Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/587

 Medieval Towns — their Business and Buildings 503 the decline of the Roman roads and the general disorganization Practical dis- produced by the barbarian invasions. In the early Middle Ages of Commerce there was no one to mend the ancient Roman roads. The great ^jj^^ig ^^^g network of highways from Persia to Britain fell apart when inde- pendent nobles or poor local communities took the place of a world empire. All trade languished, for there was little demand for those articles of luxury which the Roman communities in the North had been accustomed to obtain from the South, and there was but little money to buy what we should consider the com- forts of life ; even the nobility lived uncomfortably enough in their dreary and rudely furnished castles. In Italy, however, trade does not seem to have altogether Italian cities ceased. Venice, Genoa, Amalfi, and other towns appear to have the Orient developed a considerable Mediterranean commerce even before the Crusades (see map above, p. 454). Their merchants, as we have seen, supplied the destitute crusaders with the material necessary for the conquest of Jerusalem (see above, p. 466). The passion for pilgrimages offered inducements to the Italian merchants for expeditions to the Orient, whither they transported the pilgrims and returned with the products of the East. The Italian cities established trading stations in the East and carried on a direct traffic with the caravans which brought to the shores of the Mediterranean the products of Arabia, Persia, India, and the Spice Islands. The southern French towns and Barcelona entered also into commercial relations with the Mohammedans in northern Africa. This progress in the South could not but stir the lethargy of Commerce , - _, _-^,, . . stimulates the rest of Europe. When commerce began to revive, it encour- industry aged a revolution in industry. So long as the manor system prevailed and each man was occupied in producing only what he and the other people on the estate needed, there was nothing to send abroad and nothing to exchange for luxuries. But when merchants began to come with tempting articles, the members of a community were encouraged to produce a surplus of goods above what they themselves needed, and to sell or exchange this