Introduction

Teachers of traditional courses in Western civilization have often found it difficult to be enthusiastic about the three centuries between 600 and 900 CE. These were the “Dark Ages,” and Europe was still feeling the reverberations from the momentous “fall” of the Roman empire, now characterized more as a “transition,” that had been transpiring since the third century. Migration and invasion by tribal peoples from the hinterland, institutional breakdown, and a decline in public order had all been manifestations of this process. Underlying it were larger considerations including climatic deterioration and a demographic downturn that became a catastrophe in the sixth century with a pandemic often referred to as the Plague of Justinian. Fewer people in a pre-industrial economy meant fewer producers and consumers and thus a drop in economic activity. And the decline was across the board. The demand for artisanal and industrial goods plunged, and the amount of cultivated land contracted. Prosperity decreased, and poverty increased. The surviving urban areas were generally administrative or ecclesiastical rather than commercial centres. Infrastructure, especially roads, was not maintained, and much of the transportation system collapsed. The market economy itself was disassembled and in some places practically disintegrated; advanced sectors like banking disappeared. The monetary system floundered, and more primitive forms of exchange like barter and giftgiving were revived. Long-distance trade was confined to luxury and prestige goods, and even interregional markets disappeared.

Or so this worst-case scenario version of the Early Middle Ages has often been presented. Historians who have taken a closer look have tried to paint a more nuanced view. Different places at different times had different experiences. Along with the big downswing there were many smaller upswings, and deep down new forces for change were starting to bubble. The real problem with this discussion is that Europe just wasn't a very important place for trade and commerce or most other matters historians deal with in the period between 600 and 900. In more important places there was nothing dark about this time; for trade and commerce, it was one of history's most luminous ages. Driving this both overland and maritime were two great empires on either side of Eurasia: Tang China in the east and the Islamic caliphate in the west.