Mongol conquestsTravel and discovery

Mission of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to the Mongols

Sent by Pope Innocent IV, the Franciscan Giovanni da Pian del Carpine crossed Eastern Europe and the steppes to the camp of the Mongol khans near Karakorum, witnessed the enthronement of Güyük in August 1246 and brought back the khan’s reply to the pope and the first authentic European account of the Mongols.

Date: 16 April 1245 – 1247start: exact date; end: year known · duration: ≈ 2 yearsDate in the Julian calendar
Place: Sira Ordo, the khan’s camp near Karakorumapproximate locationtoday: Orkhon valley, Mongolia · Central and Northern Asia
Route: Lyon → Wrocław → Kyiv → Kaniv → Batu’s camp on the lower Volga → Lake Alakol → Sira Ordo near Karakorum
Participants: Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Güyük Khan, Yaroslav II of Vladimir, Mongol Empire
Threads: Mongol conquests
Also known as: Ystoria Mongalorum; Historia Mongalorum; Carpini's mission; Миссия Плано Карпини; История монгалов; Путешествие Плано Карпини

After the Mongol invasion of Poland and Hungary in 1241, Pope Innocent IV, fearing a new attack, sent envoys to the Mongols. Carpine, already past sixty and one of the companions of Francis of Assisi, left Lyon on Easter Day, 16 April 1245, with the papal letter Cum non solum; at Wrocław Benedict the Pole joined him as interpreter. By way of Kyiv and the first Mongol posts at Kaniv the friars reached Batu’s camp on the Volga in early April 1246. Batu sent them on to the great khan: riding north of the Caspian, through Semirechye and past Lake Alakol, they covered about 3,000 miles (some 4,800 km) in 106 days and on 22 July arrived at Sira Ordo, the imperial camp near Karakorum.

There, among some 3,000–4,000 envoys and visitors from all over Asia and Eastern Europe, Carpine saw the election of Güyük and, on 24 August 1246, his enthronement at a neighbouring camp. Among those present was Grand Prince Yaroslav II of Vladimir, who died soon afterwards; Carpine wrote that everyone believed he had been poisoned. In November Güyük dismissed the friars with a letter demanding that the pope and the princes of Europe come and submit to him; its Persian text is preserved in the Vatican archives. The envoys were back in Kyiv in June 1247 and in Lyon in the autumn.

Carpine’s report, the Ystoria Mongalorum, described the land, customs, religion and warfare of the Mongols and advised how to wage war against them; it is regarded as the first authentic European account of the Mongols. The route on the map is approximate, and the exact site of Sira Ordo is unknown.

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Connections

Causes and preconditions

Mongol invasion of Europe1236–1242 · Eastern EuropeAlarmed by the Mongol invasion of 1241, the pope sent envoys to the great khan

Related events

Battle of Qatwan9 September 1141 · Central and Northern AsiaHopes of finding a lost Nestorian kingdom in the East — the realm of Prester John, a legend fed by news of Qatwan — were among the motives of the missions to the Mongols
Francis of Assisi founds the Franciscan orderbetween 1209 and 1210 · Western and Central EuropeCarpine was one of the companions and disciples of Francis of Assisi
Death of Yaroslav II in Karakorum30 September 1246 · Central and Northern AsiaCarpine met Yaroslav at the khan’s court and recorded the belief that he had been poisoned
William of Rubruck’s journey to Karakorum7 May 1253 – 15 August 1255 · Central and Northern AsiaEight years after Carpine, Rubruck travelled by a similar route to the court of the next great khan
Pax Mongolicac. 1250 – c. 1350 · Central and Northern AsiaCarpine was among the first European travellers to describe the Mongol relay service

Same participants

Battle of Köse Dağbetween 26 June and 3 July 1243 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Mongol Empire
Yaroslav II receives a yarlyk from Batu1243 · Eastern Europevia Yaroslav II of Vladimir
Completion of the Secret History of the Mongolsbetween 1228 and 1264 · Central and Northern Asiavia Mongol Empire

Same place

Bumin overthrows the Rouran: the Turkic Khaganate is foundedbetween February and March 552 · Central and Northern Asia
Civil war and split of the Turkic Khaganate581–603 · Central and Northern Asia
The Uyghurs overthrow the Turks: the Uyghur Khaganate744 · Central and Northern Asia
Bögü Qaghan makes Manichaeism the religion of the Uyghursbetween 762 and 763 · Central and Northern Asia
The Yenisei Kyrgyz destroy the Uyghur Khaganate840 · Central and Northern Asia
Abaoji’s western campaign: the Khitans reach the Orkhon22 July 924 – 23 September 925 · Central and Northern Asia
Karakorum becomes the Mongol capital1235 · Central and Northern Asia

Meanwhile in the world

Other regions, within a year of this event

Western and Central Europe

Rebuilding of Chartres Cathedral and the High Gothic10 June 1194 – 24 October 1260
Rise of the Hanseatic League1241–1356

Eastern Europe

Reign of Mindaugasc. 1236 – between August and September 1263

Balkans and Anatolia

John III Vatatzes and the revival of the Empire of Nicaeabetween December 1221 and December 1222 – 3 November 1254

The same period

13th century

Sources

Wikipedia (English): Giovanni da Pian del Carpine
Wikipedia (English): Ystoria Mongalorum
Wikipedia (English): Güyük Khan
Wikipedia (English): Cum non solum
Wikipedia (Russian): Карпини, Иоанн де Плано
Letter by the Great Khan Güyük to Pope Innocent IV (ASV, A.A., Arm. I-XVIII, 1802)
Jackson P. The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410. — Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2005.