John of Plano Carpini's famous journey—his route is shown in Dark blue (railroad track style).

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, or John of Plano Carpini or John of Pian de Carpine or Joannes de Plano (c. 1180-1252) was one of the first Europeans to enter the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and the author of the earliest important Western work on northern and central Asia, Rus, and other regions of the Tatar dominion. Download high resolution version (954x674, 205 KB)Modified version of a 1926 public domain map from [1]. File links The following pages link to this file: History of Central Asia Categories: GFDL images ... Download high resolution version (954x674, 205 KB)Modified version of a 1926 public domain map from [1]. File links The following pages link to this file: History of Central Asia Categories: GFDL images ... Events April 13 - Frederick Barbarossa issues the Gelnhausen Charter November 18 - France Emperor Antoku succeds Emperor Takakura as emperor of Japan Afonso I of Portugal is taken prisoner by Ferdinand II of Leon Artois is annexed by France Prince Mochihito amasses a large army and instigates the Genpei War between... For broader historical context, see 1250s and 13th century. ... Khan (sometimes spelled as Xan, Han, Ke-Han) is a title with many meanings. ... Expansion of the Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire (Mongolian: Их Монгол Улс, meaning Greater Mongol Nation; 1206–1405) was the largest contiguous land empire in history, covering over 33 million km² [1] at its peak, with an estimated population of over 100 million people. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... The word Rus or Rus (Русь in Cyrillic Alphabet) may refer to: the Rus (people) of disputed origin who were at the roots of the statehood of Eastern Slavic peoples; the territories they ruled, also known by the Latinized name, Ruthenia; Kievan Rus, the most powerful of... Historically, the term Tatar (or Tartar) has been ambiguously used by Europeans to refer to many different peoples of Inner Asia and Northern Asia. ...

Life before the journey

He appears to have been a native of Umbria, where a place formerly called Pian del Carpine, but now Magione, stands near Perugia, on the road to Cortona. He was one of the companions and disciples of his countryman Saint Francis of Assisi, and from sundry indications can hardly have been younger than the latter. Joannes bore a high repute in the Franciscan order, and took a foremost part in the propagation of its teaching in northern Europe, holding successively the offices of warden (custos) in Saxony, and of provincial (minister) of Germany, and afterwards of Spain, perhaps of Barbary, and of Cologne. Umbria is a region of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany to the west, the Marche to the east and Lazio to the south. ... Magione is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Perugia in the Italian region Umbria, located about 15 km west of Perugia. ... Perugia is the capital city in the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the Tiber river, and the capital of the province of Perugia. ... André Rieu Concert in Piazza Della Republica, Cortona Cortona is a small town in Tuscany, Italy. ... Saint Francis of Assisi (1182 – October 3, 1226) founded the Franciscan Order or Friars Minor. // Francis was born to Pietro di Bernardone, a prominent businessman, and his wife Pica Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was originally from France. ... The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen; Sorbian: Swobodny Stat Sakska) is the easternmost federal state of Germany. ... For other meanings, see Barbary Coast (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Cologne (disambiguation). ...

He was in the last post at the time of the great Mongol invasion of eastern Europe and of the disastrous Battle of Legnica (9 April 1241), which threatened to cast European Christendom under the leadership of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Ogedei Khan. The dread of the Tatars was, however, still on men's mind four years later, when Pope Innocent IV despatched the first formal Catholic mission to the Mongols; partly to protest against the latters' invasion of Christian lands, partly to gain trustworthy information regarding Mongol armies and their purposes; behind these there may have lurked the beginnings of a policy much developed in latter time - that of opening diplomatic intercourse with a power whose alliance might be invaluable against Islam. The Mongol Invasion of Rus was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River (1223) between Subutais reconnaissance unit and the combined force of several princes of Rus. After fifteen years of peace, it was followed by Batu Khans full-scale invasion in 1237-40. ... Combatants Mongol Empire Diversionary force Alliance Polish states Knights Templars Knights Hospitaller Teutonic Knights (disputed) Commanders Baidar and Kadan Henry II the Pious† Strength Estimated between 8,000-20,000 (max of two tumen)[1] Unknown, estimates have ranged from 2,000-40,000[1] Casualties Unknown, but supposedly heavier... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... Events April 5 - Mongols of Golden Horde under the command of Subotai defeat feudal Polish nobility, including Knights Templar, in the battle of Liegnitz April 27 - Mongols defeat Bela IV of Hungary in the battle of Sajo. ... Khan (sometimes spelled as Xan, Han, Ke-Han) is a title with many meanings. ... Expansion of the Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire (Mongolian: Их Монгол Улс, meaning Greater Mongol Nation; 1206–1405) was the largest contiguous land empire in history, covering over 33 million km² [1] at its peak, with an estimated population of over 100 million people. ... Ögedei, (also Ögädäi, Ögedäi, etc. ... Innocent IV, né Sinibaldo de Fieschi ( 1180/90 - December 7, 1254), pope from 1243 to 1254, belonged to one of the first families of Genoa, and, educated at Parma and Bologna, passed for one of the best canonists of his time. ... The name Mongols (Mongolian: Mongol) specifies one or several ethnic groups. ... Honorary guard of Mongolia. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ...

Joannes's travels

At the head of this mission the pope placed Friar Joannes, at this time certainly not far from sixty-five years of age; and to his discretion nearly everything in the accomplishment of the mission seems to have been left. He was provided with a letter from the Pope to the Great Khan, becoming a papal legate. Joannes started from Lyon, where the pope then resided, on Easter day (16 April 1245), accompanied by another friar, one Stephen of Bohemia, who broke down at Kanev near Kiev, and was left behind. After seeking counsel of an old friend, Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, Joannes was joined at Wrocław by another Minorite, Benedykt Polak, appointed to act as interpreter. A papal Legate, from the Decretals of Boniface VIII (1294 to 1303). ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: (Franco-Provençal: Forward, forward, Lyon the best) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region Rhône-Alpes Department Rhône (69) Subdivisions 9 arrondissements Intercommunality Urban Community of Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics... Easter, also known as Pascha (Greek Πάσχα: Passover), the Feast of the Resurrection, the Sunday of the Resurrection, or Resurrection Day, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year, observed between late March and late April (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity). ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... Events Rebellion against king Sancho II of Portugal in favor of his brother Alphonso. ... Kaniv (Polish: Kaniów) is a town on the Dnipro River in Ukraine where the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko is buried. ... Location Map of Ukraine with Kiev highlighted. ... Wenceslaus I Premyslid (Czech Václav) (c. ... Flag of Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: ; German: ) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western and middle thirds of the Czech Republic. ... WrocÅ‚aw ( ; German: ; Czech: ; Latin: Wratislavia or Vratislavia) is the capital of Lower Silesia in southwestern Poland, situated on the Oder River (Odra). ... A minorite is a Franciscan friar, so-called because they believe they are humbler than members of other orders. ... Benedykt Polak (Benedictus Polonus) (c. ...

The onward journey lay by Kiev; the Tatar posts were entered at Kanev; and thence the route ran across the Nepere to the Don and Volga (Joannes is the first Westerner to give us the modern name of these rivers). Upon the last named stood the Ordu or camp of Batu, the famous conqueror of eastern Europe, and the supreme Mongol commander on the western frontiers of the empire, as well as one of the most senior princes of the house of Genghis Khan. Here the envoys, with their presents, had to pass between two fires to remove possible injurious thoughts and poisons (section X), before being presented to the prince (beginning of April 1246). This article is about the river. ... The Don (Дон) is one of the major rivers of Russia. ... For other meanings of the word Volga see Volga (disambiguation) Волга Length 3,690 km Elevation of the source 225 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 1. ... Batu Khan (Russian: , Ukrainian: ) (c. ... For other uses, see Genghis Khan (disambiguation). ... Events End of the reign of Emperor Go-Saga, emperor of Japan. ...

Batu ordered them to proceed onward to the court of the supreme khan in Mongolia; and on Easter day once more (8 April 1246) they started on the second and most formidable part of their journey so ill, writes the legate, that we could scarcely sit a horse; and throughout all that Lent our food had been nought but millet with salt and water, and with only snow melted in a kettle for drink. Their bodies were tightly bandaged to enable them to endure the excessive fatigue of this enormous ride, which led them across the Jaec or Ural River, and north of the Caspian Sea and the Aral to the Jaxartes or Syr Darya (quidam fluvius magnus cujus nomen ignoramus, "a big river the name of which we do not know"), and the Muslim cities which then stood on its banks; then along the shores of the Dzungarian lakes; and so forward, till, on the feast of St Mary Magdalene (22 July), they reached at last the imperial camp called Sira Orda (i.e. Yellow Pavilion), near Karakorum and the Orkhon river, this stout-hearted old man having thus ridden something like 3000 miles in 106 days. April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... Pearl millet in the field The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. ... The Ural River (Russian: Урал, Urál [formerly: Яик, Yaik River], Kazakh: Жайық, Zhayyq) flows through Russia and Kazakhstan. ... The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on Earth by both area and volume,[1] with a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres (143,244 mi²) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres (18,761 mi³).[2] It is a landlocked endorheic body of water and lies between... The Aral Sea (Kazakh: Арал Теңізі (Aral Tengizi), Uzbek: , Russian Аральскοе мοре) is a landlocked endorheic sea in Central Asia; it lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south. ... Syr Darya (also known as Syrdarya or Sirdaryo) is a river in Central Asia. ... Dzungaria (also Jungaria, Sungaria, Zungaria; Mongolian: Зүүнгар Züüngar, Chinese: 準噶爾, Russian: Džungarija) is a geographical region covering approximately 777,000 km², within the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwestern China. ... The penitent Mary Magdalen, a much reproduced composition by Titian. ... July 22 is the 203rd day (204th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 162 days remaining. ... The Karakorum palace (also Ka-la-kun-lun, Khara-khorin, Kharakhorum, Khara Khorum in Classical Mongolian) was an ancient capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, although for only about 30 years. ... Orhon River in Mongolia The Orhon River (old Turkish Orkhon, Orchon and also Orhun) is a river in Mongolia. ...

Since the death of Ogedei Khan, the imperial authority had been in interregnum. Güyük, Ogedei's eldest son, had now been designated to the throne; his formal election in a great Kurultai, or diet of the tribes, took place while the friars were at Sira Orda, along with 3000 to 4000 envoys and deputies from all parts of Asia and eastern Europe, bearing homage, tribute and presents. They afterwards, on the 24th of August, witnessed the formal enthronement at another camp in the vicinity called the Golden Ordu, after which they were presented to the emperor. Ögedei, (also Ögädäi, Ögedäi, etc. ... Güyük (c. ... Kurultai (Tatar: Qorıltay) is a political and military council of ancient Mongol chiefs and khan. ...

The great khan Güyük refused the invitation to become Christian and demanded that the Pope and rulers of Europe should come to him and swear allegiance to him. It was not till November that they got their dismissal, bearing a letter to the pope in Mongol, Arabic and Latin, which was little else than a brief imperious assertion of the khan's office as the scourge of God. Then commenced their long winter journey homeward; often they had to lie on the bare snow, or on the ground scraped bare of snow with the traveller's foot. They reached Kiev on 10 June 1247. There, and on their further journey, the Slavonic Christians welcomed them as risen from the dead, with festive hospitality. Crossing the Rhine at Cologne, they found the pope still at Lyon, and there delivered their report and the khan's letter. Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). ... June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... Events Shams ad-Din disappears resulting in Jalal Uddin Rumi writing 30,000 verses of poetry about his disappearance. ... The River Rhine (Dutch: ; French: ; German: ; Italian: ; Romansh: ) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe at 1,320 kilometres (820 miles), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second. ... For other uses, see Cologne (disambiguation). ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: (Franco-Provençal: Forward, forward, Lyon the best) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region Rhône-Alpes Department Rhône (69) Subdivisions 9 arrondissements Intercommunality Urban Community of Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics...

Not long afterwards Friar Joannes was rewarded with the archbishopric of Antivari in Dalmatia, and was sent as legate to Louis IX. The date of his death may be fixed, with the help of the Franciscan Martyrology and other authorities, as 1 August 1252; this resilient old man lasted five full years after the hardships of his journey. Caffes near the coast Center of the city The oldest olive in the world, Stari Bar Bar is coastal city in Serbia and Montenegro on the Adriatic Sea. ... Map of Dalmatia, in present day Croatia highlighted Dalmatia (Croatian: Dalmacija, Italian: Dalmazia) is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, in modern Croatia, spreading between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Gulf of Kotor (Boka Kotorska) in the southeast. ... Only representation of Saint Louis known to be true to life - Early 14th century statue from the church of Mainneville, Eure, France King Louis IX of France or Saint Louis (April 25, 1214/1215 – August 25, 1270) was King of France from 1226 until his death. ... A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs, or, more exactly, of saints, arranged in the order of their anniversaries. ... August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... For broader historical context, see 1250s and 13th century. ...

His books

He recorded the information that he had collected in a work, variously entitled in the manuscripts Historia Mongalorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus ("History of the Mongols, which we call Tartars"), and Liber Tartarorum, or Liber Tatarorum ("Book of the Tartars [or Tatars]"). This treatise is divided into eight ample chapters on the country, climate, manners, religion, character, history, policy and tactics of the Tatars, and on the best way of opposing them, followed by single (ninth) chapter on the regions passed through. The book thus answers to its title.

The title is quite significant insofar as it calls attention to the fact that the Mongols were not identical to the Tatars. In fact, the author mentions that the Mongols were quite offended by the fact that they were referred to by this name: Tatars had been vanquished by them in several campaigns around 1206 and had since then ceased to exists as an independent ethnic group. Events Temujin is proclaimed Genghis Khan of the Mongol people, founding the Mongol Empire Qutb ud-Din proclaims the Mameluk dynasty in India, the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. ...

The "Tatar Relation"

A draft for the Historia, perhaps based on Joannes's lectures, appeared on the art market in the 1960s and was purchased by Yale University. This Tatar or Tartar Relation describes Joannes's journey including some detail that did not make it into the finished work. The manuscript is perhaps most known because it was bound with a manuscript of Vincent of Beauvais' popular encyclopedia Speculum historiale and a spurious map on vellum, the notorious "Vinland map". The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Yale redirects here. ... The Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais (ca 1190 - 1264?) wrote the main encyclopedia that was used in the middle ages. ... The Vinland map. ...

Contents of Historia Mongolorum

Like some other famous medieval itineraries it shows an entire absence of a traveller's or author's egotism, and contains, even in the last chapter, scarcely any personal narrative. Joannes was not only an old man when he went cheerfully upon this mission, but was, as we know from accidental evidence in the annals of his order, a fat and heavy man (vir gravis et corpulentus), insomuch that during his preachings in Germany he was fain, contrary to Franciscan precedent, to ride a donkey. Yet not a word approaching more nearly to complaint than those which we have quoted above appears in his narrative. In philosophy, two different theories are labeled egoism: psychological egoism is the view that one is always motivated to act in ones own best interests, while ethical egoism is the view that one ought to always act that way. ...

His book, both as to personal and geographical detail, is inferior to that written a few years later by a younger brother of the same Order, Louis IX's most noteworthy envoy to the Mongols, William of Rubruck or Rubruquis. But in spite of these defects, due partly to his conception of his task, and in spite of the credulity with which he incorporates the Oriental tales, sometimes of childish absurdity, from which William is so free, Friar Joannes' Historia is in many ways the chief literary memorial of European overland expansion before Marco Polo. Among Joannes's more innovative recommendations was the development of light cavalry to combat Mongol tactics. William of Rubruck (also William of Rubruk, Guillaume de Rubrouck, Willielmus de Rubruquis, born ca. ... Marco Polo (September 15, 1254 – January 8, 1324) was a Venetian trader and explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione (The Million or The Travels of Marco Polo). ...

It first revealed the Mongol world to Catholic Christendom; its account of Tatar manners, customs and history is perhaps the best treatment of the subject by any Christian writer of the middle ages. We may especially notice, moreover, its four name-lists of the nations conquered by the Mongols; of the nations which had up to this time (1245-1247) successfully resisted; of the Mongol princes; and of the witnesses to the truth of his narrative, including various merchants trading in Kiev whom he had met. All these catalogues, unrivalled in Western medieval literature, are of the utmost historical value.

See also

• Exploration of Asia

This article attempts to list every significant event in the history of the European exploration of Asia. ...

External links and references

• "First Europeans travelled to Khan's court"
• The long and wonderful voyage of Frier Iohn de Plano Carpini: Full text of Joannes de Plano Carpini's manuscript, in Latin and English
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.