78 chapter three
the crusading impulse was still suffering from the setbacks of preceding
years, and was fading fast at the courts of england and france, while the
pope confined himself to spiritual matters in his reply to the ilkhan.81
Yet when arghun sent out his ambassador rabban Bar sauma to call
for aid in the winter of 1287/1288, the genoese answered with great and
unexpected enthusiasm.82 the great majority of the population supported
the ligurian republic’s decision, which so starkly contrasted not only with
the paralyzing skepticism of catholic europe but with their own habitual
caution, which since 1261 had kept them from any involvement with cru-
sading actions against the mamluk sultan.83 the nestorian monk’s mes-
sage by no means unleashed a late wave of crusading fervor in genoa.
rather, the citizens of the commune warmly welcomed arghun’s call to
arms because it offered them the chance to safeguard their own consider-
able interests in the silk road.
the genoese probably represented the single largest group of merchants
active on the ayas-tabriz route,84 and keenly felt the indignities to which
sustained contact can for the most part be found in spuler, Mongolen, pp. 190–191, and
has been supplemented by papacostea, “gênes,” pp. 216–217; cf. also a brief survey of these
envoys in petech, “marchands,” pp. 561–565. among other propaganda efforts, the ilkhan
struck coins with an image of the holy tomb and exempted christians from the poll tax
(schmid, Beziehungen, p. 149).
81 cf. spuler, Mongolen, pp. 190–191; soranzo, pp. 265–266; lupprian, Beziehungen,
pp. 245–246; Brătianu, Recherches, pp. 185–186; papacostea, “gênes,” pp. 216–217. the mood
in the West is summed up by caro, Genua, ii, p. 120: “der alte eifer für die Kreuzzugsidee
hatte seine stärke eingebüßt.”
82 Yahballaha/chabot, p. 76: “When the genovese learnt that an envoy had come from
King arghun, their ruler and all the people went out to meet him and lead him into the
town with honours” (cf. soranzo, Papato, pp. 247–296, sinor, “mongols,” pp. 532–533,
ciocîltan, “genoa,” pp. 283 ff.).
83 for the reasons behind this attitude, see chapter 3.3.1.
84 desimoni, “actes,” passim, who gives (pp. 434–437) a short history of the presence of
ligurian merchants in cilician armenia; cf. also otten-froux, “aïas,” pp. 148 ff. the earli-
est indication of genoese involvement in ilkhanate trade is from 1280, when the genoese
luchetto de recco demands that his compatriot lamba doria settle a debt with him,
either at sivas or at tabriz (Brătianu, Recherches, pp. 314–315); it should be noted how-
ever that this first document does not prove that they actually went to persia, merely that
they made a contract in genua in which they declared their intention to go to the places
mentioned. after a silence of more than five years, the sources then note a veritable explo-
sion in the number of genoese in persia (petech, “marchands,” pp. 561–570; on p. 561 the
author asserts, with no documentary support: “les nouvelles deviennent beaucoup plus
fréquentes après 1282”). the silence in the sources is otherwise unsurprising: only after the
persecution of christians under aḥmad tegüder in 1282–1284 had come to an end (spuler,
Mongolen, p. 69) could the genoese have founded a colony under arghun, who not only
protected their commercial interests but also recruited his principal agents for the alli-
ance with the West from their ranks (petech, “marchands,” pp. 563–564, sinor, “mongols,”
pp. 532–533, and below, chapter 3.3.2).