Economic Warfare and the Crusades

Economic Warfare and the Crusades both summarizes extant scholarship and breaks new ground by studying the side effects of sanctions imposed in support of crusades. Medieval thinkers understood the interrelations between ecological, economic, and political realities and articulated theoretically sound ways of causing economic harm to rivals. Embargoes increased the risks and costs of trade. Licensing regimes benefited high-status traders, likely aiding the concentration of commercial wealth in the late Middle Ages. A variety of middlemen in frontier areas—individuals, cities, kingdoms—benefited from embargoes and lost from their relaxation. Political and business rivals (and even ecclesiastical ones) added the accusation of smuggling (or non-enforcement) to the toolbox they used against each other. Attempts at naval policing and blockades show that later medieval political actors lacked the economic power and political cohesiveness to carry out embargoes. Yet, economic warfare in support of crusades complicated the political and economic realities of the time and its legacy played a role in shaping international relations and cultural perceptions across Europe long after the Papacy had lost its political clout.