William of Rubruck
Franciscan friar who traveled to the Mongol Empire and wrote a travel account.
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William of Rubruck was a Franciscan friar from the County of Flanders in the Kingdom of France. He is known for undertaking a mission to the Great Khan Möngke of the Mongol Empire with the support of King Louis IX of France, and for writing the Itinerarium, a detailed account of his travels that became a masterwork of medieval travel literature.
Quick Facts
- Born
- likely 1210s or 1220s, Rubrouck, County of Flanders, Kingdom of France
- Died
- according to sources, 1270s or after 1293
- Nationality
- Flemish (Kingdom of France)
- Known for
- Travels to the Mongol Empire (1253–1254); author of the Itinerarium
Facts from the source article.
Background
William of Rubruck was born likely in the 1210s or 1220s in Rubrouck, County of Flanders, Kingdom of France. In 1248, he accompanied King Louis IX of France on the Seventh Crusade. On 7 May 1253, on Louis' orders, he set out on a missionary journey to convert the Tatars to Christianity.
He first stopped in Constantinople to confer with Baldwin of Hainaut, who had recently returned from a trip to Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire. There, William received letters to some of the Tatar chiefs from the emperor. With William's party were Bartolomeo da Cremona, an attendant called Gosset, and an interpreter named Homo Dei.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: William of Rubruck (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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