ABSTRACT
The low ranking of Monemvasia, when the ecclesiastical sees of Illyricum were ultimately incorporated into the hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, does not in any way reflect a decrease of naval and commercial activities, since the information registered in the sources as well as the material remains prove that there was a steady growth in all aspects. Furthermore, the fact that the name of the city does not appear in the document of 1082, by which Alexios I Komnenos offered the Venetians privileges such as allowing them to exercise their commercial activities in a number of cities of the Byzantine Empire, should not be interpreted as an indication of decline. Monemvasia is not the only omission in the imperial document; the same can be remarked for a number of wealthy cities with important ports, which one would have expected to have provoked the interest of Venice. These cities, in most cases, had already developed commercial activities, while some of them had been already enjoying corresponding privileges. Furthermore, the important cities which the chrysobull fails to mention seem to have preserved since earlier times, more or less distanced, a particular status of semi-autonomy or self-government, as for example was the case with Trebizond.1
