the golden horde and the black sea 197
the document of 1322 is unprecedented in Jochid diplomacy218 and has
naturally attracted a great deal of scholarly interest which has—probably
baselessly—made much of its importance. certainly, the charter granted
the Venetians, in written form, a legal framework within which they could
trade, but we should not lose sight of the fact that it did not spring forth
full born, bur rather recognised and regulated an older, existing state of
affairs, even if it also added some last-minute changes.219
Since its indirect effects show that the agreement was clearly hostile
to Genoese interests, there is some suggestion that its origins should be
sought in the crisis of their relations with Özbek, in the early 1320s, to
which Segurano Salvaigo fell victim.
the most conclusive indication here is that convoys of Venetian ships
put in to harbour at the mouth of the Don in that decade.220 the num-
ber of merchants from the Serenissima must also have been great enough
to require the presence of a consul, documented in 1326.221 the charter
of 1332 is rooted in such privileges, which must have enjoyed the khan’s
approval from the start. only such protection can explain why the Geno-
ese, who were vitally affected by the Venetian arrival in tana, did not
defend their interests with their usual obstinacy, which had long ago
crystallised into an inflexible monopolist doctrine.222 It seems that this
development placed the commercial centre of exchange in the Northern
Black Sea zone of tana, right up until the Jochids broke off their dealings
with the Italian merchants in 1343, and that by the principle of displace-
ment, this may have caused a drop-off in trade at caffa.223 By the nature
of things, the settlement at the mouth of the Don then became the focus
of Venetian-Genoese conflict.224
the charter of 1332 exploiting this rivalry was one of the most impor-
tant innovations in the Golden horde’s Black Sea policy. Özbek’s two
218 the text is preserved in a Latin translation from the cuman, copied down in 1333
(heyd, Histoire, II, 181 note 4), and is the first such text in Jochid relations with Italian
merchants.
219 cf. Berindei, o’riordan, “Venise,” p. 247.
220 Ibid.: “chaque année pratiquement, à partir de 1320, les muda de romanie font le
voyage de la mer Noire et il est souvent question de tana.”
221 heyd, Histoire, II, p. 182, about 1325; Berindei, o’riordan, “Venise,” p. 247, as men-
tioned in a document of 1326 but appointed earlier.
222 cf. papacostea, “tana,” ciocîltan, “Bürgerkrieg”.
223 this is certainly a logical claim to advance, and it is made by Berindei, o’riordan,
“Venise,” p. 247, basing their analysis of the flow of trade in the two towns on documentary
evidence which I have not been able to see.
224 cf. papacostea, “tana,” passim.