Situated on the islands of the Adriatic sea lagoon, Venice and squeezed between the Ligurian Alps and the Tyrrhenian coast of Genoa were destined by nature itself to become maritime merchant states. The rise of their trade and then political power occurred in the 11th-12th centuries. Having received the monopoly right of colonization in the Black Sea region, Venice at this time founded a number of trading posts in the Crimea. The largest of them was Sudak, which the Italians called Soldaya, and the Russian merchants called Surozh. Since 1287, the city was governed by a consul sent from Venice. However, Soldaya did not remain the residence of the Venetian consul for long.
The successes and income of the colonial empire, which the Republic of St. Mark had essentially become at that time, haunted the Genoese. And if the Venetians gained their possessions by contributing to the fall Byzantine Empire, then the Genoese achieved the same goals on the path to its restoration. The pragmatic Genoese were not stopped either by the pope's curses or the anger of the majority of the Catholic monarchs of Europe. In 1261, Genoa signed an agreement with Emperor Michael Palaiologos (1259-1282), according to which, for the promised military assistance against the Latin Empire of the Crusaders, the Genoese received a monopoly right of passage to the Black Sea and the right to establish “factories, offices and churches” in many Byzantine cities. The help was not useful, but the agreement became the prologue to the unprecedented power of Genoa for more than two hundred years. The Genoese displace the Venetians, economically suppress the Byzantines and establish their own settlements, fortresses and cities throughout the Mediterranean. The Genoese established themselves in the Northern Black Sea region in the mid-60s. XIII century Here, very quickly, one after another, trading posts appeared, which turned into real, sometimes quite large and influential cities, such as Kaffa (Feodosia) and Tana (Azov). In their hectic activities to develop the region, the Italians could not always count on a warm welcome from the local population, but a much more serious danger for them was posed by the Mongol-Tatars, who by this time had turned Crimea into an ulus of the Golden Horde. However, the skillful diplomacy of the Genoese, generous gifts to the Tatar governors and promises of such in the future allowed them to regulate relations. The Genoese obtained permission to found a whole network of different types of colonies on the Crimean coast. They erected the fortress walls of Vosporo (Kerch), captured Soldaya, weakened by constant Tatar raids, from the Venetians, and founded the Chembalo (Balaklava) fortress on the shores of a unique Black Sea bay. In 1381, under an agreement with the Tatars, immigrants from Genoa secured 18 villages in the Soldai district and acquired the captaincy of Gothia. In the Middle Ages, this was the name of the southern coast of Crimea. Italian settlements in Crimea received common name Genoese Gazaria.
Kaffa became the main trade and political center of Gazaria. By the end of the 13th century, dynamically developing, it turned into a densely populated multi-ethnic city, and in the 15th century. Even Constantinople is ahead of its population in terms of population. The rise of Kaffa was facilitated by the ever-increasing in the 13th-15th centuries. the role of the Northern Black Sea region in international trade Western countries with the East. IN Italian cities Merchant caravans from Byzantium, the Golden Horde, Rus' and Western Europe arrive in Eastern Crimea and the Azov region by sea and land. Kaffa becomes a major transshipment point for the trade of transit goods: Russian furs, leather, canvas, wax and weapons; spices, dyes, silk fabrics and precious stones from distant eastern countries. Local goods were also in great demand among visiting merchants: salt, salted fish, caviar, bread, raw skins. The slave trade brought enormous income to the Genoese. While in the metropolis Italian humanists sang the virtues and virtues of man, in the colonies their compatriots shamelessly trafficked people, turning Caffa into the largest slave market in the region. Slaves were purchased from the Tatars, who, in pursuit of live goods, increasingly raided the southern Russian lands and the western Caucasus. High prices for slaves often prompted the Italians themselves to undertake risky operations to capture prisoners. People were kidnapped by corsairs and pirates in coastal cities, and shipowners turned random passengers into slaves. Apparently, in such cases, during periods of peaceful relations with the Golden Horde, the Tatars fell into slavery. In Europe at that time there was a prejudice to consider Tatars outside their country primarily as slaves. For Italian overseas trading posts located on the territory of the Horde, these sentiments were extremely dangerous. The “hunt for people” was resolutely suppressed by the Genoese authorities of Caffa, although the punishments for these crimes were not severe. Among the slaves whom the Genoese exported from Caffa, Russians, Georgians, Circassians, and Abkhazians predominated. A small part of the slaves remained in the Black Sea colonies of Genoa, the rest were sold to Byzantium, Italy and Egypt.
Visiting merchants sometimes settled in Kaffa for a long time, acquiring offices and houses. The needs of trade and a growing local population stimulated the development of handicraft production. Sources name dozens of professions of Kaffin artisans who occupied separate blocks in the city. Blacksmiths, caulkers, carpenters, sail spinners, gunsmiths of various specialties, furriers, potters, tailors, soap makers, butchers, bakers, and shoemakers worked here. The development of domestic trade made it necessary to mint their own coins. It became the silver aspr. The Genoese controlled the sale of colonial handicrafts, taxed craft workshops, receiving significant income, while vigilantly monitoring the market situation and decisively suppressing competing branches of local craft in neighboring countries, including Byzantium.
Not only Byzantine artisans, but also merchants lost to the Italians in the competition. In the trade of a number of goods (alum, corals), Genoese merchants became monopolists on a pan-European scale.
In the XIV-XV centuries. the Venetians worked out unified system navigation of caravans of ships - the so-called "lines". The Venetian state handed over ships to patron entrepreneurs, who recruited crews and sailed the ships in accordance with detailed instructions government of the republic. The state levied taxes on the value of goods transported. The galleys of the line were entrusted with political and diplomatic functions in transporting Venetian officials and dignitaries from other countries.
Venetian lines also reached Caffa. But in order to avoid the high taxes levied at the port for parking on foreign ships, they often stopped at Cape St. John, not far from the Black Sea capital.
It is difficult to say where the Italian merchant spent more time - at sea or on land. Navigation on the Black Sea through the efforts and great experience Italian sailors were almost year-round. Genoese statutes prohibited navigation for safety reasons from December 1 to March 15, when the sea was particularly stormy. But in fact, Black Sea navigation froze for only a few weeks in January-February.
The peculiarity of Italian colonization in general, and in Crimea in particular, was that it was carried out not by the state, but by various associations of citizen-entrepreneurs, trading companies, and patrician families. The layer of colonists who settled for more or less long periods in trading posts was not only mobile, but also very small in number. The colonists did not lose contact with Genoa, in most cases retained citizenship of the metropolis, and rarely brought their families with them. Mostly young unmarried men went to distant overseas lands in search of wealth and good fortune.
In 1475, in Caffa, out of 70 thousand inhabitants, there were only about a thousand Genoese. The local Crimean population (Greeks, Armenians, Tatars, Russians, Jews, representatives of other nationalities) outnumbered them many times over. The Italians could not rely only on force. They willingly cooperated with the local nobility, retaining a number of rights and privileges for them, and widely involved the local merchants in their trade operations, introducing them to new forms of entrepreneurship. These relations were not always cloudless, but the line of confrontation was determined not along ethnic or religious lines, but, above all, according to property and class.
Consistent with the interests of the local elite, the Genoese did not hesitate to use any means to exploit the urban lower classes. The population of the trading posts suffered from heavy taxes and fines. Direct taxes - land, capitation, income, tax on buildings - were supplemented by indirect taxes on food supplies, timber, grass, coal, etc. The colonial authorities often entrusted the collection of taxes to local tax farmers, and then the abuses knew no bounds. The lower classes of the city, “little people without names,” as the Genoese called them, often rebelled. Only in the history of Kaffa in the 15th century. there were five of them.
The Genoese did not limit themselves to power over the coastal cities, but also subjugated lands in the rural district. Moreover, some of them turned into such feudal rulers, which Europe had already begun to forget about by that time. Actually, the feudalization of the Genoese ruling class unfolded precisely in the colonies. Documents from the colonial administration brought to us information about influential feudal lords from the Guasco family, who in the 15th century. captured villages in the vicinity of Soldaya with their developed agriculture, mainly viticulture. Relying on their own armed detachments, prisons and courts, they introduced new taxes, corvee labor, imposed duties on all imported goods, and to intimidate the peasants they placed gallows and pillory on the roads. The arbitrariness of the Guasco brothers displeased even the consul Soldaya, but his appeals to Caffa had no consequences.
The administration of Gazaria was modeled after Genoa itself with its developed bureaucracy. The consul of Kaffa was at the head of the Black Sea colonies. The heads of administrations of other cities and trading posts were subordinate to him. The consul of the capital was elected from representatives of the patriciate of the metropolis. He was entitled to security, retinue and servants. The consul headed the proceedings; to intimidate and conduct the inquiry, a “torture machine” was installed in the courtroom. The appearance of the consul before the people was accompanied by a special solemn ritual. But the consul was elected for only one year. He took an oath before the syndics (judges) of Caffa in observance of the Charter of Caffa and the laws of Genoa. Upon expiration of his powers, the consul was subject to trial, even if his rule was impeccable. For the slightest violation of laws and regulations, the consul was subject to fines.
In his power, the consul relied on a council of trustees and a council of elders, which he himself appointed. The Board of Trustees was in charge of city improvement, repair and construction of the fortress, and exercised general supervision of trade. The Council of Elders had general control functions. Only Genoese occupied the highest positions in the cities. Less important posts were allowed to be held by representatives of the local nobility. A tax was levied for obtaining an official position, and some particularly profitable positions were sold at auction.
An important concern of the consuls was the construction, repair and maintenance of fortresses. The architecture of the Black Sea fortresses followed the canons of European fortification architecture. The defensive structures of Kaffa and Soldaya consisted of an outer row of walls with towers, in front of which on the land side there was a ditch with stone bridges thrown across it, and an inner citadel, where there was a donjon and administrative buildings. The port part was also protected by towers. The towers were built mostly rectangular, sometimes round. Most of the towers were three-story, open type. The towers and walls were decorated with battlements, but they were not decorative elements. The battlements, merlons and racks, served to protect the defenders from arrows. The utilitarian purpose of the structures and the lack of funds (the main colonial incomes were sent to the metropolis) did not favor decorative delights. But, nevertheless, some towers were decorated with stone reliefs, commemorative slabs with Genoese coats of arms and fancy ornaments that reflected local color (Soldaya), belt arcades (the Tower of Constantine in Caffa).
Inside the fortress walls of Kaffa there were city blocks, numerous temples belonging to various faiths, market squares and inns. As the city grew, settlements arose behind the fortress wall.
At first, the Italians, having assigned themselves special privileges, settled separately, but over time, the boundaries between the rich Genoese buildings and the houses of the local nobility were overcome. All townspeople, regardless of rank, beliefs and property status, under the constant threat of attacks, were forced to observe the laws of life in the fortress. The fortress not only formed the surrounding space and absolutely dominated all other buildings, but also dictated the daily routine of both the noisy commercial Caffa and Soldaya, which under the Genoese performed mainly patrol and strategic functions and ensured the omnipotence of the Italian feudal lords in the rural district.
The city gates opened at strictly defined hours in the morning and closed in the evening by a special signal from the serf guards. After the evening bell rang, citizens were forbidden to go out onto the streets under threat of fines. The charter stipulated the time when residents had to turn off the lights in their houses. At night, even the consul was not allowed to leave the city walls.
The citadel was the administrative center of the city. Here was the consular palace, the residence of the Latin bishop, and celebrations associated with various festivals took place. The list of holidays when work was officially prohibited was dictated from Genoa. In 1440, a list was sent that included 51 obligatory Catholic holidays. The imposition of festivities on the Catholic Church was in line with its active missionary activity in the Black Sea colonies, which, however, cannot be considered successful. The majority of the population of Crimean cities remained faithful to their confessions. It was not forbidden to celebrate Muslim and Jewish holidays, in addition to official ones, and almost half Orthodox holidays coincided with the Catholic ones.
City treasuries allocated on the eve of holidays special means for purchasing church candles, distributing alms and organizing receptions for the nobility in the consular palace. Fireworks were displayed near the palace and on the embankment.
The year 1453 was fatal in the history of the Italian colonies. The Turks captured the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, and the Black Sea straits. The route from the trading posts to Genoa was cut off. Colonies whose economies were not experiencing better times, came under the control of the Genoese Bank of San Giorgio, and in 1475, having failed to provide even worthy resistance, they were captured by the Turks.
Italian settlements existed on the territory of Crimea for a little over 200 years. For history, the period is short. But the majestic ruins of fortresses, preserved formidable towers and impregnable curtains, surprisingly organically blending into the mountainous Crimean landscape, have become an integral part of our ideas about the peninsula. Few of the peoples and tribes that inhabited the Crimea, gone forever and still living (Venetians and Ligurians still form separate subethnic groups of the Italian people), have imprinted themselves in such visible images, without which the Crimean landscape is unthinkable.
L. S. Moiseenkova
In the XI-XII centuries. in Italy there was a rise in crafts and trade. By the end of the 12th century. production workshops appeared in most cities. The strong economic recovery led to trade activity, especially in the Mediterranean basin. Trade between Italian cities and the East brought fabulous profits. At the same time, competition for eastern markets developed.
Open full sizeThe most stubborn struggle developed between the city-republics of Venice and Genoa. At first, Venice was successful, ousting Genoa on the Aegean Sea, but not for long. In 1261, according to the so-called Nymphaean Treaty, Genoa received strongholds on the Bosphorus, Asia Minor and Crimea for its assistance to Byzantium and ousted the Venetians for almost a century. In 1380, the Venetians defeated the Genoese fleet at Chioggia and re-established their hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean and Pontus. We do not go into the vicissitudes of the rivalry between Venice and Genoa on the Black Sea, but we note that next to the main actors Representatives of the Catholic Church always marched this historical event - as warriors and merchants - and supported the successes of the sword with the cross and preaching.
Open full size The Black Sea region was dominated by the Genoese from the very beginning. Already in 1169, an agreement was concluded between the Genoese and Byzantium, where one of the paragraphs reads: “Ships of Genoese merchants have the right to pass to all lands except Russia and Matrega, unless he (the emperor. - V.K.) is in power permission there" (Russia here - the coast of the Azov Sea, Matrega -). This is the beginning of the Italian penetration. Soon after 1204, Venetians appeared in the Black Sea ports, and Italian trade on Pontus grew. In 1234, the Dominican monk Ricardo landed at the mouth of the Kuban, on behalf of Pope Gregory IX, who made a trip to Volga Bulgaria. His observations about Sychia are interesting, i.e. Zichia and the city of Matrika, “where the prince and the people are Christians and have Greek books and sacred ones.” There is no doubt that we are talking about Orthodox Christians here. In 1238, Genoa and Venice concluded a truce and began real trade expansion in Crimea, and after the Treaty of Nymphaeum, which provided great benefits to the Genoese, the latter began to develop the territory: they acquired a quarter in Caffa. In 1268, Pope Clement IV appointed the first bishop to Caffa. In the 90s, the Italians already had strong positions in Kopario (Kope in the lower Kuban), Matrega (Taman), and Sevastopolis (Sukhum). According to N. Murzakevich, who referred to the Genoese author Girolamo Serra, Genoese merchants from Kiffa reached Dagestan in 1266 and began trading with the peoples living around the Caspian Sea, and also visited Tiflis.
According to the same data, Kaffa was “in charge” of Crimea, Tamanya, Kopa, Kutaisi, Sevastopols and Tana. Another 19th century author. De la Primode wrote that the peoples of the Kuban and Caucasus went to the Genoese in Taman for trade, and the main item of trade was wax, which was in huge demand from churches and monasteries. It is not known on what basis the author argued that the Genoese developed silver mines in the Caucasus Mountains and traces of their work are still visible today. Along the Kuban, the Genoese from the mouth of the river rose 280 miles upstream and, in the midst of a “rich and fertile country,” founded a colony, which was ruled by a consul in 1427. According to M.N. Kamenev, back in the 60s of the 19th century. traces of the supposedly Genoese road were visible, starting from Anapa and going through the station. Tsarskaya to Kyafar, Bolshoy Zelenchuk, Marukha, Teberda and from there through the pass to Tsebelda and Terek.
On the lands, the largest Genoese colonies were Matrega and Copa (lo Copa, Copario) and the third was Mapa. Matrega was located on the site of the ancient Russian one (the current village of Taman). As before, it was major port, through which goods went to Turkey, Western Europe, as well as to the North Caucasus to the Adyghe tribes. Matrega was well fortified. The population consisted mainly of Circassians, whose lands were adjacent to Matrega, Italians and Greeks. The Genoese sailed their ships up the Kuban River and 280 Italian miles from its mouth, at the beginning of the 14th century, on the lands of the Circassians, in the area of the current city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, they founded the colony of Lo-Kopu. According to the charter of the colony, the Genoese paid tribute to the Adyghe princes in the form of “gifts to rulers” with bokasin (fine linen fabric), certain pieces of which replaced money. Circassians, Italians, Greeks, and Armenians lived in Kop. The population was mainly engaged in fishing, searing (salting) fish and preparing caviar, which was the main export item. Caviar was exported in barrels weighing five kantars (61.5 kg). Along with fish and caviar, slaves were an important export item. These were mainly Circassians (Adygs), Tatars and Russians. The Circassians and Circassian women were most highly valued. In addition, bread, lamb skins, furs, wax, honey, and fruit were exported.
According to the charter Genoese colonies The consul at Lo Copa collected a duty from each ship for cargo and anchorage. Persons involved in fish plating and caviar preparation were required to pay 10 asprs (a silver coin) as income to the consul, and a duty of 6 asprs was collected from each exported slave. The enrichment of the Genoese was also facilitated by barter trade with the Circassians, in which the Genoese bought low prices leather and other raw materials, which gave unprecedented profits. The slave trade brought in particularly large profits. Mainly the following goods were imported to the Circassians through Kopa: salt, soap, fabrics (Italian cloth, fine linen fabric– bokasin, bukaran), carpets, saber blades with coats of arms, drawings and inscriptions. They were especially valued by the Adyghe nobility. Huge amounts of money were made by Genoese merchants who mercilessly exploited the local Adyghe population.
The position of the Genoese in Matrega was precarious - they were surrounded by Adyghe tribes, the ordinary population of which, as a rule, was hostile to them; political turmoil occurred in the colony itself due to the interference of the Genoese living in it in the internal affairs of other peoples and, finally, uprisings local residents against the rule of the Genoese. The Genoese settled in Matrega at the beginning of the 14th century, creating their own colony here. In 1419, Matrega went to the representative of the famous Genoese family Simon de Ghisolfi, thanks to the marriage of his son Vincenzo with the daughter and heiress of the Adyghe prince Berozokh. Thus, the Ghisolfi were in double dependence: on the one hand, and mainly, on the Kaf government, and on the other hand, on the Adyghe princes.
After Simon Ghisolfi, Matrega was ruled by Zaccaria Ghisolfi, apparently the son of the Adyghe princess, whom Vincenzo Ghisolfi married. Zaccaria, as he himself believed, was a tributary and vassal of the then neighboring Adyghe prince Kadibeldi. In 1457, the latter, being the overlord of Zaccaria Ghisolfi, rebelled against him and captured the castle. The construction of a fortress (castle) in Matrega was carried out shortly before with the financial assistance of Kafa. The document says that “taking advantage of this (the capture of the Kadibeldi castle), the people of that area rebelled against Kafa and took possession of the said castle together with the princes of Zikhia.” Thus, this document testifies to the uprising of the Adyghe people against the Genoese and their princes. The uprising was suppressed by soldiers sent from Kafa, which obliged Zaccaria Ghisolfi to maintain mercenary soldiers from the Kafa garrison in the fortress. Weapons were sent to Matrega. Kafa at this time stood at the head of all the Genoese colonies in the North-West Caucasus.
On the Black Sea coast, the Genoese colonies were Mala, on the site of present-day Anapa, Kaloslimen (Baktiar) in Tsemes Bay (Novorossiysk). Here the Genoese managed to establish a profitable exchange with local tribes (Black Sea Circassians). Other Genoese colonies were small trading posts and anchorages for coastal shipping.
Genoese colonies existed in the North-West Caucasus until the end of the 15th century. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), Turkish military penetration into the Caucasus began. The Genoese colonies, with which the Adyghe tribes maintained fairly close trade relations, were destroyed, and Turkish fortresses arose in their place.
To some extent, this information about the advance of the Genoese from the Crimea and Kopa into the interior is confirmed by indirect data of a legendary folklore nature and even archeology. Thus, the French consul in Crimea Xaverio Glavani in 1724 in Circassia saw crosses on graves with Latin inscriptions, and in Karachay in early XIX V. there was the Getmishbash cemetery, where many graves and tombstones were preserved, considered by the Karachais as Catholic or “Frankish”. F. Dubois de Montperey reports a legend recorded from General Engelhardt - the Franks or Genoese lived in all the valleys North Caucasus, “the dwellings of the Franks filled mainly the Kislovodsk valley, spreading even beyond the Kuban River.” With reference to P. S. Pallas, Dubois de Montpere points out that Rome Mountain near Kislovodsk served as a refuge for the Franks. The latter is quite possible. Let us also pay attention to the fact that the popular name for Italians in the Caucasus as “Franks” comes from the Byzantine name for French mercenaries. Consequently, the term “Franks” denoting Europeans was borrowed by the Caucasians from the Byzantine Greeks.
Archaeological traces of the presence of the Genoese in the North Caucasus until the 15th century. varied, but not equally reliable. Among the latter, we include a Latin inscription on a crypt with a conical pyramidal roof, an entrance and a window in the upper reaches of the Majra River, which flows into the Kuban. The inscription read: “Fausta Fortuna” (“Fausta’s fortune”) and “I... CANTI” (name? - V.K.). But the reality of this inscription was later not confirmed by anyone. Another, also unverified, but really existing monument is a stone statue of a Catholic monk in a characteristic long robe and a shaved head with a tonsure. Right hand blesses. The monument was recorded two kilometers from the village of Pregradnaya in the eastern Trans-Kuban region, completely in accordance with the Genoese road about which M. N. Kamenev wrote. Perhaps, some imported items from the Belorechensky burial mounds of the 14th-15th centuries are directly related to the functioning of the mentioned road and the movement of goods along it: a silver gilded dish of Venetian work, Venetian glassware, a woman’s robe made of Italian axamite velvet lilac color etc. It's about about the possession of Kremukh on the river, already mentioned in the first chapter. Belaya, headed by the ruler of Biberdi. There is no doubt about the trade exchange between the Adyghe Kremukh and the Italian colonies of the Black Sea region. To the same group of archaeological realities of the 14th century. Western European - Catholic circle can be attributed to bronze cross-vests with the image of the Crucifixion from the finds of M. N. Lozhkin at the Ilyichevsky settlement in the upper reaches of the river. Urup and Khumara in Kuban. Venetian glass, highly valued on the international market, ended up in burial grounds in the 14th-15th centuries. Western Ossetia - Digoria (for example, in Makhchesk), and this indicates the penetration of Italian goods to North Ossetia.
It is very likely that not all Italian imports of the 14th-15th centuries. We can now correctly identify and attribute from North Caucasian archaeological materials: for this it is necessary to know the original material culture, which is impossible in our conditions. This work remains for the future, like the work on Italian written sources relating to the Caucasus in Italian repositories.
The pre-war article by E. S. Zevakin and N. A. Penchko “Essays on the history of the Genoese colonies in the Western Caucasus in the 13th-14th centuries” remains a significant work on the problem of interest to us, although on a number of subjects it is outdated and does not answer current state sources. Zevakin and Penchko provide some facts that clearly document the expansion of Venice and Genoa in the North Caucasus. Thus, the authors established that in the territory between Tana (Azov) and Sevastopolis (Sukhum) there were 39 Italian colonies, settlements and sites, of which the most important were Tana, Sevastopolis, Kopa and Matrega, through which slaves, grain, wax and other goods. The very interesting information of De la Primode is confirmed that the Genoese walked up the Kuban and mined silver ore in the Caucasus mountains. There is a silver-lead deposit in the upper reaches of the Kuban; its development in Karachay was carried out until the 20th century. Therefore, the data about the mining operations of the Genoese in this area sounds reliable. I do not rule out that thanks to the presence of the Genoese, the Sentinsky Temple received its name, the etymology of which may go back to the Latin “Santa” - “holy”, “holy”. Since the Sentinsky temple is dedicated to the Mother of God and the Genoese probably knew this, in their mouths the temple and the peak itself with the temple could receive the popular name “Santa Maria”.
At the same time, I do not insist on the proposed version, because there is a Karachay version of the etymology of “Senta”. The decisive word here should belong to linguists.
E. S. Zevakin and N. A. Penchko testify to an ancient trade route that went along the valleys of the Kuban and Teberda to the Klukhorsky pass and further to Sevastopols; “The road through Rion to Imereti and Georgia, which was often visited by Genoese merchants, ended here.” It is clear that this route was important for relations with the north of the Caucasus, and it is no coincidence that already around 1330 there was a bishop in Sevastopolis, and from 1354 - a Genoese consul. As for Georgia, its rapprochement with the Catholic sovereigns and the Church of the West began in connection with the fight against. In the XIII-XIV centuries. part of the Georgian and Armenian population converted to Catholicism, and Pope Gregory IX in January 1240 sent eight missionaries with a letter to the Georgian Queen Rusudan and her son David V. As we see, Catholic expansion was carried out on a broad front, covering the entire Caucasus. In the south of the Caucasus Range, the Genoese also organized mining operations. There is information that in Abkhazia, in the gorge of the river. Gumista was a Genoese colony engaged in the development of lead-silver ore, and the number of mines reached 15. Not only was the introduction of trade into the depths of the Caucasus, but also the development of natural resources. All this meant the simultaneous settlement of Italians throughout the Caucasus.
How far the advancement of very active and dynamic Europeans to the east of the Caucasus went is attested by Fanucci, to whom E. S. Zevakin and N. A. Penchko refer: “On Fanucci’s instructions, the Genoese built and settled the settlement of Kubachi in Dagestan.” We agree that this may seem like a fantasy - an Italian settlement in the wilds of the Dagestan mountains! This is true, if only because Kubachi has been known since the 9th century. Arab chroniclers called Zirikhgeran, i.e. “chain guards”, metal craftsmen, and this was long before the appearance of the Italians in the Caucasus. Fanucci's statement should be considered an exaggeration; the Genoese did not build Kubachi, but they could visit it more than once - the products of the famous Kubachi metal craftsmen, especially gunsmiths, should have attracted the attention of European merchants. This becomes more likely against the background of other evidence of the presence of Italians in Dagestan.
It is important that the fact of the advance of the Genoese, and with them the Catholic missionaries, to the Caspian Sea and northern Dagestan (to Derbent) is beyond doubt. Josaphat Barbaro reliably tells about the state of the Christian religion in this region of the Caucasus, which at that time was called Kaitaki: “the brothers of St. Francis (Franciscan monks - V.K.) and a certain priest of ours, a Latinist, went there. The peoples who live in these places are called Kaytaki, as stated above, they speak a language unlike others, many of them are Christians, some of whom believe in Greek, some in Armenian, and others in Catholicism.”
The cited source is the only one indicating that Orthodoxy has reached the borders of Dagestan (“some believe in Greek”), because, as we see, there are no archaeological monuments of Orthodoxy here yet.
The last evidence of the arrival of the Dominican Catholic missionary Vincenzo in Dagestan dates back to 1486. After this, Christianity in Dagestan quickly lost its position to Islam. Dagestan is finally becoming a Muslim country.
Researchers have already tried to find answers to these questions. M.K. Starokadomskaya believed that the Italians did not go further than Solkhat in Crimea to the east in search of goods (and one of the main ones were slaves). The Genoese preferred to trade those goods that were delivered to Caffa or Solkhat by merchants of other nationalities. Apparently, Italian merchants personally participated in distant trade expeditions to eastern countries. What mattered was that at the beginning of the 14th century. a Genoese consulate functioned in Tabriz (Iran), and in the 20s of the 14th century. There was already a Genoese settlement in Zaiton. It should also be noted here that in the connections between the Genoese cities of Crimea and the countries of the East, “the most significant role was played by Caucasian merchants.” Consequently, the movement was mutual, and the Genoese were constantly moving through the Ciscaucasia to the east.
Very important information on the issue of interest to us, contains an appeal from Pope John XXII to Uzbek Khan in 1330. The Pope recommends to the khan Bishop Thomas Mancazol of Semiskat, who made many proselytes among the Alans of the Caucasus, Hungarians and Malkhaites. Semiskata was identified with Shemakha, which seems doubtful, at least unproven. Even more doubtful is the conclusion that the mysterious Semiskata is Samarkand. Based on this localization of Semiskata, a map of the missionary actions of Thomas Mancazola was compiled; the Alans on it did not fall into Mancazola’s zone of action, although they were located between the Lower Volga and the Don.
Stavropol archaeologist T. M. Minaeva testified that among the ruins of the city, metal crosses and stone tombstones with images of crosses were found, but they remained unpublished. Therefore, Christian antiquities of the XIV-XV centuries. from Madjar remain anonymous, although the fact of the presence of Christians in this big city no doubt.
Let us return to the localization of the city or station of Mihaja, located in the Boniface IX bull. The options for the location of this point were noted above, and the last of them is the village. Mekegi in Dagestan. However, it is possible to propose another option: Mikhakha was located in the Kumie region, somewhat south of Madzhar. On the map of the Caucasus by Georg Traitel in 1774, “verwustete Stadt Chacha” is placed in this place - the devastated city of Chacha, which phonetically and chronologically most corresponds to the desired city of Michacha. Archaeologically this point has not yet been identified or explored. But the proposed option allows us to connect the well-known Roman Curia Mihaha with the process of introducing the Alans to Catholic Christianity in the 14th century. missionaries of Thomas Mancasola. Thanks to this, probably, the repeated (after the Byzantine-Orthodox) conversion of the Alans to Christianity in 1404, the Archbishop of Sultania in Iran, the Dominican John de Galonifontibus, among the Christian peoples of the “Great Tartary” calls Alans and Yasses, i.e. Asov-Ossetians.
We have at our disposal some archaeological data that allows us to see this problem from a different angle and to match the general historical background of the events of the second half of the 13th – early 15th centuries drawn above. with concrete realities. In what will be stated below, not everything is an indisputable truth. But the reconstructions and interpretations we propose seem quite acceptable and worthy of attention, albeit ambiguous.
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Plan
Introduction
1 List of Genoese colonies in the Northern Black Sea region
2 Chronology
Bibliography
Introduction
Genoese colonies in the Northern Black Sea region - fortified shopping centers Genoese merchants in the XIII-XV centuries.
Expanding the scope of trade operations after the Crusades and fighting against rival Venice, the Genoese, who, with the support of Byzantium (Nymphaean Treaty of 1261), sought to monopolize trade on the Black Sea, in 1266 obtained from the protege of the Golden Horde in the Crimea Mangu Khan the transfer of Caffa to them. (modern Feodosia), which later became the center of their colonies. In 1357, the Genoese acquired Cembalo (now Balaclava), and in 1365 - Soldaya (modern Sudak), displacing the Venetians from there. New colonies of the Genoese arose: Vosporo (on the territory of modern Kerch), Tana (at the mouth of the Don), Ginestra (on the territory of modern Odessa). Their agencies were in the cities of Matrega (now Taman), Kopa (now Slavyansk-on-Kuban), etc.
Italian colonies in the Northern Black Sea region around 1390
Greeks, Armenians, Italians, Jews, Tatars, Russians, Circassians and other peoples lived in the colonies. By the end of the 14th century, they mastered the Black Sea trade. Through their strongholds in the Black Sea region, Genoese merchants conducted extensive intermediary trade. They sold grain, salt, leather, furs, wax, honey, timber, fish, caviar from the Black Sea regions, cloth from Italy and Germany, oil and wine from Greece, spices, precious stones, musk from Asian countries, ivory - from Africa and many other goods.
A large place was occupied by the trade in captives (Russians, Circassians, Alans) purchased from the Tatar khans and Turkish sultans. Slaves of Slavic origin are noted in the 14th century in the notarial deeds of some Italian and southern French cities (Roussillon). About slaves- Scythians mentions the famous poet Petrarch in his letter to the Archbishop of Genoa Guido Setta.
Trade operations of Genoese merchants were also carried out in Russian lands. People from the Genoese colonies (Russian name - fryags) - lived in Moscow, where in the XIV-XV centuries there was a corporation of merchants - Surozhan, who specialized in trade with the Genoese colonies. The Genoese colonies were well fortified, and there were garrisons in the fortresses (the remains of fortifications were preserved in Balaklava, Sudak, and Feodosia). The Genoese maintained allied relations with the Golden Horde khans, who were formally the supreme rulers of the territories of the colonies, but provided them with complete self-government, retaining power only over the khans' subjects. In 1380, the Genoese infantry took part on the side of Mamai in the Battle of Kulikovo. However, the colonies were repeatedly attacked and ravaged by the khans (1299, 1308, 1344-1347, 1396-1397).
The largest colony was Kaffa, which was a developed center of crafts. After the fall of Byzantium in 1453, Genoa ceded the Black Sea colonies to its bank of San Giorgio ( Bank of St. George). The international position of the colonies worsened: the military-political pressure of the Crimean Khanate increased, relations with the Principality of Theodoro in Crimea worsened. In 1475, the Genoese colonies were conquered by Ottoman troops under the command of Pasha Gedik Ahmed and incorporated into the Ottoman state. Jewish traders from the Ghisolfi family stayed on the Taman Peninsula longer than others.
From the Genoese period in Crimea, the remains of fortress walls, towers and palaces in Caffa and Chembalo, a fortress and a consular castle in Soldai, built under the leadership of Italian architects, have been preserved. In 1951, archaeological excavations were carried out in Feodosia on the territory of the Genoese fortress, which provided valuable material for studying the history of the city, its crafts and trade.
1. List of Genoese colonies in the Northern Black Sea region
Territory of present-day Ukraine:
· In Crimea
· Kaffa - Caffa (Feodosia)
· Cembalo (Balaclava)
· Soldaia (Pike perch)
· Vosporo (Kerch)
· Gruzui (Gurzuf)
Sarsona (Chersonese Tauride)
· Mouth of the Dniester
· Samastro (Moncastro) - Samastro (Moncastro; Belgorod-Dnestrovsky)
· Coast of the Odessa Bay
· Ginestra - Ginestra (Odessa-Luzanovka)
· Mouth of the Danube
· Likostomo - Licostomo (Kilia)
Territory of present-day Russia:
· Mouth of the Don
· Tana (Azov)
· The territory of the present Krasnodar region
Matrega - Matrega (Tmutarakan) (now the village of Taman)
· Copa - Copa (Kopyl, now the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban)
· Mapa (Anapa)
· Bata - Bata (Novorossiysk)
· Casto (Hosta)
Liyash - Layso (Adler)
Territory of present-day Abkhazia:
· Abkhazia - Abcasia (Tsandripsh)
· Kakari - Chacari (Gagra)
· Santa Sofia - Santa Sophia (Alakhadzy)
Pesonka - Pesonqa (Pitsunda)
· Cavo di Buxo (Gudauta)
· Nicoxia - Niocoxia (New Athos)
Sebastopolis (Sukhum)
Territory of present-day Georgia:
· Lo Vati (Batumi)
2. Chronology
· Samir Khotko. Genoese in Circassia (1266–1475)
Bibliography:
1. Jehoshaphat Barbaro. Travel to Tana. Paragraph 46
2. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE GOLDEN HORDE in the XIII-XIV centuries.
Ruins of a Genoese temple on the estate of Count Sheremetyev. 1905
Illustration from an article by Zaur Margiev
Abkhazia Historical, geographical and ethnographic sketch
.
In the chronology of events, we have no indication of the year the Genoese (or Venetians) appeared in Abkhazia or the year the first colonies were founded. Judging by various sources, the Genoese were well acquainted with Abkhazia and its ports back in the 13th century. Already on the map of Peter Visconti, published at the beginning of the 14th century, we find quite accurate and, apparently, verified names throughout the country.
In all probability Western Europe, and in particular the Genoese, became well acquainted with the Abkhaz coast during the period of the emergence of Caffa (modern Feodosia in Crimea), which was founded during the Latin Empire (1204-1261). But it is possible that this happened earlier.
It is known that the Byzantine Emperor Manuel concluded an agreement with Genoa in 1170, according to which the Genoese were granted the right to free trade in all ports of the Black Sea, with the exception of Kerchin and Taman, which belonged to the Polovtsians.
The Genoese colonies, and with them their influence, extended not only to the coast. The fortress of Santa Angelo, near the modern Satancha (distorted Santa Angelo) in Samurzakan, the mines that still survive in the gorge of the Gumista River, dug by the Genoese to develop lead-silver ores, etc., show that they penetrated into the interior of the country.
The discovery of a Genoese settlement in Karachay convinces us that the Genoese crossed the Caucasian ridge, i.e., perhaps they penetrated even the most remote corners of Abkhazia. This is confirmed by numerous Italian names of places that have survived to this day, such as: Akata, Meksigorta, Khatsy-Lata, Satancha, Otara, Kaldakhvara, Vassa, Ilori, Akua, Ola-Guana, etc.
It is impossible to judge definitely the number of their colonies and their size until those remaining after the Genoese Republic and the Bank of St. George documents with special task studying Abkhazia. From the available materials, the existence of the following colonies can be established.
In the north, in the area of the modern towns of Sochi and Khosta, there was a colony of Costa, often visited by Genoese merchants.
At the mouth of the modern Mzymta River lay the colony of Abkotsia or Abkotsia. From the “Description of the Black Sea and Tartary”, compiled by the Kafin prefect Emilio Darteli, we see that this port was willingly visited by merchants from Constantinople, Tartary and other places, who, bringing here household items, exported slaves, honey with wax and other goods, receiving up to 300 cents of profit.
On the site or in the area of modern Gagra, there was a popular colony of Kakari (Sasagu).
Next is Petsunda - the modern Pitsunda Monastery. Even under Russian rule, right up to Turkish war, in the monastery there was a Genoese bell with an image of the Mother of God Veronica with an ubrus and an episcope in Latin litera and the year MCCCC XXVIII, i.e. 1429. It is quite possible that the Genoese colonists used the Pitsunda temple to satisfy their religious needs.
In the Gudauta area there was a colony called Cavo le bux, i.e. Palm Harbor.
On the site of modern New Athos there was a colony of Nikofia (?) (Nicofia) on the river of the same name (flum de aicofia). From this colony, a large tower in the corner between the mouth of the Psyrstha River and the sea, which now houses the rooms of the monastery hotel, has been well preserved.
Sukhum - Genoese Savastopoli - was a large Genoese colony, which later housed the residence of the prefects who ruled the colonies on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. In all likelihood, Savastopoli was the first Genoese colony not only on the Abkhazian, but also on the entire eastern coast of the Black Sea.
In the gorge of the Gumma-ista River there was a colony that developed the lead and lead-silver mines we mentioned. The number of these mines is up to 15.
Near the Kodori Cape (Gotto) there was a colony of Ci-caba, near the present village of Tamysh, in the swampy part of the Kandykh forest, in the area now called Ola-guana - a port city - the Guenos fortress, on the Tamush River - Tamaza, near the village of Ilori - Ochemchiry - Korebendia, on the Ingur River (Negapomo) - Santa Angelo and Negapomo.
Whether there were colonies other than those listed, or whether all existing ones were included in this list, we repeat, is to be judged in given time it is forbidden.
The administration of the Genoese colonies on the Black Sea, including the Abkhazian ones, was concentrated under the Kaffin prefector, subordinate to Gazaria (Officium Gazariae) - a committee of 8 people specially allocated for this purpose by the Genoese government. But Gazaria was directly in charge of the appointment of Abkhaz prefects.
The Genoese colonies reached particular prosperity at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries during the fall of the power of the Byzantine Empire, almost all trade with the East, which was concentrated in the hands of Genoese merchants. But by the middle of the 15th century, trade with the East was under threat from the Turks. In 1453, the government of the Republic of Genoa was clearly faced with the complete impossibility of using its colonies on the Black Sea coast and managing Gazaria due to the fact that the Ottoman Empire stood in the way of Genoa - the Black Sea, instead of the powerless Byzantine Empire.
Due to a number of political considerations, at the end of 1453 the Genoese government removed the Black Sea colonies from the jurisdiction of Gazaria and transferred them to the Bank of St. Georgia. Among the transferred colonies were Abkhazian ones.
Starting next year, Abkhazian ports had to withstand the onslaught of the new “thunderstorm” of the East - the Turks. Thus, the secretary of the Kaffa consul of the Genoese republic, in his report dated September 7, 1456, reports that the Turkish fleet consisting of 52 galleys, after an unsuccessful bombardment of Monkastro (modern Ackerman), retired to the colony of Savastopoli, and from there headed to Cafe.
The trade and industrial activities of the colonies froze, and the colonies began to fall into disrepair. The best illustration of this is the surviving documents of that time. For example, when in 1455 the board of the Bank of St. George, the Genoese patrician Flippo Claverentia was appointed consul (protector) in Savaststoli, but neither Claverentia nor the other seven candidates wanted to take advantage of their appointment and refused it.
The appointed ninth candidate, a certain Gherardo Pinelli, went to Savastopopoli and, despite whole line obstacles due to the political situation in the East, he managed to get to the colony. His interesting report on the situation in Savastopol has been preserved.
Shortly before his arrival in Abkhazia, the city of Savasto-poli was thoroughly devastated by a strong Turkish fleet of several dozen ships that approached it. The destruction of Savastopoli, according to the report of Gherardo Pinelli, was completed under him - on June 28, 1455 - by the Abkhazians themselves, who attacked the city in large numbers.
His report to the bank of St. Giorgi Pinelli ends with the fact that he must turn to the government of the Genoese Republic for help for himself and the surviving citizens.
But, apparently, the city was not completely abandoned and, perhaps, began to be rebuilt, since already in the next year - 1456, the board of the Bank of St. George, having elected Oliviero Calvi to the post of protector in Savastopoli, sent him there.
By the same year, there is a record in the Greek chronicles of the severe devastation of the eastern coast of the Black Sea by the Ottomans. When the Turkish Sultan Mohammed II Fatih moved with his army to Serbia and Belgrade, then, according to the chronicles, he sent part of his army to Anatolia ( Asia Minor) take possession of Trebizond and the coast. For help ground army a fleet was sent in a large composition of ships under the command of Hitir, the Amasian pasha, who “devastated Georgia and the neighboring country lying on the sea coast.”
IN highest degree There is interesting information from 1459. Pressed by Mohammed II Fatih, the last Trebizondian emperor David (1458-1462) with despair and humiliation turned to the rulers of Western European powers, including Pope Pius II and the Duke of Burgundy, with a request for help to the last fragment of the once formidable Byzantium - Empire of Trebizond. Among the countries to which he turned for help was Abkhazia. This can be seen from his letter dated April 22, 1459 to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good. In his letter, David of Trebizond writes that the Abkhaz Duke of Rebia promised to act against the Ottomans in alliance with him. According to the letter, Rebia promised him support with an army of 30 thousand people.
We do not know the time of the final destruction of Sa-vastopoli, the expulsion of the Genoese from the Abkhaz colonies and the beginning of the era of Turkish rule over the coast of Abkhazia. This happened, in any case, much later than the voluntary surrender of Savastopoly by David of Trebizond with all his property and family in 1462.
Chronicles and annals also do not give us information about the extent and nature of the devastation of the country by the Ottomans, but we can judge its magnitude by the consequences. For example, from such a large, rich and influential city with a two-thousand-year life, which was Dioscuria-Sevastopolis, not a single building has survived, and even its very name has disappeared. And at one time, in the last century, there was even a rather heated scientific debate: Was Sukhum called Savastopolis? And the question of its exact location is still raised from time to time and to this day, in the opinion of some, remains open.
Other cities in Abkhazia also apparently suffered. If we look at the coast of this region, then, with the exception of two or three church buildings, which the Turks usually did not touch, almost nothing has survived from the pre-Turkish period: one Genoese tower in New Athos.
Notes
For discrepancies in names, we refer readers to a special table in the book “Abkhazia according to Italian maps of the XIV-XYII centuries.”
Kudryavtsev K.D. Collection of materials on the history of Abkhazia. Sukhum. 2008.
By the end XIII centuries, the Genoese settled firmly in Caffa.The earliest known evidence of the existence of a Genoese colony in Caffa is notarial deeds 1289–1290 gg.
The Genoese became the sole masters of sea communications of the Northern Black Sea region and the Crimean Peninsula.
Now the Black Sea was covered by a ring of Genoese stations, starting from Pera to the east along the Asia Minor coast, along the Caucasus coast, on the Taman Peninsula, at both mouths of the Don (the Sea of Azov was considered as an extension of the Don flowing into the Black Sea) and along the western coastal strip - from the mouth Dnieper - through Kiliya again to the Bosphorus.
In the Charter of the Genoese colonies on the Black Sea, adopted in 1316 g., it is stated: “The Genoese or those who are considered or called Genoese, or enjoy or are accustomed to enjoy the benefits of the Genoese, must not buy, sell, acquire, alienate, or transfer to anyone, either personally or through a third party.” person of any goods in Soldai under penalty of the above fine...
None of the Genoese dares to unload or order to be unloaded or allow to be unloaded from the ships over which they are in command or under which they are located, on any part of the coast from Soldai to Caffa, under penalty of a fine of 100 gold perpers (Byzantine gold coin) from each (offender) for each time.”
IN 1340 1980s, the Kafin Genoese took away the important port of Yamboli “without resistance from the proud, careless and disagreeing Greek princes.” The main role assigned to the new fortress was to limit trade and political activity Princes Theodoro in the western part of the peninsula.
IN 1357 The Genoese acquired (nowadays).
The last point in the rivalry between the two cities was put by the Genoese.
In June 1365 year they suddenly attacked Soldaya (modern), took it by storm and captured it 18 villages in the area.
Weakened by Tatar raids and internal strife. The remnants of the Venetians leave Soldaya.
In the second half XIV century, the Genoese established themselves on the Crimean coast from (Balaklava) to Caffa, and then on the shores of the Kerch Strait.
New colonies of the Genoese arose: Vosporo (on the territory of modern Kerch), Tana (at the mouth of the Don), Ginestra (on the territory of modern Odessa).
Their agencies were in the cities of Matrega (now Taman), Kopa (now Slavyansk-on-Kuban), etc.
Its ruler Alexei, who became related to the Byzantine imperial dynasties of the Komnenos and Palaiologos, considered himself the legal heir of all former possessions on the peninsula, which was reflected in his adoption of the Greek title “aufent of the city of Theodoro and Pomerania.”
Theodoro's relations with the Golden Horde rulers of the Crimean Yurt (whom the Genoese called imperator scytharum) were peaceful, while the principality waged frequent wars with the Genoese, especially after the Theodorites built the trade port of Avlita, which seriously competed with Café and dealt a blow to the economy of the Genoese colonies in .
In the middle XV century, the situation in the Genoese colonies deteriorated sharply.
Taking advantage of the internecine struggle for the khan's throne, the Genoese helped Khan Mengli-Girey capture his brothers.
Thus, an important means of putting pressure on Mengli-Girey was obtained.
16 February 1473 Council of the Bank of St. Georgiy ordered the commandants of Soldaya to pay cash bail, at least for 1000 florins exceeding the usual deposit, “...and so on until Mr. Nur-Davlet and other offspring of the Tatar noble blood are in the indicated fortress.”
The Genoese tried to find allies outside, in particular in Poland, but to no avail.
IN last years During the existence of the Genoese colonies, class and ethnic struggle intensified in them. Abuses and violence on the part of Genoese officials increased manifold.
Letters from the consul and other officials of Kaffa to the protectors of the Bank of St. George are filled with denunciations and mutual accusations of bribery.
The struggle between Catholics and the Orthodox population of the colonies became very intense. Catholic Church tried to extend the Union of Florence ( 1439 g.), according to which the Orthodox Church was deprived of its independence and placed under the authority of the Pope.
Pope Sixtus IV ordered the appointment of a certain Nicholas as bishop “over the Greeks of Caffa and Soldaia.”
Consuls report frequent unrest among the population of the colonies.
The uprising in Caffa was especially large in 1454 under the slogan “Long live the people, death to the nobles!”
Popular demonstrations in Kaffa continued in 1456 , 1463 , 1471 , 1472 And 1475 gg.
IN 1475 year, the Genoese possessions in, as well as the Principality of Theodoro, were conquered by Ottoman troops under the command of Gedik Ahmed Pasha.
After the conquest, a sanjak was formed from the lands of the South Bank, later reformed into the vilayet of Kefe.
The lands of the Sultan's domain, where the Christian population lived, were outside the jurisdiction of the Crimean khans.
Thus, the “Great Sea” of the Genoese is almost 300 years became " inland sea» Ottoman Empire .
