450px|thumb|rabban bar sauma travelled from beijing in the east, to rome, paris and bordeaux in the west, meeting with the major rulers of the period. rabban bar sauma (c. 1220â1294) (; ), also known as rabban á¹¢awma or rabban Ãauma,mantran, p. 298 (), was a "nestorian" monk turned diplomat of the church of the east faith. he is known for embarking on a pilgrimage from mongol-controlled china to jerusalem with one of his students, rabban markos. due to military unrest along the way, they never reached their destination, but instead spent many years in mongol-controlled baghdad. markos was eventually chosen as patriarch of the church of the east, and later suggested his teacher rabban bar sauma be sent on another mission, as mongol ambassador to europe. the elderly monk met with many of the european monarchs, as well as the pope, in attempts to arrange a franco-mongol alliance. the mission bore no fruit, but in his later years in baghdad, rabban bar sauma documented his lifetime of travel. his written account of his journeys is of unique interest to modern historians, as it gives a picture of medieval europe at the close of the crusading period, painted by a keenly intelligent, broadminded and statesmanlike observer. his travels occurred prior to the return of marco polo to europe, and his writings give a reverse viewpoint of the east looking to the west. ==early life== rabban (master) bar sauma was born c. 1220 in or near modern-day beijing, known then as zhongdu or khanbaligh. according to gregory barhebraeus he was of turkic uyghur origin. chinese accounts describe his heritage as wanggu (ongud), a tribe of turkic origin classified as part of the mongol caste of the yuan dynasty.moule, a. c., christians in china before 1500, 94 & 103; also pelliot, paul in t'oung-pao 15(1914), pp.630-36. the name bar á¹¢auma is aramaic for "son of fasting"phillips, p. 123 though he was born to a wealthy family. he was a follower of the "nestorian" faith (see: church of the east in china), and became an ascetic monk arou
1220_births 1294_deaths 13th-century_explorers 13th-century_writers Chinese_Christians Medieval_diplomats Mongol_Empire_Christians Nestorianism_in_China Nestorians Turkic_Christians Uyghurs