Caffa and Tana: confrontation and partnership of the Italian maritime republics in the Northern Black Sea region in the 13th–15th centuries

The aim of the research is to study the evolving relations between the Italian maritime republics and their trading posts in the Black Sea region against the background of their relations with the Golden Horde. To analyze the nature and causes of these transformations, new materials from the Venetian and Genoese archives are utilized, namely unpublished documents from the Venetian and Genoese archives of Italy: the decrees of the Venetian Senate related to navigation, the funds of the Judges of Petitions and Advocates of the Commune containing materials of claims on trade cases, account books (massarie) of Genoese Caffa (Feodosia), and the acts of notaries. The research is focused on the influence of trade bans regarding navigation to Tana (Azov), introduced by Genoa in relation to Ve­nice in the 13th–14th centuries, on the state of trade in the region, as well as how the gradual lifting of the bans gradually evolved into a trade partnership between the merchants of the maritime republics. This partnership, however, was complicated by the rivalry between the two main Black Sea trading outposts, Caffa and Tana. The relations between Caffa and Tana are examined in the context of internal struggles within the Golden Horde, where their ties with Edigu and his political adversaries played a crucial role in events. The desire of the Genoese administration in Caffa to expand its sphere of influence in the region, especially in the waters of the Sea of Azov, was manifested by the fact that the authorities of Caffa kept their garrisons in Vosporo (Kerch), Matrega (on Taman), and Mapa (Anapa) to control the navigation of Venetian ships, and above all to prevent their passage through the Kerch Strait. In order to control the straits, the magistrates of the trading stations presented gifts to the emirs of Copa (at the mouth of the Kuban), to Matrega, to the khan’s envoys, to the beylerbey Edigu, and to many others. The author demonstrates how commercial ties and contacts between the residents of the Venetian and Genoese trading stations in Tana were combined with the political confrontation between their authorities, especially when the relations between the metropolises – Venice and Genoa – were often hostile and were only softened during periods when they were under the threat of external attacks.