Lawrence of Portugal was a
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
friar and an envoy sent by
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...
to the
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
in 1245.
A letter survives in the ''Register'' of Innocent IV, dating Lawrence's departure from
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
to 5 March 1245. The letter, published in ''
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...
'' and usually referred to as ''
Dei patris immensa
__NOTOC__
''Dei patris immensa'' was a letter written by Pope Innocent IV to the Mongols (the Pope also wrote other letters to the Mongols, which are known as ''Cum non solum'' and '' Viam agnoscere veritatis''). It was written on March 5, 1245, wa ...
'', suggests that his mission was primarily religious in character. Lawrence was to have approached the Mongols from the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
. Nothing is known of his fate, and the possibility remains that he never left.
[Gregory G. Guzman, "Simon of Saint-Quentin and the Dominican Mission to the Mongol Baiju: A Reappraisal" ''Speculum'', Vol. 46, No. 2. (April., 1971), p. 234.]
A second Franciscan mission, led by
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, variously rendered in English as ''John of Pian de Carpine'', ''John of Plano Carpini'' or ''Joannes de Plano'' (c. 11851 August 1252), was a medieval Italian diplomat, archbishop and explorer and one of the firs ...
, left Lyon on 16 April 1245 and arrived in the Mongol capital of
Karakorum
Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the ...
more than a year later.
See also
*
André de Longjumeau
André de Longjumeau (also known as Andrew of Longjumeau in English) was a 13th-century Dominican missionary and diplomat and one of the most active Occidental diplomats in the East in the 13th century. He led two embassies to the Mongols: the fi ...
*
Ascelin of Lombardia
Ascelin of Lombardy, also known as Nicolas Ascelin or Ascelin of Cremona, was a 13th-century Dominican friar whom Pope Innocent IV sent as an envoy to the Mongols in March 1245. Ascelin met with the Mongol ruler Baiju, and then returned to Europe ...
*
Simon of St Quentin
Simon of Saint-Quentin ( fl. 1245-48) was a Dominican friar and diplomat who accompanied Ascelin of Lombardia on an embassy which Pope Innocent IV sent to the Mongols in 1245. Simon’s account of the mission, in its original form, is lost; but a ...
References
{{Authority control
Portuguese Friars Minor
Diplomats of the Holy See
Portuguese explorers
Explorers of Asia
13th-century explorers
13th-century Portuguese people
13th-century Roman Catholics
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown