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3.2  Venetians 13c.

The culmination of Arab knowledge at the time was expressed by the Arab geographer Yaqut ibn-’Abdullah al-Hamawi (1179-1229) who produced between 1224 and 1228 an encyclopaedic work of geography, history, ethnography and natural science in alphabetical order by place name.^[1] After the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 1258 the Persian al-Qazwini produced a spherical map which did not have much detail.^[2]

Amir Seyfadin Nocerat the thirteenth king of Hormuz was opposed by his two brothers and flew from his kingdom with his mother Babi Banek. His mother received in Kirman support from the ruler Sultan Gelaladin Suraget Mex and restored Nocerat to the throne. But having put one brother to death the other invaded at Denu and defeated Nocerat who fled to Komzara and from there in a Tarranqin (a light boat) to Lapht a port and town on the island Broct (Queixome).^[3]

·       Jacob d’Ancona

Jacob d’Ancona, a Jewish-Italian merchant who was travelling to China, had set sail from the port of Basra, named Saraggi, on the 13 October 1270 on board a ship belonging to a fellow Jew, Isaia. He describes this large boat as being capable of carrying some 400-500 tons of cargo as well as some 400 people of which some 300 were the ship's complement who took to the oars when the winds were light. It had four main masts and twelve sails with another two masts that could be raised into position, 3 rudders and was constructed of stout planking nailed in place with 30 cabins and six small boats on board.^[4] Isaia had also provided two other smaller boats under sail and oar each with a complement of 90 to carry some choice cargo and to help in times of danger. The captains were from Basra and were equipped with charts and compass. On the voyage to Cormosa (old Hormuz) one of d’Ancona’s servants died but the other servants demanded a burial rather than be cast into sea. This is then d’Ancona’s account of his stay at the old town of Hormuz on the mainland:

 

And thus we came to Cormosa, my body also taken by the fever. Here, traders come from Chesmacorano, from Greater India and from Sinim to purchase its pearls, horses, precious stones and fruits. The town stands on a river called Minao, by which vessels reach the city from the Indian Sea. It is fertile with oranges and apples and the sultan of the place is Roccan Mahomet, who is also called the Calati, and who commands all by his will alone and is much feared by his foes. It is said that he acquired his place by killing his brother and that all his family commit bloody revenges and other cruel acts, as is the way of the Saracens among themselves.

But it is an open place for all the world, in which there are above two hundred and fifty Jews, whom the Rock and Redeemer of Israel preserve. Some of them are very rich and most bountiful to their brethren, hospitably entertaining them, and follow the precepts of the Torah with great care. Their houses are also cleaner and better furnished than those of most of the Saracens. They know much of the Mishnah and Talmud, giving themselves to the study of the law both day and night, and speak the Persian tongue, but it is not the best there is. Here there are bought and sold all sorts of goods and as much of them as any could wish, and nearly all the brokers of the place are Jews. So it is with the physicians also, and there are many families who are engaged in the dyeing of cloth.

All are compelled to wear a turban of yellow, at the command of the Calati. The women, who wear robes of vermilion or green, richly embroidered in gold at the bosom, do not hide their faces as do the Saracen women. Indeed it would be a sin to do so, such is their beauty. The men of this country are rich in gold, wearing turbans adorned with jewels whose value cannot be counted and silk vests over which they throw garments spotted with gold, and thus clothed they ride on horseback, appearing like the sons of kings.

But the Jews, save for the physician of the sultan, are not permitted to go on horseback, although they may go about on mules, the Saracens saying that a horse is too noble an animal for a Jew, a curse upon them. Nor are they allowed by the Calati to carry a sword, making as if to fear us. Moreover, when passing a mosque of the Mahometans they must go barefoot, and should a hand be raised by a Saracen against them they dare not reply, for their hands would be cut off as being raised against the true believer. Nevertheless, my brothers are treated justly in matters of trade and money, and many have grown rich by it from their ability and labour, the Saracens being less active and more given to ease. They punish with death by burning the Jew or Christian who blasphemes against Mahomet or their Koran, or who lies with a Saracen woman.

Here, so weak from the quartan fever did I feel that bitterness took hold of my spirit, it being a great anguish to suffer such torments, and yet to be constrained to seek my gain. The faithful Armentuzio and Pizzecolli urged me to remain on board the ship, at rest, yet it being my duty to restore my fortunes, I went about the market with my brother, Sanson Ebreo ben Mose, he who departed Ancona in the year 1259, and to whom my father, God rest his soul, had directed me.

Many were my troubles in this place. The soldiers of the sultan, seeing that my servants were bringing forth a coffin from the ship, were not willing to permit them to carry it to the cemetery of the Franks of that place. They summoned me to the port, and seeing from my beard and dress that I was a Jew, charged me that I brought some pestilence to their city, ordering that I open the coffin of Berletto before their eyes, may God spare me. Armentuzio therefore returned to Sanson Ebreo in order to seek his aid, since the king is secretly a great friend to the Jews, holding our faith in favour, for which God he praised. Nor has he ever seized upon a Jewish woman, God be thanked, as he has upon others, as the wives of his counsellors and sometimes their daughters also. This was told me by Sanson Ebreo.

Moreover, although for every Jew above the age of nine years a tax must be paid each year to the king, which in Saracen they call kharadj, Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel pays nothing, from the great respect in which he is held by the Saracens fair his learning, heing a truly wise man. Indeed, on the Sabbath the sultan goes in secret to his house in the mellah in order to hold discourse with him and to sit at his table, as the said Asher told me. Thus, although our brothers must pay the sultan so that they may have a synagogue and bury their dead, as also that the said synagogue may be open to the light and not hidden in darkness, we count ourselves blessed not to suffer more, seeing that the sultan protects us.

Hence, as among us from Christian lands also, they fear the time of a new sultan, as we in our lands fear a new pope or prince, since such time is often a time of travail for our people, may the names of our enemies be erased. For a new ruler is often given not to do some kindness to us, but to extort new tributes and payments and other exactions, or to inflict punishments upon us for things we have not done, or even to expel us from the realm.

But to return to my theme, I therefore opened the coffin, praying to God that I be permitted to purify myself of such a deed by greater piety in the days to come, as upon the Sabbaths Vayera and Hayyel Sarah, saying in my heart to the Holy One that I acted thus only from great necessity, while I waited to be saved from these Hamans by my brother Sanson and the faithful Armentuzio.

When I opened the coffin, great was the stink of the corrupt and greenish flesh, may I be preserved, at which the soldiers would have laid hands upon me and carried me to my death for bringing them a pestilence, albeit that it was the fault of my Christian servants that the body of Berletto had not been cast into the sea, as I had counselled. Neither was I willing to lay bare the corpse, although it might save my own life should no signs of disease be found there save those of the quartan fever, such was the abomination which lay before me, may God who gives and takes away life be exalted.

But now Sanson Ebreo came, declaring before the guard that I was of noble line among the Jews and no simple merchant, and that Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel would go before the Sultan Mahomet if they should attempt to harm me. Moreover, to each of the said guard he made payment in order that my Christian servants might carry the coffin to the cemetery of the Franks. Thus, after much debate and many speeches, I concealing my own fever lest everything go from bad to worse, my servants took the coffin away, I instructing them to quarrel with no one and to do everything in a quiet fashion.

Such was my weariness, I being of weak constitution and borne down by fever and the great heat, that I was now driven to rest, giving instructions to Armentuzio to treat with Sanson Ebreo, broker of the place, in the purchase of twenty horses and their fodder, which should thereafter be put in the charge of the men Micheli and Fultrono.

For a good and large Saracen horse, which may be had in Cormosa for fifty marks of silver, sells well in the cities of Greater India, even for four hundred silver marks, for so it befell later, God be praised. The horses of the Saracens are good runners and much prized by the noblemen of Greater India who ride them like devils. Indeed, so lacking in care are they of their well-being, God have pity upon the beasts, that they bring the strongest and swiftest horse to ruin in a short time, for they do not know how to ride. This Sanson Ebreo told to Armentuzio while I lay ill with fever, and so it is.

When I was somewhat restored, God be thanked, I made fine and great purchases of incense for the idolaters of Greater India and Sinim, for which they pay, and especially for the frankincense of Dafaro, which I found here of a quality at which a man could marvel. For these things I gave Sanson Ebreo 5 per cent, for the great gain which I should make. I also purchased with his aid choice liquids of great perfume, as well as turquoises of Scehavecco, indigo and fine blades for Ser Antonio, as I had promised. I also found some good pearls and had from my brother Sanson a few rubies of great value, which are called balasci, and which he had himself from a trader of Badascian.

The coral which I observed was not of the best, yet he who wished to sell it sought the highest price. With him I treated little, my brother Sanson putting me on my guard against him, saying to me in our language, Watch that the person does not rob you. I therefore determined, may God be praised for instructing me in such caution, to make my purchases of it on a better occasion. Here we also took on board oranges, apples, peaches, nuts and pomegranates for our delight, so that our hearts might be soothed, there being much fever among us. For all the fruits of the earth are to be found in Cormosa, may God be exalted for His bounty to man.

Thus I parted from my brother Sanson, many others of our brethren accompanying us to our vessels, having left the Christian Berletto in the earth of Cormosa, may his soul also rest in peace, the other merchants of our fleet having made great gains in this place, for which God be praised.^[5]

 

d’Ancona relates how he was able to call upon the Jewish community that resided in each port he put into on his way to China. In Basra he refers to the vessels of Menahem Vivo, Lazzaro of Venice, Eliezer del Vechhio and the the great merchant Aaron of Barcelona in Aragon who had three ships and two galleys being made ready and it was there that his son Isaac married the daughter of Isaac of Ascoli. Jacob d’Ancona sailed from old Hormuz along the Makran coast to the port of Chisi^[6] towards the end of October 1270 when Marco Polo was still in Venice.

d’Ancona’s does set the town next to the River Minao (Minab) and names the sultan as being Roccan Mahomet. The king of Hormuz at the time was Amir Roknadin Mahmud who reigned for 35 years till his death in 1278. His description is not unlike that of Marco Polo who set foot in the old Hormuz soon after.

·       Marco Polo

Nicolo Polo and his brother Maffeo had returned to Venice from Peking in 1269 with a letter to the Pope from the Emperor of China requesting that friars be sent to teach the Mongols Christianity. Accompanied by Nicolo’s son Marco they set off from Venice in 1271 passing through Acre in November of the same year. However the war between the Mongols and the Mamelukes made the journey through Iran dangerous so at Kerman instead of taking the silk road to the north they proceeded southwards to Hormuz with the intention of finding a boat to China. In this they were unsuccessful and returned to Kirman to continue by land.^[7] Marco Polo wrote of the descent to the plain of Hormuz and of that city:

 

Of the city of Ormus, situated on an island not far from the main, in the Sea of India - of its commercial importance - and of the hot wind that blows there.

At the extremity of the plain before mentioned as extending in a southern direction to the distance of five days’ journey, there is a descent for about twenty miles, by a road that is extremely dangerous, from the multitude of robbers, by whom travellers are continually assaulted and plundered. This declivity conducts to another plain, very beautiful in its appearance, two days’ journey in extent, which is called the plain of Ormus. Here you cross a number of fine streams, and see a country covered with date-palms, amongst which are found the francoline partridge, birds of the parrot kind, and a variety of others unknown to our climate. At length you reach the border of the ocean, where, upon an island, at no great distance from the shore, stands a city named Ormus, whose port is frequented by traders from all parts of India, who bring spices and drugs, precious stones, pearls, gold tissues, elephants’ teeth, and various other articles of merchandize. These they dispose of to a different set of traders, by whom they are dispersed throughout the world. This city, indeed, is eminently commercial, has towns and castles dependent upon it, and is esteemed the principal place in the kingdom of Kierman. Its ruler named Rukmedin Achomak, who governs with absolute authority, but at the same time acknowledges the king of Kierman as his liege lord. When any foreign merchant happens to die within his jurisdiction, he confiscates the property, and deposits the amount in his treasury. During the summer season, the inhabitants do not remain in the city, on the account of the excessive heat, which renders the air unwholesome, but retire to their gardens along the shore or on the banks of the river, where with a kind of ozier-work they construct huts over the water. These they enclose with stakes, driven in the water on the one side, and on the other upon the shore, making a covering of leaves to shelter them from the sun. Here they reside during the period in which there blows, every day, from about the hour of nine until noon, a land-wind so intensely hot as to impede respiration, and to occasion death by suffocating the person exposed to it. None can escape from its effects who are overtaken by it on the sandy plain. As soon as the approach of this wind is perceived by the inhabitants, they immerge themselves to the chin in water, and continue in that situation until it ceases to blow. In proof of the extraordinary degree of heat, Marco Polo says that he happened to be in these parts when the following circumstances occured. The ruler of Ormus having neglected to pay his tribute to the king of Kierman, the latter took the resolution of enforcing it at the season when the principal inhabitants reside out of the city, upon the main land, and for this purpose despatched a body of troops, consisting of sixteen hundred horse and five thousand foot, through the country of Reobarle, in order to seize them by surprise. In consequence, however, of their being misled by their guides, they failed to arrive at the place intended before the approach of night, and halted to take repose in a grove not far distant from Ormus; but upon recommencing their march in the morning, they were assailed by this hot wind, and were all suffocated; not one escaping to carry the fatal intelligence to his master. When the people of Ormus became acquainted with the event, and proceeded to bury the carcases, in order that their stench might not infect the air, they found them so baked by the intenseness of the heat, that the limbs, upon being handled, separated from the trunks, and so it became necessary to dig the graves close to the spot where the bodies lay.^[8]

 

It was not until 1292 that the Polos managed to leave China and then only by agreeing to escort a Mongol Princess to her promised husband in Il-khan Persia. They returned not overland but by sea around India to Hormuz in a fleet of fourteen ships put at their disposal by the Emperor. The difficulty of traversing the silk road is set out by the khan’s advisors who warned:

 

great fatigue of that long land journey for a lady.^[9]

 

On their return to Hormuz, Marco Polo gives us another though shorter description:

 

Of Ormus

Upon the island of Ormus there is a handsome and large city, built close to the sea. It is governed by a melik, which is a title equivalent to that of lord of the marches with us, and he has many towns and castles under his authority. The inhabitants are Saracens, all of them professing the faith of Mahomet. The heat that reigns here is extreme; but in every house they are provided with ventilators, by means of which they introduce air to the different floors, and into every apartment, at pleasure. Without this resource it would be impossible to live in the place. We shall not now say more of this city, as in a former book we have given an account of it, together with Kisi and Kerman.^[10]

 

Albulféda (ad 1273-1331) describes Siraf and Qeys:

 

The island of Kîs — in Arabic, Kais — is situated between India and el-Básrah.This island possesses pearl-fisheries, and upon it are exotic date trees and also native trees. Its inhabitants drink water from wells, and its circuit may be accomplished by a horseman, if he tries, in a day. One of the people of el-Básrah told me that he performed the circuit, riding on his mare, in a day, but not without fatiguing the mare. Ibn-Sa’îd says that it is twelve miles in circumference. Yakût, in the el-Mushtárik states that the island of Kîsh [sic] is in the midst of the sea between ’Omân and Persia; that it is a fine island, of an agreeable aspect, full of gardens and date-groves. I have seen it [he says] several times, and have met there men of learning and refinement.

 

Sîrâf is the largest custom-house in Persia. It is destitute of cultivation and pasture, nevertheless, it is a town where ships discharge and load [cargoes]. It is a populous city, and the inhabitants spend large sums on their houses, insomuch that a merchant will lay out upwards of thirty thousand dinars in building a residence for himself. There are no gardens, neither trees, and the houses built of the trunks of palm-trees and other  timber brought from the country of the Zanj. The climate of Sîrâf is very hot. The el-Libâb states that Sîrâf appertains to the territory of Persia on the sea-coast adjoining Kermân.^[11]

 

·       Giovanni of Montecorvino

The Franciscan Giovanni (John) of Montecorvino set out from Tabriz in north-western Persia for India in 1291 en route to India. He was accompanied by a rich Italian merchant named Pietro of Lucolongo who was familiar with trade routes in the Middle East and central Asia. They travelled to Hormuz and sailed from there to southern India.^[12] He was sent by Pope Nicholas IV carrying letters to all patriarchs and princes of the East, including Kublai Khan and Kaidu, the Khan of the house of Ogotai in central Asia, who was Kublai’s bitterest enemy. An earlier mission of five Minorities to Qubilai Khan sent by Nicholas III had disappeared without trace en route.^[13]

Giovanni da Montecorvino travels from Kerman through Hormuz to Madras in India. A Franciscan, he preached Christianity along with companions Peter of Lucalonzo and Nicolas of Pistoia. ^[14]