[Sca-cooks] black pepper wars

[Terry Decker]

The idea that the Crusades were an attempt to re-establish the flow of 
spices into Europe is shaky.  It can be demonstrated that spices continued 
to appear in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, probably via trade with 
Byzantium.

Control of the spice trade is another matter.  The sack of Constantinople by 
the 4th Crusade (IIRC) was largely funded by Venice, apparently with the 
object of weakening the Byzantine control of the spice trade with Egypt.

Bear


> Rome was forced to cough up huge amounts of pepper as part of it's ransom 
> from both the Huns and
> the Visigoths. There is also some conjecture that the Cursades were 
> actually an attempt to
> re-establish the flow of pepper and other spices to Europe form the Middle 
> East.
>
> William de Grandfort