178 chapter four
all these qualities made Segurano Salvaigo a leading proponent of
reopening the caffa-alexandria sea route, as did his own self-interest. his
involvement in the troubles of 1311/2, when he saved the Jochid ambassa-
dors, the Mamluk ambassadors, and his own countrymen, made him a key
political player in the process of restoring the Golden horde’s relations
with the Sultan to the level they had been at before they were effectively
frozen in 1307/8. his kinsmen helped him in his efforts to re-establish ties
between the two Muslim states. While Segurano’s base of operations was
in egypt, one of his brothers, probably ambrogio,139 held a similar posi-
tion in the Golden horde, and is attested as a member of Özbek’s large
embassy to cairo in 1313/4, made up of three hundred persons, “great and
small, slaves both male and female; the brother of the frankish merchant
Sakran came with [the ambassador] and in his service.”140
this brief notice records the resumption of the old links between the
Jochids and Mamluks. as well as recording the Genoese contribution (and
in particular that of the Salvaigo family) to the re-establishment of the
Muslim alliance, it sheds some light on the related problem of the great
slave route and its resolution.
however important the Genoese were in reopening the trade, they were
no more than tools in the service of the two rulers. Özbek’s contribution
must be emphasised here, since in the final analysis, the course of events
depended entirely on his political designs.
the khan’s strong interest in long-term, large-scale links with the Mam-
luk state is evident in his dealings with the Genoese, who were keen to
return to their stronghold on the crimean coast: he offered uncommonly
generous conditions for them to do so.141
treasury,” who gave him 60,000 dinars and goods to the value of 40,000 dinars with which
to trade (al-‛aynī/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, I, p. 493, Kedar, “Segurano,” p. 90); this might
represent Segurano Salvaigo’s sizeable contribution to establishing the Genoese fondaco
in alexandria, first mentioned in 1322 but certainly older.
139 the identication is proposed by Kedar, “Segurano,” p. 78.
140 Ibn al-Dawādarī/roemer, p. 280, Kedar, “Segurano,” p. 89; cf. Labib, Handelsge-
schichte, p. 76; this is probably the same embassy as mentioned above, p. 171, in which
case the ambassador was Mangush.
141 the only explicit mention of the privilege is in an anonymous Genoese chronicle:
Anno domini MCCCXVI redifficata fuit civitas Caffa per dominum antonium gallum et domi-
num nicolaum de pagana sindicos comunis Janue per gratiam sibi concessam per Usbech
imperatorem tartarorum (continuazione da Varagine/promis, p. 502; cf. ciocîltan, “origi-
nes,” passim); the phrasing does not reveal whether the khan’s grant was also made in 1316,
but it is more likely to have already been made in 1313, when the Genoese were certainly in
the town, complaining that the people of trebizond had robbed them (Balard, Romanie, I,
p. 202 note 30). there is no evidence to back up Balard’s opinion that some Genoese may