Peacock Books

2017

MARCO POLO was born in 1254 in Venice, perhaps in the former contrada of San Giovanni Crisostomo. His father Niccolò was a merchant who traded with the Near East, becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige. Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage, before Marco was born. In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo were residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the Latin Empire, when they foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away. Their decision proved wise. Constantinople was recaptured in 1261 by Michael Palaeologus, the ruler of the Empire of Nicaea, who promptly burned the Venetian quarter and reestablished the Eastern Roman Empire. The captured Venetian citizens were blinded, while many of those who managed to escape perished aboard overloaded refugee ships fleeing to other Venetian colonies in the Aegean Sea.