Note 180 — Chapter II · THE CONTRIBUTION OF WESTERN CHRISTENDOM BEFORE 1100 A. D.

Levantine traders were present in no inconsiderable numbers along 379the main avenues of commerce and in the larger towns of Italy, France, and England. The introduction of monachism into the West may be in part attributed to contacts with the Orient maintained in the early Middle Ages. Among the marvelous legends transmitted from the Levant to the Occident were the stories of St. Thomas’ voyage to India and the Romance of Alexander (see above, pp. 49, 50, 73, 74, and also below, note 8; see also Bréhier, Les colonies, 1903). On diplomatic and political relations between Constantinople and the West during the early Middle Ages, see A. Gasquet, L’Empire byzantin et la monarchie franque, Paris, 1888. On Greek settlements in Magna Graecia and their influence upon Occidental culture, see Pierre Batiffol, L’Abbaye de Rossano, Paris, 1891, Introduction.