A history of commerce

88. Wares of the Levant trade. Slaves.—The “colonial products” of the modern world (tea, coffee, spices, etc.) have familiarized us with a class of wares which cannot be produced at home and are imported from distant countries. In the commerce of medieval Europe there were wares like these which could not be produced near the place where they were to be consumed, because of the severe climate, or the lack of technical skill, and yet which were eagerly desired by the upper classes. These wares were obtained from Asia, and formed the basis for an Oriental trade which was one of the most important branches of medieval commerce. There was one ware of Oriental trade in which there was a reciprocal exchange; this was slaves. Slaves were exported from Europe to the great market at Cairo in Egypt, and were imported from western Asia and Africa. At the very end of the fifteenth century there were said to be 3,000 slaves in the single city of Venice. Most of the wares, however, flowed in only one direction; and to give an idea of the character and importance of the trade we shall preface our narrative of its development by a description of the chief products imported into Europe.

89. Spices.—Among the raw materials a very important place was taken by spices, the product of tropical plants and trees which thrive only in a few parts of the world even now. The food of the common people in the Middle Ages would seem intolerably coarse and monotonous to a modern laborer, on whose table appear regularly products from all parts of the world; and even the diet of the rich needed a great deal of condiment if it was to be palatable. A staple import, then, was pepper, the berry of a vine growing in India and in the islands of Asia, which was used in Europe by all who could afford the luxury of a seasoning. For common use the price was prohibitive. Cloves, from the Molucca Islands, were even more expensive, costing two and three times as much as pepper; they were used for seasoning food and drink, and also as medicine. Cinnamon, nutmegs, and mace served similar purpose, and ginger took a place among medieval luxuries of this kind second only to pepper.

90. Drugs; perfumes; sugar.—Beside the spices which were employed in medicine by medieval apothecaries many wares were imported which served solely or mainly for drugs. Among them were rhubarb, aloes, balsam, borax, gum tragacanth, gum benzoin, cubebs, cardamoms, camphor, etc.

Sugar belongs in this list of wares, on the border-line between medicines and table delicacies. It was far too costly to be an article of common consumption, and the gift of a small piece of loaf sugar implied far more devotion than would be evidenced now by a present of the finest confectionery. It found its main employment in medicine, therefore, and though it was used in increasing quantities for sweetening food and drink and for preserving, native honey was the medium commonly used.

91. Precious stones; preponderance in general of luxuries over articles of general utility.—Another category of wares, which found a ready market among the upper classes of medieval Europe was precious stones. The part of Europe which now produces a considerable quantity of these, the region of the Ural Mountains, was still unexplored; the source of supply in the New World was of course unknown; and Europe looked entirely to Asia and Egypt for its supply. Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, lapis lazuli, etc., were collected in various parts of the East, passed through innumerable hands, and finally found a resting-place among the jewels of some great lord or lady of the West. Pearls came from the Indian Ocean, and ivory from Africa, through the hands of Asiatic traders. Europe was able to make a return in kind from the Mediterranean coral fisheries; the greater part of European coral was exported to meet the demand in the East, being carried to Egypt by Spanish or Italian ships, and distributed from there to India and China.

The reader who has followed thus far this category of eastern products must be struck by the preponderance in it of costly luxuries over articles of general consumption. The expenses of transportation over great distances and through dangerous districts were, in fact, so great that most of the Eastern wares had necessarily to comprise great value in a small bulk, and sought their market only among the upper classes of Europe, who could afford to pay well to gratify their desires.

92. Dyestuffs; alum.—Among the raw material brought from the East there was only one important class of wares which served manufacturing industries, the dyestuffs. Indigo (Greek, Indikon, Indian) came from the East as its name implies, the chief staple for it being Bagdad. It gives a fast and deep blue and had been imported in Europe even in ancient times; with the revival of commerce after the Crusades it became again an article of commerce, and was used constantly thereafter as a dyestuff, in spite of the attempt to substitute for it the native woad, an herb of the mustard family. Some of the red dyes were produced in Europe, notably madder, mentioned in one of Charlemagne’s laws, and the scarlet or carmine obtained from the kermes insect in Southern France and Spain. Both of these dyes were imported to some extent, however, and another red dye which was an important import was Brazil-wood. The name suggests an American origin, but was given it in fact because its redness made it seem like glowing coals (cf. English brazier), and the South American country received its name later from the tree found growing in it. Brazil-wood was brought to Europe in blocks and was then ground up for use in dyeing and painting. A common yellow dye of the Middle Ages, saffron, was also imported when the best quality was desired, and yellow arsenic (orpiment) was used as a pigment. Lac (shellac) was used for a dye as well as for varnish. More important than any of the separate dyes was alum, which came to be regarded as indispensable for fixing the color when wool or silk had been dyed in the piece. This was procured mainly in Asia Minor, and was one of the most highly prized products of the eastern trade.

93. Other raw materials of industry.—In comparison with the dyes most other raw materials of industry were unimportant as objects of trade. Cotton (Arabic kotn) was imported both in its finished form and as a raw material. The cotton manufacture in Europe had, of course, nothing like its present importance, but it was already well established in Germany, where a staple cloth was made out of a mixture of cotton and flax, and it required more of the raw cotton than the plantations of southern Europe could supply. Small amounts of flax were imported from Egypt, because of the superior quality of the product.

Silk was, however, the only textile material which was a very important ware in its raw form. The culture of the silkworm, which had been carried on for centuries in China, but so far as possible had been kept a secret from other peoples, spread gradually to the West and was introduced into Europe by the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. The Arabians introduced mulberry plantations and the raising of silkworms into Sicily and Spain, and the culture thrived so far as to leave a surplus for export after supplying the home manufactures. Christian peoples, however, did not succeed so well in the culture; France could as yet furnish no appreciable quantity of raw silk, and the output in Italy was unsatisfactory both in respect to quality and quantity. The growing silk manufacture in Europe had therefore to meet its deficiency by trade with the East, getting part of its supply of raw material from China and Persia, but the bulk from the countries about the Caspian Sea.

94. Textile imports; exports from Europe.—Among manufactures imported from the East textiles held the most important place. Europe was strong enough in the manufacture of linen and woolen goods to export them in considerable quantities to Asia, but it lacked in the manufacture of cotton and silk not only raw material but the technical skill to compete with the artisans of the East; and imported large quantities of finished cloth. Dignitaries of the church and the merchant princes of the late Middle Ages demanded for clothing and for furniture fabrics of finer quality and of greater quantity than the looms established by the Mohammedans in Spain and Sicily could supply, and sought them chiefly in the countries bordering the eastern end of the Mediterranean. From this district came a great variety of silks, woven often as brocades with gold or silver threads, and the early types of velvet and satin. Silk goods formed the chief but not the sole constituent of the textile imports; with them came fine cottons from India, cloth made from the hair of camels and other animals, and linen from Egypt and Syria, which surpassed all of western make. Europe depended also on the East for fine china and glass.

Before the end of the Middle Ages the Italian silk manufacture had grown strong enough to turn the tide, and to export to the East. Through the greater part of this period, however, the only European textiles exported to Asia were the woolens and common linens which were produced in England, Flanders, and other of the more advanced countries. Besides these manufactures the main exports consisted of raw materials: wool, hides, metals (gold, silver, and tin), and food stuffs.

95. Revival of Oriental trade about 1000, under the leadership of Italians.—As commerce with the East had lasted throughout the period of Roman rule, and had cultivated tastes among rich Romans and provincials which could only be satisfied by its continuance, we find evidence even in the Dark Ages that it was still carried on. A document dated 716 shows that the rich monastery of Corby in northern France received pepper, cloves, and other spices from southern France; and Marseilles maintained its commercial relations with the East. The trade in this period, however, was carried on almost entirely by Syrians and Jews; the peoples of western Europe had not yet learned to profit by active participation in it, and it had sunk to comparative insignificance. The revival came about the year 1000 with the general awakening of economic life in Europe which had for its most striking feature the growth of towns. As the possibilities for trade became greater, and the demand for luxuries kept pace with them, the eastern trade felt a powerful stimulus, and grew rapidly in importance. It was now carried on mainly by the people who were destined to control it until the great discoveries left them outside the path of progress,—the Italians. A group of towns in the far south of the Italian peninsula, Bari, Trani, Brindisi, and Taranto, took advantage of their nearness to the Levant (the eastern end of the Mediterranean) to establish commercial relations which returned large profits and developed into a considerable trade. Another group of towns near the Bay of Naples, of which Amalfi was the chief, shared in the profits of this trade, and still another town, standing alone near the head of the Adriatic Sea, Venice, began already to assume the commanding position in the Oriental trade which she was destined to make good against all rivals.

96. Routes between Asia and Europe.—The main routes serving as the paths of trade between Asia and Europe during the Middle Ages were three in number. The central route, the oldest and for much of this period the most important, began at the head of the Persian Gulf; after the foundation of Bagdad near the site of ancient Babylon (about 750 A.D.) it found there its first important stopping-place. Thence a caravan route led around and through the desert to Damascus, where it branched off to the coast of ancient Phœnicia in one direction, to Egypt in the other. Aside from partial interruptions this route was used steadily until near the close of the Middle Ages, when it was partially blocked and commerce was forced to the south.

The southern route, reaching Europe through Egypt, was mainly maritime. It had to contend with two great difficulties: the great stretch of open water presented by the Indian Ocean, and the difficulty of navigation in the Red Sea, on the west coast of which strong north winds blow through much of the year. The first of these difficulties became less serious in the Christian era, as navigators learned to time their voyages to suit the monsoons, the winds blowing at regular seasons in the Indian Ocean. Vessels could leave an Egyptian port in July and reach India by the southwest monsoon in little over two months. The second difficulty was obviated by starting for the East not from the Gulf of Suez but from a point part way down the coast (Berenice), reached by a trip on the Nile and by caravan. This route became of greatest importance at the close of the Middle Ages.

The third route, entirely overland, led from India across the mountains to the River Oxus, where it was joined by a caravan route from China. Branching near Bokhara, one part led to the Caspian Sea and up the Volga, another left the Caspian to the north and reached Europe at the Black Sea (Trebizond, Constantinople). This route traversed high mountain passes and long desert stretches, and was suitable only for the carriage of valuable articles of small bulk. For about two centuries after 1250 it was kept open by the Mongols or Tartars, who lived on good terms with the Christians; then it was blocked by the Turks.

97. Character of the crusades; number of crusaders.—To assign to economic motives the chief part in the crusades would be a distortion of the great movement which marked the life of Europe in the two centuries following 1100. Not hope of gain but vague ideals of this life and the life to come drove hundreds of thousands of men to the perilous journey to the Holy Land from which so few returned. Indirectly commerce had its share in this movement; it had drawn the peoples closer together, stimulated curiosity and broadened interests. Men sought an outlet for their surplus energy, and a relief from the monotony of medieval life; ascetic ideals imposed upon them holy tasks which they could fulfil to the benefit of their souls. The effect can be traced in an increase in the pilgrimages of individuals to holy places. The people of Europe needed only organization and a leader to unite their scattered forces; they found their organization in the church, their leader in the Pope and his delegates, their goal in the delivery of the Holy Sepulcher from the hands of the infidels who were abusing Christian pilgrims.

Any estimate of the numbers who engaged in the crusades must be pure guesswork. The statistics of medieval chronicles, always notoriously inaccurate, seem to reach the acme of unreliability in the figures of the crusaders engaged in the different expeditions. The main body of the first crusade, which started in 1095, was compared in number with the sands of the seashore or the stars in heaven; even moderate contemporaries made it 600,000 or at least 300,000 strong; perhaps it was really 100,000. There were six or eight separate expeditions lasting down to 1270, and we may say that a million men, roughly speaking, and probably many less rather than more, took part.

98. Commercial aspect of the crusades.—Even the transportation of this number of men, with their baggage and equipment, must have been a great stimulus to the growth of Mediterranean shipping. The first crusade went almost entirely by land, but the sufferings and losses were so great that crusaders were driven to the sea route, and this became gradually the regular way of reaching the Holy Land. Italian merchants accompanied the expedition from the beginning, not as real crusaders but as contractors for transportation and supplies, turning both the needs and the successes of the crusaders to their commercial profit. A fleet from Genoa and Pisa accompanied the first crusade along the coast of Syria, selling provisions. The Venetians waited until Jerusalem had been taken; then fitted out a fleet which fought the Pisans, quarreled with the Greeks, and in return for very slight services rendered to the crusaders demanded that in every city captured they should have a market, church, and freedom from taxes. “Whilst the warriors of Christendom were fighting for glory, for kingdoms, or for the tomb of Christ, the merchants of Venice fought for counting-houses, stores, or commercial privileges.” “The other crusaders obeyed the new impulse, the Venetians utilized it.”

The fourth crusade, starting soon after 1200, was fairly captured by the Venetians and turned into a commercial expedition for their profit. When the time for starting came, the feudal knights, improvident as ever, could not pay the sum agreed on for their transportation, and Venice used her power over them as debtors to force them to aid her, first to capture Zara on the Adriatic, a Christian city but a commercial rival, then to take Constantinople itself, the key to the trade of the Black Sea. The crusade accomplished nothing against the infidels; it was merely a means by which Venice built up her commercial and colonial empire at the expense of other Christians.

99. Effect of the crusades on knowledge of the East and of eastern wares.—Aside from the help which the crusades gave the Italians in building up their fleets and in establishing trading posts or colonies in the East, they were of no less importance in extending the market for eastern wares in Europe. The crusaders lost their provincialism, and acquired new fashions (shaving the beard and bathing); they became acquainted with fine stuffs and dyes and were no longer satisfied with the coarse products of home. The European vocabulary was not large enough to give names to the new acquisitions, and we can trace back to this period many words which were borrowed from Arabic, the common language of the Mohammedans: alcove, sofa, mattress, talisman, elixir; many of commercial significance, bazar, tariff, corvette, barracks. Not only the words but the things themselves became native in many cases; the crusades spread in Europe the cultivation of the lemon, apricot, watermelon, rice, and sugar cane. European literature described the marvels of the Orient, the silks of Syria, the tapestries of Persia, the precious stones and perfumes of Arabia; the names of eastern countries became familiar and knowledge of geography widened rapidly.

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