ABSTRACT

How far did trade continue in Western Europe as it had done under the Roman Empire through to the early seventh century? The evidence that Pirenne used to answer this question in the affirmative was of two types. First, there were the references in sixth-and seventh-century sources to ‘Syrians’ active in Western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire in the west. For Pirenne, the presence of these Syrians could be accounted for by the continuation of long-distance luxury trade in spices, silks, and ivory in particular. That trade was carried over the land-routes from the Far East across Central Asia and so down to the ports of the east Roman province of Syria on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean. From there, Pirenne supposed, Syrian merchants transported the luxury goods by sea to such western ports as Marseilles, and this accounted for the presence of Syrians in the west.