Buscarello de Ghizolfi and Family

Yesterday's post mentioned Buscarello de Ghizolfi, a man from Genoa who served a few Mongol leaders as their ambassador to Europe, speaking to kings of France and England and others to suggest an alliance. The alliance was to cooperate against the growing threat of Islam, and to help overthrow the Egyptian Mamluk regime. (Those goals were never realized.)

Buscarello was part of a Jewish family of merchants who were prominent through the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Prior to going to Persia to serve in the Ilkhanate, we see mentions of Buscarello in 1274 where he is involved with arming a galley (the city-states of Italy were frequently at odds with each other as well as non-Italians; note the Genoese-Venetian war that Marco Polo was involved in).

A few years later, he and his brothers are known to have been in Cilician Armenia, which is likely where he came to the attention of Mongol leadership. He joined Arghun Khan of the Ilkhanate as an officer, and eventually was named ambassador. He carried out several diplomatic missions for Arghun and his sons, Ghazan and Öljaitü (the illustration is a letter from Öljaitü to Philip IV of France). He even named his son "Argone," after Arghun.

One journey involved Buscarello's nephew, Corrado de Ghizolfi, going ahead to request safe passage for an embassy to Iran.

Buscarello drops out of the public record by 1317. The family remained active in the Black Sea as part of Genoese trade. In 1419, Simeone de Ghizolfi married Bikhakhanim, a princess of Tmutarakan, a medieval principality of Kievan Rus. The translation of her name suggests that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. Simeone became ruler of Tmutarakan through this marriage. As late as 1482 a descendant, Zacharias de Ghizolfi, was still ruling there.

This gave Genoa a lot of influence on the Black Sea. Genoa, as mentioned above, was a significant rival of Venice for control of maritime trade. Let's look at it's history next time.

Mongol Partners

There was a surprising amount of connection between the Mongol Empire and culture and the people of Western Europe. Part of this was because of the traditional Mongol tolerance for other religions and cultures. It did not hurt that the Mongol Empire saw Islam as a threat and was willing to form an alliance with the Christian West to hold back the spread of Muslims.

Although a permanent alliance was never formed, there was plenty of collaboration. We've recently looked at the merchant brothers, the Polos. Let's talk about some of the men who worked with Ghazan of the Ilkhanate.

A letter from Pope Boniface VIII to the Archbishop of Nicosia refers to Isol the Pisan as "Vicar of Syria and the Holy Land for Ghazan the Emperor of the Tartars." Isol seems to have been at the court of Ghazan for several years, rising to be Ghazan's ambassador to Cyprus. (It was not uncommon for the Khans to employ outsiders to various positions; Marco Polo is an example.) Isol had been around for a while in Persia: when Ghazan's younger brother Öljaitü was baptized a Christian, Isol stood as godfather. (Öljaitü did not stay Christian: after succeeding Ghazan, he changed in 1310 to Shi'a Islam.) (Ghazan and Öljaitü  are together in the illustration.) 

A man from Genoa served as ambassador to Europe from 1289 to 1305, working for Öljaitü, his brother Ghazan, and before them their father Arghun. Buscarello de Ghizolfi traveled back to Europe on Arghun's behalf to try to form an alliance. Buscarello carried messages for Philip IV of France and Edward I of England saying that, were they to bring their armies to his aid, Arghun would meet them with 20,000 to 30,000 horses and supplies to help retake the Holy Land. If Egypt could be conquered, Arghun would deliver Jerusalem to the West.

Edward agreed, but did not commit to a firm date for the endeavor. Buscarello returned to Persia with an English ambassador, Sir Geoffrey de Langley. A second attempt a few years later by Öljaitü to invite France and England to join him amounted to nothing.

Still, the commerce between Europeans and lands to the East brought many innovations such as gunpowder and paper currency, silk, different foods and spice, etc.

I want to talk a little more about Buscarello and his family tomorrow.