6o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



commercial cities of lower Austria which at that time, and especially 

 from the sixth to the twelfth century, were the depots and distributing 

 centers of Oriental merchandise. Thither traders from the northern- 

 most and westernmost sections of Europe came to supply themselves 

 with the spices and rareties of the Orient. The Avars, who had settled 

 in the valley of the Danube and who traveled back and forth in the 

 wide valley of their choice, were the principal commissioners between 

 Constantinople and the storing centers of Lower Austria. 



At the apogee of Byzantine might the region occupied an eminently 

 central location in the civilized world. In the sixth and seventh cen- 

 turies from north to south and between east and west the Byzantine 

 Empire was in every sense the country of the core. A large proportion 

 of world commerce carried on between cardinal points of the compass 

 passed through Eurasian waterways. This trade route grew in im- 

 portance during succeeding centuries. It flourished especially through- 

 out the period in which Italian cities acquired commercial supremacy. 



Between the eighth and ninth centuries the commerce of Europe 

 centered at Constantinople "more completely than it has ever since 

 done in any one city." A commercial aristocracy was created in By- 

 zantium as a result of this remarkable trade activity. The body of 

 wealthy merchants rapidly acquired political power, and it became nec- 

 essary for usurpers to obtain their support. Finlay, basing himself on 

 Theophanes, records the case of Empress Irene, who was obliged to 

 lower the toll levied at the straits of the Hellespont and the Bosporus 

 in order to find favor with the business men of the capital at the time 

 she was preventing her son from reigning. 



In the course of the eisrht crusades between 1096 and 1270 the 

 straits of the Bosporus provided easy passage from Europe into Asia to 

 the soldiers of the cross marching against the infidel. Throughout the 

 two centuries of faith-inspired fighting the nations of the world met in 

 Constantinople. From the very start of the religious movement the 

 bands of crusaders followed the roads provided by nature to this city, 

 there to unite forces before proceeding through Asia Minor to Palestine. 

 The four leaders of the first crusade set the precedent by convening in 

 the Byzantine city. From Batisbon along the valleys of the Danube, 

 the Morava and Maritza, Godfrey of Bouillon led his host to the shores 

 of the Bosporous. Adhemar of Puy and Baymond of Toulouse, proceed- 

 ing from Burgundy through northern Italy, western Croatia and Bosnia, 

 also attained the classic strait after crossing Albania, Macedonia and 

 southern Thrace. The army of Bohemond and Tancred left Brindisi 

 and landed in the bay of Valona, whence it was directed across the 

 Balkan peninsula to the Byzantine capital. Bobert of Flanders and 

 Hugh of Vernandois marched through central Italy and, taking ship at 

 Bari, crossed to Durazzo, there to begin the overland journey, the first 



