CONTENTS Title Page Dedication Epigraph Dramatis Personae Prologue: The Commander BOOK ONE / Europa The Merchants of Venice The Golden Passport The Apprentice The Opium Eater High Plains Drifters The Secret History of the Mongols Photo Insert BOOK TWO The Universal Emperor In the Service of the Khan The Struggle for Survival 10 The General and the Queen Photo Insert / Asia 11 The City of Heaven 12 The Divine Wind BOOK THREE 13 The Seeker Photo Insert 14 The Mongol Princess 15 The Prodigal Son Epilogue: The Storyteller Acknowledgments Notes on Sources Select Bibliography A Note About the Author Also by Laurence Bergreen Copyright / India To my mother, Adele Gabel Bergreen Kublai asks Marco, “When you return to the West, will you repeat to your people the same tales you tell me?” “I speak and speak,” Marco says, “but the listener retains only the words he is expecting The description of the world to which you lend a benevolent ear is one thing; the description that will go the rounds of the groups of stevedores and gondoliers on the street outside my house the day of my return is another; and yet another, that which I might dictate late in life, if I were taken prisoner by Genoese pirates and put in irons in the same cell with a writer of adventure stories It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear.” “…And I hear, from your voice, the invisible reasons which make cities live, through which perhaps, once dead, they will come to life again.” —Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities DRAMATIS PERSONAE WEST Marco Polo, Venetian merchant Niccolò Polo, Marco’s father Maffeo Polo, Marco’s uncle eobaldo of Piacenza, papal legate; later Pope Gregory X Rustichello of Pisa, Marco’s cell mate in Genoa and coauthor EAST Genghis (or Chinggis) Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire Ưgưdei Khan, Genghis’s son and successor Kublai Khan, one of Genghis’s grandsons; the Great Khan of the Mongols Möngke Khan, one of Genghis’s grandsons orghaghtani Beki, mother of Möngke, Hülegü, and Kublai Chabi, Kublai’s principal wife, a Buddhist Ahmad, Kublai’s Muslim minister of finance Nayan, Kublai’s Christian rival Arigh Bökh, younger brother of Kublai Khan Kaidu, one of Kublai’s cousins Phags-pa, Tibetan Buddhist monk who devised a uniform Mongol script Bayan Hundred Eyes, Kublai Khan’s trusted general PROLOGUE The Commander IN THE SUMMER OF 1298, Genoa’s navy, one of the most powerful in Europe, gathered forces for an assault on the fleet of the Most Serene Republic of Venice Despite formal truces, these two adversaries had been doing battle for decades, vying for lucrative trade routes to the East Crafty and bold, Genoa usually enjoyed the upper hand in their bloody contests In 1294, the Genoese had won a naval action by lashing their vessels together in an enormous square When the Venetians attacked, the floating fortress shattered the would-be invaders and put them to flight The following year, the Genoese again demonstrated dominance of the high seas by sinking the principal Venetian trading fleet, and when they ran out of targets on the water, they pursued the Venetians on land In 1296, in Constantinople, the Genoese massacred their rivals, acquiring a reputation for cruelty and rapacity Venice gradually rallied Under the leadership of daring naval commanders, sleek Venetian galleys pursued the Genoese wherever they went, setting the stage for the Battle of Curzola, named for an island along the craggy Dalmatian coast, claimed by both of these arrogant city-states in their incessant maritime trade wars THE IMMENSE Genoese fleet, eighty-eight ships in all, sailed under the confident command of newly appointed admiral Lamba Doria, who pursued a wait-and-see strategy, hiding behind islands, then sailing into warmer waters close to Tunisia, hoping to lure the impatient Venetians into his grasp The Venetians refused the bait, and the forces of Genoa had to content themselves with random local skirmishes Finally, Admiral Doria could wait no more, and he ordered his fleet north, into the Gulf of Venice The ships met with no significant resistance as they sailed past cities and castles under nominal Venetian control In the absence of the enemy, they dropped anchor off the coast of Curzola, four hundred miles southeast of Venice At that moment, a violent storm claimed six of the fleet’s eighty-eight vessels, and when it cleared, the survivors proceeded to loot and destroy the island, offering what they assumed would be an irresistible taunt to the invisible Venetians On the morning of September 6, 1298, amid gathering heat and humidity, the Venetian fleet suddenly appeared out of the mist: ninety-six galleys under the command of Andrea Dandolo, the scion of a prominent dynasty The Venetian galleys, renowned for their speed, were slender, elegant affairs resembling giant gondolas, powered by pairs of straining oarsmen The galleys could plunge into oncoming waves and, with equal confidence, turn to drive a spur projecting from the bow into an opposing ship The moment this device was in place, Venetian forces rushed across to storm the enemy Because oars work most efficiently when they enter the water at a shallow angle, the ships exposed less than three feet of freeboard (Galleys could also travel under sail, although they were poorly equipped for this technology.) Existence aboard a Venetian galley was misery Crews of about a hundred men were crowded into narrow spaces; food and water were in short supply Galleys carried only a week’s worth of supplies; short rations for the exhausted rowers were the norm rather than the exception To cope with these severe limitations, Venetian galleys put in at night, and kept their missions brief—three or four days, at most With their shallow drafts, they hugged the shore—deadly but surprisingly vulnerable craft lying in wait to strike ONE OF THESE ships was commanded by Marco Polo, a merchant who had returned from China three years earlier At forty-four, he was among the oldest participants in the battle, and by far the best traveled Marco headed into battle bearing the title of “noble” of Venice, financing his own ship and relying on experienced pilots to the actual sailing A global traveler since the age of seventeen, he felt most at home when abroad Under siege, Marco Polo was in his element, confident and composed Fighting in the Battle of Curzola was a way to surround himself with glory in the eyes of his fellow Venetians, who regarded his tales of China with skepticism Andrea Dandolo led Marco and the other Venetians to the opposite side of Curzola, where his men disembarked—and promptly went into hiding During the interlude, Lamba Doria had taken the measure of the enemy fleet, and had reached the erroneous conclusion that the Venetians were simply delaying engagement in battle out of fear But the next morning—Sunday, September 8—the Venetians charged across Curzola toward the Genoese encampment Eager to confront the Venetians at last, Doria led his men into an amphibious battle On land, arrows darkened the skies; at sea, galleys rammed and set fire to one another As Doria surveyed the scene at the height of battle alongside his son Ottavio, a Venetian arrow struck the young man in the chest Ottavio fell at his father’s feet, suddenly lifeless Others aboard the ship attempted to commiserate with Doria, but he refused their pity “Throw my son overboard into the deep sea,” he ordered “What better resting place can we give him than this spot?” With the wind at their backs, the Venetians, under Dandolo’s leadership, seized the initiative and captured ten Genoese galleys, but in their enthusiasm they ran their ships aground After nine hours of combat, the exhausted Venetians found themselves overwhelmed The Genoese captured eighty-four Venetian galleys, sinking some and burning others to the waterline Only a handful of the once-proud vessels escaped The human toll proved even greater In all, the Genoese forces captured 8,000 men —a breathtaking number at a time when the total population of Venice was scarcely 100,000 The defeat amounted to the worst setback that Venice had suffered during a decade of battles with Genoa In disgrace, Andrea Dandolo lashed himself to his flagship’s mast and beat his head against it until he died of a fractured skull, thus depriving the Genoese of the satisfaction of executing him THE SCALE OF the victory astounded the Genoese forces, who marveled at their good fortune as they led the captured Venetian galleys to a grim reckoning in Genoa Among the thousands of wretched captives was Marco Polo, nobleman of Venice FOR THE NEXT four weeks, the Genoese fleet with its captive vessels proceeded on a generally southerly course, and then turned west, under the heel of Italy, and finally north toward Genoa, where the vessels arrived on October 6, 1298 Marco Polo’s galley was towed into the harbor stern first, her sail luffing in the breeze, her banners askew, and her commander in shackles Further disgrace awaited Marco Polo on land, where, according to some accounts, he was immediately confined to the Palazzo di San Giorgio Despite its grand name, the structure had grim associations for Venetians because it was built (in 1260) from stones the Genoese had shamelessly stolen from the Venetian consulate in Constantinople The result was a vulgar monument to Genoese military superiority, complete with ornamental stone lions taken from the original, the lion being the symbol of Venetian power, now tamed by her chief rival Stung by the indignity, Venetians claimed that prisoners starved here, while the Genoese maintained that they were well fed and well cared for The truth probably lay somewhere between the two Prisoners wandered around the palazzo at will, and even sent for luxuries from home Prominent detainees, such as Marco Polo, occupied apartments in which their beds were surrounded with curtains made of rich fabrics; it is possible that servants ran errands for them Life in captivity consisted of tedium rather than cruelty, but it stretched on for years Even in these degrading circumstances, Marco Polo kept his wits about him As a Venetian commander, he was treated with deference He made himself known throughout the prison, and then Genoa, as a teller of sensational tales of his travels in Asia, just as 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London: Secker & Warburg, 1995; Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1996 ——— The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of China Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002 Wylie, A Chinese Researches 1897 Taipei: Ch’eng Wen Publishing Company, 1966 Yang, Zhijiu “The Great Kublai Khan in Marco Polo’s Eyes.” Historical Monthly (Taiwan), November 2000 ——— Makeboluo zai Zhongguo [Marco Polo in China] Tianjin shi: Nan kai da xue chu ban she, 1999 ——— Yüan shi san lun [Three Articles Concerning the Yüan Dynasty] Peking: Ren chu ban she: Xin hua shu dian fa xing, 1985 Yamashita, Michael Marco Polo: A Photographer’s Journey New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2002 Yü, Chün-fang Encountering the Dharma New York: Global Scholarly Publications, 2003 Yule, Henry, Sir, tr and ed., and Henri Cordier, rev Cathay and the Way Thither: Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China Reprint of 1913 ed vols in Taipei: Ch’eng-Wen Publishing Company, 1966 orzi, Alvise, ed Marco Polo, Venezia e l’Oriente: Arte, commercio, civilità al tempo di Marco Polo Milan: Electa, 1981 ——— Vita di Marco Polo veneziano Milan: Rusconi, 1982 A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR LAURENCE BERGREEN is the prizewinning author of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, as well as James Agee: A Life; Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life; Capone: The Man and the Era; and As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, each considered the definitive work on its subject A graduate of Harvard University, he lives in New York City As part of the research for this book, he traveled Marco Polo’s route across Mongolia and China ALSO BY LAURENCE BERGREEN Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe Voyage to Mars: NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life Capone: The Man and the Era As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin James Agee: A Life Look Now, Pay Later: The Rise of Network Broadcasting THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A KNOPF Copyright © 2007 by Laurence Bergreen All rights reserved Published in the United States by Alfred A Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto www.aaknopf.com Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bergreen, Laurence Marco Polo: from Venice to Xanadu / by Laurence Bergreen.—1st ed p cm Includes bibliographical references Polo, Marco, 1254–1323?—Travel Explorers—Italy—Biography Voyages and travels Asia—Description and travel Travel, Medieval I Title G370.P9b37 2007 910.4—dc22 [B] 2007021860 eISBN: 978-0-307-26769-6 v3.0 ... PERSONAE WEST Marco Polo, Venetian merchant Niccolò Polo, Marco s father Maffeo Polo, Marco s uncle eobaldo of Piacenza, papal legate; later Pope Gregory X Rustichello of Pisa, Marco s cell mate... Sources Select Bibliography A Note About the Author Also by Laurence Bergreen Copyright / India To my mother, Adele Gabel Bergreen Kublai asks Marco, “When you return to the West, will you repeat to... October 6, 1298 Marco Polo s galley was towed into the harbor stern first, her sail luffing in the breeze, her banners askew, and her commander in shackles Further disgrace awaited Marco Polo on land,