The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 General Editor Florin Curta VoluME 20 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ecee The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries By Virgil Ciocîltan Translated by Samuel Willcocks lEidEn • BoSTon 2012 Cover illustration: The ruins of the Genoese fortress at Soldaia (Sudak), Crimean Peninsula. An important location for trading in the 12th and 13th centuries. ©Photograph by Virgil Ciocîltan. library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data Ciocîltan, Virgil.  [Mongolii si Marea neagra în secolele Xiii–XiV. English]  The Mongols and the Black Sea trade in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries / by Virgil Ciocîltan ; translated by Samuel Willcocks.   p. cm. — (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, 1872–8103 ; v. 20)  includes bibliographical references and index.  iSBn 978-90-04-22666-1 (hbk. : alk. paper) — iSBn 978-90-04-23643-1 (e-book) 1. Mongols—Commerce—Black Sea Region. 2. Golden Horde—Commerce—Europe. 3. Europe—Commerce—Golden Horde. 4. Black Sea Region—Commerce—History. 5. Black Sea Region—Economic conditions. i. Title.  HF3750.8.C5613 2012  382.09182’29—dc23 2012028032 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering latin, iPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. iSSn 1872-8103 iSBn 978-90-04-22666-1 (hardback) iSBn 978-90-04-23643-1 (e-book) Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill nV, leiden, The netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global oriental, Hotei Publishing, idC Publishers and Martinus nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood drive, Suite 910, danvers, MA 01923, uSA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. ConTEnTS Acknowledgements  ........................................................................................ vii list of Maps  ...................................................................................................... ix 1 Preliminary Remarks   ............................................................................ 1 1.1 The Mongols and Trade  ............................................................... 2 1.1.1 Sources and Historiographical Concepts  .................. 3 1.1.2 The Khan and the Merchants: A Symbiotic Relationship  ....................................................................... 8 1.1.3 The Silk Road as the Spine of Eurasian Commerce  .......................................................................... 20 1.1.4 The nomads and the Silk Road  ................................... 23 1.2 The Mongols and the Black Sea  ................................................ 30 1.2.1 Continental Possessions, Maritime Horizons  .......... 30 1.2.2 Expansion and Blockade  ................................................ 32 1.2.3 The Black Sea—A Crossroads of Eurasian Trade  ... 34 2 The Mongol Expansion and the Eurasian Commercial Axes ..... 37 2.1 The Silk Road as a Channel for Expansion  ............................ 37 2.1.1 Chinggis Khan and the Silk Road  ................................ 37 2.1.2 The Silk Road under the Protectorate of the Golden Horde  .................................................................... 42 2.2 The Spice Road: Assault on the Fertile Crescent  ................. 55 2.2.1 The last Pan-Mongol Campaign to the West: Half a Victory  ..................................................................... 55 2.2.2 The ilkhanate—Chief Beneficiary of Western Asian Expansion  ............................................................... 58 3 The disintegration of the Empire: intra- and Extra-Mongol Commercial Rivalries  .............................................................................. 61 3.1 The Jochid-ilkhanid Struggle for Tabriz  ................................. 61 3.2 Cilician Armenia in the ilkhanid-Mamluk Struggle for the Fertile Crescent  ....................................................................... 68 3.3 Political Consequences: The Sarai-Cairo-Tabriz Triangle  ..... 88 3.3.1 The Sarai-Cairo Axis and its Allies  ............................. 89 3.3.2 The ilkhanid-Genoese Alliance  .................................... 95 vi contents 3.4 The Commercial implications: Connecting the Black Sea to the Eurasian Trade network  ................................................. 95 3.4.1 The Jochid Branch: urgench-Sarai-Tana/Caffa  ....... 96 3.4.2 The ilkhanid Branch: Tabriz-Trebizond  .................... 114 4 The Golden Horde and the Black Sea  ............................................... 141 4.1 The origin of the Golden Horde’s Black Sea Policy  ........... 141 4.1.1 The Cumans and the Black Sea Trade  ....................... 141 4.1.2 Batu: Black Sea Trade in the Shadow of Tabriz  ...... 144 4.1.3 Berke and the loss of Tabriz: The Basis of the Golden Horde’s Black Sea Policy  ................................. 148 4.2 Cooperation and Confrontation with the italian Merchant Republics  ...................................................................... 150 4.2.1 The Beginnings .................................................................. 152 4.2.2 noghai and Toqta, the Genoese and Venetians: The Battle for the Black Sea Trade  ............................. 157 4.2.3 Toqta: Cooperation and Rupture  ................................ 163 4.2.4 Özbek: Cooperation Reaches its Peak  ....................... 173 4.2.5 Janibek: The Great Rupture  .......................................... 199 4.2.6 Berdibek and Mamai: The low Point  ........................ 219 4.2.7 Toqtamïsh: A Brief Revival  ............................................ 225 4.3 The Problem of the Straits and the Tartar Solution  ........... 241 4.3.1 The Battle for the Straits and for the Seljuk Sultanate  ................................................................ 241 4.3.2 A Guardian of the Straits: The Khanate of the lower danube  ................................................................... 248 4.3.3 Tartar Policy Between the Carpathians and the Straits After the End of noghai’s Khanate ................ 259 5 Conclusion: The Black Sea, Crossroads and Bypass of Eurasian Trade  .......................................................................................... 281 The Main Chinggisid Rulers  ........................................................................ 283 Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 285 index  ................................................................................................................... 301 ACKnoWlEdGEMEnTS This book was originally a doctoral thesis, and i owe its composition, along with my whole training as a historian, to Professor Şerban Papa- costea, member of the Romanian Academy, who has supervised my work as a researcher at the nicolae iorga institute of History in Bucharest since 1971. Professor Gottfried Schramm, Professor ulrich Haarmann, Professor dieter Mertens and doctor ursula ott of the Albert ludwig university of Freiburg gave me unstinting support, in word and in deed, while i was gathering source material in German libraries with the help of a stipend from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. My great good fortune in having such help and support became clear to me ten years later back home in Romania, when i set about updating the bibliography for the English edi- tion of this work. Although much can be achieved with research on the internet and inter-library loans, i sorely felt my lack of access to libraries such as that of the Freiburg orientalisches Seminar, which undoubtedly contain a wealth of recent literature on the topic which i could not, alas, include. Samuel Willcocks and his wife, dr Maria Pakucs, have ensured that the English translation follows my arguments and style in the Romanian ver- sion of the book as closely as possible, while dr iuliana Barnea’s profes- sional and painstaking work on the maps has illustrated the sweep and scope of these arguments. To all these people, and to the institutions named, i owe my most heart- felt gratitude. liST oF MAPS These maps can be found at the back of the book 1. Black Sea (Xiii–XiV centuries) 2. Mongol states (after 1261) 3. Trade Routes before 1241 4. Trade Routes, 1241–1261 5. Trade Routes, 1261–1291 6. Trade Routes, 1291–1335 7. Trade Routes, 1335–1395