Church-state relations in the world of the Genoese colonies in the Late Middle Ages (on the example of the Crimean Kaffa)

The article is devoted to the relations between the Latin Church and the colonial administration of the Black Sea settlements, with particular emphasis on Kaffa, Crimea, at the decline of Genoese colonies in the area (until 1475). Based on an analysis of laws regulating the life of Genoese settlements in the mid-15lh century, with especial focus on the Kaffa statutes of 1449. the author scrutinizes the legal position of Kaffa’s Church, religious tensions vs. secular interventions, Church influence on the colony’s daily life and on overseas commerce, including slave trade. The author discusses the place of the sacred in urban space and dwells on the ties between Kaffa inhabitants with the Latin Church. Secular authorities were interested in the posting of bishops in the colonies. On the other hand, they created favorable conditions for the priests’ pastoral work, guaranteeing the Latin Church a privileged position in the lay legal system as defined in the colony’s statutes. Any questions of worship, however, were entirely the domain of the Church. The existence and operation of colonies along the Black Sea Coast enabled the Church not only to perform pastoral work among its own faithful but also to interact with other religions. At the same time, the colonies safeguarded the Latin Church’s interests in remote, overseas locations