Economy

   Byzantium's (q.v.) economy was based chiefly on agriculture (q.v.), for most citizens of the empire were farmers. By the ninth century, farmers were free peasants (as reflected in the Farmer's Law [q.v.]), and remained such until the growth of the pronoia (q.v.) system in the 12th century. Most revenues from state taxation (q.v.) were derived from taxes on land, which is why land-grabbing by wealthy aristocracy in Asia Minor (qq.v), the so-called "powerful" (dynatoi [q.v.]), threatened the economic health of the state. Taxes and assessments for the army were paid largely in coinage (q.v.), for Byzantium had a monetary economy. Nevertheless, there was a parallel barter economy in the countryside, and in cities one could find some services and salaries being paid in kind. Constantinople (q.v.) and other cities of the empire, most of them situated along the coastline of the Mediterranean and Aegean (qq.v.) were emporiums of trade. Trade on land and by sea was strictly controlled and taxed. For example, Abydos (q.v.) collected taxes on shipping going to and from Constantinople. The state also controlled manufacturing by controlling the guilds, and by reserving certain manufacturing (e.g., in silk) for itself. Nevertheless, private enterprise did exist, as illustrated by the story of the widow Danelis (q.v.), and, in the late 13th-century, by the career of Goudeles Tyrannos (q.v.). In general, the health of the Byzantine economy was much dependent on the state's ability to control its borders. Attacks on Asia Minor by Arabs, and subsequently by Seljuks (qq.v), eroded the agricultural heart of the Byzantine economy. Byzantine control of its maritime economy was eroded by inroads from the Italian republics, especially Venice (q.v.), despite the attempt by Alexios I (q.v.) to create a more flexible monetary system, one suited more to commercial markets. Venice especially made inroads into the Byzantine economy. This culminated most dramatically in the conquest of Constantinople in 1204 by the Venetian-led Fourth Crusade (q.v.).