Born in Moravia, the philologist and historian Joseph (Giuseppe) Müller (1825–95) translated into Italian several major works of German classical scholarship. He held positions at the universities of Pavia and Padua, in the state archives of Florence, and finally in Turin. This work, published in Florence in 1879, prints original documents from the archives of the Tuscan city states in Latin, occasionally Greek, and later in Italian, ranging from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. The first half comprises correspondence with the crusader kings, the Christian communities of the Near East, and subsequently the Ottoman sultanate, introducing ambassadors and negotiating privileges for the city states' communities and representatives in the region. The second half contains the deliberations of the maritime republics on sailing routes and trade schedules. Together they illuminate political and practical relations between the Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim worlds surrounding the Mediterranean in this formative period.
