100 chapter three
friar learnt that they had come from constantinople, but he did not know
where they were headed next.170
rubruck has the distinction of being the first to have written of the
importance of chinese silk to the ulus of Jochi,171 proving a trade route
between the cuman steppe and central asia at least from the mid-1240s.
according to this source, there were only enough wares to satisfy the
internal market in the mongol state, not—as would be the case later—to
make silk one of the principle trade goods which the golden horde would
reexport to the West via the Black sea.
the next source illustrates the same question from a different angle.
travelling via constantinople and soldaia, the venetians niccolò and
maffeo polo, father and uncle of the famous marco, met Berke in 1260 with
his “court” somewhere on the volga between sarai and Bulgar. the khan
“received messer niccolò and messer maffeo with great honour and was
very glad they had come. the two brothers gave him all the jewels they
had brought; and Barka took them willingly and was exceedingly pleased
with them, and gave them goods of fully twice the value in return.” pleased
at this unexpectedly successful outcome, the two venetians decided to
return home after having spent a year in the lands of horde, but when war
broke out between Berke and hülegü, they were obliged to flee onwards
and crossed the volga at Ukek, then took the usual eastward route to
Bukhara, where after waiting another three years they joined the ilkhanid
embassy to Qubilai and thus reached the great Khan.172
even if they were forced by circumstances, the polo brothers’ achieve-
ment was a historical landmark: they were the first europeans to reach
china by the northward route.173 Berke’s behaviour when he received the
two Westerners is also down to their status as pioneers: his joy at seeing
170 Wyngaert, Sinica Franciscana, i, p. 129.
171 “as regards their clothing and appearance, you should know that cloth of silk, of
gold and of cotton reaches them from cataia and other regions in the east, and from persia
and other southern parts in addition, and these they wear in the summer” (rubruck/Jack-
son, pp. 85–86); he also records that they obtained silk and cotton cloth from asia minor,
in exchange for precious furs from the taiga.
172 polo/latham, p. 2; cf. heyd, Histoire, ii, pp. 215 ff.
173 cf. petech, “marchands,” p. 552. it is hard to believe that marco’s father and uncle
were prevented from returning via the volga and the Black sea because of a war fought
between the two ulus in the caucasus and adjacent territories. it is far more plausible that
there was some other obstacle; at just this moment, venetian control over the straits gave
way to their traditional enemies the genoese. marco polo was dictating his memoirs as a
prisoner-of-war in a genoese jail, and it would be understandable if he prudently decided
not to describe an episode which might displease his captors. there is not a whisper of
anti-genoese feeling in the whole book.