In 1082, Venice won valuable trading concessions from Emperor Alexios in Constantinople. We live in a world where leaders often talk up the importance of trade deals without it ever being clear what the tangible benefits are. But this Golden Bull was genuinely significant. This week we look at what it meant not just for the rich and powerful in Venice, but for the whole community.

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Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org