46 | The Genoese of Pera in the Fifteenth Century
The great ruler of Asia, opening the royal portals, did not betake himself to
the open courtyard where he customarily receives foreign and domestic del-
egations but he also invited our Francesco to enter a separate, private, inner
chamber, where no outsider may so much as step on the threshold. The great
prince and his satraps also showed him many other signs of extraordinary
good will. I was glad to see both for his sake and for yours because I felt that
this was very profitable, not only for him personally, but for your republic
as well.As Cyriac presumed, the close contacts with the sultan soon proved prof-
itable for Francesco. In 1449 he was among the merchants who controlled the
production, transport, and commercialization of alum from Phocaea to Chios
and from there to Flanders and England. Alum was indispensable during the
Middle Ages in the textile industry of Europe, which used it for fixing the color
of textiles, and in the glass industry. Therefore, it became an important source
of wealth for the Genoese. Francesco, who had amiable relations with Murad II
and a close friendship with Mehmed II, received the tax-farming rights for alum
mines after the conquest of Constantinople as well.
The Draperio and Spinola families were connected to each other through
the marriage of Francesco’s daughter Elisabetta Maria to Tommaso Spinola. This
marriage seems to have been supported by the Latins and also by the Ottoman
sultan. According to Cyriac of Ancona, “Not only noble and distinguished citi-
zens but even greater princes and the most powerful ruler of Asia favored such
a brilliant marriage.” Cyriac’s remarks imply that the relations between the
Draperios and the Ottoman sultans were characterized not purely by economic
interests but also by a degree of intimacy and friendship.
Tommaso Spinola, like his father-in-law, was a banker. Similar to the Dra-
perio family, the Spinola family had active roles as merchants, financiers, and ad-
ministrators in Pera. At the end of the fourteenth century, besides Pera, members
of the family resided in the other two Genoese trading bases, Caffa (Kefe) on the
Black Sea and Chios on the Aegean Sea. For instance, in 1386–1387 among seven-
teen men of the Spinola family in Caffa, one was a banker, another a shipowner,
and four were soldiers recruited as mercenaries by the Commune of Caffa.
In the first half of the fifteenth century, we also see the name Spinola in Ot-
toman Bursa. According to the travel account of Bertrandon de la Broquière,
written in 1432, Genoese and Florentine merchants owned residences in Bursa.
Broquière relates that as soon as he arrived in the city, a representative of the Spi-
nola Company received him. Apparently, the Spinola family had strong com-
mercial connections in Bursa, which suggests that they had good relations with
the Ottoman administrators there. Bursa was one of the centers of international
trade, where silk materials, precious stones, spices, and textiles were exchanged
in the bazaars. The Spanish traveler Pero Tafur, visiting Bursa in 1437, five years