The Economy Of Latin Greece 197
trees as a cash-generating activity. They must have encouraged its extension,
both on their own demesne and on the peasants’ land. The prospect of a good
income from oil sales must have also induced peasants to plant and cultivate
olive trees and to sell as much oil as possible, rather than consume it all, while
resorting instead to cheaper substances such as animal fat in the preparation
of food and wax in lighting. There is good reason to believe that the market-
and export-oriented attitude of the archons of Sparta reflects the mentality
of many large landowners throughout the empire in the 12th century.14 The
development of the silk industry in western Byzantium from the 11th century
onward, based on the production of raw silk by peasants, reflects yet another
aspect of market-oriented approach and activity among the empire’s elite.15
In view of the large degree of continuity in the structure and operation of
the rural economy and the market-oriented approach of Byzantine landown-
ers, one may wonder to what extent the Frankish and Venetian occupation of
former Byzantine territories impacted upon the exploitation of rural resources.
As noted above, merchants and bankers from central and southern Italy and
some Venetians obtained fiefs in the Frankish Morea. Following the extension
of the rule of Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, over the principality in 1278 the
number of Italian fiefholders grew substantially. Some of them settled in the
Morea, while others resided in the Kingdom of Naples and employed Italian
stewards in the management of their estates. Both landowners and stewards
shared a market and export-oriented approach to rural exploitation. They
relied upon the Byzantine agrarian and social infrastructure of the country-
side, yet displayed flexibility in response to changing circumstances. Based on
the rich experience they had gained in Italy, they sought ways to improve man-
agement and enforce seigniorial authority to take full advantage of human and
animal labour. In addition, they carried out various investments and adopted
a more selective exploitation of soils, a concentration on grain cultivation and
cash crops, the introduction of new types of culture, and more advanced farm-
ing methods to achieve a rise in output and revenue. The stewards possibly
stimulated the diffusion of iron asymmetric ploughshares. The raising of buf-
faloes enabled a better and faster ploughing of soils, including heavier ones as
in some relatively well-watered areas of Elis in the Peloponnese.
The approach of the Italian fiefholders and their stewards are perfectly
illustrated by the 14th-century surveys of some feudal estates of the Frankish
14 Jacoby, “Rural Exploitation,” pp. 234–39.
15 David Jacoby, “Silk in Western Byzantium before the Fourth Crusade,” Byzantinische
Zeitschrift, 84/85 (1991–92), 452–500, repr. in idem, Trade, Commodities and Shipping in
the Medieval Mediterranean (Aldershot, 1997), vii.