Byzantium, 1081-1204: An Economic Reappraisal Author(s): M. F.

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BYZANTIUM,

Io8I-I204:

AN ECONOMIC REAPPRAISAL
By M. F. Hendy, M.A.
READ 14 FEBRUARY I969

is generHE Byzantine Empire of the period Io8I-I204 considered to have been culturally brilliant but ally economically decadent. The standard against which this decadence is measured is the situation supposed to have existed during the ninth and tenth centuries when the Empire consisted basically of the Balkan coastlands, the Aegean islands and Asia Minor, and when it possessed a flourishing agriculture dependent upon a free peasantry which also supplied the manpower of its army and navy, a vital urban life, and control of its extensive internal and external trade. Its revenue was therefore assured and its coinage stable. By the twelfth century it had lost the greater part of Asia Minor which had formed the factor essential to its agricultural, military and urban life. The first two were now largely in the hands of feudal magnates who commanded ruinously expensive but unreliable mercenaries, and the trade of the Empire had fallen under the control of the Italian merchant cities. The reduced revenue was incapable of standing the strain placed upon it by increased expenses, the difference being made up by the debasement of the coinage-which caused further chaos in economic life.l A picture that is at once composite and simplified but, it is hoped, also recognizable. While some of its elements are undoubtedly correct, however, the inferences drawn from several seem
1 The economic history of the Byzantine Empire lacks adequate general treatment. The following works may be consulted: S. Runciman, Byzantine A. Andreades in Byzantium: an Civilization(London, I933), pp. I63-222; Introductionto East Roman Civilijation,eds. N. H. Baynes and H. St. L. B.
Moss (Oxford,

EconomicHistory of Europe, ii eds. M. Postan and E. E. Rich (Cambridge, I952), pp. 86-II8. Most general histories include some commentary upon economic affairs, and particularly relevant to this paper seems to be: G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, trans. J. Hussey (Oxford, 2nd edn, I968), pp. 357, 369-72, 374, 393-94.
31

1948), pp. 51-70, 7I-85;

S. Runciman in The Cambridge

32

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

consistentconclusion.

of dubiousvalidity and others are demonstrably incorrectin both respects. The majordifficulty the confronting economichistorianof the Byzantine is an almostcomplete both of official lack Empire and even of privaterecords,a problemwhich, admittedly, is shared westernmediaevalists whichfor themis increasbut by (if inglyalleviated neverto the extenttheywouldwish)fromthe twelfthcentury onwards. resultis thatthe economic The history of theEmpire throughout is basedon whatcanbe gleaned heavily fromthe occasional reference chronicles, in legal hagiographies, codes, a few monasticarchivesand descriptions foreign by travellers. Thereis no possibility quantification the detecof and tion of whole movements must rest on the chanceevidenceof individuals who not only demonstrated perverseability to a misunderstand to say flagrantly but (not misrepresent) who were notoriously of considering aboutthe information capable economyof theirstatea painto recordandan imposition upon theirreaders. The firstpartof this paperwill therefore devotedto an be at a conspectus the salientfeatures the economic of of attempt situation the twelfthcentury the sourcesdescribed during using aboveandincluding criticisms factandinference accepted of in views where they seem necessary. The second will bring the evidence archaeology theimperial of and coinage(thetwo orders of evidence permit that to estimation) bearuponthe comparative of the urbandevelopment the Empire,and utilize of problem evidenceto confirm whatappears be their to recently published

Since the ninth and tenth centuries Empirehad lost its the southern Italian andthe central of provinces plateau AsiaMinor. It had,on the otherhand,gainedthe innerBalkans since (finally retained someform (since965anduntil II9I). It hadapparently of controloverthe Crimea adjacent and southern and Russia,1 it
1 The latest treatment seems conclusive: G. G. Litavrin, 'A propos de Tmutorokan', Byjantion, xxxv (i965), pp. 221-34.

IoI8 and until the late II8os), Crete (since 96I), and Cyprus

BYZANTIUM, I08I-1204:

AN ECONOMIC REAPPRAISAL

33

had both won and lost Antioch(969/I085). The overallterritorialconcentration therefore had tendedto shiftawayfromAsia in favourof Europe,but what this represented economically remainscompletelyuncertain.For whereasone might have some discussion to the economicsignificance the as of expected of the Balkans into northof the Rhodope theEmpire, absorption it has insteadalmostexclusively revolvedroundthatof the loss of the central of AsiaMinor. plateau The area of Asia Minorremaining under directByzantine controlduringthe majorpartof the twelfthcenturycomprised the coastlands, fromTrebizond thenorth-east in roundto Attalia in the south-west, the river-valleys thewest.The western and of frontier with the Seljuks, frontier maybe termed, within if it left the EmpireMalagina, and Chonae; Laodicea but Philadelphia, between these cities, which were more or less permanently and Turkish handslay a broad imperial, thoseusuallyin various bandof disputed the perimeter the of territory, roughlymarking central andincluding suchcitiesas Castamenon, plateau Gangra, Claudiopolis, Dorylaeum, Cotyaeum, Sozopolisand Sublaeum. Comnenian seems to have followed militaryactivitytherefore the strategy securing perimeter fortifying territory of the and the behindit.' This implied distinction well havehadeconomic may It shouldbe emphasized the physicalstructure Asia that of Minor,involvinga basic divisioninto coastalplainand rivervalley over againstcentralplateau,is one which has clear-cut economic of strucrepercussions. Comparison a mapof physical ture with mapsof densityof population, annualprecipitation, naturalvegetation,land-useand agricultural will production, illustrate pointmostsatisfactorily.2 this Thoseareas arenow that
1 An attempthas been made to illustratethe extent of approximate Comnenian territoryin Asia Minorin a map to appearin: M. F. Hendy, and Oaks Coinage Moneyin theByrantine Empirezo8z-z226 (Dumbarton

significance.

Studies, xii) in press. This is largely based on the chroniclers Nicetas Choniates and John Cinnamus, and P. Charanis, 'On the Asiatic Frontiers of the Empire of Nicaea', Orientalia ChristianaPeriodica, xiii (1947), pp. 58-62. For the construction of fortressessee: H. Ahrweiler-Glykatzi, 'Les forteresses construites en Asie Mineure face a l'invasion seldjoucide', Akten des XI internationalen Byrantinistenkongresses (Munich, 1960), pp. 182-89. 2 E.g. Atlas of the Arab World and the Middle East (London, I960), pp. 6, 38-40.

34

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

the most denselypopulated, most well-watered, the with the the mostfavourable natural andallowing mostprofitvegetation ableandvaried of land,areveryheavilyconcentrated use towards the periphery the peninsula-in other words towardsthe of thoseareas coast-lands river-valleys, and whichareprecisely that werethenheldby the Comneni. implication obvious,and The is not althoughit would perhaps be possiblein any extensiveor of to provethatthe economic character thepeninabsolute way sulain the Byzantine thatof today,the probaperiodparalleled bilitythatit did is very great. But if this parallel accepted, whatstagedid it comeinto is at For althoughmuch of it is dependent being? upon natural it thatareunlikelyto havechanged radically, was at phenomena in somestageat leastlessclose.A decline the quality density and of Anatolian and agricultural urbanlife since ancienttimes is demonstrable. customary The answer would,of course,be that it musthaveoccurred of to subsequent the Seljukinvasions the But to Io70s.1 one may be permitted doubtthis. In I955 W. C. Brice(a historian wellas a geographer), an in as article whichseemsto haveremained to unknown Byzantinists,2 evidencewith whichhe soughtto prove that broughtforward the techniques Anatolian of would have tendedto agriculture declinewith the graecization romanization archaic of and Phryof had giansociety,andthatthedeterioration thelandscape commencedshortlybefore the opening of the Christian era. He out thatthe features characterize deterioration; this that pointed the denudation topsoil;recession forestsandgradual of of desicmustbe geologically characterconnected theequally with cation, isticsiltingup of river-mouths conversion fertilelowlands and of into malarial thatis to be foundat several alongthe swamp places coast. Historical evidencequiteclearlydemonstrates these that had well processes beenalready advanced the earlyByzantine by the immediate causehaving perhaps been the reckless period, of large-scale commercial spread duringthe Hellenistic farming andRomanperiods. evidence theurban for Documentary historyof laterByzantine
1
2

jusqu'en zo8z (Nancy, I913), pp.

E.g. J. Laurent, Byrance et les turcs seldjoucidesdans l'Asie occidentale

I02-09.

W. C. Brice, 'The Turkish Colonization of Anatolia', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xxxviii (1955-56), pp. 18-44.

BYZANTIUM, IO8I--I204:

AN ECONOMIC REAPPRAISAL

35

Anatoliais sparseand curiouslycontradictory.lOn the one hand the Notitiae Episcopatuum the eighth and ninth centuriesseem of to exhibit continuity and even expansionin the number of sees. This is equatedby Ostrogorsky with an increasein the number of cities,2but even if such a directrelationship were acceptableon other grounds (and it was not due, for instance, to a general reduction in the size of sees and a consequent increase in their number)it is considerablydamagedby the iconodule accusation that ConstantineV creatednew sees in order to pack them with supportersof his own religious persuasion.3And on the other hand, as Charanishas observed,4all that is known of the general facts of the contemporarysituation seems to require a drastic reduction of both rural and urban life: at least two devastating bouts of plague, under JustinianI and Constantine V; Persian invasions under Phocas and Heraclius;continuous and deeply penetratingArab invasions from the mid-sixth to the mid-ninth century and, in addition, a destructivecivil war (that of Thomas the Slav) under MichaelII. It is in this context that the evidence of two ninth-century Arabic sources should be read. The first states that: 'In the days of old cities were numerous in Rum [Anatolia] but now they have becomefew. Most of the districtsareprosperousandpleasant
1 The state of Byzantine cities in general during the seventh to ninth centuries forms a problem that has already given rise to a number of articles.

A list of the mainonesshouldinclude: P. Kazhdan, A. 'Vizantiiskie gorodav VII-XI vekakh', Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, xxi (I954), pp. 164-83; P. 'The Significance Coinsas Evidencefor the Historyof Athens of Charanis, and Corinth in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries',Historia,iv (I955), Citiesin the EarlyMiddleAges', pp. 163-72; G. Ostrogorsky,'Byzantine
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, xiii (959), pp. 47-66; the various papers and

in commentaries Actesdu XIIe Congres i d'ttudes By;antines, International

tine Gold Coins(668-741)fromthe ThomasWhittemore Collection the and NumismaticEvidencefor the Urban History of Byzantium', Recueildes

(Belgrade, 1963), pp. 1-44, 275-98; S. Vryonis, 'An Attic Hoard of Byzan-

travaux de l'Institut d'Studes byrantines,viii (Belgrade, I963) (Melanges G. Ostrogorsky,i), pp. 291-300; E. Frances, 'La ville byzantine et la monnaie auxVIIe-VIIIesiecles',By~antinobulgarica, (1966),pp. 3-14. The usemade ii

of numismatic material leavesmuchto be desired.

2
3

Ostrogorsky, 'Byzantine Cities', pp. 52-61. Ibid., p. 59; Frances, 'La ville byzantine', p. 4. 4 P. Charanis, 'Observations on the Demography of the Byzantine Empire', Proceedingsof the XIIIth InternationalCongressof Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 1967), Main Paper xiv, pp. 454--59.

36

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

on and have each an extremely strongfortress, accountof the for of theraids whichthefighters thefaithdirectupon frequency them.To eachvillageappertains castlewherein timesof flight a to takeshelter.'l Kordadhbeh appears makea also Ibn they may distinction between'cities',of whichhe namesonly a few, and 'fortresses' 'fortified or of places' whichtherewerea muchlarger
number.2

It may well be that in the final analysisof mid-Byzantine Anatoliawe must envisagea small numberof mainlycoastal cities(suchas Trebizond, and Smyrna Attalia)anda largerone of fortresses fortified or eachthe focalpointof a relatownlets, rural Sucha system wouldtendto be geared tivelyrestricted area. needs to meet military,administrative local agricultural and and would affordlittle opportunity or meansof, industrial for, and mercantile Indeed,the basic unit of middle development. the theme, administration, large,essentially Byzantine military is not one that is easily reconcilable urban with an advanced economy. In summary, even allowingfor a degreeof urban therefore, the the centuries, supposedly recovery during tenthandeleventh crucial of central role in life Anatolia the economic of theEmpire shouldbe viewedwithsuspicion. Suchevidence thereis points as to it havingbeenof valueforits agricultural than rather its urban at life, and even the formermay have been conducted a lower in level thanpreviously, mainemphasis both respects the having shiftedto the coastlands river-valleys remained the that in and of the Comnenithroughout twelfthcentury.3 the possession Certain of and aspects thecivil,military administrative systems of the Comneni Angeli,against background whichany and of the evaluation theeconomy of musttakeplace,havebeenthe subject of studies Ahrweiler Lemerle. and by The armycontained appreciable an of proportion mercenary
1
2

Hydad al 'Xlam: The Regions of the World,trans. V. Minorsky (Oxford,

Ibn Khordadhbeh,trans. M. J. de Goeje (Leiden, 1889), pp. 77-80. Certainly this tendency seems alreadypresent in a list of majorAnatolian cities occurring in Theophanes' chronicle drawn up by Ostrogorsky in his article on Byzantine cities (pp. 61-62, note 64). Of the total of 34 cities usually in Byzantine hands during the seventh to ninth centuries no less than 20 are definitely in the coastal plain, and only 9 definitely on the plateau, many of these having obvious military functions. Five form marginal cases.
3

1937), P. 157.

BYZANTIUM, 1081-1204:

AN ECONOMIC REAPPRAISAL

37

and elements,a fact commentedupon by both mediaeval1 modern

of authors, althoughone may suspectthatnumbers themwere records andNicetasChoniates in hiredfor particular campaigns thatthe Byzantines a general themselves (anddisapproving) way attractive.2 cameto finda military career increasingly The navy,now the betterknownof the two military services, I its seemsto havereached twelfth-century apogeeunderManuel andfromthenon to havebeenneglected.3 (1143-80) nor It is, however, neither composition eventhe degreeof the successachievedby the militaryservicesthat is of economic interest, althoughone may in passingnote thatthereseemsno be reasonwhy mercenaries should in themselves less general indicaefficient reliable thannativetroops,andno particular and tion thatthey wereso duringthe courseof the twelfthcentury. In fact,the principal cost economic involvesthe overall problem of the military or with eitherabsolutely in comparison services, in thatof previous and centuries, themethods employed payment cashsalaryand the -the distinction betweenthe regular lying from grantof landaccompanied the rightto taxesaccruing by it (thepronoiagrant).Concerning or even comtheirabsolute cost it wouldbe best to admitthatno evidenceexists, parative is must the although accepted supposition thatsincemercenaries be moreexpensive thannativetroopsthe comparative had cost
York,
I948]),

1 For instance,Odo of Deuil, De LudoviciVII in Orientem, Profectione ed. V. G. Berry(Recordsof Civilization, Sourcesand Studies,xlii [New
Lavra, eds. G. Rouillard and P. Collomp, i (Paris, I937), no. 41, p. III;
(Vienna, 1890), p. 47.

French,Germans, Turks,Alans, Abasgi and others-Actes de Bulgarians,

p. 88. Byzantine sources record Russians, Varangians,English,

Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, eds. F. Miklosich G. Miller, vi and

2 Nicetas Choniates, Bonn edn, p. 273. Concerning size of the conthe Manuel, Byzantine temporary armyvirtually nothingis known:the Emperor writingto HenryII of England,recordsthatthe armytakenon the Myrioand the out cephalum campaign, including baggageandsiegetrain,stretched over ten mileswhen movingin file owing to the difficulties the terrainof but this is incapable verification. A. A. Vasiliev,'Manuel of See Comnenus andHenryPlantagenet', xxix By{antinische Zeitschrift, (1929/30),pp. 237-38. 3 H. Ahrweiler, et pp. By5ance la mer(Paris,1966),particularly I75-297. An interesting of in description the fleetsent againstAlexandria Manuel, by I I69, and recorded Williamof Tyre, confirms the strengthand elaboraby tion of contemporary Byzantinenaval forces:HistoriaRerumin Partibus

TransmarinisGestarum,20, xiii (Recueildes historiensdes croisades:historiens occidentaux,t. i, pt. ii [Paris, 1844], p. 96I).

38

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

risen.Eventhe extentto whichthepronoia grantwas utilizedat is for this comparatively stageof its existence a matter disearly it cussion:Ostrogorsky would seemto regard as in widespread underAlexiusI (Io8I-III8), but with a significant use already under Lemerle woulddoubtits predominance Manuel;' expansion evenunder latter the The crucial is, question of course, Emperor.2 services the rendered thegrantees whether military by adequately of the compensated statefor the surrender its rightsof taxation: the if they did, then, howeversociallyunpopular, institution forms merely anothermethod of paymentand is devoid of Sincethe grantwasas yet not economic immediate consequence. and was strictlycontrolled remained in inalienable, hereditary, not havebeenso overtlyunfavourable. size,3the balance may The revivalof powerfularmedforcesby the Comneniwas of accompanied a reformof the machinery civil andmilitary by administration.4 the extentthatits endwasthemorecomplete To of of resources the Empire and integration the economic military it contrasted with the policy of the previousregime,but the meansemployedto achievethis end, centralization, very was mucha feature the preceding of And it wassurelyin this period. thanin any immediate economic rather policy of centralization, or trend,that lay the greatestdangerto the Comnenian event of reconstruction the Empire. it was fundamentally For incomof patiblewith the majorsocial phenomenon the times: the interest.5 Now it is by no means growthof the greatterritorial
1 G.
2

Ostrogorsky, Pour l'histoirede lafeodalite byzantine(Brussels, 1954),

P. Lemerle, 'Recherches sur le regime agrairea Byzance: la terre militaire a l'epoque des Comnenes', Cahiersde civilisationmedievaleXe-XIIIe siecles,
ii (I959), pp. 265-81.
3

pp. 26-54.

G. Ostrogorsky, Quelques problemesd'histoirede la paysanneriebyrantine

Ahrweiler, Byjance et la mer, pp.

4 Typified by the strengthening of the position of the logothetes ton sekreton,controlling and coordinating all the various governmental departments; the creation of the post of megas logariastes,coordinating the genikon and stratiotikon-the financial and military departments;the unification of military and naval command under the megas domestikosand megas doux respectively;the eventual re-establishmentof a themal system, each under the short-term civil and military control of its doux kai anagrapheus. See:

(Brussels, 1956), pp. 25-40.

5 There should be a close connexion between the growth of the territorial interest and the rapidly developing sense of family and descent as expressed

200-I

I, 272-79.

BYZANTIUM, Io8I-I204:

AN ECONOMIC REAPPRAISAL

39

obvious that the territorialinterestas evolved in Byzantiumwas an immediate economic disadvantage in itself-agricultural efficiencyis one possible beneficiary,and surplusproducehas to be sold in any case-but the potential political and economic threat to the centralgovernment is clear. Although there seems to be no particular evidence that the Comnenianemperorswere threatenedin either way, once the dynasty had estabactively lished itself, the incompatibilitywould have remainedand even increased.The days when the momentumof government could be kept up by the system alone without constant and consistent directionfrom above had long passed,and although the personal qualities of Alexius, John and Manuel were sufficient to ensure its maintenancethe inherent crisis very quickly followed the death of the last of them, in i I80. When the course of events in time-and by chance-threw up an emperor(IsaacII Angelus, I 185-95) who was of a family of comparatively minor and recent the eminence,andnot himselfastrongcharacter, conflictof interests became blatant and active. The machinery of government remained,but its properfunctioningwas now continuallythwarted.1 The most importantfeatureof the twelfth century,with regard to the Mediterranean a whole, is customarily-and correctlyas consideredto have been the emergenceof the Christiancountries of its western half into a stage of developmentwhere they were in a position to play an active and even decisive political and economic role; hitherto the prerogative of the Christianand Muslimcountriesof its easternhalf. But the speed with which the eventual western economic strangleholdwas established(its political initiativeswere far less successful) should not be exaggerated.There is no evidence, as sometimesalleged,2that a shift in trade-routesbegan to deprive the Empire of the trafficthat directly and indirectly provided it with what must have been an important element of its total revenue. By its very geographical situation Constantinople
illustratedin: D. I. Polemis, The Doukai, a Contribution Byzantine to
1 Forexample, Lemerle, P. 'Notessurl'administration a byzantine la veille de la IVe croisaded'apresdeux documentsineditsdes archives Lavra', de

in the evolution of multiple surnames. The course of the latter is well Prosopography(London, I968).

Revue des etudesbyzantines,xix (1961), pp. 258-72. 2

Runciman, Byzantine Civilization, I69. p.

40

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

straddleda main north-southtrade axis, and as long as the Asia held most or all of the strategic Empire portsof southern it Minor,Cyprus,Creteandthe southern Peloponnese, stood to derivesimilar benefitsfrom the maineast-westone. The testiof mony of the mid-twelfth-century SpanishJew, Benjamin satire Timarion Tudela, and the more or less contemporary the international if was confirm, confirmation needed, continuing statusof Constantinople Thessalonica.1 and no It maybe (although figures exist)thatthe relative proportion of Mediterranean thatwas carried Byzantine trade by shipwhen the sincethe ninthandtenthcenturies, ping had declined than had advanced economically mostof its Empire beenfurther and all of its westernand northern ones. But it is neighbours, thatbecause was not now it an adventurous surely proposition capableof both producingraw materialsand manufactured in the goods,andproviding bottoms whichthebulkof themwere it thereforesufferedeconomic harm. Despite the exported, merchant class was in decline, that the Byzantine assumption the of evidenceindicates presence twelfth-century documentary its membersat both ends of the Mediterranean: Alexandria, Barcelona Beziers.2 and Evidencefor Byzantine shippingtends to be confined, the natureof its largelymonastic by origins,to of marine.3 the existence an internal indicating of customs-rates westernmerto The concession favourable chants(immunity Venetians, percentfor PisansandGenofor 4 io a ese, in placeof thenormal percent)hasoccasioned good deal of unfavourable comment,on the groundsthat it must have involvedconsiderable losses to imperial revenue.The situation seemsmorecomplex.Concessions werestill, at this period,freto for quently subject restriction-either geographically, instance
1 The Itineraryof Benjaminof Tudela,trans. M. N. Adler (London, 1907), pp. 12, I3; 'Timario sive de Passionibus ejus', ed. M. Hase in Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la BibliothequeImperiale, et autres bibliotheques
(Paris, 1813), pp. I7I-73
2

delle cittd Itinerary, trans. Adler, pp. 2, 3, 76; Documenti sulle relaZione toscane coll' Oriente Cristianoe coi Turchi, ed. G. Miiller (Florence, I879), no. 41, pp. 66-67; S. D. Goitein, A MediterraneanSociety, i, Economic Foundations(University of California, 1967), pp. 44-46. 3 There is, for example, a useful list of fiscal immunities accorded the ships of various monasteries in H. Antoniadis-Bibicou, Etudes d'histoiremaritime de ByZanced propos du 'Theme des Caravisiens'(Paris, 1966), pp. I32-33.

(2e partie).

BYZANTIUM, IO8I-I204:

AN ECONOMIC REAPPRAISAL

41

excluding Cyprus or the Black Sea, or in distinguishingbetween internal trading and exportation.' Most were granted comparasince the overall volume of east-west trade increasedvery considerably in the course of the twelfth century2 it would seem logical to suppose that the long-term increasewould have tended to compensatefor the short-termloss, at least in the case of Pisa and Genoa. In the case of Venice it should be observed that the residenceand operationof numbersof foreign merchantswithin the Empire are likely to have entailedthe kind of benefit that is difficultto measureat the best of times: the investmentof capital and reinvestmentof profit.Since customs concessionsthemselves tend to encourage trade it should also be observed that any increase in demand for Byzantine products on the part of the west should have had the result of either stimulatingByzantine production or of increasing the prices that they were able to charge-or of course, both. As to the actualbalance of trade, it is supposedby Lopez to have remainedfavourableto the Byzantines throughoutthe twelfth century.3 None of these trends,it must be added, is capableof proof or some or disproof by figures,but given the known circumstances all of them ought to have occurred,and they should at least be kept in mind when attemptingto evaluate the effect of western involvement in Byzantine economic life, particularlybefore the establishmentof physically separateand self-sufficientcolonies
such as those set up by Venice after I204 and by Genoa after I261. tively early (1082 for Venice, I I I I for Pisa, 115 for Genoa), and

II By this stage it must have become quite clear that the sources of evidence so far used are, by their nature,not those that can, or
2 An that or to impression wouldbe difficult impossible prove,but which is generally Absolutenumbers westernresidents the Empire for of accepted. are rareand probablyexaggerated. of Eustathius Thessalonica reportsthat thereweresixtythousand in westerners Constantinople the secondhalfof in

1 H. Antoniadis-Bibicou, Recherchessur les douanes a Byiance (Paris, I963), pp. I24-25, 152-53, etc.

the twelfth century (Bonn edn, p. 394). The Historia Ducum Veneticorum of 1171. See: ed. H. Simonsfeld, MGH, SS, xiv, p. 78.
3

in Venetians Romania I 70, in (vi), claimsthatthereweretwentythousand of whomten thousand werecaughtin Constantinople Manuel's measures by R. S. Lopezin TheCambridge Economic ii, Historyof Europe, p. 309.

42

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

can be expected to, provide absolute or even comparative

information.

the is The casethatfollows,forming secondpartof thispaper, of therefore fromtheevidence theimperial constructed primarily and investigation, only coinageandthe resultsof archaeological fromthe type of sourceutilizedabove.It restsupon secondarily the the generalassumption that,when backedby archaeology, patternof the coinageand the organizational systemby which it was produced should,overan extended periodandpossiblyat some relativelyshort chronological remove, bear some close to economiclife. In relationship the qualityof contemporary otherwordsit shouldwith all due qualification, allow of some is A evaluation. further, moreparticular, comparative assumption thatthecredit of facilities available thegovernments theperiod to wereof aninsufficiently andflexible to character allowthem large to ride out a chronicand appreciable deficitwithout budgetary therebeing some visibleand fairlyimmediate effectupon their
coinage.'

The denominational patternof the monetarysystem of the middleByzantine period,from the eighth to the late eleventh with century,compares unfavourably those of the periodspreand succeeding Whereas it. thatof the preceding ceding period
1 Credit facilities on this scale demand the existence of an appreciable number of great merchants or bankers. There is no evidence for such a class in the Byzantine Empire, and in view of the continual governmental restrictions placed upon private economic activity this is hardly surprising. When a Byzantine emperor needed large amounts of cash at short notice he resorted to the regalia, the Church or the magnates. But these were only short-term measures. When, at a later period, he floated loans, he went to foreign states-particularly Venice. Psellus, in a laudatory description of Michael VII, describes him as knowledgeable in financial matters, but in listing them gives the distinct impression that this involved coinage and annual revenue and expenditure only, credit and loan being ignored completely. It is probably for this reason that Byzantine authors directly equate the physical emptiness of the treasury with imperial bankruptcy. See: Psellus, Michael VII (ii); ed. E. Renauld (Paris, 1928), ii, p. 173: Anna Comnena, 5 (i, ii); Bonn ed., i, pp. 225-27. ily (Io9os), shows the kind of wealth available to magnates of the period. pendant la premiere moitie du XIIe siecle', ByZantinobulgarica, ii, pp. io7125.

A recent study of the wills of two membersof the Pacourianus fam-

See:P. Tivchevand G. Changova-Petkova, sujetdes relations 'Au f6odales dansles territoires sous la domination a bulgares byzantine la fin du XIe et

BYZANTIUM, IO8I--I204:

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43

possessedan adequatefractionalcoinage in gold, the semissis(1) and tremissis(-), in additionto the unit, an admittedlyephemeral silver coinage, and a complex range of minor denominationsin copper,' that of the middle period with rareexceptionsconsisted of three denominations only. These comprised the gold unit (nomisma), the silver twelfth (miliaresion)and the copper two hundredand eighty-eighth (follis), the last still involving a comwith an appreciablymore flexible spreadof denominationscame into circulation.This involved the gold unit (hyperpyron), the electrum third and billon forty-eighth (later the hundred and twentieth,both denominationsbeing classedas trachea),and two copper denominations,the tetarteronand its half, of uncertain value but certainlyless than the old follis.3 The organizationalsystem which producedthe coinage shows a parallelsequence of development. The intricatemachineryof provincial mints that had marked the early period4 contracted even more than strictly required by the territoriallosses that heraldedits end. Despite the fact that parts of the outer Balkans and the whole of Asia Minor remainedwithin the Empire, the mint of Thessalonica and those of Nicomedia, Cyzicus and Antioch ceased production during the first half of the seventh never recoveredfrom century,the Asian mints having apparently the Persian invasions and Antioch having closed well before it
1 Basically consisting of the 40 nummia piece (the follis), and pieces of 20, Io, 5 and i nummus. Thessalonica and Alexandria struck on variant scales.

paratively large fraction.2 It was not until the monetary reforms carriedout by Alexius I, in or about the year 1092, that a system

A. R. Bellinger, Catalogueof the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collectionand in the Whittemore Collection,i (Washington, D.C., 1966), pp. 3, 34, 64-65, I96-97, 264-65, 292-93; P. Grierson, Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collectionand in the Whittemore
2 From the reign of Leo III, the semissis and tremissis were struck on a nominal scale only; the half-follis was also struck occasionally (for instance under Theophilus, see p. 44, n. 2), but the generalization stands. 3 Hendy, op. cit., pp. 10-25. 4 The mints in more or less continuous operation (particularlyfor copper) were: Constantinople, Thessalonica, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, Antioch, Alexandria, Carthage, Sicily, Rome and Ravenna. Various others, mainly military, operated on a temporary basis. See: Bellinger, locc. citt; Grierson, locc. citt.

Collection, ii (Washington, D.C., I969), pp. 8-32, 524, 574, 6II, 625, 647, 666, 674, 685.

15I, 209, 242-43, 4I8-I9,

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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

fell to theArabs.1 a of under Although reform thecopper coinage (829-42) apparentlyrequiredthe temporaryservices Theophilus of anadditional there mint,possibly Thessalonica,2 is throughout to no reason believethatanyotherthanConstantinople norwas X It the mallyin operation.3 wasonlyduring reignof Constantine on was (I059-67) thatthe mintof Thessalonica reopened a permanentbasis,and in about 1092 thata further mint, provincial locatedin central commenced Greece, probably production.4 is the Nothingabsolute knownconcerning volumeof thecointhat had produced age.5The systemof workshops(officinae) and contracted both gold and copperseemsto have gradually the eighth century,6 this might but finallydisappeared during be rather economic than causes, conceivably dueto administrative as indeedmighteven be the casewith the closingof provincial mints.It is noticeable, however,thattheirprivymarks reappear on the precious-metal the coinageof perhaps tenthcenturyand the certainly eleventh,reachinga climaxin numberand comof the plexityduringthe twelfth.By this criterion, production
1 According to present information, Thessalonica closed in 630, Nicomedia in 627, Cyzicus in 629, and Antioch in 6io. Grierson, op. cit., pp. 36, 37, 38, 4o. 2 This seems the obvious conclusion of the statistics given by D. M. Metcalf in 'The Reformed Folles of Theophilus: their Styles and Localization', American Numismatic Society Museum Notes, xiv (1968), pp. I32-33. Metcalf prefers to give his characteristicgroups S and Z to separatemints in central or southern Greece ratherthan to Thessalonica, but this follows from his suggestion of a pattern of provincial mints that this author finds unconvincing. Metcalf's group A, which he assigns to Thessalonica, seems, in turn, to be a Constantinopolitan half-follis. 3 Despite attempts to prove the contrary. See in particular:D. M. Metcalf, 'The New Bronze Coinage of Theophilus and the Growth of the Balkan Themes', ANS Museum Notes, x (1962), pp. 8I-98-a first statement of the thesis later elaborated in the article quoted in note 2 above in the light of criticisms expressed by A. R. Bellinger in: 'Byzantine Notes', ANS Museum Notes, xiii (1967), pp. 136-41. Also, D. M. Metcalf, Coinagein the Balkans
820-z355 (Thessaloniki, Numismatik, xv (I96I), pp. 31-35. 4 Hendy, op. cit., pp. 78, 98-IOI,
5

Byzantine Bronze Coinage of the IIth Century', HamburgerBeitrdge ~ur A subject that has already provided considerable controversy. For the latest general statement, see P. Grierson, 'Byzantine Coinage as Source Material', Proceedings of the XIIIth International Congress of Byjantine
Studies, Main Paper x, pp. 321-23. 6 Bellinger, 'Byzantine Notes', pp. 123-3I.
128-29.

I965), pp. 31-34; 'Provincial

Issues among the

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45

(that is gold and electrum)tendedto rise throughprecious-metal out the first half of the twelfth century, then levelled off without any hint of a radical decline at least until its last five years, when the evidence becomes uncertain.' In the sophisticationof its denominational pattern,the organizational system which produced it, and possibly even in its volume, the coinage of the twelfth century thereforerepresents a level equalled only by that of the sixth. It is certainly to be regardedas a more flexible and efficientinstrumentof exchange than the stable but rigid, sparseand in a word primitivesystem Although prevailingbetween the eighth and eleventh centuries.2 not entirely incompatiblewith an advancedand lively economy, the coinage of the middle period of Byzantinehistory betraysno hint of its existence.3 The evidence of the coinage as such is confirmedin two ways by that of archaeologicalexcavation. The cities that have been excavatedand from which the coin-findsare more or less known are, in Europe, Corinth and Athens, in Asia Sardis,Pergamum, Priene and Antioch.4In all cases the patternof finds is essentially the same, even if accountis taken only of that denomination(the follis) which was common to the currency of the entire period present large numbersof coins of the emperorsof the sixth and the first half of the seventh century, almost none of those of the
1
2

from Anastasius I to Nicephorus III (491-Io8I).

There are

whichis stability behind havebeenpointedout by R. S. Lopezin 'TheDollar 3 The debasement the gold coinage,whichnormally of assumes suchimin portance accountsof the Byzantine coinageduringthe eleventhcentury, was in fact a temporary probablycausedmore by imperial phenomenon and defeatandits consequences rather than irresponsibility eventual military economic trends. thelasthadeverexistedtheyhadapparently If by long-term
ceased to be operative by the year 1092. See Hendy, op. cit., pp. 316-19. 4 K. M. Edwards, Corinth,vi, Coins(Cambridge, Mass., 1933), pp. 121-50; M. Thompson, The Athenian Agora, ii, Coinsfrom the Roman throughthe Venetian Period (Princeton, 1954), pp. 67-75; H. W. Bell, Sardis, xi(i), Coins (Leiden, I9I6), pp. 76-108; S. McA. Mosser, A Bibliography of of the Middle Ages', Journal of EconomicHistory, xi (I95 I), pp. 209-34.

Hendy, op. cit., pp. I81-87, 315-I6. The possible economic drawbacksto a coinage the predominant motive

lxvii ByzantineCoinHoards,ANS NumismaticNotes and Monographs,

(New York, I935), pp. 64-65, 70; D. B. Waage, Antioch-on-the-Orontes, iv(ii), Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Crusaders' Coins (Princeton, 1952), pp. 148-68.
TRANS. 5TH S.-VOL. 20-D

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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

periodfromthe secondhalfof the seventhdown to (andincluding) the firsthalf of the ninthcentury,and then at firstslowly, to numbers the end of the eleventh laterrapidly, cenincreasing The representation the twelfthcentury in Europe, from is, tury.1 in quite overwhelming, Asia less strong althoughit picks up the secondhalf of the centuryand continues into againduring This difference be due to reasonsof coin the thirteenth. may as circulation well as to political events.2 of evidence Thereis a smallamount additional the confirming common thesemajor to series. Sucharethefew Byzantine pattern coinsfromthe Troy excavations-andthis despitethe factthat, althoughby now a merevillage,it lay nearthe majornorthMetcalf noticedthe samefor surface has southsearoute.3 findsin south-central Anatolia.4 At Corinth and Athens the numismatic evidence can be to checked reference urbanconstruction population. and At by Corinththe depressed remnant the late Romanand early of Byzantinecity stagnatedthroughoutthe seventh and eighth An centuries. appreciable stillslow recovery but took placefrom the beginningof the ninth centuryuntil, to quote Scranton: construction accelerated aroundthe middleof the 'Apparently a eleventhcentury, and reaching climax almostfillingthe whole the Agoraareaaround middleof the twelfthcentury.... As we have frequently the formof the mediaeval observed, developed at was community Corinth thatof the secondhalfof the twelfth This expansion industrial entrepreneurial was and as century.'5 well as residential. The same sequenceof development seems
1 The seriesfromAntiochis, it is sincethe city was in true, anomalous, Arabhandsduringthe seventhto tenthcenturies. is noticeable, It however, that althoughit fell to the Arabsshortlyafterthe battleof Yarmuk 636, in Byzantinecoins continue to appearup to and including the reign of
2 The dominant elementof the circulating mediumin Greeceseemsto havebeenthe low-valuecopper and tetarteron its half;thatin AsiaMinorthe billontrachywhich would, becauseof its value,tend to have higher-value been lost less. See Hendy,op. cit., p. 3II. 3 A. R. Bellinger, ii, Troy,Supplementary (Princeton Monograph theCoins

Constans II (641-68) and only then cease. See Waage, op. cit., pp. I64-66.

/Cincinnati,
5

4D. M. Metcalf, 'How Extensive the Issueof Follesduringthe Years was 775-820?' By[antion, xxxvii (1967), p. 306.

I96I), pp. I8I-82.

of Corinth(Princeton, I957), pp. 53, 57.

R. L. Scranton, Corinth, Mediaeval in Architecture the Central Area xvi,

BYZANTIUM, IO8I-1204:

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Barneaand Diaconu have clear at Athens,1and Condurachi, at in a significant increase the intensityof occupation reported sites on the lowerDanubefromthe reignof AlexiusI onwards, of by accompanied the more constantappearance imported frehavenoticedthe increasingly andHawkins Mango objects.2 of endowment decoration religiouscomand quentfoundation, in the munities churches Cyprus and during courseof the twelfth
century.3This they attributeto the growing politicalimportance of the island and a consequentenhancementof imperialinterest, but while such an explanationmay contain an element of truth the phenomenon is better understood against a background of since the economic and even demographicexpansionparticularly of cases involve not public and imperial,but privateand majority aristocraticbenefactions.A brief survey also suggests that the phenomenon might not be confined to Cyprus4and brings to mind interestingwestern parallels. The consistency of the evidence providedby the coinage, and sites, is impressive,and it may be by coin-findson archaeological it is now time to acceptthe fact that this particular suggested that patternof occurrenceis likely to be more or less standard,with the possibleexceptionof seriesfrom such cities as Constantinople and Thessalonica.5The crucial point is, however, that unless Corinth and Athens are completely atypical what produces this patternare paralleldevelopmentsin populationand construction.
1 For instance, T. L. Shear, 'The Campaign of 1936', Hesperia,vi (1937),
p. 342.

2 E. Condurachi, I. Barnea, P. Diaconu, 'Nouvelles recherches sur le Limes byzantin du Bas-Danube aux Xe-XIe siecles', Proceedings of the XIIIth InternationalCongressof Byzantine Studies, Main Paper vi, p. I93. 3 C. Mango and E. J. W. Hawkins, 'The Hermitage of St Neophytos and its Wall Paintings', DumbartonOaks Papers, xx (1966), pp. 204-6. 4 It is once more difficult to attempt a comparison with other periods, but an article by C. Delvoye ('L'architecture byzantine au XIe siecle', Proof ceedingsof the XIIIth InternationalCongress ByzantineStudies, pp. 225-34) seems to suggest a peak of construction at about this time. 5 The coin series from excavations in and around the hippodrome at Constantinople during the years 1927/28 show less consistent signs of this pattern, although traces of the decline between the early eighth and midninth centuries still occasionally occur. See A. H. M. Jones in Preliminary of Report upon the Excavations CarriedOut in the Hippodrome Constantinople in z.927 (London, 1928), pp. 46-50, and B. Gray in SecondReport upon the Excavations CarriedOut In and Near the Hippodromeof Constantinople in 1928 (London, I929), p. 50.

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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

add Two recently articles weightto thisconclusion. published Tivchev, in a short study of the urbanhistoryof the Empire evibetweenIo8I and 1204, basedmainlyon the documentary denceof Benjamin Tudela, of andcontemporary Edrisi, Byzantine in as viewstheperiod oneof expansion urban chroniclers, populain and tion,industry trade-particularly theEuropean provinces: a positionaccepted principle Charanis.1 in by Finally,Goitein has publishedthe text of a letter from a Jewish immigrant
written at Seleuciain Isauria(then, in 1137, an area of political and economic importance)to a relative in Cairo. In the course of the letter the immigrantdescribeshis present materialprosperity and encourageshis relativeto follow his own example,and that of eleven other Jews known to them, and to emigrateto the Empire. Goitein comments: 'This reflects the state of relative security and prosperityenjoyed by the ByzantineEmpireat that time, over sixty years after the Seljukinvasion'.2 III While the continued existence of cities, industry and trade during the seventh to tenth centuries cannot be doubted, the physical evidence for the quality of contemporaryurban life is consistently unfavourableto the supposition that it was comparableto that of the sixth or the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Pergamumand Priene were ports, and Sardishad formerlybeen one of the majorcities of the westernriver-valleyand roadsystem of Asia Minor.Yet their evidence differsin no great respectfrom that of Corinth and Athens. Urban populationwas small;it did not have an efficientmeans of exchangeat its disposal, and such small change as was provided was evidently little used, since it was little lost. There can have been little industry and therefore tradecannot have been on any large scale, except possibly where basic materialsand foodstuffs were concerned.3It is submitted
bulgarica,i (I962), pp. I45-82; Charanis,'Observations on the Demography of the Byzantine p. Empire', 460. 2 S. D. Goitein, 'A letter from Seleucia (Cilicia) dated 21 July 1137',
Speculum, xxxix (I964), pp. 298-303.
3

1 P. Tivchev, 'Sur les cites byzantinesau XIe-XIIe siecles',Byjantino-

Cf E. Frances, 'L'empereur Nicephore ier et le commerce maritime

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that the materialused to produce this conclusion is of a kind qualitativelyand quantitativelymore reliable than that used to produce a contrary one, largely based on the occasional documentary referenceand employing unverifiablefigures likely to lend it a spuriousair of exactitude.Comparisonwith contemporary western materialshows that the use of monetary terms in legal documents is not necessarily a reliable indication of the existenceof a monetaryeconomy of any depth, and an acquaintance with the monetaryand taxationpolicies of the late Roman and early Byzantine Empires shows the same to be potentially true of an apparentabundanceof gold coin.' Those who would assertthe existenceof a flourishingindustry and tradeas a corollaryto a vital urbanlife at this periodhave not only the lack of physical evidence to contend with, but where externaltradeis concerned,a furtherand more generalconsideration. This is that the Byzantineshave to be shown to be capable of producing appropriatequantities of goods; the means and opportunityof shipping them have to be shown to have existed; and, finally, other communitieshave to be shown to be capable of paying for and absorbing them. The evidence for this is singularlyunpromising. All that is known of contemporarysocieties in the west, the inner Balkans, and Russia from the seventh to tenth centuries shows them to have been at a low level of economicdevelopment. In this context it should be remembered that as late as the reign
of Michael IV (I034-41)

taxation in kind to taxation in coin in the recently reconquered Bulgarianthemes had provoked a serious revolt.2 The evidence for large-scaletrade with and within the west is tenuous, to say the least,3and such exportsas therewere from these threeregions
byzantin', By{antinoslavica,xxvii (I966), pp. 41-47; J. L. Teall, 'The Grain Supply of the Byzantine Empire, 330-1025', Dumbarton Oaks Papers, xiii 1 C. M. Cipolla, Money, Prices and Civilizationin theMediterraneanWorld (Princeton/Cincinnati, I956), pp. 3-12; J. P. C. Kent, 'Gold Coinage in the Later Roman Empire', in Essays in Roman Coinage Presented to Harold
Mattingly (Oxford, I956), pp.
2

a Byzantine attempt to switch from

(I959), pp. 89-I39.

190-204.

3 P.

Cedrenus; Bonn edn, ii, p. 530.

Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc., Fifth Series, ix (I959), pp. 123-40.

'Commerce the DarkAges:a Critique the Evidence', in of Grierson,

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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

were almost entirely of a primary nature.l In default of large amounts of money or bullion to make up the difference they would have sufficed to purchase only a limited amount of manufactured,luxury goods that are known to have been the and goal of the exchange,2 the large-scalesaleof which might have stimulated Byzantine industry. Strict governmental regulation of the quality, quantityand type of Byzantineexportsis unlikely to have made the process any easier.3Although trade with the more advancedArab countriesof the east and south might have provided the requiredindustrial stimulus and some degree of such trade can be shown to have existed, the main trade-axisof the Arab world seems, on good evidence, to have been aligned on an east-west basis ratherthan a north-south one.4 It is the eleventh and twelfth centuries, on the contrary, that represent the apogee of Byzantine mercantile development, the fragmented economies of the thirteenth-despite a modest and mainly agricultural prosperity in Asia Minor5being too overshadowedby the colossal disasterof the Fourth Crusade. This development was doubtless the product of many and
1 For the Russian trade see: A. A. Vasiliev, 'Economic Relations between Byzantium and Old Russia', Journal of Economic and Business History, iv (I931-32), pp. 314-34. For the western see: Urkunden{ur alterenHandelsund Staatsgeschichte der Republik Venedig mit besondererBeriehung auf Byranr und die Levante, eds. G. Tafel and G. Thomas, i (Vienna, i856), no. xiii, pp. 19-25, no. xiv, pp. 26-33, no. xvii, pp. 36-39 (for the apparent

trans.cit., pp. II4-I6; Goitein, A balanceof trade);Ibn Khordadhbeh, Mediterranean see: Society,i, pp. 46-47. For the Bulgarian the Bookof the ii [Athens, Prefect(9 [vi], eds. J. ZeposandP. Zeposin lus Graecoromanum,
I93I]); infra, p.
3

2 Vasiliev,'Economic Relations', 325. p.

I, n.

2.

(4, 63, 2) and in the Basilika (56, I, 20), of precious metals and stones in the Book of the Prefect (2[iv]). Various prohibitions and restrictions on the export of silk are to be found in the Book of the Prefect (4[i], [viii]; 6[xvi]; 8[iii], [v]) and that they were enforced is shown by the experience of Liut(Leipzig, prand of Cremona-J. Becker, Die WerkeLiudprandsvon Cremona
I915), pp. 204-06. Russian merchants were, after 945, allowed to purchase

of Prohibition the exportof gold is foundin both the Codex Justinianus

only fifty nomismata worth of silk per person: The Russian Primary Laurentian Text, trans. S. H. Cross, and 0. P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor Chronicle,
(Cambridge, Mass., 1953), p. 754 Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, i, pp. 211-14. 5 Nicephorus Gregoras 2, vi; Bonn ed. i, pp. 42-43.

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complex factors,both externaland internal.Severalof those that had militatedagainstthe evolution of an advancedeconomy at an earlierperiodwere no longer operative.It seemsclearthatwestern rise Europewas undergoinga generaland appreciable in populait tion and living-standards: should thereforehave become more capableof absorbingimports and of paying for them with products other than raw materials.It has even been suggested that a favourable balance of trade with the Muslim states of North Africaresultedin its acquisitionof a surplusin gold which would have permittedit to offset an unfavourableone with the Empire and the east.' The establishmentof the Crusaderstates in the Levant-itself possibly the expressionof an increasein population-would have necessitateda more frequent sea-trafficthat could hardly have remained divorced from commerce even if not originally based on it. The fact that the Empire seems to have been experiencingat least an urbanexpansionof its own would have meant that many of the prerequisitesfor a period of rapidgrowth in international trade were present. This would have been potentially beneficial to east and west, whoever provided the bulk of shipping for transport.In comparison, it may be suggested that the loss of centralAsia Minorwas something of an irrelevance,particularly since the inner Balkans were now available as an alternative
source of agricultural produce. Bulgaria, after a century and a half of Byzantine occupation, seems to have been so firmly integrated into the Byzantine system that the Asenid revolt of the ii 8os had

little immediateeconomic effect: after all, the naturaloutlets for its productswould have remainedthe ports of the Black Sea and northernAegean.2 If one may expresstwo generalcriticismsof scholarshiprelating to the economichistory of the Byzantinestate, they are these: that too great an emphasishas been laid upon the political and economic stabilitythat is said to have markedthe ninth and tenth centuries; and that there has been a tendency to assume that,
EconomicHistory ofEurope, ii, p. 309. Lopez in The Cambridge Trade in agricultural products between the Black Sea ports and the capital seems to have been of considerable importance as late as the fourteenth century. Its results may be seen in the hoards of late Byzantine gold hyperpyra found in the region and its hinterland. For the connexion see: T. Gerassimov, 'Les hyperperes d'Andronic II et d'Andronic III et leur circulation en Bulgarie', By{antinobulgarica, pp. 213-36. i,
2

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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

becausethe western domination which characterizes thirthe teenthand particularly fourteenth the was centuries so blatantly to detrimental the east, both the balanceand directionof the musthavealready beenpresent duringthe eleventh relationship Thiscombination in partat least,been andtwelfthcenturies. has, of for the develresponsible reversing actual sequence economic fortheearlier whichis thatrather thandeclining period; opment life economic Byzantine awayfromtheninthandtenthcenturies, was expandingrapidlythroughoutthe eleventh and twelfth and centuries; that despitethe beginningsof politicalreverses under the Angeli (and mercenaries and magnatesnotwiththisexpansion haveonly cometo an endwiththe standing), may FourthCrusade. Museum, Cambridge Fitswilliam