Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantium and the Crusades

Policies of Manuel I and the Second Crusade 

Page 5

When the German troops had pitched their camp under the walls of the capital, Manuel exerted himself to the utmost to transport them to Asia before the arrival of the French army; finally, after some altercations with his relative and ally Conrad, he succeeded. In Asia Minor the Germans began at once to suffer from the want of food, and then they were assaulted by the Turks and destroyed; only a pitiful remnant of the German army returned to Nicaea. Some historians ascribe the failure of the German expedition to the intrigues of Manuel, alleging that he made an agreement with the Muslims, stirring them up to attack the crusaders. Some historians, for example Sybel and following him Th. Uspensky, even spoke of the conclusion of an alliance between Manuel and the Seljuqs. But the more recent scholars are inclined to believe that such charges against Manuel have no serious grounds and that he should not be considered responsible for the failure of the Germans.

The French who had approached the capital soon after the passage of the Germans to Asia Minor alarmed Manuel still more. Manuel was particularly dubious about Louis with whom, shortly before the crusade, Roger had opened negotiations inducing him to go to the East through his Italian possessions; in Louis, Manuel suspected he saw a secret ally of Roger, or the unofficial ally of Sicily, and the Emperor's conjectures had serious grounds.

Knowing that at that time Manuel was entirely absorbed by the crusade and his relations to the crusaders, Roger abandoned the general interests of Christianity and following only his own political aims suddenly seized the island of Corfu and devastated some other Byzantine islands. Then the Normans landed in Greece and captured Thebes and Corinth, which were at that time famous for their silk factories and silk stuffs. Not satisfied with seizing a large quantity of precious silk stuffs the Normans, among numerous other captives, carried into Sicily the most skilful silk weavers, both men and women. It is not true, however, as is sometimes stated in historical works, that these weavers who were transported to Palermo were the creators of the silk production and silk industry in Sicily; in reality the production of silk and the development of the silkworm had been known there before. But the arrival of the captured Greek women gave a new impetus to the industry. Athens also was not spared by the Normans.

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