Table Of ContentTHE GOTHS IN THE
CRIMEA
ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVICH YASILIEV
Professor of History
University of Wisconsin
4
THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
1936
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The publication of this book was made possible by grants of funds
to the Academy from the Carnegie Corporation of New York
and the American Council of Learned Societies
CoPTMQHT
BY
THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA
1936
Printed in V. S. A.
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PREFACE
THIS book is not a history of the Goths in the Crimea. Our scat-
tered and fragmentary sources do not permit such a history to be
written. I have done my best to collect and use all available material,
but I am sure that some related data have escaped my attention. Nor
does the title of this book entirely correspond to its subject. The Goths
as a remnant of the large Germanic branch which remained in the Crimea
and was cut off from the main Gothic stock did not survive the Middle
Ages. A minority in the Peninsula, they gradually lost their nationality
and their Germanic tongue and were first hellenized and later tartarized.
The evidence given by some writers late in the Middle Ages that Gothic
was at that time spoken in the Crimea does not change the general pic-
ture. Some of these writers are not very reliable, since they drew their
information from hearsay, never visiting Gothia themselves; others are
more reliable, but their statements may be taken only as proof that in
their time some individuals in Gothia, perhaps newcomers from Western
Europe, could speak a Germanic dialect. The name Gothia finally lost
its ethnographic meaning and was given to a Greek principality, in whose
name alone the Germanic origin and old Germanic tradition survived.
This example is not unique during the Middle Ages. Late in the Middle
Ages Italian documents call the Crimea Ghazaria, which reminds us of
the past power of the Khazars, who towards the tenth century lost all
political significance. The Slavonic country of modern Bulgaria preserves
in its name its Hunno-Turkish origin, just as the Slavonic state of Russia
by its name goes back to its Scandinavian origin.
No doubt many of my statements in this book will be modified, cor-
rected, or even rejected on the basis of new material. The Genoese,
Venetian, and Italian archives in general still retain many secrets of Ital-
ian (especially Genoese and Venetian) political and economic activities
in the Crimea, and the publication of their documents will throw new
light on the history of Gothia in the second half of the Middle Ages. And
it is not only archival documents that are extremely important for our
subject. Archaeological expeditions to the territory of former Gothia are
also of the greatest significance to the Gothic problem in the Crimea. The
recent excavations undertaken by the Russian State Academy for the
History of Material Culture concentrated on Eski-Kermen have already
yielded brilliant results. The Russian archaeologists claim to have shown
that the original stronghold of the Goths, Dory or Doros (Doras), which
was so effectively described by Procopius, was located not on Mankup but
on the plateau of Eski-Kermen. Others besides Russians are interested
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vi
Preface
in the archaeological investigation of Gothia. In 1933 a joint Russo-
American expedition (sponsored in part by the University of Pennsyl-
vania) worked there. In 1929 a German scholar, Joseph Sauer, visited
Gothia and ended his very interesting article on Christian monuments in
the Gothic region in the Crimea with the following words: 'It would be
an alluring problem, especially for us Germans, to undertake a thorough
and systematic investigation of the whole region from the archaeological
and ethnographic standpoints, and to give a concrete and vivid meaning
to the term Gothia which has been so often discussed in old literature.'1
From the standpoint of the general background of political, social, and
economic relations in the basin of the Black Sea during the Middle Ages,
Gothia may be regarded and studied as one of the essential elements in
the process of the development of European civilization in the Near East
in general, and in the Crimea in particular.
Professor N. Banescu of the University of Cluj (in Roumania) is at
present particularly interested in the problem of the Crimean Goths. He
announced a paper to be read at the Fourth International Congress of
Byzantine Studies, which was held at Sofia in Bulgaria 9-16 September,
1934, with the title, 'Contribution to the History of the Principality of
Theodoro-Mangup in the Crimea.' Banescu did not personally attend
the Congress, and for a while I had at my disposal only a brief summary
of his paper, which runs as follows: 'Analysis of the information on the
Goths of the Tauric Chersonesus, from Procopius down to their disappear-
ance. The life of St John of Gothia and the Martyrdom of St Abo of Tiflis.
In the fourteenth century Greek rulers replace the Gothic chiefs of the
country; they reside in Doros, the same city as that of the former Gothic
chiefs. Historical data which permit the identification of x&pa t6 Abpv in
Procopius with Doros, Theodoro, Mangup. Explanation of the enig-
matic name of "Theodoro" of the Greek princes of Mangup.' In 1935
Banescu printed his interesting study under the title given above.2
The first three sections of this book appeared in Russian, in the Publica-
tions (Izvestiya) of the Academy for the History of Material Culture, I (1921),
1-80 (pagination of an offprint) and v (1927), 179-282. For this book
these three sections have been corrected, revised, and augmented. The
last three sections (iv-vi) embracing the period from the year 1204 to
the end of the eighteenth century have never before been printed. The
manuscript of their original text is in the Archives of the Academy for
1 J. Sauer, 'Die christlichen Denkmaler im Gotengebiet der Krim,' Oriens Chrutianus, 3rd Series,
vii (Leipzig; 1932), 202. See also L. Schmidt, 'Zur Geschichte der Krimgoten,' Schumacher-Fest-
schrift (Mainz, 1930), p. 336.
* N. Banescu, 'Contribution a l'histoire de la seigneurie de Theodoro-Mangoup en Crimee,'
Byzantinische Zeitschrift, xxxv (1935), 20-37. The author is not acquainted with the results of the
recent Russian expedition to Eski-Kermen.
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Preface
the History of Material Culture; but in spite of all my efforts the authori-
ties of the Academy have refused to send me my manuscript, so that I
have rewritten these sections on a much larger scale.
Working on a subject the references to which are scattered in many
publications of different countries, in many languages, I have not been
able to obtain access to all this material in the United States. Much of
it I used during my stay in Paris in the summer of 1932; but for many
questions connected with my work I have been forced to resort to the
competence and kindness of my colleagues both in Europe and in this
country. Their most liberal help, always offered with good will, spon-
taneity, and sincerity, has been very useful and comforting to me in the
process of writing this book. I take pleasure in expressing my deep grati-
tude to many of my colleagues: in Czecho-Slovakia, Dr (Miss) M. A.
Andreeva, of Prague; in England, Professor V. Minorski, of London; in
France, Mr G. Lozinski, of Paris; in Germany, Professor Dr Franz
Babinger, of Berlin; in Poland, Professor K. Chylinski, of Lwow (Lem-
bergf); in Roumania, Professors N. Banescu, of Cluj, N. Iorga, of Buca-
rest, and 0. Tafrali, of Jassy; in Russia, Professor S. A. Zhebelev, of
Leningrad, and Mr D. S. Spiridonov, of Simferopol; in the United States
of America, Professors R. P. Blake, of Harvard, and N. N. Martinovich,
of New York. And last but not least, I acknowledge my indebtedness to
Mrs C. W. Thomas, who has conscientiously revised my manuscript and
corrected the inadequacies of my English.
A. A. Vasiliev
Madison, Wisconsin
3 June 1935
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CONTENTS
Page
Preface v
CHAPTER I
The Early Period of Christianity and the Epoch of the Mi-
grations 3
1. The Appearance of the Goths in the Crimea 3
2. The Introduction of Christianity among the Goths... 4
3. The Fall of the Bosporan Kingdom in the Fourth Century
a.d 21
4. The Invasion of the Huns in the Crimea in the Fourth Cen-
tury, and the Legend of the Doe and the Cow ... 23
5. The Origin of the Gothic Eparchy in the Crimea ... 32
6. The Hunnic Predominance in the Fifth Century . 38
7. Zeno's Inscription (a.d. 488) 43
8. The Site of Dory and Theodoro-Mankup 47
9. The Etymology of the Name 'Dory-Doros-Doras-Daras' 52
10. The Tetraxite Goths 57
CHAPTER II
The Period of Byzantine, Khazab and Russian Influence
(from the Sixth Century to the Beginning of the Eleventh) 70
1. The Hunnic Danger in the Sixth Century 70
2. The Khazar Predominance from the Close of the Sixth
Century to the Beginning of the Eighth 76
3. The Iconoclastic Epoch and the Khazar Predominance in
the Eighth and Ninth Centuries 87
4. The Period of the Russian Protectorate over Gothia in the
Tenth Century and the Restoration of Byzantine Power
in the Crimea 117
CHAPTER III
The Period of Polovtzian (Cuman) Dependence and Secession
from Byzantium (from the Middle of the Eleventh Cen-
tury to the Year 1204) 136
1. The Polovtzian Predominance 136
ix
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X
Contents
2. The Title 'Gothicus' used by the Byzantine Emperors of the
Twelfth Century 140
3. Church Life in Gothia in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries 145
4. The Rupture between Gothia and Byzantium .... 150
CHAPTER IV
The Epoch of the Latin Empihe (1204-1261) and the Depend-
ence of Gothia upon the Empire of Trebizond . . . .160
CHAPTER V
The Principality of Gothia in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Centuries and its Fall in 1475 171
1. The Founding of Caffa. Papal Missions. The Plague of
1346 171
2. The Treaties between Genoa and the Tartars in 1380,1381,
and 1387 177
3. The Principality of Theodoro in the Fourteenth Century 182
4. Tamerlane and Gothia 188
5. Gothia in the Fifteenth Century. Alexis, Prince of Gothia . 192
6. Olobei, Prince of Gothia. The Statute of Caffa (1449).
The Fall of Constantinople 221
7. The Fall of Caffa (June 1475) and of Maritime Gothia . . 235
8. The Fall of Theodoro (December 1475) 249
CHAPTER VI
Gothia under the Turkish Sway (from 1475 to the End of the
Eighteenth Century) 267
1. Gothia under Turkey 267
2. Church Life in Gothia from the Thirteenth to the End of
the Eighteenth Century 276
Excursus: The 'Goths' in the Letter of David of Trebizond . . 281
Genealogical Table of the Princes of Gothia . . 282
Index 283
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THE GOTHS IN THE CRIMEA
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