Giovanni da Pian del Carpine's Mission to the Mongols (1245)

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine was an Italian Franciscan friar whom Pope Innocent IV sent to the Mongol Empire in 1245. His journey of more than two years took him across eastern Europe and the Eurasian steppe to the Mongol court in Mongolia, where he witnessed the enthronement of Güyük as Great Khan in 1246. His report, the History of the Mongols, was the first detailed European account of the Mongol world.

Background

The Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241 had shocked Latin Christendom. Mongol armies had destroyed the armies of Poland and Hungary and then withdrawn, and no one in the West knew whether they would return. Pope Innocent IV, who had fled Rome to Lyon during his conflict with Emperor Frederick II, decided to send envoys to find out.

In 1245 he dispatched several missions. The most important was led by Carpine, then about sixty years old. Born around 1185 at Pian del Carpine (now Magione) near Perugia, he had been one of the early companions of Saint Francis of Assisi and had served as a leader of the Franciscan order in Germany. He carried papal letters urging the Mongols to stop attacking Christians and to accept baptism.

The journey

Carpine left Lyon on 16 April 1245. In Wrocław he was joined by another Franciscan, Benedict the Pole, who acted as interpreter. Travelling through Poland and the war-damaged Rus lands, the friars reached Kyiv, then under Mongol rule, early in 1246. From there they rode across the frozen steppe to the camp of Batu on the Volga, the founder of the Golden Horde.

Batu sent them on to Mongolia. Using the Mongol relay-post system, they covered roughly 4,800 km in about three and a half months, often on little food. On 22 July 1246 they reached the imperial camp called Sira Ordo, not far from Karakorum, where a great assembly, or kurultai, was meeting to choose a new Great Khan.

Carpine witnessed the election and enthronement of Güyük, son of Ögedei, in August 1246. He described the vast tents, the crowds of envoys and the tribute brought from all over Asia. Among the visitors was Grand Prince Yaroslav II of Vladimir, who died soon afterwards; Carpine reported the belief that he had been poisoned.

Güyük’s answer

The friars waited for months for an answer. In November 1246 they received Güyük’s letter to the pope. It rejected the pope’s appeals and declared that the Mongols ruled by the will of God. It instructed the pope to come in person, with the kings of Europe, to submit and serve the Great Khan, or be treated as an enemy. A Persian version of the letter, bearing the khan’s seal in Mongolian script, survives in the Vatican archives, where it was found in 1920.

Carpine left on 13 November 1246 and made the hard winter crossing back to Batu’s camp. He returned to Kyiv in June 1247 and reached the papal court at Lyon in November 1247.

The History of the Mongols

Carpine’s report, the Ystoria Mongalorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus (“History of the Mongols, whom we call Tartars”), is a careful, practical work. It describes the Mongols’ land and climate, their appearance, religion and customs, their history under Genghis Khan, the peoples they had conquered, and in great detail their weapons, tactics and methods of war. Its final chapters advise European rulers on how to resist a new invasion. Carpine’s description of Mongol warfare was especially valuable: he explained how their armies were organised in units of ten, a hundred, a thousand and ten thousand, how they used feigned retreats, and how they treated cities that resisted.

The book circulated widely and was used by the encyclopedist Vincent of Beauvais. Benedict the Pole and another member of the mission, known as C. de Bridia, also produced accounts.

Key people

• Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (c. 1185-1252): Franciscan friar and leader of the mission.
• Benedict the Pole: Franciscan from Wrocław who served as interpreter and companion.
• Innocent IV (pope 1243-1254): sent the mission from Lyon.
• Güyük (Great Khan 1246-1248): son of Ögedei, whose enthronement Carpine witnessed.
• Batu (c. 1205-1255): ruler of the western Mongol lands, who received the friars on the Volga.

Timeline

• 1241: Mongol armies invade Poland and Hungary.
• 1245, 16 April: Carpine leaves Lyon.
• 1246, early: The friars reach Kyiv and then Batu’s camp on the Volga.
• 1246, 22 July: Arrival at the Mongol imperial camp near Karakorum.
• 1246, August: Güyük is enthroned as Great Khan.
• 1246, 13 November: Carpine departs with Güyük’s letter.
• 1247, November: Carpine reports to Innocent IV at Lyon.
• 1252: Carpine dies as Archbishop of Antivari.

Why it matters

Carpine’s mission opened direct diplomatic contact between the papacy and the Mongol Empire. His History of the Mongols replaced rumour with careful observation and was the best European source on the Mongols until William of Rubruck’s account a decade later. It remains one of the most valuable eyewitness descriptions of the Mongol Empire at its height.