Byzantine-Venice commercial relations in the light of Chrysobulls

The Republic of Venice, which was considered the western outpost of Byzantium in the early centuries, remained away from western invasions thanks to the sheltered lagoons in the Adriatic and established its administration over the centuries. Since the area where the city was built was not suitable for agriculture and depended on the sea to manage its life, the only occupation of the Venetians was trading. The sailors, who previously carried out transportation activities, later took on the trade of vital commodities such as timber, wine, olive oil, and slave and set up a trade network that reached their destinations of Byzantium and the Levant. In this way, Venice, which has an important position between the East and the West, obtained its first important privilege from the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Alexius Comnenus, and the relations between the parties completely changed. Because the privilege of untaxed trade in the most important ports of the empire provided them with great prosperity. Venice, whose power in the Mediterranean has climbed to the top, has compelled all the conditions not to lose the wealth it has gained from the mentioned towns. As a matter of fact, Alexios' successors, especially John II and Manuel, made some attempts to break their monopoly in trade, but they had to step back due to the weakness of the empire in the seas. Although some arrests were happened in 1171 and 1182, Manuel could not get the result he wanted. The relations that progressed in this direction until 1204 gained a new face after the year 1261 when Istanbul was taken back. Since Byzantium could no longer have its former powerful stance, it tried to stay away from moves that would directly confront Venice as much as possible. In particular, the empire endeavored to balance the power of its opponent by allying with powers rivaling Venice, such as Genoa. However, since the expectations of the Italians, who followed similar policies, towards Byzantium focused on materiality, the empire could not create the desired effect. For this reason, it was decided that the agreements between the parties would remain in force for the specified period, not indefinitely as they had agreed before 1204. Since these agreements, which are a kind of ceasefire, have to be renewed continuously, the parties have determined provisions according to the conjuncture of the period. On the other hand, Byzantine Emperors, especially Michael VIII and Andronicus II Palaeologus, adopted new policies instead of opposing Venice directly. Some of these are issues such as directing the Genoese pirates onto the Venetian merchant ships, and pushing the lower-ranking customs officers to strangle the merchants in the bureaucratic network. However, the weakening of the empire day by day and the power of Venice in the seas refuted all the policies of Byzantium. The privileges that started during the reign of Alexius continued until the collapse of the empire, and this situation could not be prevented despite various resistances. At the center of this study are the concession texts, namely chrysobulls, that best reveal the commercial relations between the parties. From 992 to 1448, 34 different concessions signed at regular intervals were translated. Before each concession agreement, it's explained why it was committed. Subsequently, the provisions of the mentioned documents were expressed, and finally, the results of the agreed issues on the Byzantine and Venetian fronts were listed. The resulting data was supported by chronicles, archival documents, senate correspondence, parliamentary minutes and statements of travelers. Thus, the study was completed with the statements of many different documents and contemporary eyewitnesses.