John de' Marignolli
John was sent to Asia by Pope Benedict XII following the arrival to Avignon of a Mongol embassy who bore letters from the khan seeking a spiritual replacement after the death of John of Monte Corvino. John then spent six years in and around Khanbaliq.
His History of Bohemia is composed in the style of a universal history but quickly shifts into a travel narrative about his travels in Asia, in which he identifies Ethiopia as “the land of Prester John."
