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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2021
This article presents and discusses a source of unique importance for our knowledge of early modern global exchanges. Produced in 1503 by the Egyptian administration and found among the records of a Venetian company with global commercial interests, the document records hitherto unknown connections between the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, followed by cargo figures. By sending the Memorandum to the head office in Venice, the Company's agents in Egypt were labouring to solve the most important concern of Venice's information network, that of coordinating Indian with Mediterranean trading seasons. By analysing the document's context, namely, a company involved in the export of central European metals to Asia, this article focuses on the capacity of its agents to gather information through collaboration, networking and ultimately, friendship with Muslim partners and informers. The story of the 1503 Memorandum and its transmission raises questions about the mixed networks underpinning global exchanges, the role of information and the drive of the late Mamluk sultanate into the world of the Indian Ocean.
1 Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Procuratori di San Marco, Misti (hereinafter ASV, PSM, M), busta 43, fascicolo XXIII. When last consulted in October 2015, the Memorandum was placed as the final document in the file.
2 Dursteler, E., ‘Power and Information: The Venetian Postal System in the Mediterranean, 1573-1645’, in From Florence to the Mediterranean: Studies in Honor of Anthony Molho, (eds.) Curto, D. R., et al. . (Florence, 2009), pp. 601–25Google Scholar; Cossar, R., Vivo, F. de and Neilson, Ch., ‘Shared Spaces and Knowledge Transactions in the Italian Renaissance City: Introduction’, I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 19, 1 (2016), pp. 5–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 Qua in Alexandria ottrovada lattera orfana de spezie ett /0/ marchadantti non I era zontto ett senon I era per vegnir fin fatto el suo romadan che manchava zorni 20, ASV PSM M 43, 21 March 1503.
4 A key period for Venetian history, the events of the 1502-3 trading season have been reconstructed by Jean Aubin in his posthumous work Le Latin et l'astrolabe [III]. Études inédites sur le règne de D. Manuel (1495-1521) (Paris, 2006), pp. 429-463. Aubin relies on reports by the Venetian consul Alvise Arimondo, who was also a correspondent of the firm.
5 ttutti a nui avemo scritto in una forma denottando chele galie de Alexandria son in candia ett que la será de qua fin zorni 10 […] ett questo avemo scritto achoche mori simettano in fuga de vignir zuxo ett chondur le sue spezie in tempo de galie, ASV PSM M 43, 21 March 1503. Aubin, Le Latin et l'Astrolabe, pp. 434–437.
6 Aubin, Le Latin et l'Astrolabe, p. 436.
7 Braunstein, P., Les Allemands à Venise (1380-1520) (Rome, 2016), pp. 573–596CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
8 Mueller, R. C., The Venetian money market : banks, panics, and the public debt, 1200-1500 (Baltimore, 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; P. Braunstein, ‘Le marché du cuivre à Venise à la fin du Moyen Age’, in Schwerpunkte der Kupferproduktion und des Kupferhandels in Europa : 1500-1650, (ed.) H. Kellenbenz (Köln and Wien, 1977); Apellániz, F., Pouvoir et finance en Méditerranée pré-moderne : Le deuxième Etat mamelouk et le commerce des épices (1382-1517) (Barcelona, 2009)Google Scholar; Braunstein, Les Allemands à Venise, pp. 519–571.
9 Häberlein, M., The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing Wealth and Honor in Renaissance Germany (Charlottesville, 2012)Google Scholar; Mueller, The Venetian money market, p. 142.
10 Doumerc, B. and Stockly, D., ‘L'évolution du capitalisme marchand à Venise: Le financement des galere da mercato à la fin du XVe siècle’, Annales HSS 50-1 (1995), pp. 133–157CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Judde, C., Naviguer, commercer, gouverner: économie maritime et pouvoirs à Venise (XVe-XVIe siècles) (Leiden and Boston, 2008), p. 63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
11 Known as Mocenigo dalle Zogie, E. A. Cicogna, Delle inscrizioni veneziane, II (Venice, 1827), pp. 154–156; P. Litta, Famiglie celebri di Italia, XIV (Venice, 1819-33), p. 134.
12 Braunstein, Les Allemands à Venise, pp. 354–355, 587.
13 Such an approach demonstrates the limitations of relying solely on Arab sources; Fuess, A., ‘How to Cope with the Scarcity of Commodities? The Mamluks’ Quest for Metal’ in The Mamluk Sultanate from the Perspective of Regional and World History, (eds.) Amitai, R. and Conermann, S. (Göttingen, 2019), pp. 61–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
14 Generally, for the stock system, see F. Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, pp. 115–145. For copper imports, Ibid., p. 204.
15 al-Maqrīzī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī (1364-1442), Kitāb al-sulūk li-maʻrifat duwal al-mulūk, 4/II, (ed.) S. ‘Ashour (Cairo, 1970-73), pp. 929, 943; Braunstein: ‘Le marché du cuivre à Venise à la fin du Moyen Age’, p. 91.
16 ASV PSM M 43, 12 August 1501.
17 Sanudo, M., I diarii di Marino Sanuto, Vol. V (Bologna, 1969), p. 163Google Scholar.
18 spero tamen in dio che chi non se metera in fuga non sera tanto malle perche sel fusse serrà la via del mar rosso le specie staria imprixion et so certo queste specie non licosta meno dele nostre, ma piui grande disturbo et ruina. ASV PSM M 42, letter from Alvise Mocenigo, from Yprès, 14 October 1403.
19 Cicogna, Delle inscrizioni veneziane, 155, ASV PSM M 42, a letter from Antwerp, 7 February 1502, mentions the Portuguese plans to block the Bāb al-Mandab : i soi abi impedir el transito amori per do anni ad minus non pasi da colocut al çideni cosa che non volgio creder; Aubin, Le latin et l'Astrolabe, p. 448.
20 Consular messengers are mentioned in a letter from Alexandria to Damascus, ASV, Carte di Benedetto Soranzo, arcivescovo di Cipro, B. 5A, fascicolo B, n. 18, 28 June 1414, letter to Donà Soranzo.
21 Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, pp. 100–101; al-Saḥmāwī, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad (d. 868/1464), al-Thaghr al-bāsim fī ṣināʻat al-kātib wa-al-kātim : al-maʻrūf bi-ism al-Maqṣad al-rafīʻ al-manshā al-hādī li-dīwān al-inshā lil-Khālidī, (eds.) A. M. Anas and H. Naṣṣār, 2 vols. (Cairo, 2009), pp. 336–337, describes the replacement of the previous postal system, the barīd with a recourse to individual messengers and Bedouin camel drivers. For the early Mamluk postal system, see J. Sauvaget, La poste aux chevaux dans l'empire de mamelouks (Paris, 1941).
22 zenzeri garofali e canele queste son per contto del signor soldan. In man de mori son schibe 3000 in suzo de puo sertte spezie ett queste sertte spezie o abudo in notta per via del Nadarchas, queste son stado dado in notta, ASV PSM M 43, 21 March 1503.
23 A thorough discussion of da Gama's second voyage can be found in Subrahmanyam, S., The career and legend of Vasco da Gama (Cambridge and New York, 1997), pp. 195–234Google Scholar.
24 Ramusio, G. B., Primo volume delle nauigationi et viaggi (Venice, Giunti, 1550), pp. 147–148Google Scholar.
25 Priego la divina magnificentia mi face veder bona lettere di Vostra Magnificentia di le cose nostre et che le galie sia zonte e deschargate e comenza a dar via le specie et maxime per el debito sa cum i Focher tegno chel precio sara mior zonte legalie, ASV PSM M 42, letter from Alvise Mocenigo, from Yprès, 10 September 1503, Braunstein, Les Allemands à Venise, pp. 583–584.
26 ASV PSM M 42, fasc. XXI, letter from Alvise Mocenigo, from Antwerp, 26 April 1503.
27 Braunstein, Les Allemands à Venise, pp. 353–354.
28 Ibid., p. 590.
29 Vostra Magnificentia memanda gran suma con la nave e questo chexe sopra le galie xe gran quanttitta che elpaexe non porta, ASV PSM MI 43, from Pola, 1 February 1502, mipar chosa nova chel paexe deba consumar piui rami de quelo el suo chonsuetto, ASV PSM M 43 1502, from Pola, 20 January 1502.
30 Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, pp. 226–227.
31 ASV PSM M 42, fasc. XXI, letter from Alvise Mocenigo, from Antwerp, 26 April 1503.
32 Chel signor dio da chi prociede ogno bene ne vol aiutar piui del nostro desegno perche si le vero che marchadanti damaschini sara in alexandria I levara i rami per i do viagi et vostra magnificentia ara fato da sapientissimo avendo tolto el resto de rami per quelo poso comprender perche aspetando tanta suma per duchati 120M tegno abiati levato altri rami acio non vadino in man daltri, ASV PSM M 42, fasc. XXI, letter from Alvise Mocenigo, from Antwerp, 26 April 1503.
33 Mueller, R. C., ‘The Procurators of San Marco in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; a study of the office as a financial and trust institution’, Studi Veneziani XIII (1971), pp. 105–220Google Scholar.
34 Sanudo, Diarii, VI, pp. 454, 498.
35 Originally located in ASV PSM M 42.
36 J. L. Meloy, ‘Mecca Entangled’, in The Mamluk Sultanate from the Perspective of Regional and World History, (eds.) R. Amitai and S. Conermann (Göttingen 2019), pp. 466–470; R. T. Mortel, ‘The Mercantile Community of Mecca during the Late Mamluk Period’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 4, 1 (1994), pp. 15–35.
37 ASV PSM M 44A, accounts of 1493, f. 9b.; ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibn Fahd (1447-1516), Bulūgh al-Qurá bi-Dhayl Itḥāf al-Wará bi-Akhbār Umm al-Qurá, (ed.) S. Ibrāhīm, A. Abū al-Khayr, and U. al-Majlabdī (Cairo, 2005), pp. 454, 463.
38 ASV PSM M 44, accounts of 1501, f. 3a.
39 H. ʻAbd al-Muʻṭī, al-ʻĀ'ilah wa-al-tharwah: al-buyūt al-tijārīyah al-Maghribīyah fī Miṣr al-ʻUthmānīyah (Cairo, 2008).
40 For Ibn ‘Ulayba (beneoliba) ASV PSM M 44A, accounts of 1493, f. 2b, 3b, 4b.
41 For Ibn al-Mulqī (nasardin benemurchi), ASV PSM M 44A, accounts 1485-91, f. 8a-b.; Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, pp. 110, 217.
42 Among many other examples, ASV PSM M 44, accounts of 1501, f.1, mentioning purchases of copper by benechabeza, benesamese, umar magrabin, mamett elchari, and f.3a, ametto elchari, mamett alepin rosso. Similar mentions can be found in the accounts of 1500, f. 1b. For Ibn al-Khabbāza, Ibn Fahd, Bulūgh, 2053, for Ibn Shams, a merchant from Aleppo, of Cairene origins, whose father settled in Mecca, Shams ad-Dīn al-Sakhāwī (1427-97), al-Ḍāw’ al-lāmiʿ li ahl al-qarn al-Tāsiʿ, vol. IX (Cairo 1934-6), p. 458.
43 March 1503; Sanudo, Diarii, V, p. 34; Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, p. 108; ASV PSM M accounts 1494-1501, accounts 2 August 1494, f. 4r, accounts 1497, f. 5r.; Ibn Fahd, Bulūgh, p. 628.
44 Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, p. 217; Muḥammad Ibn Iyās (1448-ca.1524), Badāʾiʿ al-Zuhūr fī Waqāʾiʿ al-Duhūr, vol. IV (ed.) M. Muṣṭafá, 5 vols. (Wiesbaden, 1960-75) p. 424.
45 ASV PSM M 44, see, among others, the accounts of 1501 by Antonio Coppo, f. 1a, mamett elchari appears in a copper deal.
46 Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, pp. 140–141.
47 Ibn Fahd, Bulūgh, p. 1194.
48 Ibid., p. 400.
49 Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, p. 217.
50 For a recent discussion on the Nākhudās, see Goitein, S. D. and Friedman, M. A., India traders of the middle ages: documents from the Cairo Geniza: India book (Leiden and Boston, 2008), pp. 121–153Google Scholar.
51 For Ibn Kursūn (benecharson in the accounts) ASV PSM M 44A, accounts of 1493, f.11a. For the shipwreck incident: Ibn Fahd, Bulūgh, pp. 763–764, and Muḥammad al-Sakhāwī, Wajīz al-kalām fī al-dhayl ʻalá Duwal al-Islām, vol. III, (eds.) B. Maʻrūf, I. Ḥarastānī, and A. Khuṭaymī, 4 vols. (Beirut, 1995), pp. 1248–1250. Aḥmad Ibn Ṣadaqa was a Khāwajā and father of ʿ(Alī benesadecha), one of Foscari's closest business partners, ASV PSM M 44A, accounts of 1485-91, f.3.
52 Meloy, J. L., Imperial power and maritime trade: Mecca and Cairo in the later Middle Ages (Chicago, 2010), p. 61Google Scholar.
53 P. G. Forand, ‘Notes on 'ušr and maks’’, in Arabica XIII, 2 (1966); M. A. P. Meilink-Roelofsz, Asian trade and European influence in the Indonesian Archipelago between 1500 and about 1630 (The Hague, 1962), pp. 43–44, mentions similar custom duties for Arab vessels in Melaka.
54 Meloy, Mecca Entangled, pp. 467–470; Meloy, Imperial power, pp. 75–76.; R. B. Serjeant, ‘Fifteenth Century ‘Interlopers’ on the Coast of Rasulid Yemen’, in Res Orientales VI: Itiniraires d'Orient, Hommages a Claude Cahen, (eds.) Raoul Curiel and Rika Gyselen (Paris, 1994), pp. 83–91.
55 Barbosa, D., Livro em que dá relação de que viu e ouviu no Oriente Duarte Barbosa (Lisbon, 1946), pp. 45–46Google Scholar.; Jār Allāh Ibn Fahd (1486-1547), Kitāb Nayl al-Muná bi-Dhayl Bulūgh al-Qurá li-Takmilat Itḥāf al-Wará (Tārīkh Makkah al-Mukarramah min Sanat 922 H ilá 946 H), (ed.) M. al-Hīlah, 2 vols. (Beirut, 2000), p. 215.
56 Afonso de Albuquerque, The commentaries of the great Afonso Dalboquerque, second viceroy of India, vol. III (London, 1875), p. 85.
57 Meloy, Imperial power, p. 62.
58 The memorandum clearly refers to the city on the northern bank of the Vashishti River, and not to Daybūl in Sindh, near today's Karachi.
59 They were part of the gift from Malik Ayas of Gujarat: Ibn Fahd, Bulūgh, p. 1513. For the Italian terms, see also Appendix I.
60 Barbosa, Livro em que dá relação de que viu e ouviu no Oriente Duarte Barbosa, pp. 86–87.
61 P. Beaujard, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: A Global History, vol. II (Cambridge, 2019), p. 246.
62 ASV PSM Citra 197, inserto C, 12 June 1487 and 14 June 1488, exports by Piero Morosini & Co.
63 He was possibly the same nākhudhā Jawhar at the service of Ibn al-Zaman mentioned by Ibn Fahd in the abovementioned shipwreck incident, Ibn Fahd, Bulūgh, pp. 763–764: Subrahmanyam, The career and legend of Vasco da Gama, pp. 204–208.
64 respecto al charavele de Portogal chestano in queli mari dindia e schore in ttantti queli logi ni un di lor navili de mari non se mettere al mar per dubitto deser prexi. Ttandem il dì pasadi fo detto per mori publichamente che le charavele avea prexo Cholochut e ttaliato a pezi de gran zentte de quel locho., ASV PSM M 43, 11 March 1504, letter from Daniel Coppo.
65 Beaujard, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: a Global History, vol. II, pp. 490–491; Sanudo, diarii, IV, 169.
66 J. Aubin, ‘Marchands de Mer Rouge et du Golfe Persique au tournant des 15e et 16e siècles’, in Marchands et Hommes d'affaires asiatiques dans l'Océan Indien et la Mer de Chine, 13e - 20e siècles, (eds.) D. Lombard and J. Aubin (Paris, 1988). Beaujard, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: a Global History, vol. II, p. 490.
67 seveni pocho chomtto che quele charavele posi intrar piui in Cholochutt per eser stado chambiado signoria in quel locho ettaliato a pezi ttutti quei populi chera prima chera Judei chera ttutti xe mori echovernasi per el signor de chombutt, ASV PSM M 43, unsigned letter, dated solely by the year, 1501.
68 Flores, J., Os portugueses e o Mar de Ceilão : trato, diplomacia e guerra (1498-1543) (Lisbon, 1998), pp. 60–62Google Scholar; Beaujard, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean, vol. II, p. 240.
69 Arrivando loro alixora de Zilan chexe in chamin avantti el suo andar in cholochutt inquela ixola lavera tutte lechanele fine e pottra aver le grose e salvattiche per eser doaltre ixole aquel chonfin unitte insieme ettraxera dequesta ixola de Zilan Jolie asai per eser rocha derubini alttro non ttrazerano, ASV PSM M 43, unsigned letter, dated solely by the year, 1501.
70 dinove che per mori ezontte de qui mie amixi liqual vien de cholochutt ett queli dixeno che in colochutt son fatto fortte ett ano parattado daomini 6000 armadi con archi ett bonbarde asai fatte al muodo nostro per aver viste quele che ando con le Caravele ett stano aspettar cheli vaga per ttaiarli apezi ett dubito siquesto ze son bona nuova perche isera sensa piper ezenzari e canele elipuol ttrar perche lilargo de la Zorni 5 in un luogo nominado Silan enon ano de far difesa, ASV PSM M 43, 21 March 1503.
71 Varthema, L., Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese nello Egitto, nella Soria, nella Arabia deserta, & felice, nella Persia, nella India, & nela Ethyopia (Venice, 1535), p. 157Google Scholar.
72 Ibn Fahd, Bulūgh, p. 1123, where a ship loaded with rice is mentioned, and pp. 1214-1215.
73 al-Sakhāwī, al-Ḍāw’ al-lāmiʿ, vol. VIII, p. 260, n. 703.
74 M. Alam and S. Subrahmanyam have recently reassesed the Red Sea-Gujarat relations in the light of Mecca's chronicles. See their ‘A View from Mecca: Notes on Gujarat, the Red Sea, and the Ottomans, 1517–39/923–946 H’, Modern Asian Studies 51, 2 (2017), pp. 268–318; Rivers, P. J., ‘Negeri below and above the wind: Malacca and Cathay’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 78 (2005), pp. 1–32Google Scholar.
75 Chaudhuri, K. N., Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: an Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge and New York, 1985), pp. 48–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
76 Serjeant, Fifteenth Century ‘Interlopers’, p. 83.
77 Meloy, Mecca Entangled, pp. 466–470.
78 J. M. dos Santos Alves, ‘The Foreign Traders' Management in the Sultanates of the Straits of Malacca (The Cases of Malacca, Samudera-Pasai and Aceh, 15th and 16th Centuries)’, in From the Mediterranean to the China Sea: Miscellaneous Notes, (eds.) C. Guillot, D. Lombard and R. Ptak (Harrassowitz, 1998), pp. 131–142; R. M. Eaton, ‘Multiple Lenses: Differing perspectives of Fifteenth-Century Calicut’, in Essays on Islam and Indian History (ed.) R. M. Eaton (New Delhi, 2000), pp. 76–93; L. F. Thomaz, ‘Malaka et ses communautés marchandes au tournant du 16e siècle’, in Marchands et Hommes d'affaires asiatiques dans l'Océan Indien et la Mer de Chine, 13e - 20e siècles, (eds.) D. Lombard and J. Aubin (Paris, 1998), pp. 31–49. For the Moluccas, see D. Bulbeck et al., Southeast Asian exports since the 14th century : cloves, pepper, coffee, and sugar (Singapore, Leiden and Canberra, 1998), p. 17.
79 Arab authors also mention a later Singhalese diplomatic mission to the Rasulids of Yemen in 1398, M. Aḥmad, Banū Rasūl wa-Banū Ṭāhir wa-ʻalāqāt al-Yaman al-khārijīyah fī ʻahdihimā, 628-923 H /1231-1517 M (al-Iskandarīyah, 1989), p. 437.
80 Bulbeck et al., Southeast Asian exports.
81 Apellániz, Pouvoir et finance, pp. 76–78; E. Vallet, ‘Le marché des épices d'Alexandrie et les mutations du grande commerce de la mer Rouge (XIVe-XVe siècle)’, in Alexandrie Médiévale 4, (ed.) C. Décobert (Alexandria, 2011), pp. 213–228.
82 ASV PSM M 43, 21 March 1503.
83 For instance, on Calicut, dinove che per mori e zontte de qui mie amixi liqual vi de cholochutt ett queli dixeno che in colochutt son fatto fortt ett ano parattado da omini 6000 armadi con archi ett bonbarde asai. On the sultan's spices, Ett arichordo a vostra magnificentia che ultra le spezie quele o scritto de supra quiste zontte al chaiero ett si spetta anchora de Altor e de Suachin de schibe 2000 in suxo de piu forte spezie ett queste non son parole perche ho parlado con margarbini mie amixi liqual me aditto el ttutto perche eli vien de quele bande ett me ano fermado sertto., ASV PSM M 43, 21 March 1503.
84 I have separated the words, followed modern patterns of capitalisation and punctuation, and developed abbreviations. With the exception of my accent marks on the third person of verb essere (as in è or zè), I have respected the grammatical peculiarities of the Venetian text as well as Zorzi's orthographic incoherencies. As for most commodities and measures of packaging, transportation and weight, I refer to the recent and exhaustive work on the Venetian merchant handbooks (tariffe) by A. Sopracasa, Venezia e l'Egitto alla fine del Medioevo: le tariffe di Alessandria (Alexandria, 2013).
85 Word of uncertain reading.
86 Sopracasa, Venezia e l'Egitto, 750.
87 The document refers indistinctly to collo (Co) and colli (Ci), a known Venetian weight unity for spices, see ibid., pp. 244–251, p. 748.
88 Ibid., p. 751.
89 Stands probably for pattine or piatine, Ibid., p. 750.
90 Ibid., p. 713.
91 Rendered in abbreviation.
92 Ibid., p. 674
93 Ibid., p. 749.
94 Ibid., p. 683, p. 707, p. 712.
95 Ibid., p. 713.
96 Ibid., p. 668.
97 Ibid., p. 749.
98 Rendered in abbreviation.
99 Ibid., p. 749.
100 Rendered in abbreviation.
101 Ziziphus jujuba, italian giuggiole, rendered in abbreviation.
102 Almost certainly emblici myrobalans, Ibid., p. 689.
103 Ibid., p. 689.
104 Ibid., p. 689.
105 Ibid., p. 714.
106 Rendered in abbreviation.
107 Ibid., p. 738.
108 Rendered in abbreviation.
109 Ibid., p. 680.
110 Ibid., p. 685.
111 muschada rendered in abbreviation.
112 Word of uncertain reading, probably a surname.