Giovanni da Pian del CarpineOFM (orCarpini;Latin:Iohannes de Plano Carpini,[1]anglicised asJohn of Plano Carpini;[1]c. 1185 – 1 August 1252)[2] was a medieval Italian diplomat,Catholic archbishop, explorer and one of the first Europeans to enter the court of theGreat Khan of theMongol Empire.[3] He was the author of the earliest important Western account ofNorthern andCentral Asia,Eastern Europe, and other regions of the Mongol dominion.[4] He served as thePrimate of Serbia, based inAntivari, from 1247 to 1252.[5]
Giovanni appears to have been a native ofUmbria, incentral Italy. His surname was derived from Pian del Carpine (literally "Hornbeam Plain"), an area known later asMagione, betweenPerugia andCortona. He was one of the companions and disciples of his near-contemporary and countryman SaintFrancis of Assisi.[4]
Highly esteemed within theFranciscan order, Giovanni had a prominent role in the propagation of its teachings innorthern Europe, holding in succession the offices of warden (custos) inSaxony and provincial (minister) ofGermany. He may also have held positions inBarbary andCologne, and been provincial ofSpain.[5]
Giovanni was a provincial of Germany at the time of the greatMongol invasions ofEastern Europe and theBattle of Legnica (modernLegnickie Pole) on 9 April 1241.[5] The defeat of European forces at Legnica almost led toÖgedei,Khan of theMongol Empire, controlling most of Eastern Europe.[5]
In Europe, dread of the "Tatars" (Mongols) was still widespread four years later, whenPope Innocent IV decided to dispatch the first formal Catholic mission to the Mongols. The missionaries were sent partly in protest at the Mongol invasion ofChristendom and partly to gain information regarding the Khan's intentions and military strength.[5]
Franciscans such as Giovanni served as envoys and took notes on their missions and the events which occurred as they traveled.[6] Giovanni was sent along with Friar Benedict of Poland to theMongol Empire.[6] Language barriers were one of the issues envoys came across whilst traveling across theSilk Road, so Giovanni's fluency in Latin and French, and Benedict's fluency in Polish and Russian, would assist them on their mission.[6]
Pope Innocent IV chose Giovanni to head the mission and apparently he was in charge of nearly everything in the mission. As apapal legate, he bore a letter from the Pope to the Great Khan,Cum non solum. "At the age of sixty-three Carpini embarked fromLyon,"[7] where the Pope then resided, onEaster day (16 April 1245), accompanied by another friar,Stephen of Bohemia, who broke down atKaniv nearKiev and was left behind. After seeking counsel of an old friend,Wenceslaus, king ofBohemia, Giovanni was joined atWrocław by another Franciscan,Benedykt Polak, who was appointed to act as interpreter.[5]
The route passed by Kiev, entered the Tatar posts at Kaniv and then ran across theNepere to theDon andVolga. Giovanni is the first Westerner to give the modern names for those rivers. He reported the presence ofsaracens in southwestern Russia who drafted people into service and took a census of those who remained.[8] While in Russia, he also mentioned that the Mongoltithe collector demanded one boy out of every three from each Russian family, and also took unmarried men and women, as well as the poor.[9] On the Volga stood theordu, or camp, ofBatu, the famous conqueror of Eastern Europe and supreme Mongol commander on the western frontiers of the empire. He was one of the most senior princes of the house ofGenghis Khan. There, the envoys, with their presents, had to pass between two fires to remove possible injurious thoughts and poisons,[10] before being presented to the prince (early April 1246).[5]
Batu ordered them to proceed to the court of the supreme Khan inMongolia. On Easter day once more (8 April 1246), they started on the second and most formidable part of their journey. They were "so ill", wrote the legate, "that we could scarcely sit a horse; and throughout all that Lent our food had been nought butmillet with salt and water, and with only snow melted in a kettle for drink". Their bodies were tightly bandaged so that they could endure the excessive fatigue of the enormous ride, which took them across the Jaec, orUral River and north of theCaspian Sea and theAral to theJaxartes orSyr Darya (quidam fluvius magnus cujus nomen ignoramus, "a big river whose name we do not know") and the Muslim cities that stood on its banks. Then they went along the shores of the lakes ofDzungaria until, on the feast of StMary Magdalene (22 July), they reached the imperial camp called Sira Orda (Yellow Pavilion), nearKarakorum and theOrkhon River. Giovanni and his companions rode an estimated 3000 miles in 106 days.[5]
Since the death ofÖgedei Khan, the imperial authority was in interregnum andGüyük, Ögedei's eldest son, was designated to the throne. His formal election in a greatKurultai, or diet of the tribes, took place while the friars were at Sira Orda, which entailed the gathering of 3000 to 4000 envoys and deputies from all parts of Asia and eastern Europe, bearing homage, tribute and presents. On 24 August they witnessed the formal enthronement at another camp in the vicinity called the Golden Ordu, and they were then presented to the new emperor.[5]
The great Khan, Güyük, refused the invitation to becomeChristian and demanded rather that the Pope and rulers of Europe should come to him and swear allegiance to him, a demand recorded in aletter from Güyük Khan to Pope Innocent IV. The Khan did not dismiss the expedition until November. He gave them a letter to the Pope written in Mongol and copied into Persian and Latin[11] that was a brief imperious assertion of the Khan's office as the scourge of God. They began a long winter journey home. Often, they had to lie on the bare snow or on ground scraped bare of snow with a 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 theRhine atCologne, they found the Pope still atLyon and delivered their report and the Khan's letter.[5]
Not long afterward, Giovanni was rewarded with the archbishopric ofPrimate of Serbia inAntivari inDalmatia, and was sent as legate toLouis IX of France. He lived only five years following the hardships of his journey. He died, according to the FranciscanMartyrology and other authorities, on 1 August 1252.[5]
TheYstoria Mongalorum is the report compiled by Carpine, of his trip to theMongol Empire. Written in the 1240s, it is the oldest European account of the Mongols. Carpine was the first European to try to chronicle Mongol history. Two versions of theYstoria Mongalorum are known to exist: Carpine's own and another, usually referred to as theTartar Relation.
An English translation of Giovanni's book title isHistory of the Mongols, which serves as a report of the travels of Giovanni and the friars to theMongolian Empire.[6] In his book, Giovanni includes a prologue as well as several chapters which cover specific topics including religious practices, culture, and combat methods.[6] The Europeans generally held a poor viewpoint of the Mongols in the 13th century, when Giovanni wrote his book, and this is evident in the book's inclusion of both positive and negative descriptions of the Mongols that Giovanni and his men encountered.[6]
Erik Hildinger translated Giovanni's book into English.[12]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Yule, Henry;Beazley, Charles Raymond (1911). "Carpini, Joannes de Plano". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 397–399.
