The Economy Of Latin Greece 215
the Aegean.55 Negroponte’s role as financial market is illustrated by the Sienese
banker who in 1310 financed the military campaign of Gauthier V of Brienne,
duke of Athens.56
The consolidation of Negroponte’s function within the trans-Mediterranean
trading system, which began in the second half of 13th century, was decisively
furthered by Venetian trade in the city and Venice’s increasing political domi-
nation in the western Aegean. This development occurred at the expense of
Thessalonica, the decline of which generated by economic factors was already
obvious by 1301. In that year Venice inaugurated the annual sailing of state
galleys to Constantinople. Significantly, the galleys anchored on the way at
Negroponte and bypassed Thessalonica, both on the outbound and on the
return voyage.57 Small and medium-sized vessels ensured Thessalonica’s con-
nection to the long-distance maritime traffic passing through Negroponte.
Thessalonica’s commercial role was further restricted by 14th-century political
and military developments in the city itself and in the Balkans. Significantly,
the Florentine galleys sailing to Constantinople from 1436 also anchored at
Negroponte and bypassed Thessalonica, which by then was in Ottoman hands.58
Conclusions
The economic evolution of Latin Greece in the late Middle Ages was gener-
ated by a conjunction of geo-political developments both within and outside
the region, as well as by the constant interplay between micro and macro-
economic factors and between private initiative and political powers. In
the 13th century the economy of Latin Greece swiftly geared itself to grow-
ing western demand. While ensuring the continuity of the Byzantine rural
55 David Jacoby, “La consolidation de la domination de Venise dans la ville de Négrepont
(1205–1390): Un aspect de sa politique coloniale,” in Bisanzio, Venezia e il mondo
franco-greco, 151–87, repr. in Jacoby Latins, Greeks and Muslims, ix; David Jacoby, “The
Demographic Evolution of Euboea under Latin Rule, 1205–1470,” in The Greek Islands
and the Sea, ed. Julian Chrysostomides, Charalambos Dendrinos and Jonathan Harris
(Camberley, 2004), pp. 131–79, repr. in Travellers, Merchants and Settlers, ix; Borsari,
L’Eubea veneziana, pp. 77–133.
56 Jacoby, “Italian Migration,” pp. 109–10.
57 Except from 1424 to 1430, when Venice ruled over the city.
58 David Jacoby, “Foreigners and the Urban Economy in Thessalonike, c. 1150–c. 1430,”
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 57 (2003), 103–07, 111, 114, repr. in Jacoby, Latins, Greeks and
Muslims, vii.