the disintegration of the empire 113
the destruction of this great trade artery, which brought part of the silk
road commerce to the golden horde, by no means meant the cessation
of trade in the Black sea region, nor even in those northern parts directly
affected: caffa and tana still saw considerable turnover in the fifteenth
century, although without the geographical reach of trade in the previous
century.229
despite such considerations, the blow that timur struck was not with-
out effect.230 it was certainly fatal for the golden horde’s apparatus of
state, which was so dependent upon and sensitive to the flow of commerce
and its income. seen from this angle, and judging by results, we may see
years in tana from 1436, also describes its past in glowing terms; before it was destroyed
by timur lenk, astrakhan was one of the great depots of the route, where spice and silk
were delivered in huge quantities, and every year the venetian merchants would bring six
or seven “great galleys” to the port on the don, at a time when such goods could no longer
be found in syria (Barbaro/skrižinskaya, p. 132, Berindei, veinstein, “tana-azaq,” p. 127).
229 the archbishop John of sultaniye, who visited caffa in 1404, eulogised it: Capha
civitas famosa et populosa, ibidemque confluunt mercatores de omnibus partibus mundi.
Omnes lingue orientalium inveniuntur ibi: ego numeravi aliquando XXXV linguas ibidem.
Est in maximum auxilium et favorem Christianorum hec civitas ultra mare. Januenses domi-
nantur ibi, ibidemque pro nunc sunt meliores magistri ad laborandum de serico et chamelotto
[= camel-hair cloth] ac aliis artibus (libellus/Kern, p. 107; on the importance of this source
see papacostea, “fin,” pp. 30, 31 note 5); the castillian traveller pero tafur, who also crossed
the lands north of the Black sea on his journey of 1435–1439, saw the genoese and the
venetian forts at tana, but was most impressed by the wealth of caffa, “as big as seville
or bigger,” and in his opinion twice as populous: “caffa is bounded on the side towards
persia and india by land, and on the others by the sea of tana, the sea of Ryxabaque and
the sea of Baku [= the Black sea, sea of azov and the caspian]. they bring there much
merchandise, spices, gold, pearls, and precious stones, and above all, from the countries
round, come the furs of the whole world and at the cheapest rates;” there is also a thriving
trade in slaves, mostly bound to mamluk egypt (tafur/letts, pp. 132–134). the venetian
senate’s pronouncement of 1460 may be seen as an interim report on the trade done at
tana: Viagium Tane erat unum de principaliorum viagiis et utilioribus, a que cetera viagia
hujus nostre civitatis dependebant et dependent (thiriet, Régestes, no. 3104, nystazopoulou-
pélékidis, Venise, p. 29, Berindei, veinstein, “tana-azaq,” p. 194). Basing his conclusion
on a comparative study, thiriet, “vénitiens,” p. 49, found that, “à bien regarder, les deux
premières décennies du xve siècle ont été probablement les meilleures pour la colonie
vénitienne de la tana.”
230 Berindei, veinstein, “tana-azaq,” p. 126, summed up the results of various quantita-
tive studies based on the origins of goods, from both heers, “commercio,” and their own
work, concluding: “ces quelques analyses nous permettent de conclure que si le passage
de tamerlan ne doit pas être considéré comme le point final du ‘grand’ commerce de la
tana, il est vrai que dans les années qui le suivent, les routes de l’inde, voir de la chine,
sont bel et bien coupées; l’absence des épices en témoigne, et si la soie demeure à la tana,
c’est en faible quantité, et la source en est proche, un ‘produit local’, étant en quelque sorte
substitué à un article du ‘grand’ commerce.” Between 1338 and 1340 shams al-dīn of shiraz
travelled via herat and Urgenchi and sold his wares at sarai at a profit of 430 per cent, but
this journey has rightly been considered an isolated case (hinz, “handelsunternehmen,”
İnalcık, “Question,” p. 85 note 2).