13. Write a report on the chief periods in the history of Genoa. [Encyclopedia.]
14. Study the history of the Medici family as showing the character of commercial and political life in Florence. [Encyclopedia; various biographies.]
15. Write a brief report on the commercial history of Marseilles or of Barcelona. [Encyclopedia.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A bibliography of the history of Venice is given by Brown, pp. xix-xxiii. A good brief survey of Venetian history, with a description of the modern city and a map, will be found in the Encyc. Brit. The history in the Story of the Nations series cannot be recommended. The best book for our purposes is Horatio F. Brown, *Venice, N. Y., Putnam, 1893. The history of other Italian cities is treated, with some attention to commerce, in Bella Duffy, The Tuscan republics with Genoa, N. Y., Putnam, 1893.
CHAPTER XII
COMMERCE OF NORTHERN EUROPE
114. Development of commerce in South and North.—Medieval commerce reached its highest development on opposite sides of the continent of Europe, in the Levant trade of the South and in the trade carried on by the Hanseatic cities of the North. Commerce was, of course, not confined to these localities. We have seen already how German merchants and the Flanders galleys united the North and South of Europe; and every one of the present European countries took a greater or less share in the exchange of wares. We have already described, however, the general character of commerce in the medieval period, and must refer the reader to that description for some idea of the commerce of countries which are not treated in detail in this sketch.
115. Conditions and wares of the Baltic trade.—The wares of the northern trade present a contrast to those which furnished the material of eastern commerce. In the first place the countries of central Europe found in Scandinavia and the Northeast, which formed the trading ground, peoples who were their industrial inferiors; these peoples were glad to receive manufactures instead of supplying them. Secondly, the cost of carriage was much less in the North than in the South, not only because transportation was almost entirely by sea and over a shorter route, but also because the tolls on trade were much less than in the Asiatic countries. It was possible, therefore, to trade in bulky articles of comparatively small value.
The luxuries which formed so large a part of the eastern exports were scarcely represented in the northern trade. Amber can be put in this class, though the trade in it was of no great importance; this was a fossilized resin which was found on the coast of the Baltic, and which was used for ornaments. Wax was a far more considerable item of export, which may, perhaps, be regarded as a luxury, since it found its chief employment in the form of candles used in church services.
116. Exports from the Baltic, mainly raw materials.—Most of the exports from northeastern Europe were raw materials serving the simpler needs of man. Among the foodstuffs fish took the first place. Until the fifteenth century the herring, which does not now range outside the waters of the North Sea and the open ocean, came each year in late summer to the Swedish and German coasts of the Baltic; and the trade in dried and salted fish, especially herring, was one of the chief branches of northern commerce. The whole population of western Europe was at this time Roman Catholic, and the consumption of fish was of course stimulated by the rules of the church. Other foodstuffs exported were honey, butter, and salt meat.