ANDREA POLO of S. Felice was the father of three sons,
MARCO, NICOLO, and MAFFEO. And Nicolo was the Father of our Marco.
[Sidenote: Claims to be styled noble.]
14. Till quite recently it had never been precisely ascertained whether
the immediate family of our Traveller belonged to the Nobles of Venice
properly so called, who had seats in the Great Council and were enrolled
in the Libro d'Oro. Ramusio indeed styles our Marco Nobile and
Magnifico, and Rusticiano, the actual scribe of the Traveller's
recollections, calls him "sajes et noble citaiens de Venece," but
Ramusio's accuracy and Rusticiano's precision were scarcely to be depended
on. Very recently, however, since the subject has been discussed with
accomplished students of the Venice Archives, proofs have been found
establishing Marco's personal claim to nobility, inasmuch as both in
judicial decisions and in official resolutions of the Great Council, he is
designated Nobilis Vir, a formula which would never have been used in
such documents (I am assured) had he not been technically noble.[5]
[Sidenote: Marco the Elder.]
15. Of the three sons of Andrea Polo of S. Felice, Marco seems to have
been the eldest, and Maffeo the youngest.[6] They were all engaged in
commerce, and apparently in a partnership, which to some extent held good
even when the two younger had been many years absent in the Far East.[7]
Marco seems to have been established for a time at Constantinople,[8] and
also to have had a house (no doubt of business) at Soldaia, in the Crimea,
where his son and daughter, Nicolo and Maroca by name, were living in
1280.
