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THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO
CHAPTER I.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS POLO SET FORTH FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO TRAVERSE THE
WORLD.
It came to pass in the year of Christ 1260, when Baldwin was reigning at
Constantinople,NOTE 1 that Messer Nicolas Polo, the father of my lord
Mark, and Messer Maffeo Polo, the brother of Messer Nicolas, were at the
said city of CONSTANTINOPLE, whither they had gone from Venice with their
merchants' wares. Now these two Brethren, men singularly noble, wise, and
provident, took counsel together to cross the GREATER SEA on a venture of
trade; so they laid in a store of jewels and set forth from
Constantinople, crossing the Sea to SOLDAIA.NOTE 2
NOTE 1.--Baldwin II (de Courtenay), the last Latin Emperor of
Constantinople, reigned from 1237 to 1261, when he was expelled by Michael
Palaeologus.
The date in the text is, as we see, that of the Brothers' voyage across
the Black Sea. It stands 1250 in all the chief texts. But the figure is
certainly wrong. We shall see that, when the Brothers return to Venice in
1269, they find Mark, who, according to Ramusio's version, was born after
their departure, a lad of fifteen. Hence, if we rely on Ramusio, they
must have left Venice about 1253-54. And we shall see also that they
reached the Volga in 1261. Hence their start from Constantinople may well
have occurred in 1260, and this I have adopted as the most probable
correction. Where they spent the interval between 1254 (if they really
left Venice so early) and 1260, nowhere appears. But as their brother,
Mark the Elder, in his Will styles himself "whilom of Constantinople,"
their headquarters were probably there.
Illustration: Castle of Soldaia or Sudak
NOTE 2.--In the Middle Ages the Euxine was frequently called Mare Magnum
or Majus. Thus Chaucer:--
"In the GRETE SEE,
At many a noble Armee hadde he be."
The term Black Sea (Mare Maurum v. Nigrum) was, however, in use, and
Abulfeda says it was general in his day. That name has been alleged to
appear as early as the 10th century, in the form Greek: Skoteinae, "The
Dark Sea"; but an examination of the passage cited, from Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, shows that it refers rather to the Baltic, whilst that
author elsewhere calls the Euxine simply Pontus. (Reinaud's Abulf. I.
38, Const. Porph. De Adm. Imp. c. 31, c. 42.)
+ Sodaya, Soldaia, or Soldachia, called by Orientals
Súdak, stands
on the S.E. coast of the Crimea, west of Kaffa. It had belonged to the
Greek Empire, and had a considerable Greek population. After the Frank
conquest of 1204 it apparently fell to Trebizond. It was taken by the
Mongols in 1223 for the first time, and a second time in 1239, and during
that century was the great port of intercourse with what is now Russia. At
an uncertain date, but about the middle of the century, the Venetians
established a factory there, which in 1287 became the seat of a consul. In
1323 we find Pope John XXII. complaining to Uzbek Khan of Sarai that the
Christians had been ejected from Soldaia and their churches turned into
mosques. Ibn Batuta, who alludes to this strife, counts Sudak as one of
the four great ports of the World. The Genoese got Soldaia in 1365 and
built strong defences, still to be seen. Kaffa, with a good anchorage, in
the 14th century, and later on Tana, took the place of Soldaia as chief
emporium in South Russia. Some of the Arab Geographers call the Sea of
Azov the Sea of Sudak.
The Elder Marco Polo in his Will (1280) bequeaths to the Franciscan Friars
of the place a house of his in Soldachia, reserving life occupation to
his own son and daughter, then residing in it. Probably this establishment
already existed when the two Brothers went thither. (Elie de
Laprimaudare, passim; Gold. Horde, 87; Mosheim, App. 148; Ibn
Bat.
-
28, II. 414; Cathay, 231-33; Heyd, II. passim.)
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