Italian merchants: privileges

he unquestioned dominance of the Italian merchants was based on the privileges that Byzantium had offered them. These privileges facilitated the full freedom of movement for people and goods, while they often exempted the beneficiaries from the payment of duties. The Italians were able to reconfirm these privileges frequently by offering something in exchange, such as military aid or an alliance.

Such privileges had already been granted, since the early years of the Empire of Nicaea, to the Italians, who, however, did not develop any particularly important activity in the region. After the recovery of Constantinople, the privileges became even more extensive. The Venetian and Genoese merchants were exempted from some or all import and export taxes as well as from most other duties. In the areas where they established themselves, they enjoyed the right of autonomy and of self-government, and they had their own places of residence, their own weights and measures, as well as their own law courts.

The recovery of Constantinople was followed by a series of treaties, which, depending on the political and financial interests of Byzantium, conceded privileges alternately to the Venetians or to the Genoese. Among these, for instance, was the treaty of Nymphaion in 1261, by which Michael VIII Palaiologos conceded privileges to the Genoese, hoping thus to secure their support in his effort to recover Constantinople. From 1267 on, a number of treaties also granted privileges to the Venetians, which exempted them from the payment of taxes on trade, on condition that Venice would refrain from entering into an alliance with the enemies of Byzantium. At the beginning of the 14th century new privileges were granted to Venice and Genoa, to the detriment of Byzantine trade. The Byzantine emperors, noting with concern the increasing power of the Italian states, often attempted to restrict their privileges and to protect the Byzantine merchants. However, the end result remained the loss for Byzantium of an important source of income from commerce.