236 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOB. 



INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY 

 OF COMMERCE. 



CHAPTER XIV. BYZANTINE COMMERCE (continued). 



LATER MARITIME TRADE. 



THE decay of the Byzantine trade is to be traced in part to the 

 struggle for empire between the Mohammedans and the Greeks. 

 The government of Constantinople could not safely spare vessels 

 of war to convey merchandise across the sea. The neutral 

 states shrewdly took advantage of this condition of things, and 

 the Mediterranean tracb quickly passo 1 over to Italy. Tho vessols 

 of the empire were confined exclusively to the waters of the 

 Black Sea. 



Tho policy pursued by the Greeks in commercial affairs aided 

 very much in driving traffic out of their own hands. Justinian 

 increased his revenues by tho short-sightod policy of granting 

 monopolies, and by ressrving to tho state the sale of important 

 articles. As a government can nsver be so good a trader as an 

 individual, whose fortune depend.? upon hia enterprise, thrift, 

 and skill, Justinian's policy led to tho decline both of manu- 

 factures and commerce, which yearly went further westwards. 



Venice stood at the head of the Italian cities. Its merchantmen 

 visited the Levant as early as the ninth century. At first they 

 sought permission from the Byzantine court; but in the time of 

 the first crusade their sarvices wore of so mush importance that 

 they were welcomed to Constantinople, obtained after a tinn 

 the control of the entiro Greok navy, entered into alliancss with 

 noble families, and became possessors of great property. 



Such prosperity was not lasting, for it involved the Venetians 

 in the wars of tho Greeks. In 1172 tho Emperor Manuel 

 Comnenus required them to assist in attacking the King of 

 the Two Sicilies, and upon their hesitating, ho treacherously 

 pretended to continue on friendly terms with them till an 

 opportunity occurred of seizing their vessels and cargoes, and 

 imprisoning the owners. Although he afterwards set tho mer- 

 chants at liberty, they never regained their property. Comnenus 

 delayed tho restitution L-om time to time, and his successors 

 refused it altogether. 



As soon as th.3 Venetians lost influence at the Byzantino 

 court, the merchants of Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi sought thoir 

 own profit in intercourse with Constantinople, and tho emperor 

 assigned to these traders a portion of tho city, in which to erect 

 their dwellings, stores, and churches. States which at sea 

 treated each other's vessels as pirates, and were envious of each 

 other's prosperity, could, however, no more agree at Constanti- 

 nople than in Italy. The Genoese and Pisans fought, whenever 

 they met, as fiercely as they did at home. 



During the time cf the fifth crusade (11931204), domestic 

 contentions in Constantinople placed a usurper on the throne. 

 The rightful heir applied for help to tho crusaders, who, in 

 conjunction with the Venetians, took Constantinople in 1203, 

 and made the heir to tho throne their creature. Another re- 

 volution took place in three months ; the usual scenes of 

 pillage and murder ensued, the city was partly destroyed, and 

 Baldwin of Flanders was made emperor. The Venetians re- 

 established themselves in the capital, took possession of the 

 sea-coast, and monopolised the commerce, till they were in turn 

 driven from their vantage-ground by the Genoese and Greeks, 

 about. 1261. The Indian trade was carried on by the Venetians, 

 while they held Constantinople, and by tho Genoese who suc- 

 ceeded them. Moro than ones, however, a papal interdict 

 aenounced all interconrso with the Arabs 3xcopt that of war 

 and prohibited supplying them with weapons, iron, and timber. 

 This interference on the part of the Church obstructed tho direct 

 trade through Egypt, and made it necessary to seek some other 

 route. Taria (Azof) and Feodosia (Kaffa) were founded as start- 

 ing-points for a caravan route through Bokhara, and Samarcand, 

 and Balkh. Bokhara and Samarcand are parts of the province 

 sometimes known as Western Turkestan, to distinguish it from 

 the eastern or Chinese province of the same name. Great 

 Bucharia, lagatai, Turan, and Mawar-al-Nahr, are also names 

 which have been given to it at various times. It corresponds 

 to the Sogdiana and Bactria of the ancients. The only varia- 

 tion from the route that had onoe before existed, was in the 

 region between the Crimea and the Caspian. The caravans 

 reached the Volga, and the merchandise was sent up the river 

 to Astrakhan, carried overland to the Tanais or Don, and thence 



down the latter river to Azof. The Pisans also shared in this 

 trade, having their dep6ts at Kaffa. 



The revolution that terminato J tho Venetian hold upon Con- 

 stantinople also brought tho Graco-Latin empire to an end. 

 Michaol Palaeologus, the now ruler, had been assistod by tho 

 Genoese in ascending tho throne, and he rewarded them with 

 privileges which gradually enabled them to drivo out their rivals, 

 the Venetians and Pisans, and to dispossess them of tho trade 

 both in the city and tho Black Sea. 



Tho Genoese, now in tho ascendant, signed a commorcial 

 treaty with the Khan of Tauris, or the Crimea. The Venetians, 

 regardless of their religious scruples, or of tho papal interdict, 

 made a successful effort to enter into a similar treaty with th^ 

 Arabs in order to obtain the produce of India through Syria 

 and Egypt. The interdict was not removed till 1345; but from 

 this tims, till the Portuguese doubled tho Cape of Good Hope, 

 the wares of India found thoir way unimpeded through Egypt to 

 Venice, their chief emporium. 



Daring tho hostile rivalry of tho Venetians and Gonoeso for 

 Byzantino trade, many of tho Gorman towns formerly sunpliod 

 through tho Italian marts, found it moro advantageous to op3ii 

 direct communication with Constantinople, in order to obtain 

 Indian produco. The Danube, as far as Servia, booams tho 

 means of transport, and thus in tho twelfth contury a chain of 

 commercial stations linked tho Bosphorus with tho Gorman 

 Ocean. Vienna, Ratisbon, Ulm, Augsburg, and Nurombsrg 

 were the leading towns in South or High Germany engaged in 

 this through trade. 



The Gresks highly valued tho trade with Russia, whenco 

 wore obtained furs, and slaves, grain, drieJ. and salt fish, 

 hides, iron, timber and pitch, honey and wax. Slavonic mer- 

 chants took tho most active part in this commerca, as inter- 

 mediate agonts between the boyards, or Russian nobles, and 

 tho Greek governmatit. Travelling did not suit the indolent 

 Grooks. They found it easier to apportion a suburb of tlioir 

 city to theso traclora, and to bribo them into taking up resi- 

 dence, by furnishing them monthly with supplies of bread, fish, 

 meat, wine, and oil, than to tako an active part in the trado 

 themselves. By a selfish policy, however, which defeated and 

 ruined tho trado, they levied imposts upon goods arriving in 

 Constantinople, and drove away ths Russian merchants during 

 tho winter, in ordor that Constantinople mig'it always remain 

 an emporium, and t'-iat tho Venetians, Genoeso, and Pisancse 

 living in tho city should not bsaomo diracb customers of 

 the northern traders. The Russians from Novgorod and 

 Tschornigov used to meet at Kiev and repair to Constantinople 

 together ; bat from tho obstacles put in the way of their 

 residence, thoy arranged to meet the Venetians at the mouth of 

 the Dnieper, wh3ro Russian interchange was from this time 

 effectod without passing through Constantinople. Fish and 

 grain W3ra tho sole Russian commodities which then reached 

 that city. Of tho magnitude of the fish trado wo may gain 

 an idea from the fact that in tho thirteenth century not fewer 

 than 1,600 vessels were employed in it. 



Dospito tho false economy of tho Byzantino government, 

 trado hai wonderfully enriched Constantinople. When taken 

 by the Crusaders and Venetians, it was, in tho words of Hallam, 

 " decked with, tho accumulated wealth of ages, and resplendent; 

 with tho monuments of Roman empire and of Grecian art." 

 The severity of ancient taste, which had existed through nino 

 centuries, was seen sliding into the more various and brilliant 

 combinations of Eastsrn fancy. In the libraries wore gathered 

 the remains of Grecian learning, which the chiefs of tiie cru- 

 saders were no more able than their soldiery to appreciate. 

 " Four horses, that breathe in the brass of Lysippus, were re- 

 moved to the square of St. Mark at Venice, and wa have to de- 

 plore the fate of many pieces of sculpturo wantonly destroyed 

 or coined into brass money." Thus the Greeks threw awav 

 their noble commerce. Timid and self-indulgent, they declined 

 the labour and risk of national enterprise, and over-reached 

 themselves by endeavouring to wring their profits out of more 

 adventurous races. From the time of the crusades Byzantine 

 commerce ceased to bo worthy of mention. 



CHAPTER XV. COMMERCE OP THE ARABS. 



THE conqnost of "Western Asia by the Arabs crsates in com- 

 mercial history an epoch better defined even than that which 



