The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

By Virgil Ciociltan

Translated by Samuel Willcocks

BRILL

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 CONTENTS

Acknowledgements vii List of Maps ix

1 Preliminary Remarks .'. .-.; 1 1.1 The Mongols and Trade 2 1.1.1 Sources and Historiographical Concepts 3 1.1.2 The and the Merchants: A Symbiotic Relationship 8 1.1.3 The Silk Road as the Spine of Eurasian Commerce 20 1.1.4 The Nomads and the Silk Road 23 1.2 The Mongols and the Black Sea 30 1.2.1 Continental Possessions, Maritime Horizons 30 1.2.2 Expansion and Blockade 32 1.2.3 The Black Sea—A Crossroads of Eurasian Trade ... 34

2 The Mongol Expansion and the Eurasian Commercial Axes 37 2.1 The Silk Road as a Channel for Expansion 37 2.1.1 Chinggis Khan and the Silk Road 37 2.1.2 The Silk Road Under the Protectorate of the 42 2.2 The Spice Road: Assault on the Fertile Crescent 55 2.2.1 The Last Pan-Mongol Campaign to the West: Half a Victory 55 2.2.2 The —Chief Beneficiary of Western Asian Expansion 58

3 The Disintegration of the Empire: Intra- and Extra-Mongol Commercial Rivalries 61 3.1 The Jochid-Ilkhanid Struggle for 61 3.2 Cilician Armenia in the Ilkhanid- Struggle for the Fertile Crescent 68 3.3 Political Consequences: The -Cairo-Tabriz Triangle 88 3.3.1 The Sarai-Cairo Axis and its Allies 89 3.3.2 The Ilkhanid-Genoese Alliance 95 Vi CONTENTS

3.4 The Commercial Implications: Connecting the Black Sea to the Eurasian Trade Network 95 3.4.1 The Jochid Branch: Urgench-Sarai-Tana/Caffa 96 3.4.2 The Ilkhanid Branch: Tabriz-Trebizond 114

4 The Golden Horde and the Black Sea 141 4.1 The Origin of the Golden Horde's Black Sea Policy 141 4.1.1 The Cumans and the Black Sea Trade 141 4.1.2 Batu: Black Sea Trade in the Shadow of Tabriz 144 4.1.3 and the Loss of Tabriz: The Basis of the Golden Horde's Black Sea Policy 148 4.2 Cooperation and Confrontation with the Italian Merchant Republics 150 4.2.1 The Beginnings 152 4.2.2 Noghai and , the Genoese and Venetians: The Battle for the Black Sea Trade 157 4.2.3 Toqta: Cooperation and Rupture 163 4.2.4 Ozbek: Cooperation Reaches Its Peak 173 4.2.5 Janibek: The Great Rupture 199 4.2.6 Berdibek and Mamai: The Low Point 219 4.2.7 Toqtami'sh: A Brief Revival 225 4.3 The Problem of the Straits and the Tartar Solution 241 4.3.1 The Battle for the Straits and for the Seljuk Sultanate 241 4.3.2 A Guardian of the Straits: The Khanate of the ' Lower Danube 248 4.3.3 Tartar Policy Between the Carpathians and the Straits After the End of Noghai's Khanate 259

5 Conclusion: The Black.Sea, Crossroads and Bypass of Eurasian Trade 281

The Main Chinggisid Rulers 283 Bibliography 285 Index 301