A Letter of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray to the Genoese Emissaries Bartolomeo Campofregoso and Lodizio Fieschi of December 30, 1481

Abstract

Research objectives: To introduce into academic use a Russian translation of the Greek text of Mengli Giray’s letter to Genoese emissaries. Materials: The letter of Khan Mengli Giray dated to December 30, 1481 that is the only known source in Greek created in the office of the fifteenth-century Crimean ruler. Results and novelty of the research: This article contains the Greek text and the Latin translation of the message of the Crimean Khan, Mengli Giray, to the Genoese emissaries, Bartolomeo Campofregoso and Lodizio Fieschi. These latter individuals were specially sent from Genoa to the Crimea in order to induce the Crimean Khan to raise a rebellion against Ottoman rule. The present work contains as well the correspondence’s Russian translations and a preface explaining the context of the events. Often researchers have paid attention to the circumstances of the mission of the Genoese, but the use of the letter by Russian historians has so far been difficult, foremostly because of the rather complex Greek text. The translation of both texts into Russian is done for the first time. Mengli Giray’s message does not contain any sensational news but it clarifies some very important details of the Genoese embassy, the situation in the Crimea at the end of 1481, and helps us to better understand the history of the Crimean Khanate in the early years of Ottoman rule in the peninsula.