always a potential clash of religious and economic interest in their conduct of affairs in the east.

The fall of the first kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187, though ostensibly the result of the disastrous Christian defeat at the battle of Hattin was, in a sense, inevitable from the moment the Franks took the city in 1099. For the enthusiasm of the First Crusade was never to be repeated; the kingdom, from the moment of its inception, was forever on the defensive and its very nature as a means of establishing exclusively Christian control over Holy Places just as significant in Islam meant that it was a matter of honour amongst the Muslims for the holy city to be recaptured. But even after the recapture of Jerusalem the 'matter of the Holy Land' remained uppermost in the minds of many of the leaders of western Christendom and whilst the idea of crusade was to undergo significant alteration in the course of the thirteenth century, the old dream of Christian rule in the Holy Land remained just as potent.

The Rise of Long-distance Trade

The establishment of Latin power in the eastern Mediterranean was a major stimulus to international trade, but the expansion of mercantile activity in Italy from locally held markets serving regional needs to international enterprises covering long distances had already begun by the end of the ninth century. The northern cities of the Lombard plain had developed contacts with regions as far away as Anglo-Saxon England. A document dating from the late tenth or early eleventh century, but reflecting earlier circumstances, the Honorancie civitatis Papie, provides a mass of detail concerning the organization of trade in the northern city of Pavia. The taxes on various commodities were enumerated, amongst them horses, slaves, wool, linen, tin, and swords, and various groups of merchants were granted safe conducts and rights to trade in the city. No decima (tax) was to be paid by Anglo-Saxons, but, in return, they made gifts of silver, greyhounds, shields, lances, and swords to the local official in charge of trade. The Venetians, on the other hand, gave gifts of silk cloth and money to be freed from taxes, but

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