NOTE 2. - In the Middle Ages the Euxine was frequently called Mare Magnum
or Majus. Thus Chaucer: -
"In the GRETE SEE,
At many a noble Armee hadde he be."
The term Black Sea (Mare Maurum v. Nigrum) was, however, in use, and
Abulfeda says it was general in his day. That name has been alleged to
appear as early as the 10th century, in the form [Greek: Skoteinae], "The
Dark Sea"; but an examination of the passage cited, from Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, shows that it refers rather to the Baltic, whilst that
author elsewhere calls the Euxine simply Pontus. (Reinaud's Abulf. I.
38, Const. Porph. De Adm. Imp. c. 31, c. 42.)
+ Sodaya, Soldaia, or Soldachia, called by Orientals Sudak, stands
on the S.E. coast of the Crimea, west of Kaffa. It had belonged to the
Greek Empire, and had a considerable Greek population. After the Frank
conquest of 1204 it apparently fell to Trebizond. It was taken by the
Mongols in 1223 for the first time, and a second time in 1239, and during
that century was the great port of intercourse with what is now Russia. At
an uncertain date, but about the middle of the century, the Venetians
established a factory there, which in 1287 became the seat of a consul. In
1323 we find Pope John XXII. complaining to Uzbek Khan of Sarai that the
Christians had been ejected from Soldaia and their churches turned into
mosques.
