Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie (Jan 2016)
The Venetian Sources for the History of the Golden Horde: New Research Perspectives »
Abstract
Venetians and Genoese were key actors of the Golden Horde world. We have to decipher their market strategies to understand what was at stake in their relations with the Jochid elites. If they played a crucial role in the diplomatic interplay, they were also the protected subjects of the khan. They dominated the Latin and Frankish communities, thanks to the contracts and treaties (yarliks) they concluded with the khans, in which their statuses and businesses were legally framed. On the basis of these agreements, preserved today in the archives of Venice, we should reconsider a number of clichés, especially regarding the so-called consumerist and passive attitude of the Jochid elites. Not only have they created the most favourable conditions for the merchants to circulate and establish trading posts within the Golden Horde, but they have also taken an active part in the exchanges, involving their finances and their own traders. The main purpose of this article is to show that the Jochid elites were as much involved in the commercial exchanges as were the Genoese and the Venetians.
