- Lawrence of Portugal
Lawrence of Portugal was a
Franciscan friar and an envoy sent byPope Innocent IV to the Mongols in1245 .A letter survives in the "Register" of Innocent IV, dating Lawrence's departure from
Lyon to5 March ,1245 . The letter, published inMonumenta Germaniae Historica and usually referred to as "Dei patris immensa ", suggests that his mission was primarily religious in character. ["Monumenta Germaniae Historica; Epistolae Saeculi XIII: E Regestis Pontificum Romanorum", ed. Karl Rodenberg (Berlin, 1887), Vol. 2, No. 102, p. 72. [http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00000516/images/index.html?id=00000516&fip=24.217.151.203&no=11&seite=91] ] Lawrence was to have approached the Mongols from theLevant . [Igor de Rachewiltz, "Papal Envoys to the Great Khans" (Stanford University Press, 1971), p. 87.] 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 , left Lyon onApril 16 , 1245 and arrived in the Mongol capital ofKarakorum more than a year later.ee also
*
André de Longjumeau
*Ascelin of Lombardia
*Simon of St Quentin References
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