INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 





privilege*, whenever he demanded from them a grant in aid. 

 ..i the crusades fell upon the burgher class, and 

 their continuance the demand for an aid was often 

 repeated, with growing power on the part of the traders to make 

 and with lessoning capacity on the part of the barons to 

 resist. Towards the end of the barons were reduced 



in numbers and resources ; t >wor had increased ; but 



there had arisen a more enlightened and opulent middle class, 

 by whom the future of Europe was destined to be controlled. 

 Hririly, the crusades are memorable for the blow given to 

 feudalism ; for the dignity conferred on manual labour ; for the 

 assertion of municipal rights ; and for the recognition of a new 

 power in the state that of personal property, in contradistinc- 

 tion to the ownership of land held by the different feudal 

 tenures. 



CHAPTER XXII.-COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OP FRANCE. 



THE history of commerce and industry in France during the 

 Middle Ages resolves itself, as in Italy, into the history of sepa- 

 rate towns, rather than that of a united kingdom. These towns 

 were situated in the maritime provinces bordering respectively 

 on the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Biscay, and the English 

 Channel. The Mediterranean division contained three com- 

 mercial towns, Marseilles, Aigues-Mortes, and Montpelier, with a 

 large number of towns engaged in woollen manufactures in the 

 province of Languedoo. 



Marseilles has always been the chief commercial city and 

 seaport of France. It was originally a Greek colony under the 

 name of Massilia, a flourishing rival for a long while of Carthago ; 

 and during even the worst of the Dark Ages, it maintained its 

 commercial character. Its convenience as a port for the Holy 

 Land caused many of the crusaders to choose it for their point 

 of departure. The municipal authorities encouraged this passen- 

 ger traffic by rigid laws of inspection, to ensure the comfort and 

 proper treatment of the voyagers. Such restrictions applied to 

 an exceptional trade were of great service, but failed of their 

 purpose when the authorities attempted to legislate in a similar 

 way for the permanent commerce of the town. With the hope 

 of fostering the growth of native industries, they made it illegal 

 to import foreign commodities, but thereby they diminished 

 both their foreign trade and their home manufactures. The 

 making of coarse woollens could alone be said to be flourishing. 

 The wool was obtained from the Barbary states, and it employed 

 the looms of all Provence as well as of the city of Marseilles. 

 The cloths were dyed of bright colours with logwood, madder, 

 and carmine, and for their strength and durability found favour 

 in Italy and Greece. The cultivation of the mulberry and 

 the manufacture of silk wore introduced with success, but 

 attempts to raise the sugar-cane failed. Marseilles has grown 

 in prosperity with each succeeding age. Its commerce and 

 manufactures are now very great, and they promise to become 

 still greater. 



Aigues-Mortes was once a considerable harbour. Louis IX. 

 sailed from this port on his crusade. It is situated amongst 

 the salt of the Rhone marshes, and is now four miles inland. 

 On account of the stagnant or dead waters by which it is 

 surrounded, and whence comes the name (aquaa mortuffl), its 

 climate is unhealthy. The marshes are, however, turned into a 

 source of wealth by the manufacture of salt and potash. The 

 distilling of brandy (eau de vie) similarly distinguished an 

 adjacent town with the name of Aigues-Vives. The commerce 

 of Aigues-Mortes was chiefly that which it derived as a dep6t 

 for spices and other Eastern goods, to be interchanged with the 

 woollen and linen textures of the northern provinces of France. 

 The port being undesirable as a residence, the factors and 

 bankers transacted their business at Avignon, higher up the 

 Rhone, where the warehouses of the Italian and other foreign 

 merchants were also to be found. 



The towns of the province of Languedoc were famous, and still 

 remain so, for their silk and woollen manufactures, especially 

 of those dyed scarlet, rose, and azure blue. Montpelier, Nar- 

 bonne, Nismes, Beziers, Carcassonne, Perpignan, and Toulouse, 

 were the chief industrial towns. Fairs were hold at Beaucaire 

 and Montpelier, at which places the Florentines bought English 

 wool and the Venetians obtained French cloths for their com- 

 merce in the Levant. 



Still niora important was tho cloth trade of the provinces 



adjoining Flanders, Mid in tho district of France anciently oallod 

 .1. Troyes, the capital of Champagne, was a mannfao- 

 turing town in the fifth century, and a fair was established there 

 at least as early as 1118. Known as the Remigiiu Market, this 

 fair for 300 years grew in importance, and drew traders from 

 every commercial state ; German, Dutch, Flemish, Lombardian, 

 Florentine, and Venetian merchant* were invariably present. 

 Troyes was the entrepot of the manufactores of Champagne and 

 also of the neighbouring provinces of Pioardy, the Isle of France, 

 and Normandy. The products of industry to be found then 

 were of a very varied character, though none of them in rain* 

 approached the textile fabrics. 



The following list of towns includes the seats of the cloth 

 industry in each province : 



Champagne. Troyes, Chalons, Bheims, Prorins, Sens, Vitrji 

 St. Dizior. 



Isle of France. Pontoise, St. Denis, Paris, Lagni, Senlis. 



Normandy. Rouen, Lonviera, Bernai 



Picardy. St. Quentin, Aubenton, Amiens, Abbeville. 



Troyes obtained cloth from the South Netherlands as largely 

 as from the French provinces. The following .Flemish towns 

 were thus in commercial intercourse with Troyes : Cambray, 

 Valenciennes, Maubenge, Avesnes, in Hainault ; Arras, Douai, 

 Lille, Tournay, Dixmuide, Ghent, [Bruges, Ypres, in Artois and 

 Flanders ; Malines, Brussels, Louvain, Brest, and Huy, in 

 Brabant and Liege. 



Amongst the miscellaneous commodities reaching the markets 

 at Troyes, were leathern goods from tho south of France, and 

 horses from Lombardy and Germany. Eastern produce from 

 remoter parts, such as spices, formed a huge part of the merclian- 

 diso of the Venetian traders ; for the French merchants at this 

 time charged themselves with little business beyond what was 

 brought to their shores. 



Merchandise converging from so many places upon Troyes, 

 made the town rich and influential. Two causes combined at 

 length to diminish its trade : first, merchants were deterred 

 by the unwise imposition of heavy dues from bringing their 

 goods ; and next, in 1298, when the overland route for Oriental 

 commerce, by way of Syria and Constantinople, was closed to 

 the Venetians, and they re-opened the old route through Egypt, 

 goods were conveyed by sea direct to England and the Nether- 

 lands, without passing through France. Bruges was the first 

 of the Flemish cities thus favoured by direct intercourse with 

 the East; Antwerp followed in 1318. Troyes clung to its 

 privileges and prohibitions till it fell into utter decay ; while 

 other towns, till then insignificant, began to share its failing 

 trade and profits. Charles VII. in 1445 conferred upon Lyons, a 

 city much more conveniently situated for the trade of southern 

 France, the privilege of holding three markets. Of the northern 

 seaports, Harfleur, at the month of the Seine, was at this time 

 the seat of a trade which attracted thither the Portuguese 

 and Castilians. 



Although the harbours of the western coast of France are ad- 

 mirably suited for commerce, their sea-trade did not attain any 

 magnitude till long after Marseilles had risen to be an active 

 and important port. The two principal ports were Bordeaux 

 and La Rochelle. 



Till tho year 1312, when they were deprived of the immunities 

 which they had previously enjoyed, the Templars conducted 

 much of the trade of Rochelle. Its exports consisted largely of 

 wine. The Flemings alone bought at this town 40,000 casks 

 annually. One consignment, the vessels conveying which wera 

 captured by the English, consisted of 9,000 casks. 



Bordeaux is an ancient city, having under the name of 

 Burdigala been rebuilt by the Romans, A.D. 260, after its 

 destruction by fire. It is well placed for foreign commerce, and 

 it sent wine to England in 1302. Its traffic with the interior 

 became developed from the facilities afforded it by the Garonne, 

 the Dordogne, and their tributaries. The articles of com- 

 merce sent from Bordeaux increased in number enormously, 

 until tho city became second to Marseilles in commercial im- 

 portance. 



The French government of the period ordered foreign goods 

 to be brought into the country in French vessels only, under 

 the idea that navigation would thus be promoted, and the 

 profits of the trade be confined entirely to citizens of France. 

 But other results ensued ; competition and emulation were 

 weakened, and contraband traffic waa encouraged- 



