the golden horde and the black sea 187
Genoese caffa was reborn in 1313 with all essential features intact,
ensuring that it was a secure, functioning town. from the grand context
of state and inter-state politics sketched out above, it becomes clear that
caffa’s rebirth was the most significant fruit of Özbek’s Black Sea policies,
conceived as part of the khan’s relations with the Sultan in cairo.
the khan remained unswervingly dedicated to the initial concept, and
after 1314 left no effort untried in his attempt to revive the alliance against
the Ilkhanate. the frequency with which embassies were exchanged in
this period perfectly illustrates the efforts made to win Sultan al-Malik
an-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn’s assent in what Sarai considered a
common cause. In the whole history of the alliance, stretching over more
than a century, there was no period comparable to that which followed
this re-establishment of contact with egypt, with the possible exception
of the initial phase, when the hopes attached to the relationship had not
yet been ground down by reality.180 Mamluk chronicles reveal the fever-
ish pace of diplomatic activity between Sarai and cairo, lasting nearly
a decade (1314–1323): not a year went by without the khan and sultan
exchanging envoys,181 and one source close to the cairo court remarks
that they bore unusually rich gifts.182
Qutlugh temür, the éminence grise who had conceived of the Golden
horde’s foreign policy while his master was merely a pretender to the
throne, had doubtless helped Özbek toward the insight that lifting the
embargo on the export of slaves, and proofs of his zeal in promoting Islam
in the Jochid state, were indispensable conditions before relations with
the Mamluk ruler could return to normal; it would require a great deal
more, however, before the sultan who had categorically refused to go to
war against the Muslim Ilkhan Öljeitü at toqta’s request would change
his position to one diametrically opposed. for lack of any better means,
Özbek and his adviser hoped that princess tulunbek, destined for the Sul-
tan’s harem, would be the decisive addition that would reorientate the
Mamluk Sultan’s foreign relations.
the bride-to-be embodied political capital of which the khan intended
to make use, out of raison d’État, and which should certainly not be
180 See chapter 3.3.1.
181 Zakirov, Otnosheniya, pp. 75–86, meticulously excerpts, arranges and commenta-
rises these reports, almost exclusively from the fragmentary sources edited by tiesen-
hausen, Sbornik, I.
182 al-Nuwayrī/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, I, p. 141; a list of the gifts which so much
impressed the Sultan’s entourage is found in Ibn Duqmāq/ibid., p. 319; cf. Zakirov, Otnosh-
eniya, p. 77.