they required, the Venetian merchants being at the same time forbidden to convey them inland, probably to avert any danger of plunder by the barbarians, by whom the interior was too frequently infested. But, perhaps, the most unwisely rigorous portion of this law consisted in the enactment which forbade the Germans, trading with Venetia, from showing their own goods to any foreigner before offering them to the Venetian merchants, and, at the same time, prohibiting those who had brought their goods to Venice to carry back to other places any portion of them that remained unsold. Nevertheless, in spite of such prohibitory laws, a very considerable foreign commerce was carried on with Venetia; the Germans, Armenians, Moors, and Greeks, having each their respective places of resort (fondas) in its capital, and the Jews from first to last being its leading bankers.
Official exposition of the trade of Venice, A.D. 1421. From a speech which the Doge, Tomaso Moncenigo, delivered in the Senate of Venice to Francis Foscari and the Florentine ambassadors, who, in A.D. 1421, sought the aid of the Venetians against the Duke of Milan, some idea may be formed of the extent of the commerce of Venice in the days of her prosperity. "Every week,"[1] remarks the Doge, "there arrive*
- ↑ This remarkable oration, necessarily condensed in the text, is given
at great length in Daru. Hist. de la Rép. de Venise, ii. pp. 293-308;
cf. also Sanuto, Vita de' Duchi. Ap. Muratori, Antiq. xx.
Rendered into English money (reckoning the ducat at 9s. 6d.), the
following amounts are (for the year)—
Ducats.
1. From the northern towns 1,794,000 = 852,150 }
2. Imports of cloth 900,000 = 427,500 } Pounds
3. Spices, &c 1,871,000 = 888,725 } sterling.
4. From all sources 28,800,000 = 13,680,000 }
5 Debt due by Milan 1,600,000 = 850,000 }
