ABSTRACT
Byzantine Asia Minor of the late period, a detached margin of the West, was largely an external property of great absentee landlords, who were interested in its exploitation only insofar as it brought them in revenues which they could spend outside it, whereas the new centres, established or re-established by the Turks, created a profitable demand. When one can begin to redraw a picture of the economy of Asia Minor, particularly in the first half of the thirteenth century, it appears to be genuinely prosperous simultaneously for agriculture, industry and commerce, each supporting the others. Simon of St Quentin, who spent some years in Asia Minor just before and just after the disaster of Kösedag, was a little credulous and a little misleading. Some regional maritime trade united Attalia (Antalya) and Egypt, but maritime relations were more frequently conducted directly between Syria or Egypt and Constantinople.
