ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an alternative approach to the restrictions imposed upon the Genoese in 1169 and suggests a new interpretation of the imperial policy they reflected. Opinions widely differ as to the nature, scope and implications of the ban imposed in 1169 upon the Genoese. The most widely shared view is that the ban reflected a general imperial policy preventing Westeners from trading in the Black Sea, implemented until 1204. Before 1204 Byzantium prohibited, limited or controlled at various times trade in specific commodities, such as timber, gold, a number of foodstuffs, and high-grade silk textiles. Genoa was the last among the three major Italian maritime nations of the eleventh-twelfth centuries to obtain commercial and fiscal privileges in Byzantium. Venice was the first maritime power to obtain privileges in Byzantium, and the Italian city that obtained the most extensive ones before the Fourth Crusade. Pisa was the second Italian maritime nation to be granted privileges in Byzantium.
