Abstract (eng)
There is a growing interest towards port cities in the Mediterranean Sea. Concerning the topic of Marseille, however, it looks like we enter virgin soil on the wide area of economic research in the Mediterranean.
Nevertheless, Marseille was one of the big seafaring players in the Middles Ages – a fact that is rarely known outside the French-speaking guild of historians. Focusing on the general development of Marseille itself, I believe that this subject serves undoubtedly well for an in-depth study.
In this thesis I have analyzed the development of Marseille focusing on two cohesive topics: First of all I had a look at the political structure of the city, which was directly linked with the economic success of the city itself. The second part of this thesis deals with the economic development of Marseille between 1100 and 1264.
My theory is that Marseille served as a port for great parts of southern France, Catalonia and coastal regions of the Tyrrhenian Sea and especially many foreigners transacting their business there. This finding is backed by the examined primary sources of the archives in Marseille, which enable us to identify many of the merchants in Marseille as people from different cities, partial even from outside the Provence. However, these foreign traders usually sailed under the flag of Marseille and were therefore little-noticed. I hope that this special incident, which only recently aroused historical interest, will bring more light in this not (yet) adequately explored subject of the Mediterranean.