In terms of international trade, its most important expression was the importation of spices, silks, jewelry and other luxury products from China, Persia and India; these commodities arrived at the stations of the Persian frontier, the Syrian cities or Clysma and Aila, and then were transported to both the eastern and the western part of the empire. Foreign trade appears to have been particularly active in the fifth through sixth centuries. It was somewhat hampered by the fact that trade in the most important item of exchange, silk, was highly regulated.
The political, demographic and military troubles that afflicted Byzantium in the seventh century brought about economic changes that affected trade. The tendency toward self-sufficiency became much stronger, while urban decline reduced the level of exchange between town and countryside. Land routes became very difficult and communications along the Mediterranean, although they never completely stopped, were disrupted by piracy. Trade declined but did not cease, the provisioning of big cities, especially Constantinople, acting as an impetus to it. Large fairs, like that of Ephesus, continued to exist. The Rhodian Sea Law testifies to the survival of maritime trade. It was probably in order to stimulate such trade that Emperor Nikephoros I imposed a forced loan on the large shipowners of Constantinople. Locally, exchange took place in small markets where an element of barter was to be found. International trade was reoriented to some extent toward the North and to the Black Sea. In the eighth century the Byzantines had trade relations with Bulgaria and in the tenth century with the Rus'. The silk trade, now taking place primarily within the empire, was still considerable. By the tenth century, there is evidence of a strong revival of trade. The Book of the Eparch, along with other sources, shows a large number of different trades and crafts in Constantinople. The state regulated and circumscribed, to some extent, the activities of the various guilds. At the same time, Constantinople appeared as a center of international trade, with Syrian, Italian, Rus' and Bulgarian merchants, whose contact with Byzantine merchants was also regulated. The market of Constantinople stocked spices, which arrived by way of Trebizond, cloth from Syria and linen cloth from Bulgaria and the Pontos. Trade relations with the Muslims became very active in the middle of the tenth century. The internal market also was active. The size of mercantile enterprises remained small.
In the eleventh through twelfth centuries a number of general changes combined to make the economy active of exchange. Urban growth acted as a stimulant, as did the rise of an important Italian market and, possibly, the general quickening of economic activity in the Mediterranean, partly the result of the activities of Italian merchants. Constantinople, and to a slightly lesser extent, Thessalonike are two of the greatest centers of trade in the world. A number of smaller centers of exchange developed: Halmyros, Demetrias, Preveza and others. The Black Sea witnessed important commercial activity throughout this period. Byzantine aristocrats still shied away from commerce, at least in their normative statements; and large economic units (e.g., the Kosmosoteira monastery at Bera) tried to buy necessities such as oil directly from the producers rather than through middlemen. At the same time, monks themselves participated in trade, primarily, perhaps, by selling their produce, but also by sometimes acting as middlemen.
The acquisition of trade privileges first by Venice (at the end of the eleventh century) and then by Pisa and Genoa played an important role in these developments. The chrysobulls to the Venetians gave them access to an increasing number of markets, both in Constantinople and in provincial cities. Venetian merchants were interested not only in trade with the East, but also in the internal trade of the Byzantine Empire; this is also evident in the chrysobull of 1198, which greatly expanded the markets accessible to the Venetians. Venetian involvement in domestic trade was facilitated by the fact that, after 1126, the Byzantines paid no Kommerkion on their transactions with the Venetians. This may have acted as a stimulant to trade and may even have profited some Byzantine merchants; in the long term, however, it subsidized the Venetian middleman to the detriment of the Byzantine.
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Last modified: Thurs Dec 10, 1998