Table Of ContentThe 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
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iSSn 1872-8103
iSBn 978-90-04-22666-1 (hardback)
iSBn 978-90-04-23643-1 (e-book)
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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
