48 chapter two
expanded four-fold.46 tabriz was the real centre of the empire which
stretched from the oxus to egypt.47 the gold and silver coins and mea-
sures were standardized according to the standards of tabriz.48 the Fran-
ciscan missionary odoric of pordenone, who knew many cities in europe,
the near east and the Far east, visited tabriz under tartar rule and went
so far as to describe it as the greatest city in the world for trade, because
of the quantity and variety of goods offered for sale from all corners. the
friar cites certain ‘christian’ informants, who told him that the khan drew
more income from that one city than the king of France from his entire
kingdom.49 Marco polo, an expert in commodities, was similarly lauda-
tory, and like odoric explained tabriz’s wealth by its geographical loca-
tion at the crossroads of the continental routes: “the people of tabriz live
by trade and industry: for cloth of gold and silk is woven here in great
quantity and of great value. the city is so favourably situated that it is a
market for merchandise from india and Baghdad; from Mosul and hor-
muz; and from many other places; and many latin merchants [especially
genoese] come here to buy the merchandise imported from foreign lands.
it is also a market for precious stones, which are found here in great abun-
dance. it is a city where good profits are made by travelling merchants.
the inhabitants are a mixed lot and good for very little. there are arme-
nians and nestorians, Jacobites and georgians, and persians; and there
are also worshippers of Mahomet, who are the natives of the city, and
are called tabrizis.”50 the Venetian contradicts himself in this passage
as to whether the locals were canny merchants or mere innocents, and
al-‛umarī similarly wrote that the tabrizis were not gifted in commerce
but that they nevertheless lived in great luxury, and he called their city
the metropolis of iran.51
46 grekov, Yakubovskiy, Orda, p. 76, ‛umarī/lech, p. 226 note 38.
47 Blair, “tabrīz,” p. 43, d’ohsson, Histoire, iV, pp. 144, 271–272, 350, 466–469.
48 ibid.
49 wyngaert, Sinica Franciscana, i, p. 417: Hec civitas melior est pro mercimoniis quam
alia civitas de mundo. Nam non reperitur hodie aliquid in mundo quod sit comestibile vel
alicuius mercimonii cuius illis magna copia non habeatur. Hec enim multum bene est posita
atque sita: In tantam est enim nobilis civitas illa, quod est quasi incredibile de hiis que ibi
habentur. Nam quasi totus mundus pro mercimoniis illi correspondet civitati. De hac enim
volunt dicere christiani, quod de ista civitate plura recepit Imperator ille quam Rex Francie
habeat de toto suo regno.
50 polo/Benedetto, pp. 22–23; transl. polo/latham, pp. 26–27.
51 ‛umarī/lech, p. 150: “the inhabitants are an unusually proud people, who display
their wealth like no others do. they have great wealth and possessions, have a horror of
drab clothing and display the greatest imaginable luxury in their dining, their clothing
and at state occasions. it is beneath their dignity to talk in dirhems when they talk of