Mercan|53Examining the experience of the Draperio and Spinola families demonstrates
that, by giving priority to their individual and commercial interests, the mem-
bers of these merchant families adapted to conditions after 1453 and even tried
to shape them according to what best served their interests. The reconciliatory
approach followed by the Ottoman administration during this transition period
also facilitated these families’ accommodation and maintained their commercial
interests in the vibrant and cosmopolitan setting of Pera.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Balard, Michel. La romanie génoise (XIIe–début du XVe siècle). 2 vols. Rome: École Fran-
çaise de Rome, 1978. Balard carefully examines Genoese trade bases in the eastern
Mediterranean—Pera, Chios, and Caffa—during the Byzantine period with em-
phasis on their establishment, topography, ethnic composition, and economy.
Fleet, Kate. European and Islamic Trade in the Early Ottoman State: The Merchants of
Genoa and Turkey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. This book ex-
amines the relations between the Ottoman Empire and Genoese merchants in the
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.
İnalcık, Halil. “Ottoman Galata, 1453–1553.” In Essays in Ottoman History. Istanbul:
Eren, 1998. Focusing on the history of Galata between 1453 and 1553, this book uses
Ottoman sources, including the ahidname given to the Genoese settlers.
Necipoğlu, Nevra. Byzantium between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society
in the Late Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. This work
looks at Byzantine attitudes toward Western Europeans and the Ottomans in the
Palaiologan period, exploring the political and religious stance of individuals,
families, and social groups.
Pistarino, Geo. “The Genoese in Pera—Turkish Galata.” Mediterranean Historical Re-
view 1 (1986): 63–85. Pistarino examines some of the notarial documents from 1453
to 1490 and evaluates the position of the Genoese community after the conquest.
Notes
. Sphrantzes, The Fall of the Byzantine Empire, 124.
. Barbaro, Diary of the Siege of Constantinople 1453, 41–42.
. Doukas, Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, 211.
. Melville-Jones, The Siege of Constantinople 1453, 132.
. Doukas, Decline and Fall of Byzantium, 212.
. Ibid., 217.
. Fleet, European and Islamic Trade in the Early Ottoman State, 10–12.
. Balard, “La société Pérote aux XIVe–XVe siècles: Autour des Demerode et Des
Draperio,” 304.
. Ba la rd , La romanie génoise, 1:252.
. Belgrano, “Prima serie di documenti,” doc. 10.
. Necipoğlu, Byzantium between the Ottomans and the Latins, 119–129.
. Belgrano, “Prima serie di documenti,” doc. 26.