demand because they supplied fine wines, spices, and fabrics to the aristocracy.
Some Jews had long been involved at least part time in long-distance trade as
vintners. In the eleventh century, more Jews swelled their ranks when lords
reorganized the countryside and drove out the Jewish landowners, forcing them into
commerce and urban trades full time. Other long-distance traders came from Italy.
The key players were from Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi, and Venice. Regular merchants at
Constantinople, their settlements were strung like pearls along the Golden Horn (see
Map 4.1 on p. 116).
Italian traders found the Islamic world nearly as lucrative as the Byzantine.
Establishing bases at ports such as Tunis, they imported Islamic wares—ceramics,
textiles, metalwork—into Europe. Near Pisa, for example, the façade of the cathedral
of San Miniato (Plate 5.1) was decorated with shiny bowls (Plate 5.2) imported by
Pisan traders from North African artisans. In turn, merchants from the West exported
wood, iron, and woolen cloth to the East.
