Summary (С. П. Карпов)

The fifth issue of the series «The Black Sea Region in the Middle Ages» was prepared for the XXth International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Paris. Among the authors working on the same themes, are the research fellows of the Center of Byzantine and Black Sea Region Studies of Moscow State University and their colleagues from Italy and France. We are grateful to the Open Society (RSS grant, (Cf.: her previous publication of the acts of Cristoforo Rizzo in the «The Black Sea Region in the Middle Ages». Vol. 4. Moscow; SPb., 2000. P. 19-35) 297/1999) for the support of the research project.

Two publications deal with the history of Tana (Azov). One of them investigated the first and largest cartulary originating from Tana. The Venetian notary and chancellor Benedetto Bianco drafted it in 1359-60. Bianco worked in the area held by the Golden Horde in a time of troubles caused by civil wars. The investigation showed that, even so, the Venetian settlement augmented in size and importance. Another section, by A. A. Talyzina, was dedicated to the Venetian chancellor Cristoforo Rizzo, who worked in Tana much later. Rizzo's testaments from 1411-1413 were the basis of this publicationl.

I. K. Fomenko investigated the geographical names of Black Sea sites, mentioned in nautical charts of the 13th—17th centuries. He drew attention to «national» schools of cartographers and special traditions, explaining how and why certain toponyms appeared on the nautical charts. His study is a useful reference tool.

Juridical institutions and legal procedures of the Genoese Romania were treated in O. N. Barabanov's paper. He compared legal practice with normative acts, laws and different statutes of the metropolis.

Relations between Byzantium and the East were treated in three articles. G.Strano (Catania, Italy) showed the importance of a legend about the Armenian origin of the founder of the Macedonian dynasty Basil I (867-886) for formation of the ideology, external and internal policy of the Byzantine Empire, particularly regarding Great Armenia and the Caucasus. I. Auge (Montpellier, France) analyzed the religious polemic of the Byzantine Greeks with the Latins, Armenians and Jacobites of Syria. He came to the opinion, that in this way the Byzantines, during the reign of Manuel I (1143-1180), tried to open a road to the union of churches as the threat from the Turks increased.

The Turks from Anatolia, as is known, played an important role in the history of the region. R. M. Shukurov studies the initial stage of their contact with the Byzantine world. Analyzing titles and emblems of the Turkic governors in Anatolia in the 12th—13th centuries, he came to the conclusion that they were under the clear influence of Byzantine practice. At the same time, the Turkmens tried to unify and harmonize Byzantine and Muslim models of self-identification with respect to the supreme role of the ruler of Constantinople, the emperor.

West and East in the history of the Black Sea Region were equally important, and they were studied in a broad context. The area, connecting different civilizations and cultural traditions, can be treated only in a multidisciplinary way.

S. Karpov