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Niccolò Polo (1230—1294〔Died before 1300.〕) and Maffeo Polo (1230–1309〔Died before 1318.〕) were Italian traveling merchants best known as the father and uncle, respectively, of the explorer Marco Polo. The brothers went into business before Marco's birth, established trading posts in Constantinople, Sudak in Crimea, and in a western part of the Mongol Empire in Asia. As a duo, they reached modern-day China before temporarily returning to Europe to deliver a message to the Pope. Taking Nicolò's son Marco with them, the Polos then made another journey through Asia, which became the subject of Marco's account ''The Travels of Marco Polo''. ==First voyage== Leaving Niccolò's infant son Marco behind, Niccolò and Maffeo left Venice for Constantinople, where they resided for several years.〔The exact date of their departure remains unknown.〕 The two brothers lived in the Venetian quarter of Constantinople, where they enjoyed diplomatic immunity, political chances and tax relief because of their country's role in establishing the Latin Empire in the Fourth Crusade of 1204. However, the family judged the political situation of the city precarious, so they decided to transfer their business northeast to Soldaia, a city in Crimea, and left Constantinople in 1259 or 1260. Their decision proved wise. Constantinople was recaptured in 1261 by Michael Palaeologus, the ruler of the Empire of Nicaea, who promptly burned and razed the Venetian quarter and reestablished the Byzantine Empire. Captured Venetian citizens were blinded,〔Zorzi, Alvise, ''Vita di Marco Polo veneziano'', Rusconi Editore, 1982〕 while many of those who managed to escape perished aboard overloaded refugee ships fleeing to other Venetian colonies in the Aegean Sea. As their new home on the north rim of the Black Sea, Soldaia had been frequented by Venetian traders since the 12th century. When the Polos reached it, it was part of the newly formed Mongol state known as the Golden Horde. Searching for better profits, the Polos continued their journey to Sarai, where the court of Berke Khan, the ruler of the Golden Horde, was located. At that time, the city of Sarai was no more than a huge encampment, and the Polos stayed for about a year. Finally, they decided to avoid Crimea, because of a civil war between Berke and his cousin Hulagu or perhaps because of the bad relationship between Berke Khan and the Byzantine Empire. Instead, they moved further east to Bukhara, in modern day Uzbekistan, where the family lived and traded for three years. In 1264, Niccolò and Maffeo joined up with an embassy sent by the Ilkhanate ruler Hulagu to his brother Kublai Khan, both grandsons of Gengis Khan. In 1266, they reached the seat of Kublai Khan, the leader of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, at Dadu, present day Beijing, China. In his book, ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', Marco explains how Kublai Khan officially received the Polos and sent them back with a Mongol named Koeketei as an ambassador to the Pope. They brought with them a letter from the Khan requesting 100 educated people to come and teach Christianity and Western customs to his people and oil from the lamp of the Holy Sepulcher. The letter also contained the paiza, a golden tablet a foot long and wide, allowing the holder to acquire and obtain lodging, horses and food throughout the Kublai Khan's dominion. Koeketei left in the middle of the journey, leaving the Polos to travel alone to Ayas in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. From that port city, they sailed to Saint Jean d'Acre, capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The long ''sede vacante'' between the death of Pope Clement IV, in 1268, and the election of the new pope in 1271 delayed the Polos attempts to fulfil Kublai's request. As suggested by Theobald Visconti, then papal legate for the realm of Egypt, in Acre for the Ninth Crusade, the two brothers returned to Venice in 1269 or 1270, waiting for the nomination of the new Pope. Here Niccolò met up once again with his son Marco, now fifteen or sixteen, who had been living with his aunt and another uncle in Venice since the death of his mother at a young age. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Niccolò and Maffeo Polo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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