[ 175 ] 20 



an attack, which the government of Byzantium was preparing agains* 

 him, and to revenge the insult of the imprisonment of his ambassa- 

 dors, whom he sent to form a treaty and a matrimonial alliance with 

 the Emperor Comnenus, made war upon Greece, in the year 1146, 

 with a powerful naval and military force. Corcyra, the present Corfu, 

 first yielded to the arms of the invaders, and the surrender of the 

 other cities of Greece, and all the Morea, followed in speedy succes- 

 sion. The spoils were great. But what peculiarly distinguished this 

 war from most others, which have no consequence than the exaltation 

 of one individual, the depression of another, and the misery of thou- 

 sands, was the capture of a great number of silk weavers, who were 

 carried oflf and settled in Palermo, the capital city of tlie conqueror. 

 By the order of the king, the Grecian prisoners taught his Sicilian 

 subjects to raise and feed silkworms, and to weave all the varieties of 

 silk stuffs; and so well did they profit by the lessons of their instruc- 

 tors, that, in the course of twenty years, the silk manufacturers of 

 Sicily were subjects of notice and of praise, by the historians of the 

 age.* 



The Saracens had, before this time, obtained the knowledge of the 

 various operations of the silk manufacture, and spread it over their 

 widely extended dominions. Lisbon and Almeria, the two Saracen 

 cities of Spain, were especially famous for their silk fabrics, and the: 

 islands of Majorca and Ivica paid their tribute to the kings of Arra- 

 gon in silks. The Italian States soon after engaged in the culture and 

 manufacture of silk, and in the year 1306, this business was so far ad- 

 vanced, as to yield a revenue to the State. In France, Louis the XL. 

 and his son Charles the VIII established a number of Italian work- 

 men at Tours; but it is to Henry IV that France is indebted, for 

 placing the culture of silk and its manufacture upon a solid basis. 

 Having put an end to the civil wars of the nation, he determined to 

 give every possible encouragement to this important branch of indus- 

 try, by recommending and enforcing the general planting of mulberry 

 trees, and the rearing of silkworms. The merit of Henry, on this 

 occasion, is increased by the fact, that his views and measures were in 

 direct opposition to the advice of his favorite and wise minister. Sully, 

 who held the project in little consideration, as appears by his own me- 

 moirs, in which he candidly records the discussions which he had 

 with the king on the subject. In the year 1455, mention is made of 

 a company of silk women in England. In 1504, the manufacture of 

 ribbons, laces, and girdles, was so considerable, as to be protected by a 

 prohibitory statute. In 1501, Queen Elizabeth was presented with a 

 pair of black knit silk stockings, with^which she was so well pleased, 

 that she never after wore any of another material. James I. was ex- 

 tremely solicitous to encourage the silk manufacture, and recommend- 

 ed it several times from the throne: and in the year 1608, addressed a 

 long letter on the subject, written with his own hand, to the Lord 

 Lieutenants of every county in the kingdom, to whom mulberry 



• Muratori Scriptor, Veter. vl- co]. 668 — Macpherson's Annals, vol. l,p. 322. 



