Mission to Asia

by Christopher Henry Dawson

The narratives by John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck of their journeys to Mongolia in the middle of the thirteenth century differ from the majority of works in this series. The authors were not canonized saints or beati , and their travels were not missionary journeys in the strict sense, but were more of the nature of political embassies. Nevertheless, they were servants of Christendom as few men have been. They give a first-hand authentic account of the first contact between Western Christendom and the Far East, and this at the moment when the whole oriental world from Korea to Hungary was being turned upside down and remade by one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the world.

Genres: History, Medieval, Nonfiction, Travel, College, Medieval History

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 1889, Hay Castle – 25 May 1970, Budleigh Salterton) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Christopher H. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century".

Reviews

[Kevin Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of letters and journals of the priests, etc. who traveled to what was then Mongol territory (this included huge parts of Eastern Europe and China) at Papal direction. Most of them are short and deal with only one area, but two missives are far longer and provide a wealth of information.

'History of the Mongols' and 'The journal of William of Rubrick' gave me a far better understanding of this period of time and the Mongol Empire than any textbook I read in college or afterward. It's been in print since 1980, so I'm not sure how I missed it while in school.

The notes are extensive, as is the index, so a casual reader who is looking for a specific ruler or area should be able to find either with just a little effort. A definite plus for me, as I remember digging through some truly horrible books that had almost no internal references.

Definitely recommended for fans of Mongol history, Medieval Church history, or Medieval Asian history.

Find it. Buy it. Read it!

[Elizabeth Scott Tervo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating travelogues & letters from medieval monks from Europe who went to Central Asia & as far as China. Contains (I read an edition with a different cover but expect it’s the same): William of Rubruck, Plano de Carpini, and two others. These are both missionary and diplomatic ventures. The writers are trying to explain new & unknown things to Europe. Very, very brave people who travelled with great difficulty in those times.

By the way this medieval research contrasts sharply with Gumilev’s Imaginary Kingdoms: the Search for Prester John. I wonder if he did not have access to these sources? Or if they did not suit his narrative?

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We arrived at our cold and empty dwelling. They provided us with some bedding and coverlets, and they also brought some fuel and gave us the meat of one thin little ram for the three of us to be our food for six days. Every day they gave us a dishful of millet and a quart of millet ale and they lent us a cauldron and a tripod for us to cook our meat; when it was cooked, we cooked the millet in the broth. This was our food and it would have been quite sufficient for us if they had allowed us to eat it in peace, but there were so many starving people who were not provided with food and who, as soon as they saw us preparing ours, bore down upon us and we had to share our meal with them. There I experienced how great a martyrdom it is to bestow bounty in one's own poverty."

[Aaron Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mongol Mission: Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries


Because they did not obey the word of God and the command of Chings Chan and the Chan, but took council to slay our envoys, therefore God ordered us to destroy them and gave them up into our hands. For otherwise if God had not done this, what could man do to man? But you men of the West believe that you alone are Christians and despise others. But how can you know to whom God deigns to confer His grace? But we worshipping God have destroyed the whole earth from the East to the West in the power of God. And if this were not the power of God, what could men have done? Therefore if you accept peace and are willing to surrender your fortresses to us, You Pope and Christian princes, in no way delay coming to me to conclude peace and then we shall know that you wish to have peace with us. But if you should not believe our letters and the command of God nor hearken to our counsel then we shall know for certain that you wish to have war. After that we do not know what will happen, God alone knows.
—Chingis Chan, first Emperor, second Ochoday Chan, third
Cuiuch Chan.





The Mongols, for all their atrocities, had a sense of their world responsibilities and performed a definite service to civilization. They drove a broad road from one end of Asia to the other, and after their armies had passed they opened the way to the merchant and the missionary, and made it possible for the East and the West to communicate both economically and spiritually. But everything that they had done was undone by Tamerlane, and from the fifteenth century the East and the West were more cut off from one another than they had been at any period in the Middle Ages.

If there had been more men of similar courage and faith to carry on this work in the same spirit, the whole history of the world, and especially of the relations between Europe and the Far East, might have been changed. But at least a beginning was made, so that the story of the expansion of medieval Christendom is not to be found only in the bloody history of the Crusades or in that of the forcible conversion of the pagan peoples of Eastern Germany and the Baltic provinces.

—Christopher Dawson

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! Two long travel journals from a Franciscan monk (sent by the King of France) and an emissary of the pope recounting their respective travels from Europe across central Asia to the Mongol capital. A wealth of interesting cultural information about the various Mongol hordes as well as the lives of people they had captured from around the world.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, provided you like books written in the middle ages by monks. It's not a page turner, but does open a window into the western medieval mind and gives an account of the mongol empire.

[신형 권 · Rating 5 out of 5]

ha

[Jamie Barringer (Ravenmount) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all-time favorite travel memoirs. I read an out-of-print university press copy of this book, so I'm glad it is available now in more recent editions.

[Yeah]

Would have been interesting if I were interested or have been to some of the Central Asian Republics. I have not been there, although I intend to. It is quite fascinating to think that languages of the "classics", Sanskrit and Latin, and all these widely spoken languages like French, Spanish, Hindi etc all originated from Proto-Indo-European spoken in an incredibly complex manner (with 12 declensions?) in the Caucasus. BTW, this little digression on languages has nothing to do with the book at all.