>Elon and Grimy in Venice
Sweet sweet memories, the Merchants of Venice slaughtered
"The massacre further worsened relations and increased enmity between the Western and Eastern Christian churches,[4] and a sequence of hostilities between the two followed.
Contents
1 Background
2 Death of Manuel I and massacre
3 Impact
4 See also
5 References
Background
From the late 11th century, Western merchants, primarily from the Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa, had started appearing in the East. The first had been the Venetians, who had secured large-scale trading concessions from Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Subsequent extensions of these privileges and Byzantium's own naval impotence at the time resulted in a virtual maritime monopoly and stranglehold over the Empire by the Venetians.[5]
Alexios' grandson, Manuel I Komnenos, wishing to reduce their influence, began to reduce the privileges of Venice while concluding agreements with her rivals: Pisa, Genoa and Amalfi.[6] Gradually, all four Italian cities were also allowed to establish their own quarters in the northern part of Constantinople itself, towards the Golden Horn.
The predominance of the Italian merchants caused economic and social upheaval in Byzantium: it accelerated the decline of the independent native merchants in favour of big exporters, who became tied to the landed aristocracy, who in turn increasingly amassed large estates.[1] Together with the perceived arrogance of the Italians, it fueled popular resentment amongst the middle and lower classes both in the countryside and in the cities.[1]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Latins
The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare [the illiterate] in which a merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599.
Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and his famous demand for a "pound of flesh" in retribution, as well as its "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech on humanity. As a result a debate exists on whether the play is anti-Semitic. Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of mercy".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice