DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0176
160
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
On the other hand, the “Latin historians all join in
expressing their ravishment at the magnificence, wealth,
and elegance they witnessed in the capital of the Eastern
Empire.
They speak of “the vastness of Constantinople,” of
the “ many noble monasteries and beautiful palaces, all
built with wonderful art;” of “the numberless manu-
factures in the city, amazing to behold;” as well as of
other good things in which it abounds—“ gold, silver
and stuffs of various kinds,” for, it is added, “every hour
ships arrive in its port laden with all things necessary
for the use of man.”1
Willermus, Archbishop of Tyre, the most intelligent
historian of the crusades, is not less enthusiastic in his
description of the eloquence and splendour met with at
Constantinople, and of its Court; and adds that, “what
they observed there, exceeded any idea which they could
have formed of it.”2 Lastly, a nobleman of the highest
rank, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, accustomed to all the
magnificence then known in the Courts of the West,
describes the admiration of such of his companions who
beheld the city of Constantinople for the first time.
“ They could not have believed that there was a city so
beautiful and so rich in the whole world ! When they
viewed its lofty walls, high towers, and splendid churches,
all appeared so great, that they could have formed no
conception of this sovereign city unless they had seen it
with their own eyes.”3
It must be kept in mind, at this important point, that,
even at that time amongst the rude barbarous peoples of
the West, the Italians and the descendants of the Greco-
Italians alone possessed the superiority of civilization
above the rest, which they had never entirely lost.
Moreover, the example of the civilization of Byzantium
had been partly communicated to them, by their un-
ceasing commercial and maritime traffic.
1 Fulcherius Carnotensis, Fulcheri ap. Bougars, Vol. i., p. 386.
2 Nostrarum enim rerum modum et dignitatem excedunt. Wil-
lerm. Tyre.
3 Histoire de la Conquete de Constantinople, p. 49.
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
On the other hand, the “Latin historians all join in
expressing their ravishment at the magnificence, wealth,
and elegance they witnessed in the capital of the Eastern
Empire.
They speak of “the vastness of Constantinople,” of
the “ many noble monasteries and beautiful palaces, all
built with wonderful art;” of “the numberless manu-
factures in the city, amazing to behold;” as well as of
other good things in which it abounds—“ gold, silver
and stuffs of various kinds,” for, it is added, “every hour
ships arrive in its port laden with all things necessary
for the use of man.”1
Willermus, Archbishop of Tyre, the most intelligent
historian of the crusades, is not less enthusiastic in his
description of the eloquence and splendour met with at
Constantinople, and of its Court; and adds that, “what
they observed there, exceeded any idea which they could
have formed of it.”2 Lastly, a nobleman of the highest
rank, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, accustomed to all the
magnificence then known in the Courts of the West,
describes the admiration of such of his companions who
beheld the city of Constantinople for the first time.
“ They could not have believed that there was a city so
beautiful and so rich in the whole world ! When they
viewed its lofty walls, high towers, and splendid churches,
all appeared so great, that they could have formed no
conception of this sovereign city unless they had seen it
with their own eyes.”3
It must be kept in mind, at this important point, that,
even at that time amongst the rude barbarous peoples of
the West, the Italians and the descendants of the Greco-
Italians alone possessed the superiority of civilization
above the rest, which they had never entirely lost.
Moreover, the example of the civilization of Byzantium
had been partly communicated to them, by their un-
ceasing commercial and maritime traffic.
1 Fulcherius Carnotensis, Fulcheri ap. Bougars, Vol. i., p. 386.
2 Nostrarum enim rerum modum et dignitatem excedunt. Wil-
lerm. Tyre.
3 Histoire de la Conquete de Constantinople, p. 49.