Ascelin of Lombardia
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Ascelin of Lombardia, also known as Nicolas Ascelin or Ascelin of Cremone, was a Dominican friar whom Pope Innocent IV sent as an envoy to the Mongols on March 1245. He was accompanied by Simon of St Quentin, who wrote the account of the mission in his "Historia Tartarorum", two unknown men (Alberic and Alexander), and the Domincan monk Guichard of Cremone, who had already been stationned for 5 years in Tiflis.[1]
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[edit] Mission
Prior to the First Council of Lyon, in March of 1245, Innocent IV dispatched four embassies to the Mongols. Ascelin's embassy met with the Mongol ruler Baiju at his camp in the valley of the Arax River in 1247.[2]
Ascelin is generally described as stubborn and unflexible in character. He did not bring presents to the Mongols and refused to show them respect by genuflexion unless they would accept baptism, thereby angering them to a considerable extent. The Mongols replied indignantly “that they couldn’t care about becoming Christians and dogs as they were, that the Pope was a dog, and that they were dogs themselves”.[3] Ascelin reportedly barely escaped death, owing to the respect traditionally reserved to envoys by the Mongols. During the mission, they met with Muslim princes (the uncle of the prince of Aleppo, the brother of the prince of Mossul), who were on their way to Mongolia to pay they respects to the Khan.[4]
Ascelin was offered to go further east with the Muslim Princes to meet with the Mongol ruler of Persia, but he declined the offer.[5]
Baiju wrote a reply which demanded the submission of the Pope. Two Mongolian envoys, Aïbeg and Serkis, accompanied Ascelin back to Lyon, where they met with Innocent in 1248.[6] The pope appealed to the Mongols to stop killing Christians[7] in the bull Viam agnoscere veritatis,[8] and let them return to their realm on November 22, 1248.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Roux, “Les explorateurs”, p.97
- ^ Roux Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, p.313
- ^ Roux, “Les explorateurs”, p.98
- ^ Roux, “Les explorateurs”, p.98
- ^ Roux, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol p.313
- ^ "Histoire des Croisades", Rene Grousset, p522
- ^ Rachewiltz, p. 118.
- ^ Roux, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, p.316: "Sergis et Aibeg were finally sent back on November 22, 1248, with an answer, known as Viam agnoscere veritatis" (Original French quote: "Serbeg et Aibeg furent finalement congédiés le 22 Novembre 1248 avec une réponse, la lettre connue comme Viam agnoscere veritatis").
[edit] References
- "Histoire des Croisades", René Grousset, ISBN 226202569X
- Rachewiltz, I, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans, Stanford University Press, 1971.
- Roux, Jean-Paul, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, 1993, Fayard, ISBN 2213031649
- Roux, Jean-Paul, Les explorateurs au Moyen-Age, Fayard, 1985, ISBN 2012793398
