the sultanate: in that case, all Pisans would be arrested and imprisoned until
reparations<fnref n="49" />. This novel clause disrupted the established diplomatic traditions and the

<footnote n="48">⁴⁸ Ibn Khaldūn, *Tārīkh*, vol. 7, p. 395.</footnote>

<footnote n="49">⁴⁹ The same provision is found in the 1397 treaty concluded by the commune and the Hafsids; ASPi, *Diplomatico, Atti pubblici*, Comune A 27, f. 5v; Mas Latrie, *Traités*, p. 84 (*Item, quod nullus Pisanus in portibus terrarum dicti regis audeat vel presumat alicui dannum inferre, quia tunc pro omnibus consul et sive consules Pisanorum puniretur sive punirentur*).</footnote>
juridical norms according to which the peace treaties were negotiated. It may be this clause
the reason why that the ambassador Piero de Barba did return to Pisa, together with the
Merinid envoy, in order to get the approval of the commune and the final ratification of the
treaty. As explained in the prologue to the Latin part of the treaty, the reason given by the
Ancients and the Sages for the public acceptance of these unprecedented clauses imposed by
the Merinid sultan was the necessary sacrifice to the sacred cause of peace. This was the *sine
qua non* for the prosperity of the Tuscan city and its citizens, whereas war only generated
discord and bitterness:

Since the fruits of peace preserve and increase kingdoms, provinces, cities
and places, protect and defend souls and bodies, make infertile things fruitful,
and likewise increase the faculties and virtues, and since it is recognised that
the sweetness of peace mitigates the bitterness which wars and discords
generate.

Conclusion

The treaty of 1358 is important not only for its content, in particular the details of the
commercial clauses and the means used to combat piracy, which had become a wider
phenomenon in the Mediterranean, but also for the significant differences and
complementarity between the Arabic and Latin versions, which provide us with valuable
information about the workings of the chancelleries and the practices of Merinid and Pisan
diplomacy. It reveals elements of the two protagonists' strategy for concluding this peace
treaty, through a number of processes, starting with the negotiation phase, a crucial stage in
which several actors, undoubtedly diplomatic professionals, are involved in reaching
agreement on the terms of a deal that will win the support of both parties. In this process, the
spoken word plays a key role, accompanied by rituals, gestures, exchanges of gifts and a
rigorous ceremonial during the reception of ambassadors at both the Merinid court and that of
the Commune of Pisa. In this way, we can see how a whole system of communication and
political interaction operates, governing exchanges between two polities with different
legitimacies.

While this agreement clearly demonstrates the dynamism of Pisan diplomacy, always ready to
find solutions to defend the commercial interests of its businessmen based in the Maghreb, the
results did not live up to expectations. The treaty came to nothing, apart from the release of a
few captives. Abū 'Inān was assassinated a few months later, in December 1358⁵⁰, and the Merinids entered a period of increasing difficulties. Meanwhile, their trading space was locked down by the Catalans, who were present in large numbers in the kingdom's ports, and above all by the Genoese, who strengthened their hold on the Gibraltar trade routes.

Despite the efforts made by the Pisan Commune to recover and re-establish itself in the Maghreb, particularly in Ifrīqiya, by negotiating this treaty with Abū 'Inān, and a final treaty with the Hafsids in 1397 after several years of tension, prevarication and negotiations<fnref n="51" />, the context at the end of the 14th century showed that the Tuscan city was significantly weakened by its wars at sea against Genoa and on land against Florence. The Florentines asserted themselves as the hegemonic power in the region and finally seized the Tyrrhenian city in 1406. Thanks to this conquest, Florence inherited all the privileges obtained and treaties negotiated by the Pisans, which it soon extended to develop its own commercial and maritime networks and launch its galleys to conquer the Mediterranean markets from the 1420s onwards.

The great Tuscan city deployed a well-oiled system of communication and well-established networks to further its interests, enabling it to strengthen its presence in the Western Mediterranean and increase trade with the Maghrebi ports. All the diplomatic grammar developed by the Pisans since the 12th Century was taken up and put to good use by the Florentines, who continued this process of political construction.

<footnote n="50">⁵⁰ Ibn Khaldūn, *Tārīkh*, vol. 7, pp. 396-397; Ibn al-Ṣammā', *Al-'adilla al-nūrāniya fī mafāḥir al-dawla al-hafṣiya*, edited by Tahar ben Mohamed Ma'mouri, (Tunis: al-Dār al-'Arabiya li al-kitāb, 1984), p. 104.</footnote>

<footnote n="51">⁵¹ Banti, 'I trattati', p. 65; Ouerfelli, 'Négocier la paix', pp. 450-452.</footnote>
Appendice:

Treaty of peace between Abū ‘Inān and the Commune of Pisa (1358)

(Archivio di Stato di Pisa, Diplomatico, dep. Bonaini, 9 April 1358/9)

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /></figure>
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