2025, vol. 13, no. 1. Klyuev A.I.

2025, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 48-60

DOI: http://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2025-13-1.48-60

EDN: https://elibrary.ru/JJYRLA

   THE PRINCIPLE OF GLOBALIZATION,
OR VENICE AND THE MONGOLS IN THE MIDDLE AGES:
ON THE BOOK BY NICOLA DI COSMO AND LORENZO PUBBLICI

A.I. Klyuev
Dostoevsky Omsk State University
Omsk, Russian Federation
Tyumen State University
Tyumen, Russian Federation
kluevartem@mail.ru

Abstract. This article analyzes the monograph by Italian historians Nicola di Cosmo, Professor of East Asian Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, USA) and Lorenzo Pubblici, Professor at the University of Naples «Orientale» (Italy), devoted to trade and diplomatic relations between the Venetians and Mongols on the Silk Roads in the 13th–15th centuries.
Research materials: The monograph by Di Cosmo N., Pubblici L. titled Venezia e i Mongoli. Commercio e diplomazia sulle vie della seta nel medioevo (secoli XIII–XV). Roma: Viella, 2022. 315 p.
Novelty and results of the study: In the 13th century, two forces met in the Black Sea: the Venetians, representatives of the dominant maritime republic in the Mediterranean, and the Mongols, masters of vast territories that included China, Persia, Central Asia, and others. In solidarity with the methodological constructs of the American sociologist Janet Abu-Luhod, the authors of the monograph proposed for review consider Mongol power, established in the course of campaigns of conquest, as Pax Mongolica not only in the sense of political organization, but also as a trading subsystem which was purposefully built, on the one hand, by the Mongol rulers, and on the other hand, actively supported by the Venetians in particular. The book consists of two parts. The first part reconstructs the event and political context of the emergence of Mongolian geopolitics out of a multitude of regional political systems and economies that created the necessary conditions for close contact with the Venetians, the main stages of these relationships, and the role of the Black Sea in the history of trade relations between the Mongols and the Venetians. In the second part of the book, the authors analyze the specific mechanisms of trade and diplomatic relations, noting the hard and innovative work of both participants in a huge network. In particular, this section is about the figure of Marco Polo and his journey, touching on the development of navigation, legal aspects of relations, and means of exchange and communication. The review gives a brief characterization of the methodological constructs employed by the authors, considers the content of the work, evaluates individual conclusions of the authors, and concludes on the importance of the two historians’ research.

Keywords: Venice, Mongols, Golden Horde, trade and diplomacy, pax mongolica, medieval world-economies, infrastructure of trade activities, Italian maritime republics

For citation: Klyuev A.I. Principle of globalization, or Venice and Mongols in the Middle Ages: on the book by Nicola di Cosmo and Lorenzo Pubblici. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2025, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 48–60. https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2025-13-1.48-60 (In Russian)

Financial Support: The research was carried out at the expense of a grant from the Russian Science Foundation No. 23-28-01592, https://rscf.ru/project/23-28-01592/

REFERENCES

  1. Wallerstein I. The World-System of Modernity / Preface by G.M. Derlugian, transl. from Eng., ed. by N. Protsenko, A. Chernyaev. N. Protsenko, A. Chernyaev. 2nd edition, rev. and suppl. Vol. 1. Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of European World-Economy in the 16th Century. Moscow: Russkiy fond sodeystviya obrazovaniyu i nauke, 2016, 552 p. (In Russian)
  2. Genoese Gazaria and the Golden Horde / Ed. by S.G. Bocharov and A.G. Sitdikov. Vol. 1. Kazan; Simferopol; Kishinev: Stratum Plus, 2015, 711 с. (In Russian)
  3. Genoese Gazaria and the Golden Horde / Edited by S.G. Bocharov and A.G. Sitdikov. Vol. 2. Kazan; Kishinev: Stratum Plus, 2019, 809 с. (In Russian)
  4. Jones D. Powers and Thrones. New History of the Middle Ages / Tr. from Eng. by V.V. Stepanova; ed. by A.O. Zakharov. Moscow: KoLIBRI, Azbuka-Atticus, 2023, 688 p. (In Russian)
  5. Emanov A.G. Between the Polar Star and the Noonday Sun: Caffa in the World Trade of 13th–15th centuries. Petersburg: Aleteiya, 2018, 368 p. (In Russian)
  6. Emanov A.G. The celestial Jerusalem or the Babylon: the fate of Medieval Caffa/Feodosia. Petersburg: Aleteiya, 2022, 734 p. (In Russian)
  7. Emanov A.G. Quod non iretur ad Tanam. Karpov S.P. The History of Tana (Azov) in 13th–15th centuries. Saint Petersburg: Aleteiya, 2021. Vol. 1: Tana in 13th–14th cs. Srednie veka. Vol. 84, no 2, 2023, pp. 184–189. (In Russian)
  8. Plano Carpini. History of the Mongols: text, translation, commentary / Ed. by A.A. Gorsky, V.V. Trepalov. Moscow: The Institute of Russain History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2022, 383 с. (In Russian)
  9. Karpov S.P. History of Tana (Azov) in 13th–15th centuries: in 2 vols. 1. St. Petersburg: Aleteiya, 2021, 375 p. (In Russian)
  10. Rakhmanov A.B. Peripheral directions of world-system analysis: concepts of J. Abu-Lukhod and F. Moulder. Vestnik of Moscow University. Series: Sociology and Poli­tical Science. No. 3, 2015, pp. 24–43. (In Russian)
  11. Khvalkov E.A. Genoese Caffa in 13th–15th centuries. St. Petersburg: Aleteia, 2024, 654 с. (In Russian)
  12. Abu-Lughod J. Before European hegemony. The world system A.D. 1250–1350. Y.; Oxford, 1989, 443 p.
  13. De Roover R. The commercial revolution of the Thirteenth Century. Bulletin of the Business Historical Society. No. 16, 1942, pp. 34–39. (in English)
  14. Lopez R. The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages. 950–1350. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1971, 180 p.
  15. Di Cosmo N., Pubblici L. Venezia e i Mongoli: commercio e diplomazia sulle vie della seta nel medioevo (secoli 13.–15.) Roma: Viella, 2022, 315 p. (in Italian)
  16. Spallaci G. I commerci adriatici e mediterranei di Ancona nel XV secolo. Bolog­na: Clueb, 2020, 556 p. (In Italian)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Artem I. Klyuev – Cand. Sci. (History), Associate Professor of the Department of General History, Dostoevsky Omsk State University (55a, Mira Ave., Omsk 644077, Russian Fe­deration); Senior Researcher, Tyumen State University (625003, Volodarsky Str., 6, Tyumen, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0000-0003-0123-9008, Researcher ID: J-2503-2017. E-mail: kluevartem@mail.ru

 Received  15.06.2024
 Revised  15.01.2025
 Accepted  16.01.2025