Byzantine merchants: their role

he Byzantine merchant managed to survive within the framework of an economy, which, during the late Byzantine period, was constantly declining. His role was limited to local trade, to a market of farm poduction and home industries, in which profits and transactions were on a small scale. As far as the international trade of the eastern Mediterranean was concerned, the role of the Byzantine merchants was never a dominant one, since it was the Italians who, having plenty of capital at their disposal, commanded the international and wholesale market. The Byzantines, whose capital and goods were limited, had to be content with the retail trade, in which they might function either independently and compete with the Italians, or work with them, acting as their suppliers and middlemen.

The presence of Byzantine merchants was most marked in the Aegean and in the Black Sea. Merchants and bankers came from both Byzantine territories and from parts of the Greek world under Italian domination. Many of the sailors and shipowners also came from these regions. These seamen not only carried goods from one place to another but in time also came to trade in them, often acting as partners, the main commodity in which they dealt being the wheat of the Black Sea. The most important Black Sea merchants were John Vassilikos and John Phrangopoulos from Adrianople.

The merchant class also came to assume an active role as a social group, making its presence felt in the political sphere as well. Particularly important is the fact that, contrary to what was the case in previous periods, in the late years many merchants and investors were members of the aristocracy or middlemen acting on behalf of the aristocracy. In fact, it frequently happened that the same families - the Sofianoi or the Goudelis', for instance - were merchants or bankers from generation to generation. Involved in commercial enterprises were also members of the imperial family or others - such as Manuel Kabasilas - who acted as imperial representatives. In the Palaiologan period we even find women investing in commerce or actively participating in the retail trade.