Great hardships

During the second part of the journey Friar and his companions experienced great hardships. excessive fatigue and even hunger. They were constantly ill and had to tightly bandage their bodies to survive the enormous ride. Monks passed Ural and Syr Darya rivers and reached the imperial camp in Karakorum on the Mongol river Orhon after covering some three thousand miles in hundred days!

Naturally, the Great Khan did not convert to Christianity but demanded for all Christian kings and the Pope to swear allegiance to him. He sent them back with a letter to the Pope written in Mongol, Arabic and Latin with the same context.

Miraculously, Friar Joannes and his companions survived the journey back and reached Kiev in 1247. Those who knew them thought that they were risen from the dead. Soon after, stoic monks got to Pope and delivered him the Great Khan’s letter. Friar Joannes was made an archbishop and sent as papal legate to French king Louis IX. At those barbaric times, after all hardships of his journey, Joannes managed to live five years more and died in the age of seventy two.

He left Europeans a great book describing Mongols and Tartars, their rulers, countries, climate, manners and traditions, religion, policy and even military tactics. His works proved invaluable to many other travelers who followed his steps. The contemporary sources state that Friar Joannes was a fat and heavy man, but one won’t find a single word of complaint in his works or in any related manuscripts.