Chapter 121 Economic and Cultural Prosperity in Northern Italy

The activities of the Andrei Order affected other Catholic orders. They colluded with noble landlords and began to exclude the power of the Orthodox Church. But they could not completely eliminate them unless they killed everyone.

At this time, Constantinople was a large talent supply base. Many intellectuals came to Wallachia, and the documents from ancient Greece and Rome that they brought with them allowed them to discover the New World.

These documents that were originally intended to flow into Italy came to Wallachia, providing impetus for the development of integrated culture. Some works with people as the main body began to appear, and there were many more manuscripts on history, geography, etc. The university supported by the Grand Duke began to compile the past of Wallachia, and the history of Wallachia began to have formal records.

At this time, the Balkans entered a strange peace. Wallachia and the Ottomans were hostile to each other, Serbia was frightened, and Rome could only be a person waiting for the final fate because of its lack of strength. I don’t know when the next war that determines fate will begin.

After finalizing Peter’s marriage to Princess Sophia, the Grand Duke began to think about the remaining children. Apart from being too young, Michael could also get engaged, but who to get engaged to was a real problem.

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Peter was a studious man, and he had basically mastered Latin, and he could have simple conversations.

The construction of the ship was being stepped up, and he needed a large ship to transport goods, because he was going to Florence, so he decided to sail to Naples after the ship was built, and he boarded the ship from there to Venice.

The highlight of Genoa was in 1380, when the Genoese fleet penetrated the Adriatic Sea, destroyed its fleet near the coast of Venice, and besieged the city of Venice for nearly half a year until the Venice Black Sea Fleet returned to lift the blockade. Although it was good, the expedition that ended in failure and the Ottoman Empire's plunder of their territory in the Aegean Sea led to its beginning of depression. Some intellectuals went to Aragon in the west to find a way out, while craftsmen with skills decided to go to Wallachia under the influence of gold coins.

Genoa can still enter the Black Sea through Galata. Like Constantinople, this place is the only channel connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. If it weren't for the Ottoman navy, it would have been gone long ago.

Peter and Mason discussed the people they admired the most. Mason talked about Trajan, Charlemagne, and then Barbarossa the Red Beard. These are all people who left a strong mark in history.

When asked who Peter admired the most, Peter said two people: Hannibal, the military strategist of Carthage, and Basil II of the Macedonian Dynasty of the Roman Empire.

Mason didn't know much about these two people, but Peter knew them very well. These two people were very good in both military and political affairs. One led Carthage to recover quickly after the Second Punic War, and the other brought Rome to another peak. It's a pity that one was eventually destroyed, and the other's achievements were quickly lost after his death.

"What a pity, what a pity..."

Peter felt sorry for these two people and could only sigh that fate was playing tricks on people. Mason couldn't think of these.

I learned the most in Genoa, not only the crafts and language, but also the Genoese trading post model. He and Venice were the first countries to develop colonies.

The colonial model they taught to other countries was to merge trading posts and churches and gradually expand their power. Take Venice for example, the lands under its jurisdiction and vassalage were all over the Eastern Mediterranean, and there were even commercial bases in the Levant and Egypt.

In the spirit of getting rich and the quality of not fighting internally (after all, compared with the surrounding Italian city-states such as Florence, Venice had almost no internal problems). For hundreds of years, it dominated the Mediterranean, and the entire Venice was full of gorgeous buildings built by merchants.

The prosperity of trade in the 13th and 14th centuries led to changes in the appearance of the Venice Lagoon. Bridges connected all the independent islands in the lagoon, the original dirt roads and squares were paved with stones, and palaces and churches were inlaid on both sides of the canal. The decorations from the Byzantine and Islamic worlds were full of exotic styles, as if showing off the naval power and commercial talents of the Venetians.

With the leading maritime trade in Europe, the commercial profits of the Republic of Venice reached an unprecedented level. The fiscal revenue of Venice and its districts reached 750,000 ducats, and with overseas income, the total revenue reached 1.615 million ducats, which was on par with "Spain". However, the area of ​​the Republic of Venice was much smaller than that of Spain.

With such strong financial resources, the Republic of Venice organized a huge fleet. By the end of the 14th century, the Republic of Venice had 3,000 merchant ships. According to the standards of medieval Europe, there were probably as many potential "warships" as merchant ships. After all, as long as they were modified and equipped with cannons, they would be a standard fleet. There were as many as 25,000-30,000 people serving in the Venetian fleet, which was an absolutely unimaginable number in Europe.

Because the empire had no army, all land problems were solved by mercenaries (wealthy), so Venice focused on the construction of the navy and fleet. The Senate of Venice had the right to supervise all ships, and could supervise their construction and maintenance. At the same time, all ships with a ship age of more than ten years were required to be inspected and replaced regularly, which was a bit like today's annual inspection system.

And at that time, all ships in the Venetian fleet had prescribed signs and symbols, and the captain had to hire professionals to play the flute (to show the majesty of Venice). Venice even established the world's earliest diplomatic envoy system, with permanent envoys in other countries to mediate trade issues.

And the Venetian government had a good reputation internally. In 1171, because the Republic was planning to go to war with the Roman Empire at that time, it issued a public debt of 150,000 silver marks to the people. By 1262, the interest and share of this debt had never been overdue for a year. This reputation was envied by Rome.

As one of the northern republics, the Republic of Florence was not as rich as these two in terms of maritime trade, but it was also very wealthy relying on other industries. The wool textile industry guild had more than 200 factories, which could produce 70,000 to 80,000 pieces of cloth, worth 12,000,000 gold coins. Without calculating the owner's profit, about 1/3 of the total was left locally as labor remuneration. About 30,000 people made a living from this. About 300 people from outside Florence came here to do business, and there are many other industries such as stonework and woodworking.

Florence's industry has already shown an "international" trend. The woolen materials come from all over Europe, and the consumer market for finished products is not limited to Florence, but is exported to all parts of Europe, and even occupies some Eastern markets.

The prosperous economic development has ensured the independence of the Republic of Florence, and also promoted economic development. Florence's unique geographical location allows it to have good contact with ancient Roman and Greek civilizations, and Florence's complete republican system allows the city's citizens to be a whole. Its citizens are eager to absorb classical ideas about the state, society and morality because they find themselves living in the same model as the citizens of ancient Athens and Rome. This is also the reason why they can become the center of the Renaissance.