Caffa as Thalassopoliteia: The Genesis of the Civic “Maritime Identity” in a Late Medieval City

Abstract

In this article, the author deals with the formation of Caffa by the end of the fourteenth century as the leading thalassopoliteia in the Black Sea region, when the head of the city of Caffa became “the ruler of the whole Black Sea” at the same time. The author refers to Liber Gazariae (1341), Caffa’s Statuta (1316, 1449), Caffa’s notarial acts from the fourteenth–fifteenth centuries, Massaria Caffae 1381, 1424, Italian pilot charts, Byzantine periploi from the fourteenth–fifteenth centuries, Italian nautical charts from the fourteenth–fifteenth centuries, and materials of archaeological excavations in Feodosia port. Following the study, the author reveals the essence of the thalassopoliteia of Caffa in the pre-modern world which involved the establishment of Caffa’s territorial power over the entire coastline of the Crimean Peninsula in the form of the “Great Chora”; control over maritime communications, requirements of obligatory calls to the port of Caffa for all vessels sailing the Black Sea; creation of a maritime logistics network in the form of ports, harbours, berths, and anchorages for the export of local products, which was served by ships, loaders, and the metrological service of Caffa’s port; introduction of the semaphore signaling system within the “Great Chora” of Caffa ensuring safety of navigation in the Black Sea; neutralisation of piracy, corsairing, and maritime actions of hostile countries, reimbursement of damages to affected citizens of Caffa; creation of a naval chain of fortresses and fortifications with locations of fast-moving battle triremes; development of shipbuilding and ship repair infrastructure both in the port of Caffa and in its subordinate ports; formation of the institution of Caffa’s thalassopoliteia, a special “maritime identity”, the birth of the idea of “contract with the sea”.