The Empire of Trebizond in The World-Trade

System: Economy and Culture

Aslhan Akk-Karakulluku
University of Oxford

In 1306, the Genoese set fire to the suburbs of the city of Trebizond and the fire ravaged
not only the suburbs but also the cargo and ships lying in the harbor, among which were
twelve Genoese ships waiting to be loaded. The conflict was related to the kommerkion,
the tax levied on goods traded in the city,1 for which the Genoese demanded an exemption
when trading in the Empire of Trebizond.2 This episode, which the Trapezuntine
chronicler Michael Panaretos called the great war, is symptomatic of the extent to
which the Empire of Trebizond had become integrated into the world-trade system of the
fourteenth century.3 In the fourteenth century, the rulers of the Empire of Trebizond were
unwilling to extend tax exemptions not only to the Genoese but also to the Venetians
as the kommerkion constituted a significant portion of the treasurys revenues. In fact,
the Empire of Trebizond was an exception among Byzantine splinter states for being so
heavily reliant on commerce.
Trebizond was on the Silk Road, which came from Tabriz by land and it was the
most easterly port on the Black Sea. It had both Genoese and Venetian colonies. The Grand
Komnenoi, rulers of Trebizond, carefully established political and marriage alliances with
the Seljuks, the Palaiologoi, later with the Mongols, the Karamanids, and among others
with the Ottomans prior to its fall to the forces of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II in 1461.
Trebizond was a late medieval state, small, yet prosperous and cosmopolitan.

1 W. Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era 12041461 (Chicago, 1964), 3435; D. A.
Zakythinos, Le Chrysobulle dAlexis III Comnne, empereur de Trbizonde, en faveur des Vnitiens (Paris, 1932).
Zakythinos argued that there were two different types of taxes that were levied: 1) the kommerkion which
depended on the nature of the merchandise that was traded and the nationality of the merchants 2) the
dekati (tenth), on the other hand, was a tax determined according to the bulk of the merchandise and
whether it came by sea or by land.
2 G. Pachymeres, Relations historiques, ed. A. Failler, trans. V. Laurent, 5 vols. (Paris, 1999), 4:49295; M.
Panaretos, H : 12041461, ed. I. Papadrianos (Thessalonike, 2004), 53.
3 Panaretos, H , 53.
324 TRADE IN BYZANTIUM

This paper focuses on the role of the Empire of Trebizond in the thirteenth
through the fifteenth centuries as a crucial trading node in the Italian dominated part
of the world-trade system over which it had minimum control. While this dependence
provided for the wealth of this rather small state, the Italian economic dominance in Asia
Minor exploited a politically fragmented geography wherein the Empire of Trebizond
and other small states had a precarious existence. Further, I will devote some attention
to the increasingly commercial and syncretic culture of the Empire of Trebizond and the
manner in which this culture shaped the ambitions of its ruling elite and population.
The Empire of Trebizond laid hold only to the northeastern shores of Asia Minor. The
population of the empire was around 200,000250,000 according to Bryers estimates.4
Pero Tafur (d.ca.1484), the Spanish traveler visiting Trebizond as well as Genoa, Rome,
Venice, Constantinople, the eastern Mediterranean and the Holy Land in the early fifteenth
century, wrote that the capital housed 4,000 people.5 This low population figure was after
the outbreak of the Black Death and probably reflects the ravages due to the plague. The
Florentine chronicler, official, and banker Giovanni Villani recorded that one fifth of the
Trapezuntine population died because of the plague in 1347.6 As a useful comparison, one
may look at population figures from the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the early
sixteenth century, the population of the city of Trebizond is estimated to be between
6,000 and 6,500. Around 1520, the province had a total population between 215,000
and 270,000. In 1868, the city had a population of 34,00034,500.7 It is readily seen that
the Empire of Trebizond was not an expansive land empire, which ruled over a sizable
population. Instead, it was confined to a narrow strip of land on the coast and was cut off
from the hinterland by the Pontic Alps. Trebizonds preeminence as an artistic center and
its vibrant urban culture cannot be explained only by reference to wealth accumulated
through the taxation of peasants as the Empire of Trebizond did not have the population
and land to sustain an extensive court. The question of commerce, whether it was an
integral element or only an insignificant constituent in a more traditional non-commerce
based economy, is particularly prominent, as Trebizonds revenues from international
and transit trade may provide an alternative explanation for its wealth.
The world-trade system, as it is called in modern historiography, was the outcome
of medieval European economic and social expansion such as demographic boom, the
increasing monetization of the European economy, and the rising importance of cities.
One of the first significant events for the development of this system was the Crusade

4 A. Bryer, Greeks and Trkmens: The Pontic Exception, DOP 29 (1975): 121 [repr. in A. Bryer, The Empire of
Trebizond and the Pontos (London, 1980), no. V].
5 Pero Tafur, Travels and Adventures 14351439, trans. M. Letts (Gorgias, 2007), 131.
6 Giovanni Villani, Florentini Historia Universalis, ed. L. A. Muratori, vol. 13 (Milan, R.I.S., 1728), 964. Villani
wrote: E alla Tana, e Tribisonda, e per tutti que paesi, non rimase per la detta pestilenza de cinque luno, e
molte terre vi sobissarono, tra per pestilenzia e per tremuoti grandissimi e folgori. Miller, Trebizond: The Last
Greek Empire, 53; A. Bryer, The Tourkokratia in the Pontos: Some Problems and Preliminary Conclusions,
Neo-Hellenika 1 (1970): 37 [repr. in Bryer, The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos, no. XI].
7 Bryer, The Tourkokratia in the Pontos, 3839.
 Aslhan Akk-Karakulluku | The Empire of Trebizond in the World-Trade System: Economy and Culture 325

of 1204, when the Venetians captured Constantinople and acquired increased access to
the Black Sea that the Byzantines had been closely controlling and guarding. The grain
originating from the Crimea had previously been traded only by Byzantine merchants but
was now accessible to the Venetians.8 Byzantine splinter states formed in former Byzantine
territories after the fall of the capital, the Empire of Trebizond being among them.
The second significant breakpoint in the development of the world-trade system
was the establishment of the Pax Mongolica in the thirteenth century. The Mongol Empire,
the greatest land empire in terms of geographical extent, reached from the Pacific to
Eastern Europe. As the Mongols were increasingly favorable to trade in the latter half of
the thirteenth century, corridors of trade opened up to transport the goods of China, the
Crimea, and India to Europe.
We find evidence for the importance of commerce in literature on Trebizond. Circa
1440, Bessarion, student of the Platonist philosopher George Gemistos Plethon, Cardinal
of the Catholic Church and later titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, composed an
encomium on his native-city Trebizond. According to Bessarion, Trebizond possessed a
marketplace that could be found nowhere else in the world. In Trebizond, one could find
many peoples conversing in many tongues and conducting business. They came from all
the regions of the Pontos, Galatia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, the Euphrates, Albania, Iberia, and
Colchis. Median (Persian) and Egyptian clothing, Chinese yarns of silk thread, woven
garments from Cilicia, all could easily be bought and sold. Goods from the Crimea and
from all the territories around Trebizond supplied the market. During religious holidays
and especially the panegyris of Hagios Eugenios, people arrived by ship and by land to
Trebizond. The people that came from the mainland brought live animals and sold them
in Trebizond, buying other goods from other places. It was the marketplace of the world.9
Bessarion depicts a highly active market where not only local merchants from Trebizond,
but also merchants from other lands, and in particular from other Pontic cities, traded.
Bessarions description provides an impressionistic overview of commercial activity in
Trebizond and the city emerges as an urban center. Writing in the fourteenth century,
Andrew Libadenos (d.ca.1361) also made reference to the abundance found in Trebizonds
market.10 These descriptions of Trebizond as a hub of commerce may be verified through
analysis of other sources.
Commercial activity appears as a crucial element of social and economic life in the
Empire of Trebizond. The sources illuminate to some degree the nature of the commercial
class operating in Trebizond and the citys intimate connections to other cities in the
Pontos and in the hinterland of Asia Minor. Commerce provides a suitable departure
point to study Trebizond not only because Trebizond was a highly active port but also

8 A. E. Laiou, Monopoly and Privileged Free Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean (8th14th Century), in
Chemins doutre-mer, ed. Coulon et al. (Paris, 2004), 51126.
9 O. Lampsides, ed., , 39 (1984): 375. Bessarion
describes Trebizonds marketplace: 3637; 6263.
10 A. Libadenos, , ed. O. Lampsides, (Athens, 1975), 61.
326 TRADE IN BYZANTIUM

because commerce makes manifest the degree to which the Empire of Trebizond was
integrated into the Mediterranean world at large. The identities of the merchants and their
activities are representative of the citys cosmopolitan urbanism. In Genoese notarial
sources, Armenian, Greek, Italian, and Muslim merchants are attested as having engaged
in trade in Trebizond. The multi-ethnic makeup of the commercial class illustrates that
the Empire of Trebizond was a geographical locus wherein integration, communication,
and commerce took place. The existence of merchants from different ethnic backgrounds
reinforces the impression that Trebizond was indeed the marketplace of the world.
Furthermore, the Empire of Trebizond does not appear to have been merely a port
drawing together a diverse body of merchants for commercial purposes. What remains
of Trapezuntine art and culture display signs of a deeper interaction between the empire
and the regional ethnic elements. Georgian, Armenian, Seljuk, and Western influences on
Trapezuntine art have been noted by scholars.11

Sources: Literature, Archival Documents, and the Arts

The unique and brief chronicle of the Empire of Trebizond, composed by Michael
Panaretos (ca. 1320ca. 1390), offers no clues to the commercial success of Trebizond,
although it sketches the political and marriage alliances, which certainly contributed
to its longevity. In the absence of Greek or other notarial documents from Trebizond,
which would illustrate commerce, I employ Genoese notarial documents from Caffa
and Venetian documents related to Trebizond in addition to travel narratives to discuss
economic activity.12 The absence of Greek notarial documents from Trebizond does not
necessarily reflect the absence of notaries in the city. In fact, the reference to Trapezuntine
notaries in an almanac for the year 1336 illustrates that they were an integral part of
urban life.13 Whether these notaries were imperial secretaries or whether they were
public officials registering transactions is less than clear: Libadenos, for example, was an
imperial official and a notary in fourteenth-century Trebizond.
The ideology and culture of the Empire of Trebizond, the political aspirations of its
ruling elite have led some to hail the city as the last bastion of Greek culture in Asia Minor.
However, Panaretos presented the empire and its people as Romans rather than as Greeks.

11 A. Eastmond, Art and Identity in Thirteenth-Century Byzantium: Hagia Sophia and the Empire of Trebizond
(Aldershot, 2004); Eastern Approaches to Byzantium, ed. A. Eastmond (Aldershot, 2001); D. Talbot Rice, The
Church of Haghia Sophia at Trebizond (Edinburgh, 1968); T. Talbot Rice, Decoration in Seljukid Style in the
Church of St. Sophia of Trebizond, in Beitrge zur Kunstgeschichte Asiens, ed. O. Aslanapa (Istanbul, 1963),
87120.
12 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa; M. Balard, Gnes et LOutre-mer, vol. 1: Les Actes De Caffa du Notaire Lamberto
di Sambuceto, 12891290 (Paris, 1970); F. Thiriet, Rgestes des dlibrations du snat de Venise concernant la
Romanie, vol. 1: 13291399 (Paris, 1958); R. G. de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 14031406, trans. Guy Le
Strange (London, 1928); A. A. Vasiliev, Pero Tafur, a Spanish Traveller of the Fifteenth Century and his Visit
to Constantinople, Trebizond, and Italy, Byzantion 7 (1932): 75122.
13 R. Mercier, An Almanac for Trebizond for the Year 1336 (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1994), 148.
 Aslhan Akk-Karakulluku | The Empire of Trebizond in the World-Trade System: Economy and Culture 327

Importantly, the emperors of Trebizond maintained a self-conscious Byzantine identity

referring back to pre-1204 models and emphasized their direct descent from the eleventh
and twelfth-century Komnenoi rulers of Constantinople. Further, the state apparatus
was directly borrowed from middle Byzantine models and the Grand Komnenoi relied
on Byzantine traditions of taxation, the kommerkion, cadaster surveys, and land tenure.
They extensively used pre-1204 land management techniques, in particular the granting
of pronoia to individuals and to monastic establishments, such as to the Monastery of
the Theotokos of Soumela and the Monastery of St. John Prodromos of Vazelon in the
Matzouka valley.
The frescoes of the Church of Hagia Sophia provide further proof that the Empire
of Trebizond followed Byzantine traditions closely. Highly successful Byzantine frescoes
depicting the complete cycle of the Twelve Great Feasts were commissioned to decorate
the church.14 The Empire of Trebizond also had a scriptorium for Greek manuscript
production and it is telling that the most extensively illuminated Byzantine manuscript
was produced at this court.15 This illuminated manuscript of the Alexander Romance,
now in Venice (Venice Hellenic Institute Codex Gr.5), with over 250 miniatures served to
reinforce the imperial ideology of the Grand Komnenoi and the choice of Alexander as
subject matter was deliberate. The use of Alexander the Great as imperial symbol was
already common under the Komnenoi in Constantinople before 1204, and Alexander was
associated with Hellenic rule in eastern lands. Hence, Alexander also served as paradigm
for the unique position of the rulers of Trebizond as Hellenic rulers in the East and
Trapezuntine rulers were hailed as emulators of Alexander.16 The surviving caption on the
first folio of the Venice Alexander Romance corresponds to the ways in which the Grand
Komnenoi boasted the title the Grand Komnenoi, faithful in Christ the God, Emperors
and Autocrats of all the East, Iberians, and all the extremities.17 At first, this grandiose
title appears to be divorced from the historical circumstances. However, perhaps, this
title did not refer to an extensive land empire in the classical Byzantine sense but rather
it indicated the multi-ethnic urban culture of Trebizond which ruled over Georgian,
Armenian, Greek, and Laz populations and whose market provided a venue for merchants
from different ethnic backgrounds.

14 A. Bryer and D. Winfield, The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.,
1985), 1:236; Eastmond, Art and Identity, 10816.
15 N. Trahoulia, The Venice Alexander Romance, Hellenic Institute Codex Gr.5: A Study of Alexander the Great as an
Imperial Paradigm in Byzantine Art and Literature (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1997); eadem, The Venice
Alexander Romance: Pictorial Narrative and the Art of Telling Stories, in History as Literature in Byzantium,
ed. R. Macrides (Farnham, 2010), 14569; D. Kastritsis, The Trebizond Alexander Romance (Venice Hellenic
Institute Codex Gr. 5): The Ottoman Fate of a Fourteenth-century Illustrated Byzantine Manuscript, in
InMemoriam Angeliki Laiou, ed.C. Kafadar and N. Necipolu, JTuS36 (2011):10331.
16 Trahoulia, Venice Alexander Romance.
17 Trahoulia, Venice Alexander Romance. The emperors of Trebizond relinquished their claim to be emperors of
the Romans after the marriage of John II Komnenos to Eudokia Palaiologina in 1282. Miller, Trebizond: The
Last Greek Empire, 2829.
328 TRADE IN BYZANTIUM

Italian notarial and diplomatic sources, in particular Genoese notarial documents

from Caffa and the Venetian archives, provide information on Trebizonds multi-ethnic
and syncretic urbanism. However, the Italian documents record maritime trade and,
particularly Italian commerce, even though the land routes to the Seljuk and post-Seljuk
hinterland were just as important. Information concerning merchants operating on
the land routes remains a desideratum and would possibly change the overall picture
presented by the Italian sources. In the absence of such information, I selectively analyze
the Italian archival material, focusing not only on the bulk of the documents, which
record the Genoese and the Venetians but also on the fewer cases of the Greek, Armenian,
and Muslim merchants.

History and Diplomatic Relations

Panaretos identified the history of the Empire of Trebizond as the rule of the Grand
Komnenoi, when he commenced the narrative with the departure of Alexios Komnenos
from Constantinople and Alexios subsequent elevation to independent rule in Trebizond
shortly before the Latin conquest of Constantinople.18 The main line of Komnenoi had
been ousted from power in Constantinople since 1185 and Alexios, the grandson of
Andronikos I Komnenos, was proclaimed as emperor in Trebizond in 1204.
In the coming centuries, the Trapezuntine rulers fashioned themselves after this
imperial past, presenting themselves as the Grand Komnenoi. Nevertheless, the title did
not reflect the relative position of the Empire of Trebizond among other Near Eastern
states as the Empire of Trebizond remained under the suzerainty of one power or another
throughout much of its history. The rulers of Trebizond recognized the supremacy of
Constantinople in 1282 as a pre-condition for the marriage alliance of John II Komnenos
to Eudokia Palaiologina.19 A Mamluk manual, containing instructions on the composition
of letters to heads of states, further illustrates the relative position of the Empire of
Trebizond in the diplomatic hierarchy: the emperors of Trebizond were of similar rank
with the rulers of Cilician Armenia and their status was inferior to those of Constantinople
as well as Georgia.20 In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Grand Komnenoi
adapted to the rapidly changing political environment through establishing political and

18 Panaretos, H , 49.
19 Pachymeres, Relations, 2:65458; Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire, 31.
20 R. Shukurov, Between Peace and Hostility: Trebizond and the Pontic Turkish Periphery in the Fourteenth
Century, MHR 9.1 (1994): 2122. This manual was compiled in the late 14th/early 15th century. The
information it contained came from another book compiled in 1340, which in turn utilized an even earlier
source. Shukurov writes It seems, however, that both the letter form and the commentary go back to an
earlier date, to the period between 1254 and 1265. This is shown by the subheading of the excerpt Letters
to the ruler of Sinope...before it was conquered by the Turcomans. This specific mention of the Turcomans
and not of the Seljuks who captured Sinope from the Trapezuntines in 1214, and probably in 1228, leads one
to assume that it refers to the conquest of Sinope by Mu`in al-Din Parvana in 1265, when the Turcoman
element in Anatolia was already in evidence.
 Aslhan Akk-Karakulluku | The Empire of Trebizond in the World-Trade System: Economy and Culture 329

marriage alliances with the Seljuks, Palaiologan Constantinople, Mongols, Genoa, Venice
and later the Anatolian principalities.
In particular, the claim of the Grand Komnenoi to be the true heirs of the
Byzantine Empire was despised by the Palaiologoi. Pachymeres, writing in the early
fourteenth century, referred to the emperors of Trebizond as the leader of the Laz21
and was quick to point out that the Trapezuntines aspired to imperial dignity but had
none, being merely barbarians.22 In contrast, the famous fifteenth-century theologian
and philosopher Bessarion found it appropriate to endow his native Trebizond with
Hellenic identity, creating a seamless narrative wherein the citizens, since the founding
of the city as a Greek colony in antiquity, had cherished the Greek language, Greek
customs, and the very notion of freedom from despotic rule which was a cornerstone of
classical Greek political philosophy. Bessarion, who converted to Catholicism and was
twice considered for the papacy, wrote of Trebizond as our city, evaluating its identity,
history, and culture in binary opposition with various barbarians.23 The various different
models for evaluating Trebizonds cultural heritage bear testimony to the uniqueness of
the land and its synthesis of East and West going beyond the established paradigm.
The fourteenth-century historian al-Umari (13001384), relying on a Genoese informant,
captured Trebizonds urban syncretism and pointed out that the city resembled the
neighboring Turkish principalities, albeit being Christian and Greek-speaking.24

Relations with the Italians

The sources for the Empire of Trebizond proliferate after the latter half of the thirteenth
century when the Genoese and later the Venetians increasingly dominated the Black
Sea commerce. The Empire of Trebizond became connected to the Italian world-trade
system in the late thirteenth century and the city emerged as a commercial market in the
sources. Building activity from this period also illustrates Trebizonds increasing wealth
as the greater majority of the churches, which were built under the Grand Komnenoi and
which can be securely dated, are either from the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
or were renovated during this period.25
The rising power of the Mongols, the establishment of trade routes going to Asia
through the Black Sea, and the involvement of the Italians in the Black Sea all date from
the second half of the thirteenth century and appear interconnected. Importantly, the

21 Pachymeres, Relations, 4:49295.

22 Pachymeres, Relations, 2:65255.
23 Bessarion, .
24 Bryer, Greeks and Trkmens, 128.
25 Bryer and Winfield, The Byzantine Monuments, 20450: a probable date in the period 125070 (at its widest)
for the rebuilding of the main church of the Hagia Sophia; a certain rebuilding of St. Eugenios in 134049;
a probable rebuilding of the Chrysokephalos at the same time; and the dates 1421 and 1424 for the small
chapel and the main part of the larger church at Kaymakli, respectively. If our identification of Santa Croce
is correct, we may add the evidence that the church existed in 1367.
330 TRADE IN BYZANTIUM

momentous destruction of Baghdad in 1258 by the Mongols diverted the trade routes
to the north and especially to Trebizond.26 Trebizond accepted the supremacy of
the Ilkhans circa 1246, both accepting vassal status but also benefitting from the Pax
Mongolica and developing into a regional power. As the port of Trebizond became a major
outlet for goods coming from Central Asia, we find significant increase in the number
of silver coins, aspers, which were issued in Trebizond. In fact, the aspers minted by
Manuel I Grand Komnenos (12381263) became the standard for silver coins in Georgia
and Kirmanuel became the generic name for money in that country.27 Indeed the
abundance of Trapezuntine coins from this period may be indicative of increased trade
and consequent monetization of the economy.
Although Italian relations with the Mongols were not always amicable, the Pax
Mongolica established political unity and guaranteed secure trade routes in the Crimea
both of which were favorable to Italian commerce.28 From the late thirteenth century
onwards, the increased domination of the Black Sea trade by Genoa was secured by
Genoese colonies in the Black Sea, the most important being Caffa, Pera, and Trebizond
as well as a host of smaller trading post enclaves on the coastlands. Interestingly, the
trading posts were on both Christian and Muslim territory. Notarial documents hint that
there was a Genoese trading post in or near Sinope at the end of the thirteenth century
since it was a destination for Genoese ships. According to Clavijo, Amasra, further
west on the coast, was a Genoese colony surrounded by Muslim territory in the early
fifteenth century.29 Genoese heraldry and inscriptions found in Amasra confirm Clavijos
observation,30 and the Pontic town appears to have developed a Genoese colony after the
Ottomans acquired it from a Turkish emir in 1393.
Similarly, the importance of Trebizond as a port tied it to the greater Black Sea.
When Clavijo departed on an embassy to Timur in 1402, he used the sea route from
Constantinople to Trebizond, traveling on a Genoese ship.31 The sea route along the
northern shores of Asia Minor was the preferred means of transportation to and from
Trebizond. The Genoese ship S. Donato, on route to Samsun from Caffa in 1290, was
rented out to Muslim merchants and was also carrying merchandise from Trebizond.32
The Black Sea ports (Caffa, Sinope, Trebizond, Tana, Constantinople, Batoum, Samsun,
Pera, Soldaia, Solgat) were linked by maritime routes as illustrated by the destinations
of certain galleys departing from Caffa. In some cases, the traveling merchants decided
on the destination port during the voyage. In a notarial document, the galleys route was
specified as Trebizond or Sinope or Samsun. In a more extreme case the galley could

26 Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire, 26.

27 O. Retowski, Die Mnzen der Komnenen von Trapezunt (Braunschweig, 1974), 1723.
28 M. Balard, Gnes et la Mer Noire (XIIIe-XVe sicles), RH 547 (1983): 3237.
29 Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 107.
30 W. Hasluck, Genoese Heraldry and Inscriptions at Amastra, BSA 17 (1911): 13244.
31 Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 94.
32 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 27980.
 Aslhan Akk-Karakulluku | The Empire of Trebizond in the World-Trade System: Economy and Culture 331

port in Trebizond, or Constantinople, or Smyrna. It is clear that any one of these harbors
could have been a suitable destination, albeit being ruled by different polities. Indeed,
the Italian world-trade system in the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries relied
on the absence of a powerful state in Asia Minor that would interfere with Venetian and
Genoese extra-territorial privileges.
In return for recognizing the sovereignty and autonomy of the Empire of Trebizond,
the Genoese and the Venetians demanded a regime favorable to their commerce, extra-
territorial rights for their colonies, and moderation in commercial taxes.33 The colonization
of Trebizond did not become formal as on Crete or Cyprus where the Italians established
political hegemony. Genoa was the first to establish a presence in Trebizond circa 1270 and
Venetian merchants were also active in Trebizond from the last quarter of the thirteenth
century onwards. Venice obtained a chrysobull from the Empire of Trebizond in 1319 and
a second one in 1364, which accorded Venice the same privileges extended to Genoa.34
In return, the Genoese and the Venetians paid duties on merchandise in Trebizond and
recognized the authority of the emperor of Trebizond.
Nevertheless, Italian relations with the Empire of Trebizond were not always
smooth and were frequently interrupted due to the kommerkion duty which the Genoese
and Venetians were required to pay and also during the civil war (13301363).35 In 1304
the Genoese acquired privileges, which exempted them from paying the kommerkion but
the emperors of Trebizond did not relinquish their rights to collect commercial taxes and
reintroduced them in 1306.36 As late as 1364, Venetians were required to pay commercial
taxes according to the chrysobull of Alexios III.37 The direct trade relations between the
emperor of Trebizond and Italian merchants illustrate the grudging favor of the Grand
Komnenoi towards the Italians. In 1290 flour and salt were two items sold directly by
Genoese merchants to the emperor of Trebizond.38 However, Italian relations with the
local population and the artisans remained problematic and antagonistic.39
In Genoese notarial documents Trebizond appears as one of the centers of Black Sea
trade along with Tana, Caffa, and Pera. On the other hand, the ability of the Italians to dictate
their terms, to set fire to the city when denied, the extra-territorial privileges granted to the
Italians, the absence of trade routes established by Trapezuntine merchants all point in the
same direction. Trebizond, in spite of its vibrant commercial activity and merchants, was
integrated into a world-trade system that was run by the Italians. Its relative independence
with respect to provisioning, its natural resources, namely alum (which was exported) and
most importantly silver, halted complete dependence and disintegration.

33 S. Karpov, Grecs et Latins Trbizonde (XIIIe-XVe sicle). Collaboration conomique, rapports politiques,
in tat et colonisation au Moyen Age et la Renaissance (Lyon, 1989), 41324.
34 Zakythinos, Le Chrysobulle.
35 Pachymeres, Relations, 4:49295.
36 Karpov, Grecs, 418.
37 Zakythinos, Le Chrysobulle, 2628.
38 Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 22627.
39 Karpov, Grecs, 42122.
332 TRADE IN BYZANTIUM

Economic Activity

The Genoese notarial documents are much more informative on the content of trade
than on the identities of the merchants and record two distinct types of agreements
with some overlaps: 1) financial agreements such as commenda and loan contracts;
2) agreements between merchants and shipowners or between merchants concerning
the transportation and selling of goods and slaves. Although, the greater majority of the
evidence deals with trade and transportation, contracts, which were of a more financial
nature are also well represented.
Italian financial expertise was extensively employed in these notarial documents
and there are references to societas and commenda contracts. In the societas agreements,
partners pooled their capital and labor and shared both risks and profits.40 In such
cases, the active party traveled to Trebizond, traded with the expectation of gain, then
returned to the Crimea where the profits were shared between the partners. The contract
between Obertus de Gavio and Obertus de Plebe stipulated that the first party should
contribute 800 aspers and the second 1,200 aspers. With this sum Obertus de Gavio
traded in Trebizond, returned to Caffa, and the profits were shared.41 Lanfranco Cicadas
compact with dAccelino Cicada illustrates the commenda contract when they agreed
on a sum of 19,670 aspers baricats for business to be conducted in Trebizond when a
quarter of the profits would be retained by the investing party.42 In such partnerships
both parties agreed to share profits and losses, that the duration of the agreement was for
one voyage only, and that the lender was not liable to third parties.43 In earlier commenda
contracts, the lender gave specific instructions concerning the destination of the voyage
as well as the types of goods to be bought.44 By the end of the thirteenth century, the
commenda agreement allowed much more maneuverability for the traveling party when,
for example, Thomas de Domoculta, the traveling party, received 3,000 aspers from
Andreiolo de Bartholomeo to trade either in Sinope or in Trebizond.45
Other types of financial agreements were loans that were extended to merchants
traveling to Trebizond, which were expected to be paid back once in Trebizond, and the
sum returned to Caffa. The notary Obertus de Bartholomeo received such a loan of 7,240
aspers, which he would repay in Trebizond.46 Yet other loans were extended in baricats,
but expected to be repaid in Trapezuntine currency upon arrival. The difference among

40 R. Lopez, The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 9501350 (Cambridge, 1976), 74.
41 Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 129.
42 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 188. There were multiple types of silver coins in circulation in the eastern
Mediterranean at this time. The asper baricat was silver money issued in Caffa in the later 13th century
and named after Berke Khan (12571267), the first Muslim ruler of the Golden Horde. M. Balard, La Romanie
gnoise (XIIe-dbut du XVe sicle), 2 vols. (Rome, 1978), 2:659.
43 Lopez, The Commercial Revolution, 7577.
44 Ibid.
45 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 25253.
46 Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 100.
 Aslhan Akk-Karakulluku | The Empire of Trebizond in the World-Trade System: Economy and Culture 333

the sums, 1,000 aspers baricats as loan and 625 aspers comnenats in return, was made
up by the difference in exchange rates.47 Italian bankers had developed these refined
financial tools in the late Middle Ages, which were widely found across Europe.48 In
addition to increasing the volume of trade with Trebizond, these financial tools were also
adopted by Greek, Armenian, and Muslim merchants in the Black Sea region. The Greek
Nicholas Notaras investments in various funds illustrate that Italian financial culture
was diffusive: he was owner of 100 sommi in the loans of Caffa, and of 300 sommi in the
group of creditors called the compera locorum 24 noviter imposita...49
As for human trafficking, the Crimea was an extensive market for slaves who were
Circassian, Bulgarian, Laz, Hungarian, Abkhaz, Rus etc. These slaves were invariably
Muslim when their religion was recorded but this is not to say that Christian slaves were
not traded. Since the contracts documenting the sale of slaves were drawn up between
two parties, no city names were mentioned and one finds that not only Italians but also
Muslims and Greeks bought and sold slaves.50 However, we also know that Greeks from
Trebizond were involved in this trade when they joined the Genoese in carrying slaves to
the southern shores of the Black Sea with their ships in 1411.51
Importantly, Trebizond was both an import and an export market for goods, the
majority of which appear to be bulk trade (salt, fish from the Kuban river, barley, flour,
leather, French cloth, hemp, millet) and not trade in precious materials as evidenced
in Genoese notarial documents. The trade in hemp, an industrial raw material used to
produce rough cloth, may signify that Trebizond engaged in cloth production. The import
of salt and fish were most frequent and the Grand Komnenoi bought an order of salt and
an order of flour from Jacobus de S. Remulo in 1290.52 In fact, Trebizond was dependent on
the salt from the Crimea and Tana in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.53 Trebizond
also frequently imported grain and was a net importer of this crucial commodity.54 In
this list of imported items, pieces of cloth appear to be the only luxury items for which
Trebizond was a market.55
Trebizond was the western terminus for the Silk Road and a prominent port for
transit trade but Genoese notarial documents do not indicate that the Pontic city took
part in the trade of precious commodities. Similarly, these documents do not fully reflect

47 Ibid., 89.
48 Lopez, The Commercial Revolution, 1035.
49 M. Balard, The Greeks of Crimea under Genoese Rule in the XIVth and XVth Centuries, DOP 49 (1995): 30.
50 Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 215. The Greek Michael Chidonios from Sinope sold a Circassian slave to Daniel
de Curia.
51 Balard, The Greeks, 29.
52 Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 22627.
53 A. Bryer, The Estates of the Empire of Trebizond. Evidence for their Resources, Products, Agriculture,
Ownership and Location, 35 (1979): 384 [repr. in Bryer, The Empire of Trebizond and the
Pontos, no. VII].
54 Ibid., 382.
55 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 138.
334 TRADE IN BYZANTIUM

the full range of export items except for alum and perhaps muslin.56 One also does not
come across wine and olive oil, both of which were famous Trapezuntine exports.57 How
are we to explain these discrepancies and what is their significance? For the greater part,
the Genoese documents recorded the activities of merchants based in the Crimea and
who exported to Trebizond. On the other hand, Trapezuntine notarial documents, which
are no longer extant, would have been reflective of transit trade specifically and the
activities of Trapezuntine merchants more generally. Importantly, these missing archives
would have remedied lacunae found in the Genoese documents such as the relatively
small number of Greek and Armenian merchants conducting business in Trebizond.

The Merchants and Shipowners

We find reference to Greek merchants in an almanac for Trebizond for the year 1336 with
astrological predictions:

For the common people and the bazaar merchants speed of transactions and profit, especially for
those who sell merchandise coming from the sea...There will be increase in purchases with a great
demand for wheat, barley, and other similar commodities with a rise in prices and a landing <of mer-
chandise> and there will be a greater scarcity among the Turks, the Arabs...58

Acting as intermediaries between those engaging in long-distance trade and the

local population, the bazaar merchants bought and sold merchandise, which was
transported to Trebizond by Italian and Greek ships. Although the Genoese and Venetian
documents have a pronounced bias in recording the activities of Italian merchants, they
also mention Armenian, Greek, and Muslim merchants.
The shipowners, on the other hand, were invariably Italian in these documents.
However, it is well known that the Empire of Trebizond possessed varying sizes of
boats, and graffiti, which allow us to visualize Black Sea ships, are found on the walls of
Hagia Sophia.59 Panaretos referred to six different types of boats: katergon, barka/balka/
barkopoula, karabion, griparion, paraskalmion, and xylarion.60 In the chrysobull from 1432
the same term, griparion, was used to refer to fishing boats.61 Importantly, the Genoese

56 For the export of alum: Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 88 and Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 32930. The muslin
valued at 2683 aspers baricats was going to be sold at Tana and the profits relayed to Trebizond. May this
be a clue that the muslin was originating from Trebizond? Perhaps not, as trade was international. Balard,
Gnes et lOutre-mer, 352.
57 Bryer, Estates, 37780.
58 Mercier, An Almanac for Trebizond, 149.
59 A. Bryer, Shipping in the Empire of Trebizond, Mariners Mirror. Journal of the Society of Nautical Research 52
(1966): 9 [repr. in Bryer, The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos, no. VIII].
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid.; V. Laurent, Deux chrysobulles indits des empereurs de Trbizonde Alexis IV-Jean IV et David II,
18 (1953): 266.
 Aslhan Akk-Karakulluku | The Empire of Trebizond in the World-Trade System: Economy and Culture 335

had set fire to the naval arsenal of the empire in 1311, implying that Trebizond did in
fact have warships.62 In the unpublished Caffa documents, Karpov has found references
to Greeks from Trebizond who owned ships in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries and
these shipowners were active in other ports as well (Sinope, Caffa, Samastro, Pera etc.).63
Nevertheless, the story of the Genoese pirate Megollo Lercari and his humiliation of the
Trebizond navy, which was allied with a fleet from Sinope in 1311, illustrate that Trebizond
was no match for the Genoese but was not entirely without maritime power either.64
Greeks and other local agents, such as a certain Osman and his associate Ibrahim
Saadedin, functioned within a thoroughly Italian cultural framework. When these
Muslim merchants rented the Genoese galley S. Antonio to carry fish from the river
Kuban to Trebizond, the contract commenced with the common formula: In nomine
Domini amen.65 Thus, the Armenian, Greek, and Muslim merchants were integrated into
the Italian trade system as economic actors and also into an Italian-dictated civilizational
discourse.
One comes across few Trapezuntine Greeks in these documents and the notary
Lamberto di Sambuceto recorded only three merchants who were from Trebizond in the
903 documents he composed between 1289 and 1290.66 Furthermore, the hometowns of
the Armenian and Greek merchants, who conducted business in Trebizond, were usually
not recorded. In the thirteenth century, the majority of the local population of Caffa was
Greek but in later centuries, Armenians became the predominant ethnicity as they made
up two-thirds of the population in the fifteenth century.67 Since some merchants from
other cities were recorded with the name of their hometown, it can be assumed that the
Greeks and Armenians, who were recorded without a hometown, were from the Crimea.
The signifier Greek or Armenian was used to distinguish these merchants, such as a
Simoni Erminio or the Armenians Metar, Imgicho and Oliadi who sold salt in Trebizond.68
A Greek merchant, Vaxilio of Trebizond, was recorded without a signifier69 but two other
merchants from Trebizond were referred to as Greeks. In conclusion, there was not an
established and systematic method for recording the ethnicity and hometown of the
involved parties, which makes it hard to pinpoint the exact makeup of the merchant
class operating in Trebizond. The Genoese from Constantinople traded in the city with
Syrians70 and confirmed Bessarions description of Trebizond as the marketplace of the
world. The 1336 almanac captured Trebizonds geographical horizons, which extended
from Egypt to Amida, from Tabriz to Constantinople to Rome. While political alliances

62 G. I. Bratianu, Recherches sur le commerce Gnois (Paris, 1929), 176.

63 S. P. Karpov, LImpero di Trebisonda, Venezia, Genova e Roma: 12041461 (Rome, 1986), 48.
64 Ibid.
65 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 28384.
66 Balard, Gnes et lOutre-Mer, docs. 430, 406, 407.
67 Balard, The Greeks.
68 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 228; Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 233.
69 Balard, Gnes et lOutre-mer, 161.
70 Gnois de Pra et de Caffa, 75.
336 TRADE IN BYZANTIUM

with various different states certainly contributed to this geographical positioning, the
wide-range of ethnicities one finds in Trebizonds market was an important factor as
well.
The Empire of Trebizond presents peculiarities. While it was not an extensive land
empire and did not have a sizeable population, it was nevertheless a vibrant artistic
center and an active cosmopolitan market. The fragmented political geography of Asia
Minor in this period leads one to speculate that the Empire of Trebizond was not a
unique case. Others, such as the Emirates of Aydn, Mentee, Karasi, Germiyan, and the
Karamanids, were similarly incorporated into the prevalent world-trade system in the
eastern Mediterranean. Links between cultural patterns and commerce will emerge more
clearly after in-depth study of small state politics and economies in the late medieval
eastern Mediterranean.