the golden horde and the black sea 235
the generous amounts of money spent on cultivating relations with
the tartars show that it was a caffan priority, and this was not confined
to local crimean magnates: embassies were sent to toqtamïsh in febru-
ary and November 1382, and in March an envoy from the horde, a ‘baron
of the empire’, received rich gifts,363 all of this showing that the Genoese
were in direct communication with the khan and his court.
the russian campaign was planned for summer of that year, and as the
time drew near, the khan took further steps to ensure its success, order-
ing the arrest of all merchants who may let slip details of preparation and
planning.364 toqtamïsh’s diplomatic initiatives in crimea also served the
same over-riding purpose, and led to a new treaty with the Genoese, the
third. No less a person than Qutlugh Bugha was appointed to negotiate it,
suggesting the importance that the khan placed on good relations with
the caffan colonists at this juncture.
Qutlugh Bugha was busy with other duties, but probably returned to his
dynastic lands at the beginning of 1382. Between January and March, the
Genoese showered him with honours and gifts, with good reason: in feb-
ruary, he appointed his son as lord in Solkhat.365 the third tartar-Genoese
treaty was probably concluded next month, though it is only recorded in a
brief mention in a similar document from 1387.366 Judging by the political
363 Ibid., pp. 11, 16–17.
364 Grekov, Yakubovskiy, Orda, pp. 325–326.
365 caffan accounts record expenditures on 6th february 1382 pro confectiis et speciis
finis, pro tenendo coppam domino Elie, quando recessit de Sorchati pro eundo Lordo. [.. .]
Item, ea die, pro confectis Ayna Cotolbogam quando aplicuit Sorcati (Iorga, Notes, I, p. 15).
366 In the peace treaty concluded on 12th august 1387 by the Genovese ambassadors
Gentile dei Grimaldi and Gianone del Bosco and Qutlugh Bugha, lord of Solkhat, there
are references to quibusdam instrumentis pacis, preceptis et conventionibus [between
toqtamïsh and the commune, at an unspecified date], necnon de quibusdam aliis conven-
tionibus et pactis, factis inter prefatum magnificum dominum Cotolboga, nomine dicti domini
imperatoris, ex una parte, et Bartholomeum de Iacob, jurisperitum, tunc consulem Caffe, ex
altera parte, scriptis in littera Ugarica moCCCo [.. .] (Sacy, “pièces,” p. 63); the first such
agreements mentioned can only have been those of 1380 and 1381, while the emperor who
made them must have been toqtamïsh; the most important clue to the exact date of the
last treaty is the name of Bartolomeo di Iacopo, attested in a document of 7th March 1382
as electus in consulem Caffae (heyd, Histoire, II, p. 207 note 1, although heyd does not say
what document this is; nevertheless there is no reason to doubt that it existed, meaning
that we must consider Bartolomeo di Iacopo to have been consul of caffa from March 1382
to March 1383, rather than pietro cazano, named in the list of Schlumberger, Numisma-
tique, p. 463, but with no documentary evidence at all). the most likely date for the third
treaty is March 1382, shortly after Qutlugh Bugha named Ilyas to his post and the new
consul started his term in office, when the city ledgers show that there was direct contact
with the recently-appointed lord of Solkhat, rather than in any subsequent months when
the gifts from the city’s budget cease to be sent (cf. Iorga, Notes, I, pp. 15–19).