"Commerce in the Middle Ages," says M. Charles Grandmaison, "differed but
little from that of a more remote period. It was essentially a local and
limited traffic, rather inland than maritime, for long and perilous sea
voyages only commenced towards the end of the fifteenth century, or about
the time when Columbus discovered America."
On the fall of the Roman Empire, commerce was rendered insecure, and,
indeed, it was almost completely put a stop to by the barbarian invasions,
and all facility of communication between different nations, and even
between towns of the same country, was interrupted. In those times of
social confusion, there were periods of such poverty and distress, that
for want of money commerce was reduced to the simple exchange of the
positive necessaries of life. When order was a little restored, and
society and the minds of people became more composed, we see commerce
recovering its position; and France was, perhaps, the first country in
Europe in which this happy change took place. Those famous cities of Gaul,
which ancient authors describe to us as so rich and so industrious,
quickly recovered their former prosperity, and the friendly relations
which were established between the kings of the Franks and the Eastern
Empire encouraged the Gallic cities in cultivating a commerce, which was
at that time the most important and most extensive in the world.
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