its treasures, and carried them back to the Italian peninsula. These
included works of art, sculptures, precious metals, and ancient
manuscripts. The works of the philosophers of antiquity from
Constantinople and other conquered lands “caused some to understand that
there had once been an age that far outshone their own, one that
emphasized the humanity of humankind, rather than its spirituality. As a
result, there was now a new humanism in the air, which began to
emphasize freedom of thought, rather than the selfless submission
demanded by medieval philosopher-theologians. This humanism
encouraged the exploration of human potential, and the expression of
humanity, especially in literature, philosophy, and all forms of art.”^5
Constantinople surrendered to the Turks in 1453; the mass westward
emigration of the eastern Christians was an important factor in the
reawakening of Europe. The translation centers in Italy and Spain had their
new Latin works (from Arabic), but the Byzantines brought their Greek
manuscripts with them to the Italian city-states just as Gutenberg was
perfecting movable type printing.
A small group of 15th-century craftsmen fled Constantinople and made
their way to Venice; the Venetians had been major power brokers for
decades in Byzantium, with their sophisticated ships, trading networks,
accounting systems, and banking erudition. The artists and technicians
who sailed for Venice included a group of glassmakers who found
themselves in one of the greatest commercial trading hubs in the world.
The making of colored glass had been around since Roman times, but the
Byzantine workers had elevated their craft to previously unseen heights,
and a new luxury good was introduced. In the Venetian marshlands,
however, the glassmakers had an unappealing habit of “burning down the
neighborhood,”^6 and were moved across the lagoon to the island of
Murano. An “innovation hub” was created, and the “Isle of Glass” (which
still produces exquisite glass today) became the paragon of the craft.
Steven Johnson describes the big breakthrough:
After years of trial and error, experimenting with different
chemical compositions, the Murano glassmaker Angelo
Barovier took seaweed, rich in potassium oxide and
manganese, burned it to create ash, and then added these
ingredients to molten glass. When the mixture cooled, it