Giovanni da Pian del Carpine
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, variously rendered in English as "John of Pian de Carpine", "John of Plano Carpini" or "Joannes de Plano" ("ca" 1185 – 1 August 1252), was a medieval Italian diplomat, archbishop and explorer and one of the first Europeans to enter the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. He is the author of the earliest important Western account of northern and central Asia, Rus, and other regions of the Mongol dominion. He was the Primate of Serbia, based in Antivari, from 1247 to 1252.