by a feudal lord. The followers and retainers
were scarcely better off than slaves; indeed, many of them were slaves.
There was no ownership of the land except by the feudal lords, and the
latter were responsible for their acts to the king only.

But very few people cared to be absolutely free, because they had but
little chance to protect themselves; so it was the common custom to
attach one's self to a feudal lord in order to have his protection; even
a sort of peonage or slavery under him was better than no protection at
all. A few of the people were engaged in trade and manufacture of some
kind or other, and they were the only ones through whom the feudal lord
could supply himself with the commodities needed for his retainers and
the luxuries necessary to himself.

Each feudal estate, therefore, became a sort of industrial centre by
itself, producing its own food-stuffs and much of the coarser
manufactures. It was not a very high condition of enlightenment, but it
was much better than the one which preceded it, for at least it offered
protection. It encouraged a certain amount of trade and commerce,
because the feudal lord had many wants, and he was usually willing to
protect the merchant who supplied them.

=The Crusades and Commerce.=--The Crusades, or wars by which the
Christians sought to recover the Holy Land from the Turk, resulted in a
trade between Europe and India that grew to wonderful proportions. Silk
fabrics, cotton cloth, precious stones, ostrich plumes, ivory, spices,
and drugs--all of which were practically unknown in Europe--were eagerly
sought by the nobility and their dependencies. In return, linen and
woollen fabrics, leather goods, glassware, blacklead, and steel
implements were carried to the far East.

Milan, Florence, Venice and Genoa, Constantinople and a number of less
important towns along the Mediterranean basin became important trade
centres, but Venice and Genoa grew to be world powers in commerce. Not
only were they great receiving and distributing depots of trade, but
they were great manufacturing centres as well.

The routes over which this enormous commerce was carried were few in
number. For the greater part, the Venetian trade went to Alexandria, and
thence by the Red Sea to India. Genoese merchants sent their goods to
Constantinople and Trebizond, thence down the Tigris River to the
Persian Gulf and to India. There was also another route that had been
used by the Phoenicians