Mercan|47after de la Broquière, confirms that Genoese and Florentine families were settled
in Bursa. During his visit, he stayed in the house of a Genoese merchant. For
the Spinolas, besides Caffa and Chios, Bursa was another trade base. Commodi-
ties such as Persian silk and other raw materials produced and woven in Bursa
were taken to Pera and from there to Europe. Pera in turn was the Ottomans’
market for obtaining Western commodities, principally the fine woolens much
in demand in the Levant. In all these commercial exchanges Genoese merchants,
including members of the Spinola family, were in constant contact with the Ot-
toman merchants and administrators.
In the fifteenth century, Tommaso Spinola had a financially powerful posi-
tion in Pera. Just before the conquest, while his father-in-law, Draperio, was be-
friending Sultan Mehmed II, Tommaso Spinola and a few other wealthy Genoese
were providing financial support to the Byzantine emperor Constantine XI. A
notarial document drawn up on August 7, 1453, soon after the conquest, was in
fact a reconfirmation of the contract that had been made between these Geno-
ese and the Byzantine emperor seven months before. According to the con-
tract, Tommaso Spinola, together with other Genoese—Antonio Garra and his
brother Giovanni, Angelo Zaccaria, Bartolomeo Gentile, Babilano Pallavicino,
Battista Gattilusio, and Cassano Salvago—granted 9,000 perperi (a la rge, si lver
Byzantine coin), each contributing 1,125 perperi, to the emperor, and in return
the emperor gave them a balascio (a precious piece of jewelry with rubies) as a
guarantee. There was conflict among the Genoese lenders concerning the cus-
tody of the balascio, and finally they decided to give it to the Garra brothers to
keep. After the conquest, Emperor Constantine died, and aware that they would
not get the money, the Genoese wanted to guarantee that, despite the changing
conditions, all eight lenders had a share of the balascio. Because of this concern,
they formalized their claims in this document, which is also important in terms
of indicating the financial power of the Genoese of Pera at that time and the sup-
port they provided for the Byzantine emperor against the Ottomans.
Ottoman Pera
With the conquest of Constantinople on May 29, 1453, Pera passed under Otto-
man control. However, Pera did not suffer the same fate as Constantinople since
Mehmed II did not besiege or conquer it; rather, the Genoese nobles surrendered
it in return for certain privileges. According to Doukas, Zaganos Pasha, grand
vizier of Mehmed II, assured the Genoese in Pera that they would receive better
treaties than their former treaties with the Byzantine emperors and with the Ot-
toman sultans. Upon this assurance, those who remained in Pera, together with
the podestà, surrendered the keys of the city to the sultan. On June 1, 1453, a few
days after the city was taken, Ottoman sultan Mehmed II granted to the Genoese