Michael Baizerman Author

The good news is that I have completed the draft copy of the chapter about the experience of Montecorvino. I have also realized that it will be my last chapter in this unit as well as in the  entire manuscript.  While collecting data for this unit, I decided to include genuine travelers who described their own experience with the Far East. I was also interested in people who knew how to tell fact from fiction. My initial list included about 15 names but only three of them meet my criteria: Plano Carpini, William of Rubruck, and John of Montecorvino. I also pondered on John of Marignolli, Odoric of Pordenone, and Jordanus de Severac. However, in spite of their long stay in India, China, or South-Eastern Asia, their writings abound with the "received wisdom" of authors who had never visited these places.  I would like you to read an additional extract from my last chapter which tells about the Onggut prince who assisted John in his first steps on the Chinese soil. ...

Having finished collecting the data about the first Catholic archbishop of Beijing, I started to write the first draft of the chapter. This is going to be the third chapter of the last unit of my manuscript. The following extract explains the shift in the task laid on western travelers eastward, from reconnaissance to missionary work.   Toward the end of the thirteenth century, the leading powers of the world realized that the East Asia was going to be their next playground. The Lord Pope, not intending to fall behind, made up his mind to spread his reconnaissance network to cover this novel venue. His choice fell on a forty-two-year-old friar priest with ample diplomatic experience and close familiarity with the Middle Eastern politics. John of Montecorvino had been involved in negotiations for the reunion of Constantinople with Rome and was well connected to the courts of the Il-Khan of Persia and the king of Armenia. John set off in a disguise as a missionary to sow the ...