the disintegration of the empire 83
in the winter of 1289/90 the inhabitants of Baghdad were surprised to
see an unprecedented number of franks busy building galleys in the city’s
shipyards. at least some Baghdadis learnt that the guests were genoese, in
the service of the ilkhan arghun, who intended to use the ships to block-
ade the straits of aden and cut off the flow of indian goods to egypt. the
shipbuilding then stopped as suddenly as it had started.105
the news of this joint genoese-ilkhanid enterprise spread far and wide,
and endured in a way which suggests that it was much discussed in its
day. there are some intriguing hints as to how it affected the sultan’s
court at aden in the account offered by marco polo, who travelled in the
indian ocean and in persia in 1294–195, although he places events in the
wrong context.106 there is no doubt that the intended target, the sultan of
cairo, also knew of the preparations underway in Baghdad.107
105 a Jacobite called Joseph has left an account of these events in his continuation of
the chronicle of Bar hebraeus (d. 1286): “certain franks, about two hundred men, came
down the tigris by water to mawsil [= mosul] by the command of the King of Kings [= arg-
hun], as if they were going to Babil [= Baghdad] to construct ships there and to go down to
Bosra [= Basra], and from there by the sea of pantos (sea of suf ?) to attack the egyptians.
and others of the franks, about seven hundred men, went by land; and they remained in
Babil the whole winter—until their plan (or, object) was fulfilled. now there exist stories
about the franks in Babil which are worthy of remembrance [.. .]” (Bar hebraeus/Budge,
p. 486). there is another account in the memoir sent by guillaume adam, archbishop of
sultaniye, to the pope in 1332: Tempore Argoni imperatoris Tartarorum, Januenses, favente
eodem imperatore, imo pocius faciente, inceperint hoc negocium attemptare, facientes tan-
tummodo duas galeas in Baldaco, ut per Eufratem [actually the tigris] [.. .] in mare Indicum
cum dictis galeis descenderent, et sic, applicantes ad passum de quo loquor [Eden], ipsum
clauderent, ne de cetero merces alique portari possent de India in Egiptum; quod, procul
dubio, perfecissent, nisi eos illi divisionis et parcialitatis spiritus invasisset qui consuevit Ytali-
cos perturbare. Dicentes enim isti se esse Gebellinos et illi Guelfos, mutuo se occidentes, subito
ad nichilum sunt redacti” (adam/Kohler, p. 551; the arabic name of the strait Eden ‘adenʼ
is Bāb al-mandabi).
106 Et sachez que le soudan d’Aden a des très grands droits et grand péages de nefs qui
vont et viennent d’Inde en sa terre, avec toutes sortes de marchandises. [.. .] on dit qu’il est
un des plus riches seigneurs du monde. Et je vous dis que le soudan de Babylone [= mamluk]
alla contre la cité d’Acre et la prit, le soudan d’Aden lui envoya en aide trente milles hom-
mes a cheval et bien quarante mille chameaux, ce qui fut un grand profit pout les Sarrasins
et une tres grand dommage pour les Chrétiens. Et il fit cela pur la haine qu’il avait contre
les Chrétiens que par amour pour le soudan de Babylone, car ils s’entre-haïssent fort (polo/
Benedetto, pp. 212–213). the christians whom he hated so much can only have been the
genoese, who had the source of his colossal wealth in their sights, and only the fear of
their military preparations in Baghdad in the winter of 1289/90 can explain his generosity
in helping the mamluk sultan, much against his will; it should also be mentioned that
hereafter no christian ship was to sail in the persian gulf, the indian ocean or the red
sea for some time.
107 the former capital of the caliphs was strategically well-placed but was entirely
unsuitable for keeping secrets; the muslim inhabitants were violently opposed to the pres-
ence of arghun’s christian mercenaries (richard, “navigations,” pp. 359–360) and formed