A. D.I 157- 335 



with him. Henry made a fuitable return of prefents, and in his anfwer 

 thankfully accepted the emperor's alliance, which, he hoped, among 

 other benefits, would promote the fecurity and freedom of commerce 

 between their territories. [^Radevic. Frijing. Gejla F/iderici, L. i, c. 7.] 



1 160 — The friendfhip of Henry was courted, not only by the Chrif- 

 tian princes of Europe *, but alfo by the Mohamedans. The king of 

 Valencia and Murcia in Spain foon after fent him an embaffy with mag- 

 nificent prefents, confiding of the rare and rich productions of the Eaft ; 

 and a proper return was made by Henry. [Chron. Norm. p. 998.] But 

 whether any commercial arrangements were produced by this firfl 

 friendly intercourfe of a king of England with a difciple of Mohrjmed, 

 we are not informed. If there were any, they mofl probably concerned 

 only Henry's fubjedts in the fouthern provinces of France. 



The following hints are collected from the narrative of Benjamin, a 

 Jew of Tudela in Spain, whofe travels over a great part of the known 

 world, begun in the year 1 160 and continued to the year 1173, afford 

 more information concerning the llate of the commercial part of the 

 world, than can eafilybe collected from all the other writers of the age. 



Barchinona {Barcelona in Spain) is an emporium frequented by the 

 Greeks, Pifans, Genoefe, Sicilians, Egyptians of Alexandria, and the 

 people of the land of Ifrael (Palefline). — Montpelier is a place of great 

 trade, whither, by means of the Genoefe and Pifans, people of all na- 

 tions, Saracens and Chriftians, and among the reft, the Englifli f, reibrt 



for traffick Genoa, an independent city, governed by magiftrates chofen 



by the citizens. — In Thebes there are 2,000 Jews, workers in fcarlet and 

 purple. — Conftantinople is a city abounding in wealth, and fuperior to 

 all others in the world, except Bagdad. The people are enervated by 

 luxury and dillipation, and too lazy to carry on an a6live commerce ; 

 and therefor merchants from every part of the world refort to it by 

 land and by fea \. About 2,000 Jewifli merchants, manufacturers of 

 filk, &c. and tradefmen, many of them very opulent, live in the fub- 

 urb called Pera, not being permitted to refide in the city. — In Antioch 

 the houles of the nobles are ferved with water conveyed in wooden 



* The ambaflaJors of Manuel emperor of Con- f We fiiould certainly deceive ourfelves, i^ we 



/lantinople, Frederic emperor of Germany, the were to fuppofe that Englifli traders got to Mont- 



arclibifhop of Triers, the Juke of Saxony, and the peher by failing through tlie Straits of Gibi altar. 



carl of Flanders, and alfo the advocates or ambaf- The nature of their traffic is perhaps fuffiei'ently 



fadors of the kings of Callile and Navarre, who defcribed by faying, it was conducted by means of 



came to fubniit a controverfy between their lo- the Genoefe and Pilans. 



verei'ins to the arbitration of King Henry, were \ Not to interrupt Benjamin's narrative, I here 



.nil at Weilmiufter in November 1177. \_M. Pa- obferve [from Guiuhtri Hj/L C n/l. c. 8 J that the 



r'ls, p. 1-^2.] Asinthofe ages ambalTadors were fifliing veflels (they are called Ihips) belonging to 



never fent but upon extraordinary occafions, the Coiitlantinople were no fewer than fixteen hun- 



aflemblage of fo many in one court nuifl have had dred ; and the multitude of wailike and mercantile 



a wonderful eft'ecl in impreffing the Englilli with veiTels, afTcnibled in its moil fecure harbour, was 



liigh ideas of the wifdom and power of their own innumerable. There is reafon to believe that very 



fovereign, and, by increahng his reputation, make few of the mercantile veffels belonged to citizens 



a real increafe of his power. • of Conftantinople. 



