LEPIDOPTEEA. 219 



rearing of the worms and the preparation for the silk, according 

 to the instructions given by these courageous travellers. The 

 first rearings succeeded perfectly, and so plantations of mulberry 

 trees were seen to multiply and spread through the whole extent 

 of the Eastern empire. It was, above all, in Southern Greece 

 that this branch of industry assumed an immense importance. It 

 was then the Peloponnesus lost its old name, and was called the 

 Morea, from the Latin name for " mulberry," morus* 



Constantinople and Greece were the countries which, during 

 centuries, furnished the whole of Europe with silkworms. This 

 diffusion, however, was effected very slowly. The Greeks attached 

 great importance to retaining the monopoly, and the Emperor 

 Justinian had caused to be established at Constantinople itself silk 

 manufactories, where the most skilful artificers of Asia, forbidden 

 to reveal the various processes to strangers, worked. 



Towards the beginning of the eighth century the Arabs intro- 

 duced the silkworm into Spain. But this industry remained con- 

 fined within narrow limits. It was, in fact, not till after the 

 twelfth century that sericiculture began to spread throughout 

 Europe. Roger, King of the Two Sicilies, possessing a navy that 

 commanded the Mediterranean, employed it chiefly in making ex- 

 cursions and conquests. He ravaged Greece, and not satisfied 

 with the booty he carried away from that unfortunate country, 

 wished still further to deprive them, for the good of his own 

 kingdom, of the silk monopoly, the source of their riches. Roger 

 carried away into Sicily and Naples a great number of prisoners, 

 amongst whom were some weavers and men who had devoted 

 themselves to the rearing of silk. In 1169 he established these 

 workmen in houses adjoining his own palace at Palermo. There 

 they dyed the silk of different colours, and mixed it with gold, 

 pearls, and precious stones. 



From Sicily the art of preparing silk spread over the rest of 

 Italy. In 1204, the workers in silk constituted themselves into 

 a syndicate at Florence. It is not, however, till 1423, more than 

 two hundred years after the introduction of this branch of industry 

 into Italy, that we find the first mention of the cultivation of the 



* Others derive the name from more, the Slavonic word for the sea. See " On 

 the Study of Words." By Dean Trench. Er>, 



