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 Sudak, 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.
I. 28, II. 414; Cathay, 231-33; Heyd, II. passim.)
CHAPTER II.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS WENT ON BEYOND SOLDAIA.
Having stayed a while at Soldaia, they considered the matter, and thought
it well to extend their journey further. So they set forth from Soldaia
and travelled till they came to the Court of a certain Tartar Prince,
BARCA KAAN by name, whose residences were at SARA[NOTE 1] and at BOLGARA
[and who was esteemed one of the most liberal and courteous Princes that
ever was among the Tartars.][NOTE 2] This Barca was delighted at the
arrival of the Two Brothers, and treated them with great honour; so they
presented to him the whole of the jewels that they had brought with them.
The Prince was highly pleased with these, and accepted the offering most
graciously, causing the Brothers to receive at least twice its value.
[Illustration: Map to illustrate the Geographical Position of the CITY of
SARAI]
[Illustration: Part of the Remains of the CITY of SARAI near TZAREV North
of the AKHTUBA Branch of the VOLGA]
After they had spent a twelvemonth at the court of this Prince there broke
out a great war between Barca and Alau, the Lord of the Tartars of the
Levant, and great hosts were mustered on either side.[NOTE 3]
But in the end Barca, the Lord of the Tartars of the Ponent, was defeated,
though on both sides there was great slaughter. And by reason of this war
no one could travel without peril of being taken; thus it was at least on
the road by which the Brothers had come, though there was no obstacle to
their travelling forward. So the Brothers, finding they could not retrace
their steps, determined to go forward. Quitting Bolgara, therefore, they
proceeded to a city called UCACA, which was at the extremity of the
kingdom of the Lord of the Ponent;[NOTE 4] and thence departing again, and
passing the great River Tigris, they travelled across a Desert which
extended for seventeen days' journey, and wherein they found neither town
nor village, falling in only with the tents of Tartars occupied with their
cattle at pasture.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1. - + Barka Khan, third son of Juji, the first-born of Chinghiz,
ruled the Ulus of Juji and Empire of Kipchak (Southern Russia) from 1257
to 1265. He was the first Musulman sovereign of his race. His chief
residence was at SARAI (Sara of the text), a city founded by his brother
and predecessor Batu, on the banks of the Akhtuba branch of the Volga. In
the next century Ibn Batuta describes Sarai as a very handsome and
populous city, so large that it made half a day's journey to ride through
it. The inhabitants were Mongols, Aas (or Alans), Kipchaks, Circassians,
Russians, and Greeks, besides the foreign Moslem merchants, who had a
walled quarter. Another Mahomedan traveller of the same century says the
city itself was not walled, but, "The Khan's Palace was a great edifice
surmounted by a golden crescent weighing two kantars of Egypt, and
encompassed by a wall flanked with towers," etc. Pope John XXII., on the
26th February 1322, defined the limits of the new Bishopric of Kaffa,
which were Sarai to the east and Varna to the west.
Sarai became the seat of both a Latin and a Russian metropolitan, and of
more than one Franciscan convent. It was destroyed by Timur on his second
invasion of Kipchak (1395-6), and extinguished by the Russians a century
later. It is the scene of Chaucer's half-told tale of Cambuscan: -
"At Sarra, in the Londe of Tartarie,
There dwelt a King that werried Russie."
["Mesalek-al-absar (285, 287), says Sarai, meaning 'the Palace,' was
founded by Bereke, brother of Batu.
