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THE CONDITION OF CONSTANTINOPLE IN 1200. 185 period of the massacre of Jews in York, Lincoln, and else- where in England, it is satisfactory to know that Eenjaniin of Tudela finds, among the greatest hardships his countrymen liad to bear, that they were not allowed to ride on horseback, and that they were defiled, according to their law, becanse the tanners who lived near their quarters were permitted to pour out their polluted water in the streets. This writer has to admit that the Jews were comfortably off, that many were manufacturers, many merchants, and several extremely rich. In addition to the riches which had flowed into the capital from the fact that it was the seat of government and the greatest emporium of trade, Constantinople had, in the twelfth City was ccnturv, amasscd wealth because during many cen- houseof the turics it had been the treasure-house of the lower East. empire. Men who had gathered wealth elsewhere flocked to Constantinople to spend, to invest, or to hoard it. Amid an insecurity which had been increasing since the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor, those who had movable prop- erty flocked to the one city which they believed to be invulner- able. During many centuries the Kew Rome had been pre- eminently the city of Christendom in which wealth had been largely and steadily accumulating. The riches of Asia Minor, which had contained many cities and states whose wealth had become proverbial, had been continually draining away tow- ards Constantinople. The Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, already cited, who visited Constantinople in llGl, found it resorted to by merchants who came by land and sea from Babylon and Mesopotamia, from Egypt and Palestine, from Russia, Hungary, Lombardy, and Spain. No city, except Bagdad, the metropolis of the Mahometans, as he calls it, equalled it for business and bustle. The tribute brought to it every year in silks, gold, and purple cloth filled many towers. Its wealth and buildings were equalled in no other city of the world. The inhabitants were especially rich in silks, gold, and precious stones. They dressed in garments ornamented with gold, rode upon horses, and looked like princes. Benjamin seems to have been specially struck with the display of gold. The new palace of Blachern, built by