the golden horde and the black sea 227
cherkez had been sent to seek peace and friendship, on condition that
the Genoese remain faithful and loyal to the khan, friends of his friends
and enemies of his enemies, that they not receive his enemies or traitors
to the empire in their towns, and that they enlarge his fame.334 this was
the basic political framework within which matters of common interest
were to be discussed and resolved.
the debate over the status of caffa and its government had to be at the
centre of discussions. the issue had poisoned tartar-Genoese relations for
a long time and was now settled in favour of the republic: although no
single clause in the treaty explicitly mentions Genoese sovereignty over
caffa, it was the unspoken assumption and basis for negotiation for all
legal and commercial stipulations of the November 1380 treaty.
thus the treaty text reserves to the Genoese consul the right to adju-
dicate not just in disputes between residents of caffa, whatever their
status,335 but also in disputes between the ‘guests’ (cunachi) and the
‘khan’s men’ (canluchi)336 that developed within the city. the only cases
in which he was not empowered to judge were disputes between tartars
who had come to the city on business, which were to be resolved by a
tudun, the khan’s highest representative on the spot.337 comparison of the
two roles shows that the consul was the supreme authority in the city, and
the tudun simply the head of all tartar guests in caffa. this unequal divi-
sion of jurisdictional powers between the two local dignitaries indicates
that Genoese sovereignty was recognised, and further conclusive proof
comes from the understanding that the ‘khan’s men’ would be allowed to
visit the city—a meaningless distinction if caffa was seen to belong to the
Golden horde rather than to Genoa.
caffan autonomy as an unspoken precondition of the treaty was also
important in the treaty’s commercial provisions: these clauses were
334 Sacy, “pièces,” pp. 53–54.
335 on the ethnic composition and social stratification of caffa’s residents, and their
professional specialisation, cf. Balard, Romanie, I, pp. 229–354, and airaldi, Studi, pp.
62–98; the laws governing citizens according to their wealth, status and occupation in the
fifteenth are examined by Małowist, Kaffa, pp. V–IX; slaves had no recourse to justice, and
the only mention of slaves in the treaty is that if they flee to caffa or Solkhat, they are to
be returned to their masters, and that whoever apprehends a runaway will be rewarded
with a fixed sum of 35 aspers (Sacy, “pièces,” pp. 54–55).
336 Substantive khan + suffix -lïk, ‘the khan’s subjects’ (cf. Sacy, “pièces,” p. 58, and Iorga,
Notes, I, p. 12 note 4).
337 Titano in the Genoese text (Sacy, “pièces,” p. 54); on the meaning of the term, cf.
Iorga, Notes, I, p. 12 note 1, and Smirnov, Khanstvo, pp. 39–43; cherkez himself only judged
cases between the khan’s subjects at Solkhat (Sacy, “pièces,” p. 55).