The
Second In P. 42, Is A Relation Taken From The Speculum Historiale Of
Vincentius Beluacensis, Lib.
Xxxii.
Ch. 2. of the mission of certain
friars, predicants and minorites in the same year, 1246, to the same
country; and in p. 59. of the same collection, there is a translation by
Hakluyt into antiquated English of this second account. From this second
narrative it appears, that Vincentius had received an account of the
journey of the second mission from Simon de St Quintin, a minorite friar
belonging to the party; and that he had worked up along with this, the
whole of the narrative which had been separately published by Carpini of
his journey; which indeed forms by far the larger and more interesting
portion of the work published by Vincentius. This latter edition, therefore
has been considered as sufficient for the present collection, because to
have given both would have been an unnecessary repetition; and it is here
translated from the Latin of Hakluyt, I. 42.
The object of this mission or embassy seems to have been as follows: A
prodigious alarm was excited in Europe, by the victorious and destructive
progress of the Mongals or Tartars; who, under the command of Tuschi-khan,
and of Batu-khan, the son of Tuschi, advancing through Kipzhak, Russia,
Poland, and Hungary, all of which they had most horribly ravaged and laid
waste, had penetrated even into Silesia; while by the eastern side or the
Caspian, penetrating through Transoxiana and Persia, under the command of
Zagatai-khan, likewise a son of Zingus, and Holagu-khan, a nephew of
Zagatai, they had made their appearance on the banks of the Euphrates and
Tigris. In this alarming conjuncture, it was thought advisable by Pope
Innocent IV. in a convocation of the clergy at Lyons, in 1245, to send
ambassadors to these formidable conquerors, to endeavour to pacify them,
and induce them to turn the destructive tide of their conquests in some
other direction, and perhaps partly in the hope of endeavouring, if
possible, to convert them to the Christian faith, and inducing them to
direct their arms against the Turks and Saracens, who oppressed the Holy
Land. For this purpose, six monks were selected from the new and severe
orders of predicants and minorites. John de Plano Carpini and Benedict,
travelled through Bohemia and Poland to Kiow in Russia, and thence by the
mouth of the Dnieper to the camp of Korrensa, or Corrensa, a general of the
Mongals; whence, crossing the Don and Wolga or Volga, they came to the
encampment of Bata-khan, called also Baty and Baatu, who sent them to
Kajuk-khan, the emperor of the Mongals, whom they call Cuyne. The other
ambassadors were Asceline, with Friars Alexander, Albert, and Simon de St
Quintin: who went by the south of the Caspian, through Syria, Persia, and
Chorassan, to the court of Baiju-Nojan, or as they call him Bajothnoy: but
of the particulars of this journey very little has been preserved by
Vincentius, so that in fact, the travels here published belong almost
exclusively to Carpini.
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