680 
Nuremburg had any connection with 
Italy, notwithstanding the assertions 
of Busch ; at the commencement of 
the 14th century it began to bring 
its spiceries from Italy; it was the 
same with the @usbourgeois, who did 
not obtain leave until 1320 to carry 
on the transit trade by the Tyrol. The 
spice trade across the Alps was not 
established until the Venetians carried 
on a direct traffic with Feypt. 
Part of the merchandise which Ve. 
nice sent thither, consisted of the pro- 
ductions of Russia. No sooner were 
the Venetians interdicted from the 
Black Sea,in consequence of the coun- 
t-r-revolut.on, effected by their rivals 
the Genoese at Constantinople, than 
Vienna profited by this circumstance 
to extend the direct trade which she 
as well as Ratisbon kept up with Rus. 
sia, and thus carry on an intermediate 
commerce with Venice. 
So much for the trade by land, and 
as to the maritime trade which has 
been supposed to have existed between 
italy and Belgium, it is only neces- 
sary here to observe that before the 
14thcentury, there exists no example 
of the Italian navigators. passing the 
streights of Gibraltar. : 
What applies to the Germans is 
equally applicable to the Belgians, for 
it was only during the crusades that 
the fleets of the Italian republics be- 
came sufliciently powerful to strike 
terror into the Arabian corsairs. The 
examples of the Germans entering the 
Mediterranean, before the epoch al. 
Juded io, were not on the part of the 
merchantmen, but corsairs, and ships 
of war and transports. The naviga- 
tors ofthe Low Countries, who at the 
commencement of the first crusade 
yepaired to Tarsus, were pirates and . 
adyenturers.* According to historians 
the Bremois, or people of Bremen, not 
only participated in the first crusade, 
but sailed to Palestine; and during the 
thid, we find them andthe Luheckois 
at anchor before and during the siege 
of Acre. These were not merchants, 
however, but military ment and vas- 
sals of Count Adelphus of Holstein; 
* Albert. Aquem. Hist. Hierosol. 1. iji. 
e. 14. ap. Bongars, t. 1. p. 219. 
+ Henrici V. dip]. a. 1101. ap. Lunig. 
Rcichse Archiv. part. spec. cont. LY. p. I. 
p- 219. ‘* Non modicus populus armatus 
decivitate diocest Bremensi dicitur inter- 
fuisse.” . 
Retrospect of French Literature—H, istory. 
and as to the reports of Benjamin de 
Tudela concerning German and other - 
traders being at Alexaudria in 1175, 
they are accounted as doubtful and 
even as untrue. 
The first instance of a merchantman 
being equipped in Italy for the pur- 
pose of trading to the Low Countries, 
may be dated from the first quarter . 
of the 14th century, when the Véne- 
tians, and soon after their rivals the 
Geacese, began to earry on a contre> 
band trade with Ecypt. The earliest 
instance of spices and silks arriving 
in the portof Antwerp on board of 
Venetian ships, according to an author 
of high reputation,* dates from 1318. 
Next year a merchantman was equip- 
ped at Genoa for Flanders, and the 
Florentines at the same time expedited 
wool for the manufactories of Brabant, 
Periop III. 
Communications between Constanti- 
nople and the Conntries to the 
North West. 
It was not until after the 12th and 
13th centuries that the spirit of com- 
merce awoke and acquired vigour in 
Germany. Nature had assigned to the 
inhabitants of lower Germany,Belgium 
and Scandinavia,for the sphere of their 
commerce, whilethose of the upper, 
although placed in a worse situation, 
sooner acquired wealth and civilization 
en account of their direct communi- 
cation with Constantinople, then the 
principal market for the merchandise 
of. India. Ratisbon was long the 
place of chief intercourse, and indeed 
tle Danube was navigated all the way 
from that city to the present Turke 
during the 12th century. The Flemish 
manufactures soon became famous in 
the East, on one hand, while on the 
other the example of the debauched 
court of the Greek Emperors intro-. 
duced the use of spices in cookery, 
and of silks in dress, ‘* The neces- 
sity of furnishing wherewithal to pay 
for their luxuries, which soon appeared 
to be indispensable, added to the ad- 
ditional demand for the productions of © 
the West at Byzantium, gave a fill 
up to rural economy, and produced 
more zeal and care in the cultivation 
of the earth, augmented the ac- 
tivity of the manufacturer, and. spread 
wealth and prosperity all around.”’ The 
Danube, the Oder, and the Vistula, 
SN 
* Lud. Guiccardini, Belgii descrip. 
' now 
