Misunderstanding the Mongols: Intercultural Communication in Three Thirteenth-Century Franciscan Travel Accounts

This article shows how the travel accounts of three thirteenth-century Franciscanfriarsprovideawindowintointercultural communications of the medieval world. The three accounts were written by John of Plano Carpini (1245–47), William of Rubruck(1253–55), and John of Montecorvino (1289). Each of the friars traveled from Europe to the Mongol Empire. The article has two themes: first, how the friars’ encounters with new lands, peoples, and cultures prompted them to reconsider, but ultimately not recast, their vocational identities; second, how their participation in long-distance networks reinforced their assumptions about Christianity and human nature.