Everyday Life and Material Culture in the Venetian and Genoese Trading Stations of Tana in the 1430s

Everyday Life and Material Culture
in the Venetian and Genoese Trading Stations of Tana
in the 1430s (Based on the Study of Notarial Documents)
Jevgen A. Khvalkov
The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries were a period of
Venetian and Genoese expansion and continuous presence on the coasts of the
Black and Azov seas. In these remote Iands the Italians established a net\vork of
trading stations which soon became urban centres. \:vhile the Genoese possessions
constituted a true colonial empire with the center in Caffa (modem Theodosia),
the Venetians had only two outposts, namely, Trebizond and Tana
(modern Azov). Located on the estuary of the Don River on the shore of thc
Azov Sea, Tana was one of the major trading Stations in this region, a pivotal
place for both the Venetians and Genoese. One of the main sources for research
into life in these Settlements, including mate1ial culture, everyday life, and the
history of consumption, are the notarial documents drawn up by Venetian
notaries temporarily residing in the trading station.
These notarial deeds are quitc numerous, since the settlement’s trade and
social life required their production. Regrettably, most of them were destroyed
by the Ottomans when they conquered the stations. However, Venetian
legislation demanded that copies of many documents be passed on from one
notary to bis successor, and further sent to the metropolis, along with the officers‘
repo1ts, which were stored in the Venetian archives. Therefore a nurober
of medieval Venetian deeds originating from Tana have survived (34 notaries
are known to have worked in Tana, from whom 1 1 94 documents are extant1).
In this study, I will discuss the unpublished notarial testaments drawn up
by two fifteenth-century Venetian notaries in Tana (Nicolo de Varsis and Benedetto
de Smeritis) as a source for reconstructing some aspects of the material
culture of thc trading station. These two notaries worked in Tana between 1430
and 1440. The documents are available in the State Archives of Venice in the
Notm·i/i Testamenti and Cancelleria Inferior, Notai sections?
1 Sergej Karpov, „BeHCLll!aHCKaJI TaHa no aKTaM K3HUJJepa 6eHe)lerro Dbl!HKO (1 359-1360
rr.)“ [Venetian Tana in the acts of Chancellor Benedetto Bianco ( 1 359-60)],
Prichernom01je v Srednie Veka 5 (200 I): I 0.
2 Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Cancelleria Inferior, busta 23 1 : Nicolaus de Varsis (hereafter
ASV, CL 231); ibidem, Notarili Testamenti, busta 750: Nicolaus de Varsis (hereafter ASV,
84
Some testaments contain detailed reports on minor issues of the testator’s
property. After money, the objects bequeathed mentioned most often in the wills
are clothes and textiles. Textiles produced industrially in Europe often served as
currency3 and were widely used by the Tatars and other local populations.4
Sometimes textiles are mentioned without specifying their k.ind ( e.g., item
Andrea Nigro ipse habere debet brachia quinque tella Nigroponti5). Once, a
master allowed Martin, a slave, to retain ufon his Iiberation all cloth and flax
fabric (panno de lano et lino) that he had. Probably the most popular type of
cloth was loesti. A certain Baldassare, son of the late Marco, seems to have been
the main dealer in loesti in the 1430s. He asked 10 sommo from one person for a
piece of loesti, he obtained 1 0 pieces of loesti for another customer, and,
tagether with another merchant, he sent 19 slaves to Venice in exchange for 32
pieces of loesti.7 Loesti is repeatedly mentioned.8 1t is not yet known for sme
whether this cloth was produced in or named after Aalst, a town in eastern
Flanders,9 or the English town of Lowestoft;10 the provenance is surprising in
neither case. As early as the thüteenth century Venetian galleys began to sail to
Flanders regularly and these voyages were also connected with those to the
B lack Sea and Azov Sea region. The timing of the arrival and departure of
galleys was scheduled in such a way that the galleys to Tana left only after the
galleys carrying textiles from Flanders atTived in Venice. 1 1
Contrary to the import of other textiles, which seems to have blossomed,
the silk trade through Tana was declining in the fifteenth century. The quality of
T. 750): ibidem, Notari/i Testamenti, busta 917: Benedictus de Smeritis (hereafter ASV,
NT. 917).
3 Sergej Karpov, .1m1 aJibRHCKue ,ltopcKue pecny6nuKu u lOJK:110e flput􀃞epHOMOpbe 6 XIII-XV
66: npo611eMbl mopzo6Jlu (Thc Italian maritime republic and the southem Black Sea coast in
the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries: The problems of trade] (Moscow: Moscow State
University Press, 1990), 156.
4 L . P. Kolley, „XalllKI1-f11pei1 xaH 11 ero norrHTHKa (no reH)’33CKHM HCT04HHKaM). ß3rJIJUI Ha
norrHTH’IeCKHC CHOWCHIUI Kacpbr c TaTapaMH s XV seKe“ [Hajji Giray Khan and his
policies according to the Genovese sources: A glance at the political relations with the Caffa
Tatars in the fifteenth cenrury), lzvestija Tavricheskoj Uchenoj Arkhivnoj Komissii 50
( 1 913): 108.
5 ASV, NT. 750, f. 21 r.
6 ASV, NT. 750, f. 44r (not. n/n)-44v.
7 ASV, NT. 750, f. 23r.
8 ASV, NT. 750, (1)- (2) f. 1 8v, 23v-24r. Notably, in the last case the 19 slaves wcre equaled
in price to the 32 panni loesti (item de 1430 misimus in manibus viri nobilis ser Hermo/ai
Pisani Venetiis testas decemnovem de quibus habuimuspannos loestos triginta duos).
9 See II Libro dei conti di Giacomo Badoer (Constan/inopoli 1436-1440). Complementi e
in dici, ed. Umberto Dorini (Rome: Istituto poligrafico dello Stato-Libreria dello Stato,
1 956), 204.
10 Eliahu Ashtor, „Aspetti della espansione italia::ta nel basso medioevo,“ Rivista Storica
ltaliana 90 (1978): 1 1 . 1 1 Regestes des deliberations du Senat de Venise concernant Ia Romanie. vol. 3 : (1431-1463),
ed. Freddy Thiriet (Paris: Mouton & Co., 1961), doc. 2500: 1439 VI 30.
85
the silk sold through Trebizond was higher than that of the silk sold through
Tana;12 although testaments often mention silk as plain pieces,13 shirts and
shawls, etc., made of silk,14 are also noted. In what sense the notary used the
word facistergium is not always clear. Basically, this word can have the Iitera!
meaning „towel;“ however, in ce1tain cases it was probably used to designate a
piece of silk (e.g., facistergia 30 diploide de sericho … facistergia 14 et omnes
denarii qui super habundaverint ex bonis meis;15 in another place: dimitto scol/e
sancte Mariefacistergium unum de … siricho laboratum … ; item dimitto ecclesie
sancti Francisci … unum laboratam de siricho; 16 et alia 15 facistergia diplois et
vestis mittantur patri et matri mee Scuriano aut eorum successoribus … ; item
facistergium unum magnum pichorum trium tode sorgati quod est in manibus
Vinturine filie Fagni … ut … portet et diploidem togam et facistergia pischiere
affinibus meis). 17 Another textile of Eastern origin was bocassino. Although this
word also meant the length of textile needed to make a shitt, it is more plausible
that the testator and the notary used it in the direct meaning, that is, a printed
cotton cloth of Persian origin. Bocassino is mentioned alongside cordoban (high
quality leather, commonly exported through Tana to Trebizond18 in the testament
of a certain Baldassare (item recepi a ser Nicolao Taiapiera cordobanos et
bochassiones de tractu duorum ballabanorum).19
The testaments mention different types of clothes, often specifying the
colour, materials, and whether there was a lining or not. The word diplois20
seems to have been used for any type of clothing with a lining, some kind of an
often-mentioned double robe or cloak, sometimes with the specification of
colour or material ( . . .d iploidem unam de chamocha blano novo/1 diploidem
unam albam tristem;22 diploidem unam de panno rubeo/3 diploidem unam de
charexea album24). Another type of dress was the clamys,25 sometimes noted
with a specification of the colour, e.g., scarlet (de scarlatino)26 or black (de
12 Karpov, ffrnGJlblliiCKue MopcKue pecny6JIUKU, 1 1 6.
13 ASV, NT. 750, f. l9r (3)-19v (4), 23r, 25r, 28v. Shirts are also mentioned without the
specification of silk: ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v, 30v-3 lr; yet another example: dirnitto
Chaterine filie Dominici viri rnei chamisiam unam rechamatam de ciemisino et chabaga
unam de sersti vergaram … item dimitto Marine uxori He1machoza chamisiam unam de
tel/a de sorgati (ASV, NT 750, 8).
14 ASV, NT. 750, 8, 20r-20v, 30v-3 lr.
15A SV, NT 750, f. 3r-3v. 16
17 ASV, NT. 750, f. 25r.
ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v.
18 !I Libro dei conti di Giacomo Badoer, 307, 334.
19 ASV, NT. 750, f. 23v-24r. 20
21 ASV. NT. 750, f. 20r-20v, 2lr, 28v, 29r.
22 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v.
ASV, T. 750, f. 20r-20v.
23 ASV, NT. 750, f. 28v. 24
ASV, NT. 750, f. 28v.
25 ASV, NT. 750, f. 2l r, 22r, 27r-27v, 28v, 30r-30v. 26
ASV, NT. 750, f. 27r-27v.
86
morelo)?7 A nurober of togas are roentioned – roade of silk,28 black with a red
lining (una toga de morelo suffulta de rubeo)/9 double and turquoise in colour
(toga una dupla de viride turchina).30 Roba can also be traced in the docuroents
(item dimitto Bolatfiliozio meo robam unam de panno;31 item dimitto uxori dicti
Gasparini robam unam de bochasino blanco … ; item dimitto filie Gasparini
truzimani Januensium robam unam de bochassino virido32). Notably, robes froro
or namcd after Scotland (robe echosse33) provide another exarople of the
possible extent of the Venetian long-distance clothes trade. It is dubious whether
the word gone/ja can be equated to the ltalian gonnella („skirt“) and how it
served (e. g., in primis dimitto Chorado commissario meo gonelfam meam de
grixio et clamidem meam et diploidem unam novam;34 gonela I de viride
sufuf lta,f.anno albo35). Once, this itero had a fur lining ( …g onam unamfulcitam
pelibus3 ). The term fulcitum probably roeant a garroent with a lining (unum
fulcitum cum suis peroliis novum, du … ungula de argento;37 unum fulcitum cum
duobus chappizalibus, duobus cussinis, cultra et par unum lintheaminum38).
Vestis is a term with broad roeaning; a nurober of vestes are roentioned in
the testaroents: vestem unam sufultam de giris et faculetos XXX a contextos de
. . h d fu
39 . d . szrzc o . . . vestem unam e xono; vestzs una e paonazzo Sl‘:J·fjiJU l t a do su. .s ; 40
dimitto … vestes a dorso lane. 41 In the last case it roay roean soroething like a
caftan roade of sheepskin; in another case it roust have been a coat roade of fox
fur.42 Another piece of clothing roadc of fox fur was a fodra (dimitto uxori
predicti Antonii fratris mei fodram unam de vulpe43). A green vestis is
roentioned in another testaroent; according to the testator’s will it was to be
given to a cettain tailor, Lorenzo (item dimito Laurentio sartori vestem meam
viridem … ).44 The fact that an itero of clothing was bequeathed to a cloth-working
professional once again highlights the high value of cloth and dress.
The Black and the Azov Sea regions supplied the European roarkets with
furs froro the Russian Iands. Tana was a pivotal intctmediary, arguably more
27 ASV, NT. 750, f. 28v.
28 ASV, NT. 750, f. 3r-3v.
29 ASV, NT. 750, f. 28v.
30 ASV, NT. 750, f. 27r-27v.
31 ASV, NT. 750, f. 24r-24v.
32 ASV, NT. 750, f. 30v-31r.
33 ASV, NT. 750, f. 22r.
34 ASV, NT. 750, f. 2 Ir.
35 ASV, NT. 750, f. 28v.
36 ASV, NT. 750, f. 45r.
37 ASV, NT. 750, f. 27r-27v.
38 ASV, NT. 750, f. 44r-44v.
39 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v.
40 ASV, NT. 750, f. 23v-24r.
41 ASV, NT. 917, 7-8.
42 ASV, T, 917, 7.
43 ASY, NT. 750, f. 24r-24v.
44 ASV, NT .750, f. 3r-3v. Other two vestes: ASV, NT 750, f. 22r.
87
important than Caffa because of its position on the Don River. Russian merchants
preferred this trade route to the Black Sea to others as it was safer and
more reliable.45 Besides large-scale export to Ew·ope, furs were also used
locally, with sable enjoying particular popularity.46 As one might expect, the
testaments repeatedly mention fur coats (using a Latin word for them borrowed
from Russian: subbum or subbim, Russ. wy6a), caftans (this word was also borrowed
and is once mentioned as: chofani47), and other clothing. Notably, such
mentions are a feature more coinmon in female tcstamens. For instance, a certain
Antonina, wife of Dominico Balotto, bequeathed four fur coats to different
people and institutions (subum unum de chamocha iisdem naranzatum suis
perolsi scole sancte Marie et sancti Antonii de Tana . . . Aclize sarazene subbum
unum de chamocha blancum sine aliquo pro anima mea . . . subbum unam de
dosiis sine subbo domine Luchine diele Secher . . . domine Magdalene uxori
Johannis Greci subbum unum de chamocha viridem sine fudra aliqua) 48 Other
testaments also mention fw· coats (subum unum de chamocha blancum ecclesie
sancte Marie . . . de Tana pro una chasula facienda seu planeta;49 item dimitto
done Jacome subbum unum . . . sine panno aliquo;50 item dimitto Marie meum
subbum de pellizia5 1).
Headgear, as most of the clothes, most likely originated mainly from
Europe. Once, a black beret is bequeathed to a monk, Antonio (dimitto biretum
meum nigmm magnum domino fratri Antonio ut oret Deum pro anima mea).52
Further, one comes across two new black caps from London (due birete nigre
nove de Londres).53 Other types of headgear included different variants,54
although most of them can be described as berets and caps (e. g., item dimitto
meam gapam nigram et caputinum meum [. . .} roxate Johanni famulo meo;55
dimitto … biretum unum nigrum;56 dimitto . . . capuzium unum blancum;57 item in
domo Jacobi Donato sunt al􀀞ue res mee, videlicet vestes due, clamidas quatuor,
duo chapucii, biretum unum magnum de morelo;59 notably, in the last case the
45 Mikhail Tikhomirov, ßpeeHR.R MocK6a XII-XV 66.; CpeiJHe6eK06aJj PoccuJt Ha .He:JK:iJyHapoOHbiX
nymRX. XIV-XV 66. [Anciem Moscow 12’h-15’h c.; medieval Russia on international
routes, 14th-15’h c.] (Moscow: Moscow Worker, 1 992), 77-79.
46 Sergej Karpov, „Or TaHbl B YpreH’I – 3TH TPYllHbie llOporH CpellHCBCKOBbll“ [From Tana
to Urgench – these difticult routes of the Middle Ages], Srednie Veka 61 (2000): 2 1 9.
47 ASV, NT. 750, f. 27r-27v.
48 ASV, NT. 750, 8.
49 ASV, NT. 750, f. 25r.
50 ASV, NT. 750, f. 25r.
51 ASV, NT. 750, f. 3lr.
52 ASV. NT. 750, 2.
53 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v.
54 ASV, NT. 917, 5-6, 7. ASV, NT. 750, 2.
55 ASV, NT, 917, 7.
56 ASV, NT. 750, f. 27r-27v.
57 ASV, NT. 750, f. 28v.
58 Crossed out: nigntm.
59 ASV, NT. 750, f. 22r.
88
testator or the notary used two designations of the colour black). Sometimes
particular features of the headgear are emphasized, such as the colour green and
fox fur (item dimitto Gasparino biretum unum de pano virido cum vulpe pro
anima mea60). One piece of headgear was apparently made of sheepskin (item
dimitto biretum meum de pelibus agninis61). Some of the testators also mention
boots, in one case specifying the colour green colour, in other cases pink
(rosato) or deep purple (paonazio).62
The testaments abound with the mentions of objects destined for
ecclesiastical use – liturgical vestments, textiles for ecclesiastical use, antependia
(coverings hung over the front of an altar), etc. For instance, one testator
wished that some of his money be spent on making a full set of liturgical
vestments (in primis dimitto quod de denariis quos habere debeo a comune
Venetiarum pro meo salario in Tana jiat per commissarios meos unum
paramenturn ducatos quindecim presbytero falcitum plareta, camisso, stolla et
manipulo scole sancte Marie, sancti Antonii et sancti Marci de Tana63). Another
testator bequeathed a tobalia and a facistergium (item dimitto sacristie diele
ecclesie sancti Gervasii unam de meis tobaliis et unum facistergium pro anima
mea64). The latter might simply have meant a piece of cloth, e.g., silk, without
any particular purpose; tobalia probably meant an antependium. However, it was
bequeathed by a lay person. This may mean that this person stored an altar cloth,
but another understanding seems more plausible: Ttems of everyday life, such as
a tableeioth (probably decorated and embellished), could be re-used in the
church. Una velata nova65 that was given to the notary Nicolo de Varsis could
also have meant an antependium, or it may have been a piece of decorated linen
or silk easy to re-use as a humeral veil.
Another item bequeathed to a church that appears in the deeds is an icon,
seemingly with three gilded figures (item dimitto ser lohani a Valle barbano
meo et meo commissario anchonem meam circa tribus jigures deaureta66). This
item especially attracted my attention because a certain Micheie de Matheo de
Suazio, who stayed in Tana in the summer of 1436,67 seems to have been the
same person as Micheie de Matheo ( early fifteenth century- 1469), a Venetian
artist whose paintings can be seen today in the galleries of Venice. lf this is
correct, this specialist may have been hired for one season to make paintings in
the trading station’s church(es). If so, this would not come as a surprise, since
60 ASV, NT. 750, f. 30v-3 l r . 61 62 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v.
63 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v, 27r-27v, 28v, 30r-30v.
ASV, NT. 750, f. 30r.
64 ASV,NT. 9 1 7 , 1 . 65 ASV, NT. 750, f. 30v-31 r.
66 ASV, NT. 750, separate sheet (testament ofVittore a V alle, 9 September 1438). 67 ASV, NT. 750, f. 22v, 23r.
89
even the well-known humanist and antiquarian Giulio Pomponio Leto ( 1 425-
1498) visited the trading station.68
Gold rings are mentioned repeated1y in deeds; moreover, sometimes the
colour of a precious stone is specified. As one might expect, these references
occur only in female deeds with the single exception of a gentleman whose
rings, however, were pledged (dimitto … i/los annulos qui sunt in pignore in
manibus ser Thodori Drimali pro ducatis quinque).69 A woman mentioned
above, Antonina, wife of Dominico Balotto, was particularly careful about the
future of her precious objects – she mentioned gold rings, a silver belt, and other
items in her will (dimitto Marnechaton anulum unum de auri et unam bochza . . .
dimitto Luzie filie Culmeliche filiozie mee anulum unum de auro . . . dimitto ser
Bartholomeo Rosso commissario meo sifos tres de argento 4 cazias et zengulum
unum de argento pro anima mea10). Another testator also mentioned three gold
rings, specifying the type of precious stone (anullum unum de auro … anulum
unum d[e auro] . . . chorniola . . . annullum unum de auro cum lapide viridP1). One
testament mcntions prccious stones, namely, rubies, but not in the context of the
bequeathing of rings; it seems that these rubies were rather destined for sale than
for direct use (rubini qui st. .. in manibus ser Philipi Contarini de quibus michi in
debito prout apropriaret quondam scripto eius mano72) . Another item of jewelry
was silver belts. 73 Sometimes their weight is specified; thus, Micheie de Mattheo
de Suazio left his brother a silver belt weighing 1 3 ounces (item dimitto fratri
meo zingulum meum de argento ponderis onziarum tredecim14) .
The weapons and utensils that the Ttalians used were likely brought from
the metropolis for the most part. Weapons were often bequeathed, since the
Situation in the region rcquired evety newcomer to be ready for an attack. One
had to own anns to be admitted to a galley, notwithstanding one’s status. For
instance, a certain Giovanni Liardo, an ltalian testator, bequeathed a new bow
and aiTows (item arcum unum novum cum aliquibus sagitis vo/lo quod detur ser
Petro de Marsilio tintori).15 It is tempting to think that this was rather a
crossbow than a longbow. Crossbows were indeed a favomite weapon of
Venetian citizens and a necessary element of the equipment of a galley’s
ba/listarii and the fortress‘ garrison. In a strictly terminological sense, however,
a crossbow is mentioned only once (item vollo quod vendatur ballistum unum a
68 See Vladimiro Zabughin, Giulio Pomponio Leto, vol. I-II (Rome: La vita letteraria, 1 909-
191 0); Georg Voigt, Bo3po)l()leHHe KJiaCCH‘!eCKOH upeBHOCTH [The Renaissance of
Classical Antiquity), vol. 2 (Moscow: Tipografija M. P. Schepkina, 1885), 210-14; Jacob
Burckhardt, KynbTypa l1Ta’lHH B 3riOXY Bo3p0lKJleHHll [The culture of ltaly in the epoque of
Renaissance] (Saint Petersburg: Gerold, I 904 – 1 906), vol. I , 339-4 1 .
69 ASV, NT. 750, 8 , 24r-24v, 25r.
70 ASV, NT. 750, 8.
71 ASV, NT. 750, f. 24r-24v.
72 ASV, NT. 917, 7-8.
73 ASV, NT. 750, 8, 23r.
74 ASV, NT. 750, f. 23r.
7l ASV, TT. 750, f. 3r-3v.
90
pedi76). The same Giovanni also bequeathed another bow (or rather crossbow),
this time an old one, with arrows and several swords (item dimitto arcum meum
veterem cum aliquibus sagitis Johanni Nigro et aliquales spatas a scrinia77).
Swords appear in other testaments as weil (item dimitto spatam meam magnam
Angelo Ravagnano, etc.78). Another person mentions ducenam unam scutelarum
de Valentia, that is, small shields from Valencia (presumably to be traded for
equipping the garrison).79 Once, arms are referred to generally (vollo quod
vendantur arme mee et alie res mee hic in Tana80).
The utensils mentioned in testaments included silver goblets or cups,
specifying their weight (item tractum duarum taciarum de argento ponderis
onziarum decem et septem81), and, notably, a tin vessel left to the monastery of
St. Michael in Murano in Venice.82 Even a ehest (capsa),83 a table (tabula
rotunda),84 and a bag (manticha)85 could be noted in a will. One slave-owner,
liberating his slave, allowed him to keep his bed.86 Once the bequeathed utensils
are mentioned as such, without any specification along with the clothes (omnes
mee vestes et cetera suppellectilia mea87). As for the means of transportation, the
horses that the ltalians used must have been predominantly of local origin,
taking into account the huge scale of the Tatars‘ animal trade, described by
Barbaro,88 and reaching Germany and Italy through Walachia and Transylvania
89 However, the source evidence for this is not so rich in these deeds; there
is only one mention of a mule ( or perhaps a donkey) to be given to the consul.90
The candles that Tana’s inhabitants used for light were presumably made
locally;91 the wax, however, was imported either from the Russian Iands or from
Asia Minor, both for local consumption and for re-export to Italy (mentioned in
one of the deeds: item dare teneo ser Thome Beniventi pro cantaria duodecim
zere92).
76 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v.
77 ASV, NT. 750, f. 3r-3v.
78 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v, f. 2 1 v-22r, 23r.
79 80 ASV, NT. 750, f. 28v.
81 ASV, NT. 750, f. 23r.
82 ASV, NT. 750, f. 23r.
83 ASV, NT. 750, f. 19v (4)-20r.
ASV, NT. 750, f. 30v-31r.
84 ASV, NT. 750, f. 24r-24v.
85 ASV, NT. 917, 7. 86
ASV, NT. 750, f. 44v-45r.
87 ASV, NT, 917, 7-8.
88 I viaggi in Persia degli ambasciatori veneti Barbaro e Contarini, ed. Laureoce. Lokhart,
Raimondo Morozzo della Rocca, and Maria Francesca Tiepolo (Rome: Ist. Poligrafico dello
Stato, 1973), 8 5 .
89 I viaggi in Persia, 84-86.
90 ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v.
91 ASV, NT. 750, f. 19v (4)-20r.
92 ASV, NT. 750, (1)-(2) f. 1 8v.
91
Eastem goods like spices, herbs, dyes, and medicines do not seem to have
been widely used by the inhabitants of Tana (at least according to the extant
sources). Perhaps this situation occurred because of the decline of trade with
China due to the crisis events of the fourteenth century. Although these goods
constituted almost a quarter of the whole export of Giacomo Badoer from
Constantinople to Venice,93 it is unlikely that they anived there through Tana.
The time when Tana had been a major transit point of the spiee trade94 were
already over.
One occasionally finds entries in the wills in which the testator asks to sell
his belongings (clothes, weapons, etc.) on the spot in Tana to pay his debts
(which normally required more or less quick selling). Given that the population
of the trading station must not have been !arge, the logical conclusion is that
these items were fairly liquid and easy to sell. One can take this as indirect
evidence of my working hypothesis that items produced in Europe (including
clothes) were often Jacking in Tana.
As for food consumption, one can infer only a little on the diet of the
inhabitants of the trading station. Although sometimes consumed on spot, fme
products like sturgeon95 and caviar96 were mostly destined for export, as can bc
judged by the prices for sturgeon: 10 ducats, 1 25 bezants, and 142.8 bezants per
botta, respectively 97 The basis of the diet in Tana must have been grain, lower-
93 Mikhail Shitikov, “ KoHcTaHTHHOOO.% 11 seHeuHaHcKaJI ToproBJUI B nepsoii nonoBHHe XV
B. no 11aHHhiM KHHrH C‘-IeTOB 􀛙)f(aKoMo lia!l03pa.“ [Constantinople and the Yenetian trade in
the first half of the fiftecoth century according to tbe account book of Giacomo Badoer),
Vi zantijskij Vremennik 3 0 ( 1 969): 50.
94 Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, La Pratica della mercatura, ed. Allan Evans (Cambridge,
MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1936), 24; Michel Balard, La Romanie Genosi e
(Xlle-debut du XVe siecle), vol. 2 (Rome: Ecole fran9aise de Rome, 1978), 720.
95 ASV, NT. 750, fol. 3-3v, 20r-20v, 23r, 23v-24r, 26v. The fish trade constituted a
considerable pan of the cconomy of Tana (it was even claimed that it dominared other
commodities; see Balard, La Romanie Genosi e, vol. 2, 706. The fishing season Iasted from
July to August, and sturgeon were exported as far as Flanders. Althougb Balard claims that
the destinations could be Constantinople and cities of Asia Minor (ibidem, 625), the sets of
documents 1 have resem·ched show only long-disrance trade. However, less valued fish from
the Azov Sea were taken to Constantinople and, according to Jacoby, constituted a !arge
part of the poor population’s diet; see David Jacoby, „Caviar Tradiog in Byzantium,“ in
Mare e litora, ed. Rustam Sbukurov (Moscow: lndrik, 2009), 355.
96 ASV, NT. 750, fol. 29r (item a magistro Francisco butario habere debeo charatellos 6 a
chaviaro a quatuor chantariis pro una). Tana was already a centre of the caviar trade in the
earlier period (Balducci Pegolotti, La Pratica del/a mercatura, 380; Jacoby, „Caviar
Trading,“ 352-353). So-called koupatikon caviar was thougbt to be from Lo Copa (ibidem,
355), but most likely tbis meant that the caviar was transporred in barreis (Latin cupa). The
price of caviar largely dcpended on its quality (ibidem, 361 ). Italian merchants were the
intermediaries who made caviar fashionable in Europe (ibidem, 364).
97 ASV, T. 750, fol. 3-3v, 23v-24r. See, e. g.: ltem habere debeo a ser Blaxio Alberegno pro
butis quatuor moronarum sibi datis bixancios quingentos et pro buta una vini bixancios
octaginta et pro morovaxia sibi data bixancios sexaginta duos … ltem habere debeo a
92
quality fish, meat, oil, and wine. The Tatars around Tana, though nomadic, not
only had fields to cultivate, but even huge harvests of millet, according to
Barbaro.98 There is no evidence, however, that they supplied the population of
the trading station or that grain was imported from elsewhere.
Wine was certainly imported to Tana (mainly from Trebizond,99 although
possibly from Greece and the Crimea as well). Nevertheless, it was always in
short supply100 and therefore the Venetian Senate gave those involved in the
wholesale wine trade the privilege of selling it duty-free. 101 Baldassare, son of
the deceased Marco, mentions twice that he sold wine, 102 once for 74 bezants
and once for 80 bezants per botta. Notwithstanding a shortage of wine, it was
also sold to the Tatars; thus, Barbaro narrates how his guest, Edelmugh, drank
his fill of it. 103 Another direction of wine re-export may have been the Russian
Iands. Tana had to impott oil for local consumption, but it is mentioned only
once (namely, one botta of oil).104
The evidence for urban spatial organization is limited to the mention of
parcels of land, houses, workshops, and storehouses (e.g., item solvare debeo
medietatem alfictum unius magazeni ubi saliti fuerunt; 105 item solvare debeo ad
affictum presentis domus in qua ad presens habito et pro uno magazeno quod est
superius pro uno anno qui complebat die106). Another location mentioned
several times is the peschiera, 107 a fishing spot that was often owned by Italians108
and manned by Italian workers. These spots were as much as 40 miles
from Tana (according to Barbaro) and were sometimes exposed to Tatar raids. 109
The items used in everyday life in Tana that appear in the testaments show
that most of the manufactured objects (namely, weapons, clothes, and textiles)
impo1ted to Tana were manufactured in Europe. The diet of the Italian inhabitants
of the trading station, however, was mostly based on locally produced
supplies – grain, meat, and fish. The main (and important) sustenance need in
Tana was wine, which was imported from the Aegean Sea, the Empire of
Trebizond, and probably the Crimea.
commissariam quondam Georgii Pasqual bixancios mille qui sunt pro butis septem
moronan􀈅m datis quinque.
98 I viaggi in Persia, 86.
99 See: Mihnea Berindei and Gilles Veinstein, „La Tana-Azaq de Ia presence italietme a
100l ‚emprise ottomane (fin XIIIe-milieu XVIe siecle ), “ Turcica 8 ( 1976): 1 1 0-201.
Karpov, Hma!lt>RHCKUe MopcKuepecny6!luKu, 127. 101
102 ASV, Senato, Misti, LX, f. 236r. (in Regestes des deliberations, vol. 3, doc. 2532).
103 ASV, NT. 750, fol. 23r.
104 I viaggi in Persia, 78-79.
105 ASV, NT. 750, f. 19v (4)-20r.
106 ASV, NT. 750, f. 26v.
107 ASV, NT. 750, f. 27r. E.g. ASV, NT. 750, f. 20r-20v. 108
I viaggi in Persia, 77-78.
109 lbidem, 77-78.
93
MEDIUM AEVUM
QUOTIDIANUM
64
KREMS 2012
HERAUSGEGEBEN
VON GERHARD JARITZ
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG DERKULTURABTEILUNG
DES AMTES DER NIEDERÖSTERREICHISCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
KULTUR rn NIEDERÖSTERREICH .•
Titelgraphik Stephan J. Tramer
ISSN 1029-0737
Herausgeber: Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der
materiellen Kultur des Mittelalters, Körnermarkt 1 3 , 3500 Krems, Österreich.
Für den Inhalt verantwortlich zeichnen die Autoren, ohne deren ausdrückliche
Zustimmung jeglicher Nachdruck, auch in Auszügen, nicht gestattet ist. –
Druck: Grafisches Zentrum an der Technischen Universität Wien, Wiedner
Hauptstraße 8-10, I 040 Wien.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Vorwort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Francesca Battista, Umotismo, satira e parodia nelle lettere erotiche
di Enrico di Isernia ………………………………….. ………………….. 5
Jan Odstrcilik, The Effects ofChrist’s Coming into the Soul.
A Case Study on a Group of Anonymous Treatises
in Ms. Cambtidge, Corpus Christi Library 524 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2
Katefina Homickova, My Saints: „Personal“ Relic Collections
in Bohemia before Emperor Charles IV . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Elisabeth Vavra, Totentanz a la mode . .. . . . . . …. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . …. .. . . …. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. 62
Ievgen A. Khalkov, Everyday Life and Material Culture
in the Venetian and Genoese Trading Stations ofTana in the 1430s
(Based on the Study ofNotarial Documents) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ….. 84
Irina Savinetskaya, „Othering“ a Neighbour: Perccptions
of the French Body in the Early Modern German Lands . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Buchbesprechw1g . . . .. . ……. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … . . 104
Anschriften der Autorinnen und Autoren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 08
Vorwort
Die vorliegende Ausgabe von Medium Aevum Quotidianum soll neuerlich die
Breite vermitteln, in welcher Bereiche des mittelalterlichen und frühneuzeitlichen
Alltags in der Quellenüberlieferung unterschiedlichster Inhalte, Autoren,
Datierung, Provenienz und sozialer Gmppierungen auftreten können.
Wärend sich Francesca Battista mit „erotischen“ Musterbriefen des Heinrich
von lserna aus dem dreizehnten Jalu·hundert beschäftigt, konzentriert sich
Jan Odstrcilik auf anonyme Texte böhmischer Herkunft in einer Handschrift des
vierzehnten Jahrhunderts aus der Corpus Christi Library in Cambridge, welche
sich mit dem Eintritt Gottes in die menschliche Seele auseinandersetzen. Auch
Katei‘.ina Hornlekova widmet sich Lebensäußerungen im böhmischen Raum und
zwar den Reliquiensammlungen von Angehörigen der Prager Eliten bereits vor
dem Zeitraum und den diesbezüglichen Bestrebungen Kaiser Karls IV.
Elisabeth Vavra untersucht Totentanz-Darstellungen des deutschsprachigen
Raumes aus dem fünfzehnten und sechzehnten Jahrhundert und kann feststellen,
dass die in diesen auftretenden Kleidungsdarstellungen der wiedergegebenen
Protagonisten zur Kenntlichmachung der Standeszugehörigkeit derselben
dienen sollten und nicht, um visuell auf deren standestypische Verfehlungen
hinzuweisen. Tevgen A. Khalkov untersucht die letztwilligen Verftigungen der
Bewohner der Venezianischen und Genueser Handelstationen von Tana am
Schwarzen Meer aus den Dreißigerjahren des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts hinsichtlich
ihrer Aussagen zur materiellen Kultur und weist auf die herausragende
Stellung des Kleidungswesens hin. lrina Savinetskaya liefert Ergebnisse ihrer
Forschungen zur Konstruktion des Fremdbildes von Franzosen in deutschen
Quellen des fünfzehnten und sechzehnten Jahrhunderts und deren Verhältnis zur
Selbstbeurteilung der Deutschen.
Damit liefern die sechs Beiträge wichtige Ergebnisse zu Alltag, spiritueller
und materieller Kultur von Angehörigen unterschiedlicher sozialer Schichten
profaner und klerikaler Provenienz. Sie können dadurch mithelfen, die komparative
Erforschung mittelalterlicher und frühneuzeitlicher Lebensgestalttung
erfolgreich voranzutreiben.
Gerhard Jaritz
4