mikeh wrote:I don't see where this is leading. Or is it just background material

Nach dem Aussterben der Zähringer übernahmen 1218 die Grafen von Urach die Herrschaft und nannten sich fortan die Grafen von Freiburg. Nach häufigeren Streitereien mit den Grafen um die Finanzen kaufte sich die Freiburger Bürgerschaft 1368 mit 20.000 Mark Silber von der Herrschaft des ungeliebten Egino III. los und unterstellte sich dem Schutz des Hauses Habsburg.

mikeh wrote:OK, I guess. That is more about cards in Freiburg, 1377, than it is about Berne. I assume that you are hypothesizing that cards go first to Berne, as a result of the friendly visit of the Emperor, concerned about the Habsburg Castle in that area, then Freiburg as a result of his unfriendly visit to that area (well, friendly to the nobles, unfriendly to the burgers).

A powerful colony of Catalans settled in Constantinople under Andronicus II. In 1290 Consul Dalmaccio came to solicit this admission on behalf of the inhabitants of Aragon, Catalonia and Mallorca, the burgesses of Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Tortosa. Basileus gave them the right to circulate in the Empire and granted them a 3% tax (1290), but these new hosts soon became undesirable, associating piracy with commerce and constantly fighting with the Genoese. A second privilege was granted to them by Andronic II (October 1320), which did not improve the situation. After the peace imposed by Genoa on John Cantacuzene (May 1352), all the ports of the Empire were closed to the Catalans, but part of the colony remained in Constantinople.

In 1438 this colony is reconstituted. John VIII agreed to Pere de Rocafort as consul of the Catalans, formerly consul in the Venetian colony of Modon. A lodge was to be built at Constantinople, but it was not built in 1449 because of a conflict between the Council of Barcelona, ​​which dismissed Rocafort, and Alfonso V of Aragon, who supported him. This business was not completed until 1451, and the new consul, Joan de la Via, remained in office until 1453.

The ports of Provence, Marseilles, Montpellier, and Narbonne, were actively engaged with Constantinople in the fourteenth century, and imported native produce.

The risks were great, because of the Venetian and Catalan corsairs. The cargo of a single ship from Montpellier, captured in 1355, was worth 1,000 gold crowns. Imports in the East include alum, hides, wax, wheat.

Privileges were granted to the Provencal towns by Andronicus III: quarter in Constantinople, consul, 4% tax. Those of Narbonne were renewed by John V in 1346. This trade was less active in the fifteenth century; however, there was a Provencal ship at Constantinople during the siege.

Florence, which became an industrial city in the thirteenth century, began to export its products and founded large commercial companies, at the same time banks of credit: the Peruzzi in 1274, ruined in 1343, the principal debtor, Édouard III, having Repudiated his debts; The Bardi, now the most powerful company, with 346 agents, accountants, cashiers, notaries. These companies were general partnerships with interest ranging from 5 to 20% to their depositors.

On the other hand, the capture of Pisa by the Florentines in 1406 resulted in the annihilation of the Pisan colony of Constantinople. Florence exported its stuffs through Venice, pending the development of a new port at Livorno, but its ambition was to have a quarter in Constantinople. The negotiations began in 1430 and were laborious. It was only after the council of Florence that John VIII, To whom the republic had advanced 100,000 crowns for his traveling expenses, conceded to him the old quarter of the Pisans.

Thus, far from diminishing, the number of the western colonies of Constantinople had not ceased to increase. The last concessions were granted on the very eve of the siege of 1453, and several could not be followed. The expropriation of Byzantium by the merchants of the West was total and likewise did not succeed in saving it from the Turkish conquest.