Born in Flanders, William of Rubruck (1220-1293) was perhaps the most memorable of the Franciscan monks who traveled to the
Mongol empire in the middle of the thirteenth century. His
Itinerarium influenced a number of subsequent texts.
While accompanying
King Louis IX of France in Constantinople during the
Seventh Crusade (1248-1254), William was commissioned to travel east in order to convert the Tatars to Christianity.
Specifically, William was tasked with investigating rumors of Nestorian Christians among the Mongol cities. Following the route of fellow Franciscan missionary-adventurer
John of Plano Carpini, William reached Mongolia in December 1253 and met with
Möngke Khan. His entire journey took three years. Upon returning to the West, William presented King Louis with the
Itinerarium, a carefully observed ethnography which records the nuances of Mongol culture and geography, and also offers an account of the journey itself.
View an annotated map of William's travels created by students from Washington & Lee University.
