John of Plano Carpini

Marco Polo is known for traveling to the Far East from Europe and observing things unknown to Europeans, but there were many travelers from Western Europe who went into unfamiliar lands for various reasons. One of these reasons was to bring Christianity to the inhabitants. The Franciscan John of Plano Carpini was one of those.

Carpini (c.1185 - 1 August 1252) was from central Italy. He was a companion of St. Francis of Assissi. In 1245, he was sent by Pope Innocent IV to the east with a letter for Ögedei Khan, who had defeated European forces four years earlier at the Battle of Legnica and almost took over all of Eastern Europe. The pope's intention was to protest the Mongol intrusion into Christendom, and to bring Christianity to the East. Incidentally, the mission could learn more about the enemy's intentions and strength.

Carpini had been at that time the Franciscan provincial in Germany. He set out with the pope's letter on Easter Day 1245 (16 April), with a fellow Franciscan, Stephen of Bohemia. They passed through Kyiv, where Stephen became ill and was left behind. They passed the rivers Dnieper, Don, and Volga; those names were first recorded by Carpini.

At the Volga they came to the camp of Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, where they were made to walk between two fires (similar—but not as dangerous—as the Ordeal of Fire endured by Peter Bartholomew) to remove any impure thoughts or poisons before they were bought before Batu. Batu sent them on to the court in Mongolia. This second part of the journey set off on Easter Day 1246 (8 April).

This was arduous, and they had suffered through Lent, melting snow for water and eating millet with salt for their sustenance. Their journey of 3000 miles took 106 days. Before they arrived at their destination, Ögedei died, and the envoys were in time to witness the instatement of the new Supreme Khan, Güyük Khan. You can see his response to the pope's letter here.

Güyük kept Carpini and his party until November, and then sent them on their way during winter. Carpini records that they often slept on ground after scraping away the snow. It took them until 10 June 1247 to reach Kyiv. From that point their journey became easier: Slavonic Christians welcomed them and treated them hospitably.

Carpini was given the archbishopric of Serbia and became papal legate to Louis IX of France, a much more comfortable task after his grueling journey eastward. He wrote a record of his trip, the Ystoria Mongalorum ("History of Mongol People"), the first European history of the Mongols. Not long after, a much more accurate account of Mongols was written by William Rubruck.

Rubruck, like Carpini, was a Franciscan. Tomorrow I will start an account of the life of their founder.

The Cumans

Several years ago I mentioned the Codex Cumanicus, a lexicon of the Cuman language designed to help Christian missionaries preach to the Cumans. Thanks to this document, of the many variations of Turkic languages in the Middle Ages, Cuman is the best-known. They are mentioned in ancient Roman texts. Pliny the Elder mentions a fortress named Cumania in the area where there was a Cuman-Kipchak confederation (shown in yellow here) in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe.

Although they were a nomadic people, and therefore putting boundaries on their territory is a very fluid prospect, by the 11th and 12th centuries this confederation was the dominant force in the areas that are now Kazakhstan, southern Russia, Ukraine, southern Moldavia, and eastern Wallachia (in Romania).

This widespread area meant they were in contact with many others. They fought against the Kingdom of Hungary. They fought against the Byzantine Empire. They fought against each other: they were employed as mercenaries by Byzantium to fight against their ethnic cousins, the Pechenegs, with offers of gold from Emperor Alexios I. They had a specific use for gold: armor. Their higher-ranking members wore gold face plates in battle.

They were described as a handsome people, with blond hair and blue eyes. The Russian aristocracy sought Cuman women due to their beauty. Men and women both wore pants, tunics, and caftans, although women's tunics were shorter. Deep crimson was a popular color for clothing. Men shaved the tops of their heads and wore the remaining hair in braids. They wore conical hats made of felt with a broad brim or leather with fur trim. Women also wore conical hats, but with a veil that hung down the back.

A 13th century archbishop records a marriage between a Cuman princess and a Hungarian prince. Ten Cumans swore an oath that they would defend the Kingdom of Hungary. When swearing, they did so with a sword in hand, the sword touching the body of a dog that had been cut in half. A crusade historian also reports something similar: at an alliance between the Cumans and Byzantines, the Cumans had a dog walk between the two groups, then they cut the dog and had the Byzantines do the same. They swore that if the two groups failed in their oath that they would be cut in pieces.

The Cumans were overwhelmed by the Mongols in the 1230s, with the option to be destroyed or to become part of the Golden Horde. They chose the Golden Horde, and eventually blended in with other ethnic groups.

The story of the marriage above comes from one of those Christians who took an interest in the Cumans and their neighbors. Tomorrow I'll tell you about John of Plano Carpini. See you then.