1st Edition

Byzantium, Latin Romania and the Mediterranean

By David Jacoby Copyright 2001
    352 Pages
    by Routledge

    The studies included in this latest volume by Professor Jacoby deal with demographic, social, economic and institutional issues in the history of Byzantium and Latin Romania (the Byzantine territories conquered by the Latins after the Fourth Crusade), as well as with Mediterranean trade between the 10th and the 15th century. Special attention is devoted to the following subjects: migration from Muslim countries and the West into the Empire and, after the Fourth Crusade, into former Byzantine territories; the social and economic impact of the encounter between Greeks, Jews and Westerners in Constantinople, Asia Minor and Greece; institutional and economic continuity and change in Latin Romania; trade and shipping between Byzantium, Egypt and the major Italian maritime cities; and last, to silk in Byzantium and the Mediterranean: raw materials and textiles, production and trade.

    Contents: Preface; What do we learn about Byzantine Asia Minor from the documents of the Cairo Genizah?; Byzantine Crete in the navigation and trade networks of Venice and Genoa; Les juifs de Byzance: une communauté marginalisée; The Jews of Constantinople and their demographic hinterland; The Jewish community of Constantinople from the Komnenan to the Palaiologan period; The Venetian presence in the Latin empire of Constantinople (1204-1261): the challenge of feudalism and the Byzantine inheritance; Venetian settlers in Latin Constantinople (1204-1261): rich or poor?; From Byzantium to Latin Romania: continuity and change; Italian migration and settlement in Latin Greece: the impact on the economy; Silk crosses the Mediterranean; The Jews and the silk industry of Constantinople; Index.