Silk

   Silk production was a privatized state industry, centered in Constantinople (q.v.) and also, from the 11th century, in Athens, Corinth, Thebes, and Thessalonike (qq.v.). Justinian I (q.v.) established the industry by first smuggling silkworm eggs from China (q.v.). He then created the mulberry-tree plantations necessary to support silkworms, and he set up the factories necessary for weaving. The industry's importance was twofold: as a supplier of rich court and church vestments and furnishings (e.g., for curtains and tapestries) and as a controlled luxury item for foreign trade. The Book of the Eparch (q.v.) describes the guild (q.v.) that controlled all aspects of its production. Exported silk, which was as highly coveted as gold by foreign rulers, was rigorously monitored. Much of it was exported as imperial gifts or tribute. Byzantine officials, themselves dressed in the finest silks, reminded ambassador Liutprand of Cremona (q.v.) that in his native Saxony people wore the skins of animals, a remark that infuriated Liutprand. Liutprand's attempt in 968 to smuggle five pieces of purple silk out of Constantinople for Otto I (q.v.) met with failure; they were confiscated. Byzantium's monopoly of silk began to erode in the 12th century. In 1147 Roger II (q.v.) of Sicily (q.v.) attacked Corinth and Thebes (qq.v.), carrying off their silk weavers. Despite this the silk industry survived. According to Benjamin of Tudela (q.v.), in the 1160s the silk industry in Thebes (q.v.) was flourishing.