Emissaries of the Pope in the Mongol Empire

The letter by the emissary of Pope Innocent IV in the Mongol Empire, Franciscan votary, John of Plano Carpini, Ystoria Mongalorum — “History of the Mongols” is one of the most renowned written records of the European writing of the 13th century. The letter is a report of the mission between 1245 and 1247, when John of Plano Carpini et al visited Batu Khan bases on the Volga and bases of Güyük Khan (supreme khan) in Mongolia. The project provides for publishing an extensive version of the “History of the Mongols” based on two best list of works: Wolfenbüttel and Cambridge. Unlike the Italian edition of 1989, where the text is reconstructed based on both lists, this publication is prepared according to the Russian tradition of archeography: one of the lists serves as the basis, while the other one is used in versions. The book by John of Plano Carpini includes unique information on the Mongol Empire, its structure, mechanism of control, army, and law. The book offers extensive information on customs and lifestyle of the Mongols and the many Eurasian peoples they conquered. Ystoria Mongalorum is a precious source on the history of Rus’ in the first years following Batu Khan invasion. Unlike the previous editions of the paper, the new one will include detailed commentaries explaining the realia, figures, toponyms, ethnonyms, etc. that appear in the text.

Mongolian international order in the middle of the XIII century according to the testimony of the papal legate Giovanni del Plano Carpini

The article considers the process of formation and development of the medieval international order during the end of the active phase of the Mongol conquests in Eastern and Western Europe in the middle of the thirteenth century. The main source in the study of this issue was the evidence set out in the treatise "History of the Mongols, called by us Tatars" by the famous Catholic diplomat Plano Carpini, who in the 40's of the thirteenth century by order of Pope Innocent IV, he carried out a mission to the Mongol Empire.The article notes that this aspect is one of the least studied in modern Ukrainian historiographyAs a result of the study, the author came to the conclusion that the work analyzed in the article is an important source in the study of the international order, which developed in the middle of the thirteenth century and was based on the dominance of the Mongol Empire in Eurasia. It allows us to consider the peculiarities of the organization of this state, to show the characteristics of its relations with the captured peoples, to determine the order of relations between the Mongols and their vassals. At the same time, this treatise is a manifesto in which, under the pretext of the Mongol threat, it is concluded that it is necessary to unite the rulers of Europe (especially its Orthodox part) under the authority of the Pope. Consideration of the ideas set forth by Carpini, allows us to conclude that the Catholic Church, and in this period, tried to implement the project of its religious expansion in the lands of Eastern Europe and Kiyvan Rus.

Nos tuis supplicationibus inclinati: Pope Innocent IV and the Decline of Delegated Jurisdiction in Hungary in the Mid-13th Century

The paper discusses a special aspect of the papal-Hungarian relations, namely the operation of delegated jurisdiction after the Mongol invasion of 1241-42. The focus of the study is on the revival of the system in the 1240s, and on certain measures of Pope Innocent IV in 1252 and 1254. The first measure of this kind is traditionally considered to be the papal allowance granted to King Béla IV in order to avoid his ecclesiastical and lay subjects being cited outside of the realm. This prohibition, according to the opinion of the Hungarian legal historian György Bónis, was annulled as early as 1259. In the present study, we argue that, although the charters of Innocent IV and Alexander IV are indeed of great importance, their impact should not be overrated. The number of known cases supervised by the papal judges dropped significantly in the 1250s. However, the reason behind this decrease cannot be solely explained by the above-mentioned papal charter; other factors should also be considered in investigating this question.

The Testimony of the Russian ‘Archbishop’ Peter Concerning the Mongols (1244/5): Precious Intelligence or Timely Disinformation?

The first decade of the 21st century proved remarkably fertile in yielding up manuscripts relevant to the earliest direct contacts between Latin Europe and the Mongol empire – namely, those framed by the devastation of Rus´ (1237-40), Poland, Moravia and Hungary (1241-2) by the Mongols (or ‘Tartars’) and the subsequent despatch to the Mongol world of three parties of friars (1245-7) as envoys of Pope Innocent IV. These texts include:- (1) an early manuscript of the Epistula de vita secta et origine Tartarorum of the Hungarian Dominican Julian, who travelled to the Ural region in 1236–7 in search of the Hungarians’ pagan kinsmen in what was known as ‘Greater Hungary’, and returned with news of the imminent Mongol assault on Rus´; (2) two hitherto unknown letters from the Nestorian monk Simeon Rabban-ata to the Emperor Frederick II and King Louis IX of France, brought back from Azerbaijan in 1247 by one of Innocent IV's envoys, the Dominican André de Longjumeau; and (3) a second copy of the so-called ‘Tartar Relation’, an account produced in Poland in mid July 1247 by a Franciscan friar calling himself ‘C. de Bridia’ and closely linked with the most celebrated of the papal embassies to the Mongols, which was led by the Franciscan John of Plano Carpini and travelled across the Eurasian steppes as far as the court of the Qaghan Güyük in Mongolia.

GILBERT MARSHAL (III), EARL OF PEMBROKE

Notification that moved by love of God and reverence for Lord Pope Gregory the earl grants to the abbey his patronage of the church of St Leonard of Magor, Gwent, with its chapels and everything else belonging to it. Chepstow. 23 February 1238.B= Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Register of Pope Innocent IV, fo. 474v (s. xiii).