Were „Tatar Khan Özbeg’s envoys” in the West in the 1330s?

Abstract

Some historians from the end of nineteenth century mentioned that an embassy from the Golden Horde was sent by the Khan Özbeg to the papal court in Avignon in the 1330s. This mission was led by two Dominican friars and travelled via the Hungarian Kingdom and Venice to Avignon. Al-though the diplomatic relations between the Golden Horde and the papal court intensified during Özbeg’s long rule, there was only one recorded embassy sent to Avignon by the Khan Özbeg in 1340. The present paper’s aim is to identify the two Dominican friars who visited the Hungarian ruler’s court as well and to point out that they were not the khan’s envoys but two missionaries worked in the Crimea and they visited Avignon to report about their missionary achievements.