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European Merchants in the Medieval Indies: The Evidence of Commercial Documents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Robert Sabatino Lopez
Robert Sabatino Lopez
Affiliation:
Brooklyn College
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Extract

Strangely enough, up to the present day, commercial documents have contributed almost nothing to our knowledge of trade between Europe and India or China in the Middle Ages. The actual management of a voyage to “the Indies,” as India and China were designated in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, has remained obscure because our evidence about commerce has come from sources mainly concerned with other matters.

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Articles
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The Journal of Economic History , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , November 1943 , pp. 164 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1943

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References

1 The Mutone cannot have been written before 1297. Its influence grew deeper as time went on—not so much when there still were travelers who could actually relate what they had seen in Cathay, but later, long after the first witness was dead. The best edition of Marco Polo is that of Benedetto, L. Foscolo (Fircnze, 1928)Google Scholar. The older editions by Pauthier, (Paris, 1865)Google Scholar and by Yule, revised by Cordier, (New York and London, 1926), are still useful for their footnotes and bibliographies.Google Scholar

2 Nearly all the documents and the accounts of missionaries have been collected and reprinted by Golubovich, G.Bibliotcca bio-bibliografica della Terra Santa e dell' Oriente Francescano (5 vols., Firenze, 1906–1927)Google Scholar and by Wyugaert, A. van denSinica Franciscana (Vol. I, Firenze, 1929)Google Scholar; further bibliographic information is found in these works. As for Pietro di Lucalongo, cf. Sinica Franciscana, I, 332, 352, 353; as for the fondaco of Zaitun, ibid., I, 536; Biblioteca, IV, 279 (with a text slightly different); as for the Genoese in Zaitun, Sinica Franccscana, I, 375–376.

3 Biblioteca, II, 69–71; Sinica Franciscana, I, 528; Analecta Franciscana (Firenze, 1886), III, 559.Google Scholar The name of the merchant killed in Almalīgh is given as “Gillottus mercator” by Friar Giovanni Marignolli, as “Gulielmus de Mutina mercator Januensis” by the Chronica XXIV Generalium.

4 Analecta Franciscana, III, 607–612. Heyd, W.Histoire du commerce du Levant au moyen-âge (Leipzig, 1885), II, 149, regards as an evidence of Genoese merchants in India the fact that Marignolli met in this country a native who had been once ransomed from the pirates and baptized by a Genoese merchant. Still, the account of Marignolli does not say whether the ransom and the baptism themselves occurred in India.Google Scholar

5 I take the opportunity to publish here an interesting item concerning an ambassador from the Mongolian court of Persia (although this ambassador was not a merchant): Public Record Office, London, Various Accounts E/101, 375/8 (Account of Antonio Pessagno, Genoese merchant, to the Royal Wardrobe): “Episcopus de partibus Persarum. Fratri Guillielmo de Villanova Episcopo in partibus Persarum, venientis ad Regem in nuncium Imperatoris Tartarorum et redeunti, de dono ipsius Regis, in recessu suo de eodem per manus Oliverii de Burdtgala, ibidem [apud Pissiacum] IIIIto die Julij, sicut patet per dictas particulas [Johannis de Okhami], X Lb. II s. I d. ob.” (Year 1313; cf. also C. P. R., same year, index of names, Villanova).

6 Cf. Pelliot, P.Mongols et Papes aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles (Paris, 1922)Google Scholar and Soranzo, G.Il Papato, l'Europa cristiana e i Tartari (Milano, 1930)Google Scholar, with bibliography. On Andalò di Savignone, in particular, cf. Desimoni, C.Archivio Storico Italiano, Ser. IV, Vol. I (1878), 307.Google Scholar

7 “The larger part of the book [of Pegolotti] … derives from the decades 1310 to 1340” (A. Evans, introduction to Pegolotti, F. BalducciLa Pratica della mercatura (Cambridge, Mass.: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1936), xv. The description of the China Road is found in Pegolotti, pp. 21–23.Google Scholar

8 Public Record Office, London, Customs Accounts E/122, 68/11. It is also possible that the Frescobaldi company had bought its silk from Genoese merchants, who, in turn, would have purchased it in China. A few years later another Tuscan merchant, “Ravaldus de Pisis draperius,” bought in Genoa from a Genoese a quantity of “seta Chattuya”; the record shows that he was going to Southampton (Archivio di Stato, Genova, Notaio Bartolomeo de Fornari, IV, F. 125 r.). Mentions of Chinese silk are very frequent in Genoese records of the late thirteenth century and of the early fourteenth, but there is no telling whether this silk was directly imported from China.

9 Italian and Jewish-Catalan maps have formed the subject for several excellent essays; see bibliography in I. Hallberg, L'Extréme Orient dans la littérature et la cartographie de l'Occident des XIII6, XIV6 et XV6 siècles, Göteborgs Kungligo Vetenskaps och Vittershets Samhället, Ser. IV, Vol. VII-VIII (Göteborg, 1906); H. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, 4 vols. (2d ed. revised by Cordier, H.; London, 1913–1916)Google Scholar; Beazley, C R.The Dawn of Modern Geography (London, 1901),Google Scholar Vols. I and II. Cf. also Berthelot, L'Asie ancienne centrale et sud-orientale d'après Ptolémée (Paris, 1930)Google Scholar; Revelli, P.Cristoforo Colombo e la scuola cartografica genovese (Roma, 1938).Google Scholar But the Chinese map of the King-shi-ta-tien, compiled about 1331, did not receive all the attention it deserves. This map and the Si-pei-ti (a contemporary document, cf. Bretschneider, E.Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources [London, 1888], II, 3)Google Scholar point out the main stations of the three routes from China to Europe so clearly that one is led to wonder whether the compilers drew some information from Italian merchants. It is true that such a great scholar as Pelliot, P. “Le nom du Khwārizm dans les textes chinois,” T'oung Pao, XXXIV (1938), 146,CrossRefGoogle Scholar maintains that the Chinese map was copied from an Arabic original. But the former has mistakes that can hardly come from an Arabic map; for instance, Damietta is placed north of Constantinople, and the Tūs is placed east of the Badakhshān. Besides, those earlier Chinese geographers, Chou K'u-fei and Chan Ju-kua, who certainly are indebted to Arabic sources, have some information about Sicily and the Almoravid Empire (neither of which is found on the map of the King-shi-ta-tien) and next to nothing on the western portion of the land routes used by the European merchants in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (which are clearly shown in that map). On the other hand, the leading Arab geographers of the thirteenth century, Yākūt and Abu'l fidā, have no information on China except for accounts which they copy from travelers of the ninth and tenth centuries. Indeed, Yākūt points out that he never met anybody who had been in China. A little later, it is true, Ibn Sa'īd is better informed; but it can be suggested that he may have drawn his information from Italian merchants in Genoa or in Tana, for he is particularly well informed about these cities. Sources in Chan Ju-kua, Chu-fan-chi, ed. F. Hirth and W. Rockhill (St., Petersburg, 1911), and in Ferrand, G.Rélations de voyages et textes géographiques arabes, persons et turks relatifs à l'Extrême-Orient (Paris, 1913–1914), with bibliographies.Google Scholar

10 G. Boccaccio. Decameron, VI, 10; X, 3.

11 See, for instance, Libro che tracta di mercatantie et usanze de paesi, ed. Borlandi, F. (Torino, 1936), 165: and cf. our Venetian document for the profits of a journey to Delhi (see below, 174–180).Google Scholar

12 Lopez, R.Studi sull'economia genovese nel Medio Evo (Torino, 1936), 5 ff.; 54–55; 57 ff.Google Scholar

13 Cf. Lattes, A.Il diritto marittimo privato nelle carte liguri dei secoli XII e XIII (Città del Vaticano, 1939), 71Google Scholar; Ciasca, R. “Un centro marocchino del traffico genovese nel Medioevo,” Rivista intcrnazionalc di science sociali (1935), 445 ff.; Lopez, 46 ff.Google Scholar

14 Sources in Belgrano, L. “Nota sulla spedizione dei fratelli Vivaldi,” Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria, XV (1891), 317Google Scholar ff., and in Caddeo, R.Le Navigazioni atlantiche (Milano, 1929), 111–114.Google Scholar

15 Jacopo D'Oria, Annales Janucnses, ed. Belgrano and Imperiale, V, 124; cf. Lopez, 8ff.

16 For the bibliography of this debated question, see the brilliant monograph of Magnaghi, A.Precursori di Colombo? Il tentativo di vinaggio transoceanico dei fratelli Vivaldi (Roma, 1936).Google Scholar

17 See p. 170.

17 Jacopo D'Oria, V, 124; and cf. Pessagno, G.Il commercio dei Genovesi, in La Consulta dei Mercanti Genovesi (Genova, 1928).Google Scholar

18 For the background of these measures, cf. W. Heyd, II, 23 ff.; Lopez, R.Storia delle colonie genovesi nel Mediterraneo (Bologna, 1938), 234–245; 271–275. There were two currents of opinion in Genoa. Many, including the heads of the Commune and the historian D'Oria (the words sententia durissima are his own), wanted business as usual. Others wanted all-out war against Egypt, and alliance with the Mongolians; the admiral Benedetto Zaccaria was perhaps their outstanding leader. But almost no one approved of the half-hearted hostility, based on an ineffectual embargo, which the Popes advocated. The Vivaldi expedition, organized by two cousins of Zaccaria and financed by a cousin of D'Oria, would have made the embargo a practicable measure. Another attempt along the same line was the maintenance of Genoese galleys (paid for by the Ilkhāns of Persia) on the strait of Bab-el Mandeb. These galleys tried to intercept all the oversea trade from Egypt to India and China, making the overland routes the only ones feasible. But this attempt was frustrated by the outbreak of hostilities between Guelfs and Ghibellines in Genoa.Google Scholar

19 Thomas, G. M.Diplomatarium Veneto-Levantinum (Venezia, 1880), 31.Google Scholar A certain “J. de Ghisulphis” is found among a group of women who tried to organize a crusade against Egypt in 1301, under the leadership of Benedict Zaccaria and with the backing of the Ilkhāns. Cf. Lopez, R.Benedetto Zaccaria ammiraglio e mercante (Milano, 1933), 217 ft.Google Scholar

20 See Symon Simeonis, Itineraria, ed. Nasmith (Cambridge, 1778), 19 ff.; William Adam, De modo Sarracenos extirpandi, ed. Köhler, Recueil des historiens des Croisades, 524 ff.; Marin Sanudo, Secreta Fidelium Crucis, ed. Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, II, 22 ff.; cf. Brandt, W. “Pierre Dubois, Mediaeval or Modern?” The American Historical Review, 1930, 507 ff.Google Scholar

21 Belgrano, L.Della vita privata dei Genovesi (2d ed.; Genova, 1875), 191 ff. Besides omitting all the details of the document, Belgrano incorrectly speaks of a permanent society (ratio Vivaldorum). The term ratio in this document refers only to shares in a temporary accomendatio or partnership, such as were currently formed by the Genoese merchants for single voyages.Google Scholar

22 Archivio di Stato, Genova, Notaio Giovanni Gallo, I, f. 136 v. and 137 r. Philip had given £150 (instrument of the notary Giorgio Boccaccio); Simon had given £79, 1s. 6d., and Ginevra, a niece of Philip, had given £74, 15s. (instruments of Filippo Avondo).

23 “[Benedictus de Vivaldis] dictur navigasse de Janua in galea Angelini de Mari ano curente MCCCXV versus Romaniam, et … decesstt in partibus Indie. Racio cuius Benedicti pervenit ex causa accomendacionis vel alio titulo ad Percivalem Stanconum, civem Januensem, qui est in dictis partibus Indie …” (Notaio Giovanni Gallo, I, f. 136 v.)

24 The guardian of the heirs of Benedict Vivaldi, Leone di Ricaldone, was also guardian of the heirs of Anfreone and Ugolino de Guizulfis (Archivio di Stato, Genova, Notaio Giovanni Gallo, I, fol. 124 r.). One of the witnesses of our document was Benedetto de Anfussis, of the same family as Thomas, the banker, whose diplomatic missions to the Mongolic courts were mentioned before. (The Anfussis family was also engaged in oversea trade with Flanders as early as 1310; cf. Doehaerd, R. “Les Galères génoises dans la Manche et la Mer du Nord,” Bulletin de l'Institut Historique Belge de Rome, XIX [1938], 56 ff. and 62 ff.) The other witnesses are a notary (Ventura di Manarola) and Giovanni de Camilla, belonging to another family prominent in the Byzantine Empire, in Persia, and in the Crimea.Google Scholar

25 At the end of the twelfth century the Roman merchants residing in Genoa used to meet in a lobia rented from the Stancone family, and, in the thirteenth century, the merchants of Lucca, Florence, Pisa, Pistoia, and Arezzo held frequent meetings in the house or in the square of the Stancone. In 1307, on the other hand, Simone Stancone was the consul of the Genoese merchants in Pisa (Archivio di Stato, Genova, Notaio Lanfranco, II A, fol. 113 r.; Notaio Ignoti, Busta I; Notaio Andreolo de Lanerüs, I B, fol. 40 r.; cf. also Ferretto, A. “Codice diplomatico ….,” Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria, XXXI [1903], index of names, Stancone). In 1278 and in 1281 Tommaso Stancone made business trips to Majorca; the second time he was a partner of Percivalle de Man (Archivio di Stato, Genova, Notaio Giovanni de Corsio, I, 174 v. and 183; Notaio Leonardo Negrini, I, fol. 78 v.).Google Scholar

26 Cf. Heyd, II, 43 ff., with sources. As a matter of course, this does not imply that single ships did not go to Egypt from time to time, with or without a special license from the Pope.

27 Likewise, Friar John of Montecorvino wrote in 1305: “per terram Cothay Imperatoris aquilonarium Tartarorum est via brevior et securior, ita quod cum nunciis infra V vel VI menses poterunt pervenire” (Sinica Franciscana, 1, 349). (According to Pegolotti, the journey from Tana to Peking took from 259 to 284 days.) On the other hand, Montecorvino states that the sea route is dangerous, and has been particularly dangerous for the last twelve years “propter guerras”; it takes at least two years to go from Europe to “Peking by sea.” The nuncii mentioned by Friar John are the messengers of the state mail. It is worth remarking that the second successor of Kubilai, Kaishan Kuluk (1307–1311), prohibited western merchants from using the horses of the official mail (cf. Cordier, H.Histoire générale de la Chine et de ses relations avec les pays étrangers [Paris, 1920–1921], II, 345). This probably was a consequence of the increase of unauthorized use of these horses by the merchants, among whom there may have been some Europeans.Google Scholar

28 Cf. Heyd, I I, 117 ff.; Bratianu, G. I.Recherches sur le commerce genois dans la Mcr Noire au XIll” sicclc (Paris, 1929), 179 ff., with sources. There were along the way numerous state guards (tataul), to whom themerchants were expected to pay a special tax. But, despite the severe regulation enforced by Ghazan-khan (who is enthusiastically praised for that by his historian Rashid al-Din) and again by Abu-sa'Id, the merchants were still subjected to illegal contributions both by the brigands and by the guards. We cannot agree with Heyd, who accepts uncritically the statements of Rashid al-DIn; Pegolotti, a few years after the death of Ghazan, set apart in the budget of a trip from Lajazzo to Tabriz 50 aspers “per forza die fanno i moccoli, cioe tartari scherani.” For robbers along other stretches of the route see, for instance, Marco Polo ch. 5, 18, 19.Google Scholar

29 Cf. Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte der Ilkhane (Darmstadt, 1842–1844), II, 337Google Scholar; Howorth, H. H.History of the Mongols (London, 1876–1888), III, 650Google Scholar; Spulber, B.Die Mongolen in Iran (Leipzig, 1939), 135 ff., with sources.Google Scholar

30 Cf. Pelliot, P. “Chrétiens d'Asie Centrale et d'Extrême-Orient,” T'oung Pao, III (1914), 630 ff.Google Scholar; Barthold, W.Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Türken Mittelasiens (Berlin, 1935), 206 ff.Google Scholar; Grousset, R.L'Empire des steppes (Paris, 1939), 414 ff., with sources.Google Scholar

31 Heyd, II, 140, maintains that no Europeans used the route from Persia to India via Ghaznī (cf. also M. Longworth Dames, “Ghazna,” Encyclopedia of the Islam). But our documents prove that they did.

32 I am indebted to Professor Gino Luzzatto for this document and for his transcription of it.

33 On the Soranzo, for instance, cf. Luzzatto, G. “Les Activités éconotniques du patriciat vénitien,” Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, IX (1937), 42, 51 ff. Each one of these families gave more than one doge to the Republic.Google Scholar

34 Cf. T. W. Haig, Cambridge History of India, III, 136 ff., with sources.

35 Ibn Batūta, ed. Défréméry and Sanguinetti, III, 243–244.

36 Archivio di Stato, Venezia, Procuratori di San Marco, Misti, Busta 122 (Testimony of Leonardo de Cagnolis, parson of S. Gemignano, February 22, 1344?): “Quando ser Zaninus Lauretano dictus Vacha intimus meus disposuit se ire ad viagium a Delli, de quo non redivit, mater sua domina Chaterina et ser Bertonus Lauretano non semel sed pluries et pluries in mea presentia ipsum rogabant quod ab isto viagio desisteret omnino, et ego pluries ipsum rogavi tam ex parte mea quam ex parte predictorum quod sibi placeret desistere. Qui mihi respondebat quod bene faciebat illud quod faciebat, et cum Dei adiutorio ipse rediret consolatus. Item conquestus fuit michi de ser Bertono qui nolebat quod mater sua dare [sic] sibi denarios ad istum viagium ….”

37 Archivio di Stato, Venezia, Procuratori di San Marco, Misti, Busta 122. The attorney of Alberto de Calli produced the following document, written by Giovanni Loredano: “1338 de luio, Io Zanin Loredan son contento d'aver rezevudo da mio suocero ser Alberto da Calle Libre 80 de grossi per portar al viazo ch'io anderò a vostro pro e danno in muodo de colleganza, dagando vui a mia mare lirre [sic] 3 soldi 10 de grossi ….” See also the defense of the sons of the deceased, September 23, 1346.

38 From the request of the attorney of Alberto de Calli, September 23, 1346: “Contentabatur tamen dictus Albertus quod in dicto viagio fuerunt de ratione ser Francisci Marcello libre 3 grossorum pro quibus non credebat ei fuisse satisfactum; item quod de ratione Antonii de Cremona circa libre 20 grosse que non fuerunt reportate de Delli ad civitatem Venetiarum, sed in Delli dicto Antonio fuit de ipsis et de prode et lucro integre satisfactum de monte partis dicti Johannis.” The last sentence might lead one to think that Antonio da Cremona went with the others to India. But Antonio was not one of the six partners, and there is nothing in the documents which allows us to conclude that he went with them. More probably the sum was withdrawn from further speculation in Delhi because it was a sea loan, due on safe arrival there.

39 The attorneys of the heirs of Loredano tried to prove “quod ultra rationes predictas dictus Johannes extraxerat de Veneciis denarios a multis personis et maxime a matre sua.” But their evidence was not regarded as sufficient by the Judges of the Procuratori di San Marco. In general the documents and testimony produced by t he defense made no explicit mention of a loan for the trip t o the Far East, except for a few lines entered in a book of the priest Marco de Viviano, as follows: “1339 del mese decembre rezevé Nicolina da soa mare [Caterina Lauretano] per nome de lo dicto Vacha da Cha Loredan £ 13 e soldi 15 de grossi de pro e de cavedal che '1 pié in lo viazo del Cataio.” The book was in the possession of Caterina; but the priest declared that he had not actually seen her giving the money to John.

40 Pegolotti, 21.

41 Archivio di Stato, Venezia, quoted above, testimony of Andrea Giustiniani (who, at that time, was the podestà of Mestre), September 20, 13.. ?: “dum iret ad viagium de Organzi, ipse applicuit in Citracham, ubi invenit quamplures, inter quos erat nobilis vir Johannes Lauretano dictus Vacha cum societate que ire debebat ad viagium del Delli, et propter glaciem ipsi morati fuerunt ibidem per dies 50, et inde non potuerunt discedere.”

42 Ibn Batūta, II, 410 ff.; Pegolotti, 21.

43 Testimony of Andrea Giustiniani, quoted above: “et infra dictum tempus pluries se invenit in stopa [sic] dicti ser Johahnnis, ubi ipse ser Johannes morabatur. Et vidit quod de certis pannis quos ipse habebat, ipse incidebat et faciebat cavicios et mittebat in Tanum ad vendendum.” Giustiniani did not know definitely whether this cloth belonged to Loredano, or its worth, or the amount of loss sustained by Loredano in the sale; but he believed that the cloth had been brought from Venice. See also the defense: “dictus Johannes multum amisserat de ratione pannorum quos dicebant habuisse a dicto Alberto pro dictis libris 80 grossorum.”

44 See below, note 47.

45 Marco Polo, ch. 29; see also Yule's notes, I, 163.

46 Pegolotti, 22: “se il mercatante che va o che viene morisse in cammino ogni cosa sarebbe del signore del paese … e tutto prenderebbono gli ufficiali del signore …. Veramente s'egli avesse suo fratello o stretto compagno che dicesse che fusse suo fratello, si gli sarebbe dato l'avere del morto, e camperebbesi in questo modo l'avere.” This shows that Chingis Khan's Yasa (“In case the dead man has no heir …. In no case his estate is confiscated”) did not apply to foreign merchants. Cf. G. Vemadsky, “Juwaini's version of Chingis Khan's Yasa,” Seminarium Kondakovianum, XI, 1340.

47 Archivio di Stato, Venezia, first testimony of Marco Soranzo, August 30, 1343; “Eo Marco Soranzo de S. Apostolo … dentro quello ch'io missi in queste terre e tutte spese ch'io fici in Casni fo da libre 105 infin 110 de grossi, et infin questo luogo aviso che 'l dicto ser Zan Loredan metesse tanto. Pasando puochi zorni el dicto ser Zane si mori.” First testimony of Marino Contarini: “Marin Contarini fiol de messer Dardi Contarini de la contrada de S. Salvador…. Dentro quello ch'io missi in questa terra e quello ch'io spisi de fin che nui fosemo in Casni fo da libre 105 de grossi. E infin a questo luogo aviso che ser Zan Loredan mettesse tanto anche ello. Passando certi zorni ello manchò, de che so frar ser Polo in tute le spese che bisogna implir in questo sesto, nui consentissemo che lo implisse. E fo dentro quello che fo messo in la compagnia per homo o che fo speso dapuò da libre 210 de grossi. E s'el no avesse implido questo sesto, sì l'avessemo implido nuy e trato l'utel de quelo che 'n de fosse meso.” Similar testimonies were given by these and other witnesses in later hearings. Marco Soranzo and Marino Contarini, in another hearing, declared that the new repartition of the monte occurred at about fifteen days' distance from Delhi.

48 Second testimony of Marco Soranzo, January 9, 1943 (more veneto, that is, 1344): “nui avessemo de dono dal signor del Delli … bizanti 200,000, de li qual el de romase in la casena bizanti 20,000, e bizanti 2000 avè el scrivan de la dita casena.” Testimony of Soranzo and Contarini, on request of Alberto de Calli: “domandado … quanto rezevé tuta la compagnia del signor del Delli, responderunt 200,000 bizanti, de li qual de romase a la casena del signor 20,000.”

49 Ibn Batūta, III, 244 ff.

50 The merchants who left Venice were six (see the expressions “in questo sesto” in the testimony quoted above, note 47, and that quoted below, note 55). Three came safely home, and were heard in court: Soranzo, Contarini, and Paolo Loredano. As for the others, their death must be inferred from these words of the testimony of Soranzo and Contarini on request of Alberto de Calli: “domandado … se ordenamento di compagni fo che le parti di morti vegna del Delli in Famagosta et infin a Marina senza spesa alguna, responderunt sic in parte ser Balduini et in aliis partibus non.” Thus one of the deceased was Baldovino (his family name is not revealed by our documents). The others (“in aliis partibus,” a plural) must have been two—John Loredano, and another merchant whose name is not given.

51 See above, note 42. “Ancor de fo donadi via a quelli che 'n de avea fato molto honor, zoe da li baroni del signor, da bizanti 9000 in 10,000” (second testimony of Marco Soranzo).

52 Ancor domandado … se Polo pagò in Delli alguni debiti per so frar, digo de si, ad un Antonio da Cremona, ma non so quanti” (second testimony of Marco Soranzo). “[Polo Loredano] satisfecerat in Delli rationem Antonii” (request of the attorneys of Albert). See also above, note 38.

53 “Ancor trazessemo in Delli del monte bizanti 10,000 per zascadun, che vien bizanti 60,000 …. Alguni altri dener fo investidi in tangade. E quello che resta, che fo da bizanti 102,000 sì fo investidi in perle” (second testimony of Marco Soranzo).

54 First testimony of Soranzo: “Et avè ser Polio in Organzi quando nui partissemo tante perle che costa bizanti 17,000.” (Six times 17 thousand makes exactly 102 housand.) Likewise Marino Contarini, and the attorneys of Alberto de Calli.

55 First testimony of Soranzo: “Eo … aviso aver trato da questo viazo da florin 3500, ben ch'io avì in Delli bizanti 2000 plui ch'el dito ser Polo Loredan per questo sesto. E ben posso dir con vero ch'io ò vendudo assé meio le mie cosse che non à fato algun de loro, perch'io le mandie in Franza.” First testimony of Contarini: “Eo …. aviso de aver trato da questo viazo libre 300 grossorum, ben ch'io avesse in Delli da bizanti 4000 plui che no avè ser Pollo per questo sesto.” Testimony of Soranzo and Contarini on request of Albert: “Item quanto rezevè in Delli zascun de li compagnoni e Pollo per la parte del Vacha de la dita gracia oltra li 17,000 bizanti e ccntenara rezevudí in Organzi per zascun de compagni e per ser Polo per la parte del Vacha, responderunt nescire.”

56 See above, note 50.

57 Pegolotti, 24 and 28.

58 See above, note 55.

59 Cf. Skrzinska, E., “Inscriptions des colonies génoises en Crimée,” Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria, LVI (1928), introduction; Lopez, Storio delle colonie... 330 ff.; Grousset, 481 ff., with sources.Google Scholar

60 First decision of the Judges of the Procuratori di San Marco, September 22, 13..?: “quod Paulus Lauretanus olim frater Johannis Lauretani dicti Vacha de bonis habitis et receptis in manibus dicti Pauli que fuerunt dicti Johannis ad viagium del Delli, deductis omnibus imprestitis, uxuris et presis et provisionibus et prode, tam de denariis acceptis per suprascriptum quondam dominum Johannem Lauretano quam per suprascriptum Paullum Lauretano occasione dicti colomelli et maxime denariorum quos dictus Johannes habuit ab Antonio de Cremona, dare et restituere deberet suprascriptis dominis procuratoribus tutoribus dictorum pupillorum libras 230 grossorum, nectas a suprascriptis omnibus …. “The guardians were Marco Loredano and Francesco Querini, Procurators of San Marco.

61 See above, note 55.

62 Cf. especially Luzzatto, G., “La commenda nella vita economica dei secoli XIII e XIV …,” Atti delta manifestazione pro Tabula d'Amalphi, I, convegno di studi di Diritto Marittimo (Napoli, 1934), with sources. In the fourteenth century some statutes fixed a minimum percentage of profit that the traveling partner was obtiged to give the passive investor, if he was unable to produce an account. Cf. Lattes, 77, 154.Google Scholar

63 Cf. Lopez, R., “Aux origines du capitalisme génois,” Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, IX (1937), 447Google Scholar ff.; also Reynolds, R. L., “A business affair in Genoa in the year 1200,” Studi di storia e diritto in onore di Enrico Besfa (Milano, 1937–1939), II, 165 ff.Google Scholar

64 The customary share of the traveling partner was one fourth, and, therefore, should have been i36. 15 out of a declared profit of £147. But the Procuratori di San Marco, in agreement with the demands of the attorneys of Alberto de Calli, left to the heirs of Loredano £44. 8. The difference was due “tam pro repromissa uxoris dicti Johannis Lauretani quam pro aliis expensis dictorum pupilorum et eorum occasione” (final decision of the Judges of the Procuratori di San Marco, September 23, 1346: it was a widespread, although not a universal use that the share of the capitalist was to be accounted for sine expensis). Of the remaining part of the profit £3. 14, £2. were assigned to Francesco Marcello, and £98. 17. 10 to Alberto de Calli.

65 See four other parchments of the same Busta 122, dated May 19 and 26, 1339; August 10, 1344; January 19, 1341 (more veneto).

66 Moule, A. C., Christians in China (London, 1930), 228 ff.Google Scholar

67 Cf. Sieveking, H., Aus Geuueser Rechnungs- und Steuerbücher (Wien, 1909), 15.Google Scholar

68 Giovanni Villani, Cronaca, XII, ch. 27. This statement, while doubtless containing some truth, is likely to be exaggerated; but we have no direct way to check on it.

69 Archivio di Stato, Genova, Notai Domenico Durante e Oberto Osbergerio, I, fol. 223 v. This document was brought to my attention by Mile Renée Doehaerd.

70 There were two decrees to this effect, one dated June 7, 1340, and the other April 12, 1341.

71 Marco Polo, ch. 19; Giovanni di Montecorvino, Sinica Franciscana, I, 344–345; Oderico di Pordenone, ibid., I, 422. Marco Polo arrived again at Hormuz from China on his way home via Tabrīz.

72 Ibn Batūta, IV, 94 ff.; see, however, the objections of Ferrand, 426–433. Giovanni Marignolli, too, was in imminent danger of shipwreck between Columbus and Madras (Sinica Franciscana, I, 537).

73 Oderico di Pord., Sin Franc, I, 422: “In ea tantus et ita immensus est calor, quod virilia, id est testiculi hominum, exeunt ex corpore et descendunt usque ad dimidiam tibiarum. Idcoquc gens illius contrate si vivere volunt, sibi faciunt unam unctionem qua ilia ungunt. Nam aliter omnes penitus morerentur, et sicut sunt uncta, in quibusdam saculis illa portant circumcirca se cingentes.” See also Marco Polo, ch. 19; for similar remarks in Arabic sources, cf. Schwarz, P., Iran im Mittelalter nach den arabischen Geographen (Leipzig, 1896–1929), III, 242 ff.; for additional material from European sources, cf. Hallberg, 242 ff.Google Scholar

74 Marco Polo, ch. 19.

75 Archivio di State, Genova, quoted above: “ut oppressum gravi et valida egretudine remanserit in Ortnes derelictum a sociis iter eorum arripientibus versus Cathayum, propter quam oportuit ipsum [Thomaynum Gentilem] transire Taurixium in reditu, ut avidum ad propria remeare ….”

76 Archivio di Stato, Genova, quoted above: “Officium octo sapientium constitutorum super factis navigandi et Maris Maioris in quo interfuit sufficiens et legitimus numerus ipsorum officialium, et ipsi officiales concorditer, visa requisitione Chonfredi Gentilis requirentis Thomaynum filium suum absolvi non obstante ipsum pergisse Taurixium seu transisse per dictas partes Taurixii, cum casu necessario pergerit, et non habentem mercimoniam [sic]... considerando quod ad partes Cathay non poterat profici [sic], quo primo proposuerat ambulare; ad eciam ex Commissione ducali facta diligenti inquisitione de hiis ad hoc ut reperiri possit et valeat veritas, scrutatis diligenter omnibus possibilibus erga hoc, et reperto per patentes litteras fidedignorum ostensas dicto officio ac eciam presentatas, necnon fama publica quorundam civium expertorum ad hoc, dictum Thomaynum non ivisse seu transisse ad dictas partes Taurixii voluntatis actu, set necessario ut permittitur … tractavit, statuit et ordinavit necnon declarando voluit dictum Thomaynum non incidisse in aliquam penam occasionibus predictis, non obstantibus decretis, statuitis seu prohibicionibus.” The document bears no date.

77 Giorgio Stella, ed. Muratori, XVII, 1081; Giustiniani, Annali, fol. 131 (cf. on the latter Heyd, II, 131–132). These historians do not explain why the ruler of Tabrīz felt the need of sending ambassadors; our document makes it evident that he wanted the lifting of embargo.

78 Cf. Heyd, II, 129 ff., with sources, and the additional evidence recently published by Bratianu, G. I., Les Vénitiens dans la Mer Noire au XIVe sièle (Bucarest, 1939), and “Les Vénitiens dans la Mer Noire … après la deuxième guerre des Détroits,” Echos d'Orient, XXXIII (1934), 148 ff.Google Scholar

79 This situation is reflected by the list of the merchants who went to Hormuz from the seven climates, according to “Abd al-Razzāk of Samarkand, who lived in India from 1422 to 1444 as an ambassador of Shāhrukh. This list includes, among others, merchants from Egypt, Syria, Rūm (Turkish Asia Minor), Mesopotamia, Adharbaidjān, Khurāsān, Transoxiana, Turkestan, Kipchak, Kalmak (Oirats), Peking, Java, Bengal, Tenasserim, Socotra, Abyssinia, Zanguebar, Aden, etc. (cf. Ferrand, Relations, 473–474, see above, note 9, p. 473–474). The renaissance of Arab trade and geographical science has its highest expression in the Instructions of Ibn Madjid; China, too, produced a number of important geographical works, on which cf. Pelliot, P., “Les grands voyages maritimes chinois au début du XVe siècle,” T'oung Pao, XXX (1933),Google Scholar 237–452 (addenda in T'oung Pao, XXXI [1935, 274 ff.], with sources. Cf. also Bretschneider, II, 329 ff. and Duyvendak, J. J. L., “The true Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the early fifteenth century,” T'oung Pao, XXXIV (1938), 340 ff.Google Scholar As for Nikitin, , see the translation published by the Hakluyt Society, XX (London, 1857).Google Scholar On the successors of Tamerlane, cf. Bouvat, L., Les Timourides (Paris, 1927), with bibliography.Google Scholar

80 Nicolò de' Conti, Girolamo Adorno, Girolamo da Santo Stefano, Viaggi in Persia, India e Giava, ed. Longhena (Milano, 1929).Google Scholar