The , the “plaque tournante” of the Euro-Asian Trade during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

by Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan, “Nicolae Iorga” History Institute of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest

Abstract This paper is a synthetic approach to the history of the Black Sea between 1204 and 1453, when the area served, according to the famous phrase of Romanian historian Gheorghe Brătianu, as the “plaque tournante” of the Euro-Asian trade. After centuries of Byzantine control over its trade and shipping, the prospects of this sea completely and rapidly changed after two historic events that occurred in the thirteenth century: the conquering of the Straits by the Italian maritime republics after 1204, and the territorial expansion of the Mongol Empire. The authors present the international context that allowed the transformation of the Black Sea into the contact area between Mediter- ranean merchants and Eastern goods that came along the Silk Road, the veritable backbone of this commerce, as well as the continuous conflicts between the regional powers interested to take control of these profitable exchanges: , Genoa, the Golden Horde, the Byzantine Empire, other local rulers, etc. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Black Sea eventu- ally became once again the economic appendix of the empire that controlled the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

wo powerful expansions that took place (creators of empires) – and their cooperation Tin the Euro-Asian area during the thir- for exploiting the great commercial routes teenth century created momentum for inter- which connected and resulted in continental trade and, subsequently, for the the considerable development of Euro-Asian world economy. The first one came from the trade, with crucial economic and political re- Italian maritime republics which, after hav- percussions. ing acquired in the previous century signifi- The Mongol expansion, as envisioned by cant positions in the Eastern Mediterranean the founder of the empire and pursued by his Sea in the favourable context of the , successor, aimed at conquering the entire ter- succeeded in the early thirteenth century in ritory between China and the Near East, up to conquering the Straits of the Black Sea, which the Mediterranean Sea. The accomplishment were jealously guarded by the Byzantine Em- of this aim would have granted the impe- pire. Venice and Genoa were the main actors rial leadership complete control over the Silk of this vigorous consolidation of the Italian Road, the main route not only for carrying republics’ trade. The second great expansion this precious textile merchandise, but also for with major consequences was that of the Mon- other goods – spices, medicines, pearls, etc. – gol Empire founded by Genghis Khan, which highly demanded in Europe. The evolution of spanned across a vast area from the Pacific the political and military situation in the Near Ocean to the Middle East and Eastern Europe. East – which the Mongol forces in Iran were The encounter of these two forces in the Black getting ready to incorporate and thus open Sea – the Italian merchants (creators of com- their way to the Mediterranean – did not al- mercial colonies) and the Mongol nomads low the completion of this plan. Defeated in

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 17 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

the battle of Ain Jalut in September 1260, the (Guillaume de Rubrouck). A Venetian trading Mongols permanently lost the direct connec- contract concluded in Constantinople in 1232 tion with the Mediterranean Sea, an event that refers to businesses carried out “across the granted to the Black Sea a prime position in whole large sea” (per totam marem majorem); the Euro-Asian trade. by this date, the commercial horizon of the For many centuries, the Black Sea was a Black Sea had been thoroughly explored by reserved area of the Byzantine Empire, which the Venetians. Not long before the dissolu- imposed rigorous control over the Straits of tion of the Latin Empire from Constantinople Dardanelles and Bosporus, and secured its in 1261, two Italian merchants, Niccolo and exclusive right to exploit for its own interests, Matteo Polo, whose names were to become its rich human (i.e., slaves) and material re- famous thanks to Marco, son to one of them, sources, including the goods brought from the sailed from Constantinople to Soldaia (today East. The trade between the Black Sea and the Sudak), in the “Greeks’ Sea” (Mer Greignor) or Mediterranean was unavoidably conducted the “Large Sea” (Mer Majour) “in order to earn by Byzantine middlemen (both state officials money and make profit”. and merchants) who derived significant prof- The Black Sea was now evolving towards its from this position. But the gradual decline its most significant function in its existence. of the imperial power during the twelfth cen- The full acknowledgement of this role was tury and its accentuated dependence on for- determined by two historic events which took eign merchants (mainly Venetians), exposed place in the Near East in a short period of time: Byzantium to the increasing pressure of for- the fall of Acre in 1258 which was followed by eign powers. In 1204, after events not suf- the end of Genoese hegemony in the Eastern ficiently clarified yet by historians, a strong Mediterranean; the defeat of the Mongols at squad of crusaders supported by the Venetian Ain Jalut in September 1260 and their com- fleet besieged Constantinople, which eventu- plete failure in controlling the Silk Road up to ally became the capital of a Latin empire. Ven- its Mediterranean end. The Black Sea was the ice reserved for itself a prevalent role in the main beneficiary, as it was the convergence commerce of the new empire; after centuries area after the reorientation of the main com- of exclusive Byzantine domination, the Black mercial routes of the two powers defeated in Sea was now available to Mediterranean trad- the Eastern Mediterranean. For two centuries ers (Venetians in this early stage). The road for the Black Sea was to remain the “plaque tour- direct contact between the Mediterranean Sea nante” of the Euro-Asian trade. and Asia was thus open. The preliminary step in the new direction For more than half a century, as long as the of Genoa’s commercial expansion was to con- Venetians controlled the Straits (1204–1261), clude an alliance with the Byzantine Empire, the Black Sea and its resources were gradually exiled in Nicaea, but striving to return to Con- discovered by entrepreneurs from the Italian stantinople. To achieve this goal a naval force maritime republics and, on their footsteps, by able to face the Venetian fleet was absolutely Catholic missionaries. Their memoirs confirm necessary, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos the presence of a great colony of Italian mer- concluded this alliance with Genoa, Venice’s chants (Giovanni da Plano Carpini) in Kiev main rival. The agreement was signed on 13 in 1246–1247 and in Soldaia () in 1253 March 1261 at Nymphaion and included in a

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 18 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

treaty that modified “the entire political and stantly strived to redirect towards their own commercial map of the Levant” (Roberto Sab- territories. Genoese merchants were granted batino Lopez). By this act, Genoa gained full the right to settle in some of its key positions, commercial freedom in the Byzantine Empire where they established their own autonomous and ousted all their Italian competitors (except centres. This helped to secure the interests of for the merchants of Pisa) and even the Greek the new Mongol state. Among the most im- merchants from the Black Sea; only imperial portant Genoese autonomies were Chilia on ships and their cargoes were allowed to sail the Danube, Cetatea Albă at the mouth of the in the Black Sea. With these provisions in the Dniester River, Caffa (in the Crimea) and Tana treaty concluded with Byzantium, Genoa laid at the confluence of the Don River with the Sea the foundation of their merchants’ privileged of Azov. On the southern shore of the Black commercial status in the Black Sea. Sea, the Genoese settled in Trabzon, the capi- Backed by this treaty, the Genoese traders tal city of one of the states that survived after started to massively exploit the great commer- the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204 and cial resources provided by the Black Sea and a junction point for the , Central its intercontinental connections. A decisive Asia and the Black Sea. The Genoese had also step was to set up their own commercial cen- been settled for a long time along the southern tres in strategic coastal points, autonomous coast at Amastris and Heraclea Pontica. In all settlements that later gained full sovereignty. their settlements of vital commercial signifi- The most important centre was Pera (Galata), cance, the Genoese succeeded in becoming au- a borough of Constantinople on the Bosporus, tonomous from the local authorities and even and excellent outlook point for the passage establishing their own communes, some of of ships from the Black Sea into the Mediter- the settlements being fortified. This network ranean. On the western Black Sea coast, the of autonomous or even sovereign commer- Genoese settled in the main centres regained cial centres allowed the Genoese to defeat the by the Byzantines; in the Lower Danube, they resistance of their competitors and enemies conducted important trade in the Byzantine (Venetians, Byzantines, Tartars, Trabzonites) metropolitan centre of Vicina, wherefrom the and to instate in the Black Sea the mercantile documents instrumented in 1281 by a Genoese status that was most convenient for their own notary have survived. interests. The Mongols, who after the great inva- The main goal of the Genoese was to sion of 1240–1241 dominated vast portions of control as much as possible of the Black Sea Eastern and Central Europe, also controlled trade and exchanges with the Mediterranean. the territories stretching northwards and east- Thus, they strived to concentrate the regional wards of the mouths of the Danube. Sepa- trade into their autonomous and sovereign rated from the great empire created by Geng- settlements, an action beneficial both for their his Khan, this Mongol branch established its merchants and for the customs taxes they re- own political entity, the Golden Horde, with ceived. These intentions inevitably triggered the capital in Sarai on the Volga River. One reactions from neighbouring powers – the of its most significant sources of power de- Golden Horde, the Byzantine Empire and the rived from exploiting the customs operations Trabzon Empire, but also from their main Ital- of Euro-Asian trade, which the Mongols con- ian rivals, the Venetians. On several occasions

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 19 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

such commercial rivalries turned into armed In the Black Sea, the Genoese traded both conflicts aimed at eliminating competition and local products supplied by the neighbouring constraining it either to leave the area or to areas and luxury goods from the Caucasus or move their commercial activities towards the from deeper into Asia. At a local level, espe- centres dominated by the opposing power. cially around the mouths of the Danube and When the Genoese considered the Venetians’ in the Crimea, the Ligurian merchants pur- autonomous activity on the road that linked chased grains (exported towards Byzantine the Golden Horde to China as unacceptable, territories and to various ports of the Medi- they tried to compel their competitors to pur- terranean), honey, fishery products, but also chase Chinese silk from Caffa, a colony un- slaves, highly valuable goods sold either in der their control, and not from Tana, a port Egypt for the Mamluke army or as domestic dominated by the Golden Horde. The quod slaves for wealthy families from Italian cities. non iretur ad Tanam provision, which the Geno- From the Far East, especially from China, the ese eventually succeeded to enforce, aimed at Genoese brought silk, which was not the high- concentrating the whole trade of this valuable est quality, but cheap (seta catuya). High qual- commodity – Chinese and Caucasian silk – in ity silk was brought from Gilan, a region near their settlement from Caffa. Similar commer- the , while from Trabzon they cial policies were manifest in all the Black Sea purchased various spices, pepper, precious centres where the Genoese had established gems brought in large quantities from Central their own fortified colonies. The most famous Asia or the and the Indian Ocean. case is that of Pera, which eventually sur- From Asia Minor, the Genoese purchased passed Constantinople in the trade between alum, a valuable material highly demanded the Mediterranean and Black Sea in both di- for the textile industry which was developing rections. The outcome of this shift was that the at that time in Italy. taxes collected by the Genoese from Pera were The Genoese merchants usually made all considerably greater than those collected by these acquisitions in the Black Sea port cities. the imperial customs in Constantinople. The However, some traders willing to increase Black Sea was on its way to becoming a com- their profit margins ventured towards inner mercial appendix of Genoa. Asia, in order to acquire the valuable goods demanded in the Mediterranean world at smaller prices from their original markets. After the first explorations of the land routes towards the Far East, they identified the most suitable itineraries and drafted travel guides. In the first decades of the fourteenth century, against the background of an advanced stage of discovering Asia by European explorers (most of them merchants), Francesco Bal- ducci Pegolotti published a manual, La prac- tica della mercatura, an excellent guide for the Ancient map of Black Sea (circa 1559) by Diogo Homem merchants who wanted to establish direct trading relations with China. The guide mi-

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 20 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

nutely indicates all the stages of this itinerary to accompany him in his voyages specifically through the territories of the Golden Horde specified that the latter was bound to serve the and farther to China, the means and costs of former “in every corner of the world” (in qui- transportation, the possibilities to engage in buscumque mundi partibus). trade on the road, the possible dangers and The Genoese tendency to concentrate their necessary precautions. It is relevant that the regional and intercontinental trading activi- author of this guide, although a Florentine, ties in their numerous Black Sea autonomous makes use of Genoese units of measurement, settlements faced the resistance of the other which suggests that his main target readers powers involved in the commerce of this mar- were Ligurians. The safe travelling conditions ket. Byzantium was the first actor that strived provided by this route indicate that the rulers to oppose the Genoese hegemony in the Black of the Golden Horde were interested in sup- Sea, which they had acknowledged by signing porting the transit of goods and of merchants the Treaty of Nymphaeon. Aware of the wide through their lands, as this was a great source concessions made in favour of the Genoese in of income for the khans in Sarai. 1261, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos tried Equally significant is the fact that during in 1268 to attenuate their effects by allowing the same period, Italian entrepreneurs, es- Venetian merchants in imperial trading activi- pecially Genoese, but also Venetians, settled ties, especially in the Black Sea basin. Assum- in China, some for a long time. This enabled ing the role of mediator between the two Ital- them to manage the purchase and delivery of ian thalassocracies, the emperor considered good towards the Black Sea ports. Recently, himself redeemed from the complete depen- Latin inscriptions on the graves of Genoese dency on Genoa that had been accepted seven deceased in China have been identified not far years before. Also pursued by Andronikos II from Nanking. Palaiologos, son and successor of Emperor Mi- In search for the precious Oriental goods, chael VIII Palaiologos, Byzantium’s anti-Gen- the Genoese also headed to inner Asia from the oese resistance fell to pieces at the end of the southern coast of the Black Sea. From Trabzon thirteenth century in the great vortex of events they entered the Ilkhanate territories, to the produced by the ousting of the Venetians from great commercial centre of Tabriz, where the Acre, the reorientation of their main commer- presence of a large Genoese colony governed cial interests towards the Black Sea and their by a consul is attested in early fourteenth cen- successive conflicts against Genoa for domi- tury. In the following years, the Genoese in nance in the Eastern Mediterranean. this important crossroads of Euro-Asian com- The signposts of Venice’s presence and mercial routes issued a statute, Ordinatio Tau- activity in the Black Sea multiplied in the last risii, aimed at reserving to their co-nationals decade of the thirteenth century, concurrently the privileges they had previously obtained with the increasing difficulties encountered by from the local authorities. The Genoese mer- the republic in the Eastern Mediterranean. At chants headed from Iran via the Persian Gulf the beginning of 1292, the Venetian Senate au- to India and China in search for the precious thorised the free purchase of Oriental goods Oriental goods and greater profits by their from the Byzantine Empire and the Black Sea. sale. A contract concluded in 1343 between an Simultaneously, diplomatic demarches meant Italian merchant and a commoner who was to ensure that the Venetian merchants’ access

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 21 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

to the Asian trade was pursued at the court Their great success at the Straits encour- of the Tartar khan from Sarai and at Trab- aged the Genoese to extend the regime settled zon. The Genoese, whose interests were thus at Pera over the entire trade of the Black Sea. jeopardised, engaged their military forces to This became particularly obvious in 1300, defend their privileged commercial positions when they appointed a “representative of the established in the previous decades. The out- commune of Genoa in the entire Byzantine come was a vast armed conflict. Beginning in Empire and in the Black Sea”. The Genoese the Mediterranean Sea, where the Venetian from Caffa soon followed the example of their fleet suffered great damage and multiple de- co-nationals from Pera and built a wall around feats, the confrontation between the two mari- the city, thus turning it into a stronghold. time powers then moved to the Black Sea, at Aware of the danger which this fortified set- Bosporus and the Crimea, at Caffa, where tlement represented for his empire, the khan there were “all the goods and all the wealth in Sarai, Tokta, initiated a large military cam- of the Genoese”, according to a Venetian his- paign and put the walls of the Genoese city to tory. The decisive battle took place in 1298 in the ground. The danger was thus removed, the Adriatic Sea, at Curzola, and ended with but only for a short while. By instating a com- the victory of Genoa. The peace treaty of Milan mercial boycott (devetum) on the territories of concluded on 25 May 1299 drastically limited the Golden Horde, the Genoese leadership Venetian trade in the Black Sea: for almost two forced its ruler to give in and accept its con- decades, Venice did not even try to establish ditions. The power of trade proved stronger any settlements in the area. than the armed one. Caffa became once again Genoa took full advantage of the elimi- a stronghold meant to control the entire trade nation of the Venetian competition after the in the northern Black Sea area. The new status Peace of Milan and consolidated its position Genoa drafted in 1316 for Caffa compelled all in the Black Sea. This prestige was most vis- ships sailing in the northern Black Sea region ible in the three main Genoese commercial to stay at least a day in Caffa harbour. Follow- centres in the area: Pera, Caffa and Trabzon. ing the pattern applied at Pera and Caffa, the At Bosporus and in the remains of the Byzan- Ligurian merchants tried to impose similar tine Empire, the Genoese succeeded in exploit- conditions in Trabzon. After repeated unfruit- ing the increasingly obvious weakness of the ful negotiations and several armed conflicts, imperial power: a new privilege was granted the imperial leadership conceded to allow the by Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologus, allow- Genoese to settle in a borough of the city and ing them to expand their settlement from Pera to carry goods towards the Ilkhanate, but did (an indication of demographic growth and not grant them the much required tax exemp- prosperity of the Genoese colony) and, what tions. is more, to fortify their dwellings, which even- Through the increasingly severe regime tually led, despite a legal interdiction, to the imposed in their favour on trade and shipping fortification of the entire colony. Under these in the Black Sea, which was now more than circumstances, the Genoese managed to grad- ever the “plaque tournante” of the interna- ually transfer from Constantinople to Pera the tional trade, Genoa openly aimed to effective- customs control and exploitation of ships and ly include this sea in its commercial empire. goods passage through the Black Sea Straits. Venice’s refusal to accept this programme led

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 22 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

to the outburst of the second Venetian-Geno- of the Golden Horde – on the one hand that of ese War. the Kingdom of Hungary allied with Poland, Starting with the end of the second decade Wallachia (Valachia Major) and Moldavia (Va- of the fourteenth century, the Venetians reap- lachia Minor), the emerging Romanian states peared in some of the main trading centres expanding towards the mouths of the Danube of the Black Sea, thus openly impinging on and the Black Sea and on the other hand that of the Genoese interdictions. This tendency in- the Genoese at sea – had important commercial creased thereafter. However, as the Tartars of consequences in the region. Two trade routes the Golden Horde were trying to remove the to Central Europe were established in the ter- Genoese from Caffa in 1343 and the following ritories freed from Mongol dominance, routes years, an assault which gradually acquired an which played a vital role in the economic and anti-Latin character, the Genoese-Venetian an- political evolution of the region. The Genoese tagonism remained latent for a while. As soon settled at the maritime end of these routes: at as this onset failed, the Genoese, more deter- Chilia-Likostomo, at the mouth of the Danube, mined than ever, decided to oust their com- a centre which they had controlled since 1359, petitors who had obtained in 1347 the right and at Cetatea Albă (Albicastrum, Maurocas- to settle again in Tana. The peace concluded trum, Moncastro), at the mouth of the Dniester, in 1355, after a five-year war, re-established thus establishing connections with Moldavia Genoa’s trading hegemony in the Black Sea. and indirectly with Poland in 1386. The first The Golden Horde’s attempt to remove route transited Wallachia and Transylvania, the Genoese from Caffa, a city besieged for leading to Hungary and Central Europe, the a long time and on which they directed a second crossed Moldavia towards Poland and ‘bacteriological warfare’ (they catapulted farther to the Baltic Sea or Bohemia or Germa- corpses of plagued people into the city, an in- ny. The main junctions of these roads between effective action for the odds of the siege, but the Black Sea and Central Europe were the which determined the spread of the bubonic cities of Braşov, in Transylvania, and Lwów plague in Western Europe, with catastrophic (Lemberg) in Poland. In time, a flow of goods demographic outcomes), ended in complete was secured from the Black Sea – where the failure. Moreover, a large coalition of Cen- Genoese were the suppliers of Oriental goods tral European powers, organised between – towards Central Europe and in return from 1343 and 1344, probably at Genoa’s initiative, Central Europe towards the Black Sea basin, gradually pushed the Golden Horde’s depen- with the main commercial agents being repre- dencies eastwards, from the area of the East- sented, on the final segment, by the merchants ern Carpathians and of the western Russian of Brașov and Lwów. On the route from the knyazates, which they had controlled since Black Sea through Moldavia and Poland, the the previous century, to Dnieper and Dniester Genoese merchants took an active part in the Rivers. Simultaneously, the Genoese seized exchange of goods, while on the road through the main strategic points in the Crimea, thus Wallachia the main trading agents were the consolidating their control over the trade in an merchants of Braşov. area still dominated (yet only by name) by the The importance of these two highly ef- Golden Horde. ficient commercial routes in the second half The double offensive against the khanate of the fourteenth century and throughout a

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 23 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

great part of the next century is obvious from War, began after a decisive naval battle took the political rivalries they triggered. All this place at the starting point of the conflict in time, the issue of controlling these routes, their Chioggia, an island off Venice. While the con- maritime ends and their customs policy repre- flict was in full force, Venice was attacked at sented an important topic in conventions and sea by the Genoese fleet and on land by the treaties and a source of conflicts in the political Hungarian troops. The Venetians avoided relations between the four continental states heroically the fate which their enemies had that profited from their proper functioning: prepared for them – their complete annihila- Hungary, Poland, Wallachia and Moldavia. tion as a trading power – but they were forced The consolidation of its position in the to accept several severe terms in the Treaty Black Sea after its success in the confrontations of Peace concluded in Turin in 1381. Venice against Venice and the Golden Horde and the obtained the rights to trade in Tana for only expansion of its trading market towards Cen- two years after the conclusion of the peace, a tral Europe by means of an important com- period which Genoa was to take advantage mercial route prompted Genoa to attempt the of in order to consolidate its position in the complete removal of Venice from the interna- region. Genoa remained the dominant trad- tional trade. A natural ally for Genoa in this ing force in the Black Sea up to the begin- endeavour was the Kingdom of Hungary, an ning of the Ottoman rule in Constantinople. old enemy of Venice in the Adriatic Sea, which By mid fourteenth century, the Turkish it had permanently tried to subject to its com- population living in the north-western quar- mercial interests and policy. Gradually ex- ter of Asia Minor organised as a state under punged from the Black Sea trade by Genoa’s the rule of the Ottoman dynasty, succeeded restrictive provisions and facing the risk of to pass beyond the Straits and settled on Eu- losing its Central European market because of ropean ground. This first step gradually led the infiltration of Genoese merchants in the re- to a vast expansion on the Balkan Peninsula, gion through the new routes, Venice decided with the major aim of conquering Constan- to attempt a decisive strike to counterbalance tinople and of taking over control over the the deadly threat. The best solution to attain Black Sea Straits. Unable to fight the Ottoman this objective was to take over a strategic posi- assaults alone, the Byzantine rulers repeat- tion, which could paralyse the Genoese-Hun- edly asked for help from the Latin West, of- garian plans. The entrance to the Dardanelles, fering them what they still had as an exchange in Tenedos Island, “the mouth and key of the value: their spiritual identity. The last Western Black Sea”, was the key point chosen. The set- armed action targeted at the Ottoman power tlement of the Venetians in this strategic point, and aimed at saving Byzantium was crushed which had been ceded to them by the Byzan- in 1396 in the Battle of Nicopolis. A similar at- tine emperor, threatened to paralyse the entire tempt of regional powers (Hungary, Poland, Genoese trading system based on the control and Wallachia) ended in rout in the Battle of of the Black Sea. Genoa’s response managed Varna in 1444. The road to Constantinople was to annul the concession made by Byzantium, now open for the Ottoman Turks who, in May but not to prevent the armed confrontation 1453, conquered the city and put an end to the between the two maritime powers. The third millennial existence of the Byzantine Empire. Venetian-Genoese War, known as the Tenedos With this event, the free passage between the

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 24 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea was also Policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, interrupted. The Black Sea was destined to re- Russia, and the Islamic Lands, 1251–1259, become an economic appendix of the new im- Berkeley – Los Angeles – London, 1987. perial power that dominated the Straits. Amitai-Preiss, R., Mongols and Subjecting the Black Sea to the new power Mamluks. The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War 1260–1281, was one of the primary goals of the new mas- Cambridge, 1995. ters of the Straits. Starting in June 1454, Sultan Ashtor, E., A Social and Economic Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, History of the Near East in the Middle Ages, sent emissaries to the states around the Black London, 1976. Sea, requesting them to acknowledge the new Ayalon, D., The Mamluks and Naval power and to subject to it. In order to break Power. A Phase of the Struggle between Islam and their resistance, he sent the following year na- Christian Europe, “Proceedings of the Israel val squadrons with an ultimatum addressed Academy of Sciences and Humanities”, 1, to the main Black Sea states. Moldavia and 1965. Caffa obeyed the Ottoman request and paid Balard, M., La Romanie génoise (XIIe – tribute to and acknowledged the Turkish pow- début du XVe siècle), I–II, Rome, 1978. er. Sinope, Mangop, Trabzon and other settle- Barkan, Ö. L., Notes sur les routes ments soon followed suit. In 1461, Mahmud de commerce orientales, “Revue de la Faculté conquered the key points on the southern des Sciences économiques de l’Université coast of the Black Sea, Trabzon included. The d’Istanbul”, 1, 1940, pp. 322–328. attempt of Stephen the Great, the Moldavian Bautier, H.-R., Les relations économiques ruler, to overthrow the Ottoman power with des Occidentaux avec les pays d’Orient au Moyen the support of a great coalition failed. In 1475, Âge. Points de vue et documents, in Sociétés et the Ottoman fleet besieged and conquered compagnies de commerce en Orient et dans l’océan Caffa, putting an end to the Genoese presence Indien, in Actes du huitième colloque international in the Black Sea. Nine years later, a new sultan, d’histoire maritime (Beyrouth – 5–10 septembre Bayezid II, conquered the important Moldavi- 1966) présentés par M. Mollat, Paris, 1970, pp. an ports of Chilia and Cetatea Albă and thus 263–331. completed his father’s work. Berindei, M. & G. Veinstein, La Tana- From its former status as “plaque tour- Azaq de la présence italienne à l’emprise ottomane nante of Euro-Asian trade”, the Black Sea be- (fin XIIIe – milieu XVIe siècle), “Turcica”, 8, 1976, came once again an economic appendix of an 2, pp. 110–201. empire that controlled the Bosporus and the Boyle, J. A., Dynastic and political Dardanelles. History of the Il-Khans, in The Cambridge History of Iran, V: The Saljuq and Mongol periods, Bibliography Cambridge, 1968, pp. 303–421. Brătianu, G., La mer Noire. Des origines Ahrweiler, Hélène, Byzance et la mer. à la conquête ottomane, München, 1969. La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions Brătianu, G., Recherches sur le commerce maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe–XVe siècles, Paris, génois dans la mer Noire au XIIIe siècle, Paris, 1966. 1929. Allsen, Th., Mongol Imperialism. The Bryer, A., The Fate of George Komnenos,

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 25 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

Ruler of Trebizond (1266–1280), “Byzantinische Mamluc Egypt in the Second Half of the Thirteenth Zeitschrift”, 66, 1973, pp. 332–350. Century, in The Islamic Middle East, 700–1900: Cahen, C., Pre-Ottoman Turkey. A Studies in Economic and Social History, ed. A. L. General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Udovitch, Princeton (New Jersey), 1981, pp. Culture and History c. 1071–1330, London, 1968. 335–345. Canard, M., Un traité entre Byzance Eliseeff, V., Approaches Old and New et l’Égypte au XIIIe siècle et les relations to the Silk Roads, in The Silk Roads: Highways of diplomatiques de Michel VIII Paléologue avec les Culture and Commerce, Paris, 1998. sultans mamlūks Baybars et Qalā’ūn, in Mélanges Geanakoplos, D. J., Emperor Michael Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Le Caire, 1934–1935, Palaeologus and the West 1258–1282. A Study in pp. 197–224. Byzantine-Latin Relations, Cambridge (Mass.), Caro, G., Genua und die Mächte am 1959. Mittelmeer, 1257–1311. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Grekov, B. D. & Yu. Yakubovskiy, des XIII. Jahrhunderts, I–II, Halle, 1895–1899. Zolotaya Orda i eë padenie, Moskva – Leningrad, The Cambridge History of Inner Asia. The 1950. Chinggisid Age, eds. N. di Cosmo, A. J. Frank, Grousset, R., L’Empire des steppes. P. B. Golden, Cambridge, 2004. Attila. Gengis-Khan. Tamerlan, Paris, 1939. Chapman, C., Michel Paléologue, Haussig, H. W., Die Geschichte restaurateur de l’empire byzantin (1261–1282), Zentralasiens und der Seidenstraße in islamischer Paris, 1926. Zeit, Darmstadt, 1988. Ciocîltan, V., The Mongols and the Heers, J., Il commercio nel Mediterraneo Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth alla fine del sec. XIV e nei primi anni delXV, Centuries, translated by Samuel Willcocks, “Archivio storico italiano”, 113, 1955, 2, pp. Leiden – Boston, 2012. 157–209. Ciocîltan, V., Der genuesische Heyd, W., Histoire du commerce du Bürgerkrieg (1317–1331) und seine Auswirkungen Levant au Moyen Âge, I–II, Leipzig, 1936. im Schwarzmeerraum, Il Mar Nero , 7, 2007/2008, Höllmann, Th. O., Die Seidenstrasse, pp. 195–215. München, 2004. D’Ohsson, A. C. M., Histoire des Holt, P. M., Qalāwūn’s Treaty with Mongoles depuis Tchinguiz-Khan jusqu’à Timour Genoa in 1290, “Der Islam”, 57, 1980, pp. 101– Bey ou Tamerlan, I–IV, Amsterdam, 1892. 108. Decei, A., La Horde d’Or et les pays Howorth, H. H., History of the Mongols roumains aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles selon les from the 9th to the 19th Century, pt. I: The Mongols historiens arabes contemporains, “Romano- Proper and the Kalmuks, London, 1876; pt. II: arabica”, 2, 1976, pp. 61–63. The So-Called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia, Dölger, F., Regesten der Kaiserurkunden Division I–II, London, 1880; pt. III: The Mongols des Oströmischen Reiches, III: (1204–1282), of Persia, London, 1888; pt. IV: Supplement, München, 1977; IV: (1282–1341), Berlin – London, 1927. München, 1960; V: (1341–1453), München – İnalcık, H., The Question of the Closing Berlin, 1965. of the Black Sea under the Ottomans, “Archeion Ehrenkreutz, A. S., Strategic Pontou”, 35, 1979, pp. 74–110. Implications of the Slave Trade between Genoa and Iorga, N., Veneţia in Marea Neagră, I:

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 26 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

Dobrotici; II: Legături cu Turcii şi cu creştinismul mediterranea per Nino Lamboglia, Genova, 1978, din Balcani de la lupta de la Cosovo la cea de la pp. 347–354. Nicopole (1386–96); III: Originea legăturilor Lopez, R. S., Venise et Gênes: deux cu Ştefan-cel-Mare şi mediul desvoltării lor, styles, une réussite, in idem, Su e giù per la storia Bucureşti, 1914. di Genova, Genova, 1975, pp. 35–42. Jackson, P., The Dissolution of the Lopez, R. S., Genova marinara nel Mongol Empire, “Central Asiatic Journal”, 22, Duecento. Benedetto Zaccaria, ammiraglio e 1978, pp. 186–243. mercante, Milano, 1933. Karpov, S. P., L’Impero di Trebizonda, Lupprian, K.-E., Die Beziehungen Venezia, Genova e Roma 1204–1461. Rapporti der Päpste zu islamischen und mongolischen politici, diplomatici e commerciali, Roma, 1986. Herrschern im 13. Jahrhundert, Città del Kedar, B. Z., Segurano-Sakran: un Vaticano, 1981. mercante genovese al servitio dei sultani mamaluchi Manfroni, C., Storia della marina c. 1303–1322, in Fatti e idee di storia economica nei italiana dal trattato di Ninfeo alla caduta di secoli XII–XX. Studi dedicati a Franco Borlandi, Constantinopoli, 1261–1453, Livorno, 1902. Bologna, 1977, pp. 75–91. Martinez, A. P., Institutional Klimkeit, H. J., Die Seidenstraße, Development, Revenues and Trade, in The Handelsweg und Kulturbrücke zwischen Morgen- Cambridge History of Inner Asia. The Chinggisid und Abendland, Köln, 1988. Age, eds. N. di Cosmo, A. J. Frank, P. B. Golden, Labib, S. Y., Handelsgeschichte Ägyptens Cambridge, 2004, pp. 89–108. im Spätmittelalter (1171–1517), Wiesbaden, Morozzo della Rocca, R., Notizie da 1965. Caffa, in Studi in onore di Amintore Fanfani, III, Laiou, A., Constantinople and the Latins. Milano, 1962, pp. 266–295. The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282–1328, Mostaert, A. & F. W. Cleaves, Les lettres Cambridge (Mass.), 1972. de 1289 et 1305 des ilkhan Arghun et Ölgeitü à Laurent, V., La croisade et la question Philippe le Bel, Cambridge (Mass.), 1962. d’Orient sous le pontificat de Grégoire X (1272– Musso, G. G., Note d’archivio sulla 1276), RHSEE, 22, 1945, pp. 105–137. «Massaria» di Caffa, “Studi genuensi”, 5, 1968, Liu, X., The Silk Road in the World pp. 62–98. History, Oxford, 2010. Nikov, P., Tatarobulgarski otnošeniya Lopez, R. S., L’importance de la mer prez srednite vekove s ogled kum caruvaneto na Noire dans l’histoire de Gênes, in Colloquio Smileca, Sofia, 1921. romeno-italiano. I Genovesi nel Mar Nero durante Nystazopoulou-–Pélékidis, Maria G., i secoli XIII e XIV, Bucarest 27–28 marzo 1975, Venise et la mer Noire du XIe au XVe, Venezia, Bucureşti, 1977, pp. 131–154. 1970. Lopez, R. S., Nuove luci sugli italiani in Ostrogorsky, G., Geschichte des Estremo Oriente prima di Colombo, in idem, Su byzantinischen Staates, München, 1963. e giù per la storia di Genova, Genova, 1975, pp. Otten-Froux, C., L’Aïas dans le dernier 83–136. tiers du XIIIe siècle d’après les notaires génois, Lopez, R. S., In quibusqumque mondi in The Medieval Levant. Studies in Memory of partibus, in Miscellanea di storia italiana e Elyahu Ashtor (1914–1984), ed. B. Z. Kedar and A. L. Udovitch, Haifa, 1988 (= “Asian and

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 27 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

African Studies. Journal of the Israel Oriental Poliak, A. N., Le caractère colonial de Society”, 22, 1988, 1–3, pp. 147–171). l’État mamelouk dans ses rapports avec la Horde Papacostea, Ş., La première crise des d’Or, “Revue des études islamiques”, 9, 1935, rapports byzantino-génois après Nymphaion. Le pp. 231–248. complot de Guglielmo Guercio (1264), “Revue Power, Eileen, The Opening of the Land roumaine d’histoire”, 27, 1988, 4, pp. 211–236. Routes to Cathay, in Travel and Travellers of the Papacostea, Ş., La fin de la domination Middle Ages, ed. A. P. Newton, London, 1926, génoise à Lykostomo, “Anuarul Institutului de pp. 124–158. Istorie şi Arheologie «A. D. Xenopol»”, 22, Richard, J., Les navigations des 1985, 1, pp. 29–42. occidentaux sur l’océan Indien et la mer Caspienne Papacostea, Ş., Gênes, Venise et la mer (XIIe – XVe siècle), in Sociétés et compagnies de Noire à la fin du XIIIe siècle, “Revue roumaine commerce en Orient et dans l’océan Indien. Actes d’histoire”, 29, 1990, 3–4, pp. 211–236. du huitième Colloque international d’histoire Papacostea, Ş., Une révolte antigénoise maritime (Beyrouth – 5–10 septembre 1966) en mer Noire et la riposte de Gênes (1433–1434), présentés par M. Mollat, Paris, 1970, pp. 353– in État et civilisation au Moyen Âge, Paris, 369. 1989, pp. 441–442. Sinor, D., The Mongols and Western Papacostea, Ş., «Quod non iretur ad Europe, in A History of the Crusades, III: The Tanam». Un aspect fondamental de la politique Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, ed. H. W. génoise dans la mer Noire au XIVe siècle, “Revue Hazard, Wisconsin, 1975. des études sud-est européennes”, 17, 1979, 2, Skržinskaja, Elena, Storia della Tana, pp. 201–217. “Studi Veneziani”, 10, 1968, pp. 1–33. Papacostea, Ş., V. Ciocîltan, Marea Smirnov, V. D., Krïmskoe khanstvo pod Neagră, răspântie a drumurilor intercontinentale verkhovenstvom Otomanskoy Portï do načala (1204–1453), Constanţa, 2007. XVIII veka, St. Petersburg, 1887. Pegolotti, Francesco Balducci, La Spinei, V., Moldova în secolele XI–XIV, pratica della mercatura, ed. A. Evans, Cambridge Bucureşti, 1982. (Mass.), 1936. Spuler, B., Die Goldene Horde. Die Petech, L., Les marchands italiens dans Mongolen in Rußland 1223–1502, Wiesbaden, l’Empire mongol, “Journal asiatic”, 250, 1962, 2, 1965. pp. 549–574. Spuler, B., Die Mongolen in Iran. Politik, Petrushevsky, I. P., The Socio-Economic Verwaltung und Kultur der der Ilchanzeit 1220– Condition of Iran under the Īl-Khāns, in The 1350, Leiden, 1985. Cambridge History of Iran, V: The Saljuq and Strässle, P. M., Der internationale Mongol Periods, Cambridge, 1968, pp. 483–537. Schwarzmeerhandel und Konstantinopel 1261– Pistarino, G., Genova e il Vicino Oriente 1484 im Spiegel der sowjetischen Forschung, Bern nell’epoca del Regno latino di Gerusalemme, in I – Frankfurt/M. – New York – Paris, 1990. Comuni italiani nel Regno crociato di Gerusalemme. Thiriet, F., Les Vénitiens en mer Noire. Atti del colloquio “The Italian Communes in the Organisations et trafics (XIIIe – XVe siècles), Crusading Kingdom of Jerusalem”, Jerusalem, “Archeion Pontou”, 35, 1979, pp. 38–53. May 24 – May 28, 1984, Genova, 1986 (reprint Todorova, Elisaveta, The Black Sea Pistarino, Genovesi, pp. 57–141). Interest of the Italians and the Bulgarian Ports

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 28 Şerban Papacostea & Virgil Ciocîltan

(13th –15th Centuries), “Byzantino-bulgarica”, 7, Waugh, D., Richthofen’s ‘Silk Roads’: 1981, pp. 229–237. Toward the Archaeology of a Concept, “The Silk Verlinden, Ch., Esclavage et ethnographie Road”, 5, 2007, 1. sur les bords de la mer Noire (XIIIe – XIVe), in Yule, H., Cathay and the Way Thither, II, Miscellanea historica in honorem Leonis van der London, 1844. Essen, Brussels – Paris, 1947, pp. 1–12. Zakirov, S., Diplomatičeskie otnošeniya Vernadsky, G., The Mongols and Russia, Zolotoy Ordï s Egiptom (XIII–XIV vv.), Moskva, New Haven – London, 1953 (idem, A History of 1966. Russia, III). Ždan, M. B., The Dependence of Halych- Veselovskiy, N. I., Khan iz temnikov Volyn’ Rus’ on the Golden Horde, “The Slavonic Zolotoy Ordï. Nogay i ego vremya, Petrograd, and East European Review”, 35, 1956–57, pp. 1922. 505–522. Vladimirtsov, B., Le régime social des Mongols, Paris, 1948.

About the authors

Șerban Papacostea is a Romanian scholar specialised in medieval and pre-modern history. He grad- uated from the University of Bucharest in the late 1940s, during the transition phase from democ- racy to communism, and was thereafter detained as a political prisoner in Romania’s communist penitentiaries. After his discharge, he followed the footsteps of great Romanian historians such as Nicolae Iorga, Gheorghe Brătianu and Andrei Oţetea and devoted his scientific interest to the study of the origins of the Romanian medieval states, the economic and social history of the Romanian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, and the importance of the Lower Danube and the Black Sea in Romanian and European history. After the fall of communism he was the director of the “Nicolae Iorga” History Institute of the Romanian Academy (1990–2001) and was also allowed to teach at the University of Bucharest. Since 1990 he has been a Correspondent Fellow of the Roma- nian Academy. He has published extensively, and among his main monographs are: Oltenia sub stapânirea austriaca (1718–1739), Bucharest, 1971; Geneza statului în evul mediu românesc, Bucharest, 1988; Românii în secolul al XIII-lea între Cruciată și Imperiul Mongol, Bucharest, 1993; La Mer Noire, car- refour des civilisations, Bucharest, 2006. E-mail: [email protected]

Virgil Ciocîltan graduated in Arabic philology at the University of Bucharest and has worked there- after at the “Nicolae Iorga” History Institute in Bucharest. He is interested in the medieval his- tory of the Romanian Principalities and their relations with the East. He has taught graduate and postgraduate courses at the Universities of Freiburg, Bucharest, Constanţa and Galaţi. He has been a Fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the New Europe College, Institute of Ad- vanced Study (Bucharest) and has completed several research visits in Western Europe. His main publications are: Mongolii şi Marea Neagră. Contribuţia cinghizhanizilor la transformarea bazinului pontic în placă turnantă a comerţului euro-asiatic, Bucharest, 1998 (with an English version recently published – The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, translated by Samuel Willcocks, Leiden – Boston, 2012); Marea Neagră, răspântie a drumurilor intercontinentale (1204–1453), Constanţa, 2007 (co-author). E-mail: [email protected]

Euxeinos 14 (2014) 29