Genoa 2871987); Robert J. Blanch, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
A Reference Guide(Troy, N.Y.: Whitston, 1983); J. A. Bur-
row, A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight(New
York: Barnes & Noble, 1966); Meg Stainsby, Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight: An Annotated Bibliography,
1978–1989(New York: Garland, 1992).
Gaza, Theodore(Gazes)(ca. 1408–ca. 1475)transla-
tor, Greek humanist
Gaza’s family was from THESSALONIKI, but he was edu-
cated in CONSTANTINOPLE. He arrived in ITA LYin 1440,
immediately after the Greek and Orthodox Church had
agreed to a union with the Western Church at the Coun-
cil of FERRARA-FLORENCE. Employed for a short time as a
Greek scribe for Francesco FILELFOin Milan, he then
became a teacher at VITTORINOda Feltre’s school in Man-
tua. By 1446 he was teaching Greek and studying
medicine at the University of Ferrara. In late 1449 he
accepted an appointment in Rome obtained through the
patronage of the Greek cardinal BESSARION. There he
worked for Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447–55), translating
classical Greek literature into Latin. Gaza was a translator
of scientific texts in the ARISTOTELIANtradition and of
zoological writings. Nicholas V’s death in 1455 ended
that arrangement, and he had to move to the court of
King ALFONSO THEMAGNANIMOUSin Naples, where he
worked on Aelian’s military manual and the sermons of
John CHRYSOSTOM. After King Alfonso’s death in 1458,
Gaza returned to Rome around 1463. There he regained
the support of Cardinal Bessarion and finished a Greek
grammar. He was disappointed that he did not gain the
patronage of the new pope, Sixtus IV (1471–84), and left
Rome in 1474; he spent the last year of his life living on
his ecclesiastical benefice in Salerno and died in 1475.
Something of a cultural hero to younger Italian
humanists for his fluid style, he had a strict classical vocab-
ulary, using paraphrase and glosses while explaining his
textual inventions. Although he had rendered these most
difficult texts with elegance and clarity, his fellow Greek
émigré and competitor, GEORGEof Trebizond, employed
harsh invective to assert that he had distorted Aristotle’s
thought, and undermined the foundational texts of the
medieval and Scholastic Aristotelian tradition.
Further reading:John Monfasani, Byzantine Scholars
in Renaissance Italy: Cardinal Bessarion and Other Émigrés:
Selected Essays(Aldershot: Variorum, 1995).
Genghis Khan SeeJENGHIZKHAN.
Genoa Genoa was and is an important commercial and
trading city on the northwestern coast in Liguria in ITA LY.
Backed by the arid slopes of the Apennines, Genoa made
its fortune by the sea. The site, occupied from the fifth
century B.C.E., has retained few traces of Romanization. A
Christian community was established in the third century
under the leadership of its bishops. The town passed to
the control of GOTHS in the early sixth century, the
BYZANTINES in 537, the LOMBARDSabout 640, and the
FRANKSin 774. In 958 Genoa began to aspire to indepen-
dence, which it gained in the 11th century under the
leadership of bishops and prominent families. The city
carried out successful struggles against the Muslim fleets
in the Tyrrhenian Sea in 1016, in Tunisia in 1087, and in
SPAINin 1092 and 1093. From these it procured wealth
and opportunities for commerce with its fleet playing a
prominent role in transport in the CRUSADES.CONFLICT AND PROGRESS
These urban conditions, economic factors, and the city’s
collective commercial interests converged in the founding
of the COMMUNE. In exchange for its help to the crusad-
ing barons of SYRIAand PALESTINE, the merchants and
rulers of Genoa obtained customs privileges that stimu-
lated its commercial activities in PALESTINE,EGYPT, the
BYZANTINE Empire, SICILY, the AL-MAGHRIB, and the
Iberian Peninsula. From 12th century, the new commune
of Genoa commanded the direct routes between the FAIRS
of Champagne and the markets of the Levant. In the
course of these territorial and economic expansions, it
defeated PISAat the Battle of Meloria in 1284. For the rest
of the Middle Ages Genoa fought long and frequent wars
with VENICE, but with little decisive result.
The fierce individuality of its successful and aggres-
sive MERCHANTclass gave the city little political stability.
Genoa’s great families fought with each other in continual
factional political struggles and even confrontations on
the sheets. Genoa finally attained some institutional con-
tinuity and stability in a regime called “the Perpetual
Doges” between 1339 and 1528. The 14th century saw
the greatest dominance of the Genoese in Mediterranean
commerce. They held Caffa on the BLACKSEA, Pera in the
suburbs of CONSTANTINOPLE, Chios, and Mytilene in the
AEGEANSEAand had important trading centers at Cadiz,
SEVILLE,LISBON,BRUGES, Antwerp, LONDON, and
Southampton in western and northern Europe. Through
this network Genoese traded Mediterranean products and
local produce in a system of Europewide trade.
The Genoese were also bankers, ship-owners, and
exploratory navigators, from the Vivaldi brothers in 1291
to Christopher COLUMBUS, who was born a Genoese but
traveled for Spain in 1492. In the 15th century, the rise of
OTTOMAN power led to the gradual loss of Genoese
colonies and business privileges in the East. This weak-
ened the city’s political and economic power and even
political and financial structures. The republic was
unable to resist French influence, if not rule, in
1396–1409. Its independent path suffered during the
short lordship of the VISCONTIof MILANbetween 1421
and 1436, but the city remained an autonomous republic
until well after 1500.