184 chapter four
the city’s port as one of the most famous in the world, able to harbour
two hundred ships.160
as well as its concern to promote caffa directly, the office also pursued
the same objective by the indirect means of appeasing or neutralising
adversaries. the merchants republic’s chosen weapon was the commercial
boycott, used against declared enemies or potential rivals in the crimea
(Soldaia and Solkhat), on the coast of asia Minor (Sinope) and on the
North-West Black Sea coast (the Bulgaria of theodore Svetoslav).161 the
conflict with trebizond is an exceptional case here, both for the prize that
was fought over and the course of hostilities.162
Özbek’s grant provided not just the basis on which caffa was physically
built, but the legal framework. for all the disadvantages that an unwritten
agreement may offer from the point of view of rigour, it provided a legal
space within which the colonial possession could be planted. although its
status was hardly clear, due to the deficiency just mentioned and other
elements which suggested an equivocal status, the government of caffa
verbally built on the khan’s words in 1313 in practice removed the town
from Golden horde jurisdiction.
the powers with which the office of Gazaria invested the consul leave
no doubt that he, together with his councillors, was the real governor at
the local level and exercised his power in the name of the republic.163 the
consul’s position becomes especially clear when compared with Özbek’s
supposed representatives in the town, whom the documentation of his
reign passes over in silence. these are the Mongol customs agents, such as
were recorded in caffa in 1289–90,164 who in 1380 drew 3% of commercium
for the khan’s use.165 this subsequent mention in the sources is specified
with the phrase segundo le premere usanse, so that it becomes obvious that
the officers were carrying out their duties even in 1313. their presence in
a place that enjoyed functional autonomy, tacitly recognised by the ruler
on the Volga, does not throw any doubt on the basic problem.166 their
presence was also balanced out—to a varying but measurable extent—by
a corresponding Genoese agency, founded within the office of Gazaria in
160 Ibn Baṭṭūṭa/Defrémery, Sanguinetti, II, p. 358.
161 Sauli, “Imposicio,” columns 379–380, 382, 385, forcheri, Navi, p. 23.
162 cf. Karpov, Impero, pp. 146–149, and chapter 3.4.2.
163 Sauli, “Imposicio,” columns 387 ff., forcheri, Navi, p. 23.
164 Balard, Romanie, I, pp. 459 ff.
165 Sacy, “pièces,” p. 54, Balard, Romanie, I, p. 459, pegolotti/evans, p. 26, ciocîltan,
“restauraţia,” pp. 579–590.
166 the Mongol customs officers taxed all trade that passed through.