140 benjamin arbel
Wherever international commerce was a predominant factor in gaining
a foothold overseas, the Venetian presence could assume different forms,
from that of a commercial colony with special privileges to full territorial
rule, with intermediate forms not excluded. One such intermediate case
was that of 15th-century Tana, located at the estuary of the Don River,
on the northern shores of the Black Sea. The town was built and forti-
fied by the Venetians with permission of the Tartar Khan of the Golden
Horde, who received a yearly tribute and was entitled to receive 3 per cent
of Tana’s customs revenues. The colony was administered by a Venetian
consul and enjoyed ample autonomy, with its own police force and its
own soldiers and officers, including a port admiral.32
Venice was sometimes ready to disburse great sums of money to secure
its hold on a certain territory by purchasing dynastic rights, either before
occupying a territory or afterwards, as an act of legalization. This practice
reflects the power of dynastic claims during the early modern period, even
when disputed by rival contenders. In the latter case, Venice preferred to
be on the safe side by buying the pretended rights of all claimants, but
the sums disbursed seem to have depended on the respective abilities to
realize one’s claim. For example, Venice was ready to pay 100,000 duc-
ats to Ladislao of Naples for his right to rule Dalmatia, whereas his rival,
Maximilian of Luxemburg, had to content himself with 10,000 gold ducats
for his renunciation of the same claim.33 Ladislao had already made a
small fortune by selling in 1402 his rights on Corfu to the Republic for
30,000 ducats.34
Similarly, Venice was always ready to solve territorial disputes by offer-
ing to pay a yearly sum, which the Ottomans, for example, interpreted as
recognition of their overlordship. This was done on several instances in
15th-century Albania and Greece,35 and also in Cyprus on two occasions:
when formally taking over the island in 1489, Venice agreed to continue
paying the tribute paid by the Lusignan kings to the Mamluks; and when
the Mamluk sultanate was occupied by the Ottomans, the Republic agreed
to transfer this obligation to Egypt’s new rulers.36 A similar arrangement
32 Elena C. Skržinkaja, “Storia della Tana,” Studi veneziani 10 (1969), 3–45; Bernard
Doumerc, “Les Vénitiens à La Tana au XVe siècle,” Le Moyen Age 94/3–4 (1988), 363–79.
33 Praga, History of Dalmatia, pp. 145–47.
34 Eugenio Bacchion, Il Dominio Veneto su Corfu (1386–1797) (Venice, 1956), p. 31.
35 Momčila Spremić, “I tributi veneziani nel Levante nel XV secolo,” Studi veneziani 13
(1971), 221–52.
36 George Hill, A History of Cyprus, 4 vols (Cambridge, 1948–52), 3:823–24, 828.