Evgeny Khvalkov, The Colonies of Genoa in the Black Sea Region: Evolution and Transformation. Routledge Research in Medieval Studies, 11. New York and London: Routledge, 2018, xiv, 443 pp., 10 fig., 7 tables.

Abstract

Our current and very urgent goal is to transform Medieval Studies into Global Medieval Studies, a thorny, challenging, maybe also daunting task, but one that we cannot turn away if we want to progress in our field. In fact, it does not matter whether we want to go that route or not; if we want to understand the Middle Ages both holistically and in specifics, we must simply accept that many people (merchants, soldiers, diplomats, artists, craftsmen, preachers, rulers, scholars, etc.) traveled not only throughout Europe, but also far beyond those limits, and encountered in that way countless other people who arrived from other directions. One most promising area of investigation that has already been long recognized is the group of merchants traveling to the Mongol court, prime among them Marco Polo. But he, his brothers, and numerous other individuals were, after all, only exceptions, and the Chinese, for instance, did not demonstrate any real interest in the West, apart from the Arabic world. However, if we turn to the Black Sea, an entirely different situation emerges that proves to be highly promising for future research.