Franciscan Missions During the Mongol Era

From the early 13th century late in the 14th, Mongol expansion in Asia created relative stability along the principal trade routes between China, Central Asia, India, the Middle East, and Europe. This Pax Mongolica significantly promoted the movement of peoples, goods and ideas between East and West Asia, conditions which allowed for the reappearance of Christianity in China. Syriac Orthodoxy (Nestorianism) returned to the Middle Kingdom in the wake of the Mongol conquest of North China in 1260. The Mongol world empire also facilitated direct contacts between Chinese and Europeans. Europeans particularly responded to stories circulating by the middle of the twelfth century concerning a benevolent Christian ruler named "Prester John," who was said to live among the nomads of Central Asia. Pope Innocent IV and other European rulers conceived the idea of an alliance with the Mongols against the Islamic realms of the Middle East and Turkey.

Thus in 1245 the Thirteenth Ecumenical Council decided to send fact-finding missions to the Mongols, to establish friendly relations with them and possibly convert them. One of the missions, led by the Franciscan friar John of Piano Carpini (Giovanni del Pian di Carpini), arrived in the Mongol capital at Qaraqorum in time to witness the enthronement on 24 August 1246 of Guyuk, the third Great Khan (r. 1246-48). Although John was officially received by the new supreme Mongol ruler, papal letters he submitted urging the Mongols to convert to Christianity and abandon their military campaigns in Europe angered Guyuk. Consequently, Piano Carpini returned empty-handed, arriving in Lyons in November 1247. Other missions to the East were equally ill-fated, including the one which set out in 1253 under William of Rubruck, a Franciscan in the entourage of crusading King Louis IX of France. An interview with the new Great Khan Mongke (r. 1251-59) merely aggravated long-standing differences. However, Rubruck left a more detailed account of life in the Mongol capital and the various people assembled there from many parts of Eurasia.

While it alludes to the presence of Christians, it also reveals more clearly the persisting antagonism between Nestorians and the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, in connection with the Easter celebrations in 1254 "a great crowd of Christians appeared - Hungarians, Alans, Russians, Georgians and Armenians - none of whom had set eyes on the sacrament since their capture, as the Nestorians would not admit them into their church, from what they told us, unless they were rebaptized by them."

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