The Suspension Bridge Across the Abyss

Image: The Lord Pope Dispatches Delegations

of the Dominicans and Franciscans to the Great Khan

Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_IV#/media/File:Pope_Innocent_IV_sends_Dominicans_and_Franciscans_out_to_the_Tartars.jpg

A new chapter from my book, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East" is available https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/204304532/write/798587690

The chapter titled, The Suspension Bridge Across the Abyss, tells the story of the entangled diplomatic relations between the Apostolic See and the Great Khan of the Mongols in the wake of a disastrous campaign of 1241-1242 against Central Europe. 

I am going to upload it to my site in the near future.  

When the Summer is Nearly Over

Last week was full of little "events" which gave me great relief and comfort.

I finished the draft of the first chapter of my last unit with the working title, The Witness in the Den.

My maiden witness is John of Plano Carpini. 

The full list, which I composed before doing research, enlists 14 names. However, I'm going to curtail it significantly: it should be an actual travel, which excludes fantastic travelogs. It should be penned by the witness himself, which excludes the Travels of Marco Polo. My next item is William of Rubruck. 

I completed the second leg of the FutureLearn course in Roman history, The Archeology of Portus, led by a team from Southampton University. We focused on the reign of Emperor Trajan who enlarged Portus by digging a hexagonal harbor basin fringed by new warehouses and baths. We also reviewed the absolute dating using brick stamps and spoke about the entire port network which included canals, the Tiber, and riverine ports at Ostia and Emporium, Rome. 

I took up a new course, ChinaX, introduced by a team from the Harvard University, which concentrates on medieval China, especially the Mongol and Ming periods. The topic is partially connected to my own research and will allow me to "check the pulse" of modern science.  

John of Plano Carpini

The last unit of my manuscript is called "The eyewitness in the Den".

It focuses on travel narratives of European guests who happened to visit the Orient or stayed there for a while.

My first hero is John of Plano Carpini, a Franciscan friar sent by the Pope Innocent IV on a fact-finding mission. I read both his travel account and the revised version of his History of the Mongols.

Next week, I will look through my notes and write initial extracts. However, I can't go straightforward as fast as I can because there is so much subsidiary material referring to the previous chapters. I can't deny the pleasure of correcting other parts of my research.

John of Plano Carpini, head of the first Catholic mission to the Great Khan.

The image borrowed from http://window2thepast.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/carpini-there-interesting-account-of.html