228 chapter four
carefully worded on this basis, but autonomy also explains an apparent
omission. the treaty fixed in writing the tartar guarantee that all mer-
chants who could show proof of Genoese citizenship may travel freely
wherever they wished in the empire, in full safety, without having to pay
any more than the usual taxes;338 in return, a tartar customs collector
would reside in caffa to collect the moneys due to the khan under the
old usage. It seems odd though that the treaty makes no reference to the
Genoese customs, although there is clear data showing that they existed
in caffa at the time.339 there is a simple explanation for the omission:
from the moment when the tartar admitted Genoese sovereignty over
caffa, however tacitly, the Genoese customs became an internal matter
for the commune and no concern of the khan at Sarai.
further proof that the Golden horde representatives had granted
unusual concessions in these negotiations comes with the extensive land
concessions which they agreed, directly contravening chinggisid law and
practise which forbade such surrender of lands from the ulus. the treaty
text is unambiguous: “the eighteen villages which were subject to Soldaia
and annexed to that town when the commune occupied it, and which lord
Mamai took back by force of arms, will be at the commune’s disposal and
the consul’s, and are released from the empire. also Gothia, its villages
and people, who are christian, from cembalo to Soldaia, will belong to
the commonwealth, and the above-mentioned villages, their people and
lands and waters shall all be freed. Lord cherkez has given them to the
commonwealth, and has pledged and sworn that he will not go back on
these words.”340
taken together, the provisions of the November 1380 treaty thus recog-
nise in the clearest possible manner a Genoese victory and tartar defeat:
khan toqtamïsh not only resigned himself to recognising the fait accompli
338 Che chi se spaiha per Zenoveyse also had the right to graze their herds and drive their
carts and wagons wherever they wished on tartar soil.
339 the few surviving trade registers from the city contain accounts of sums collected as
customs duty in 1375, 1382 and 1387 (Balard, Romanie, I, p. 409); this was a surprising low
levy of 1% of value of goods, compared with the duty levied by the tartars which varied
from 3% to 5%. although such liberal policies inevitably hurt municipal income, the mar-
ketplace became more attractive and the volume of trade rose, this leading to increased
income from the staple right, which was certainly more profitable than the customs even
if it benefited individual merchants rather than the commune as a whole.
340 Sacy, “pièces,” p. 54; for the identity of Gothia on the South-east coast of crimea,
cf. Vasiliev, Goths, pp. 180–181.