Page:Constantinople by Brodribb.djvu/161

 Zogarmion, or Turks. They have no martial spirit themselves, but, like women, are unfit for warlike enterprises.

The long reign (thirty-seven years) of Manuel, which terminated, however, in the emperor's death at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight, was chiefly occupied with wars and campaigns. Few of these have much to do with Constantinople itself, except in so far that to find money to satisfy the claims of his soldiers as well as the extravagant expenditure of the court, Manuel was compelled to have recourse to every kind of fiscal oppression and rapacity. And while the external policy of the emperor was guided by a desire to ensure safety and to gain renown, the internal was actuated solely by the necessity to maintain the imperial revenue. It was with this view that he made the treaties with Pisa and Genoa, which partly counteracted the effect of the concessions granted to Venice. It is a curious chapter in the history of Constantinople.

Partly in gratitude for their help in the Norman War, partly from some idea of policy, Alexius I. had conceded to the Venetians privileges which promised to place in their hands the principal trade of the capital. Certain merchants of Amalfi, when their city was taken by the Normans, went to Constantinople and formed a sort of colony there. Alexius compelled these Amalfi people to pay tribute to the Venetians; he gave them a whole street of warehouses; he exempted their merchandise from custom duties; and he permitted them to trade throughout the whole empire as far as Constantinople and the