European missionary Plano Carpini in Tatarstan

Pope Innocent IV and King Louis IX "Saint" showed on the line of establishing ties with the Mongol khans. Two embassies were sent to the Mongols - Plano Carpini and Guillaume de Rubruk. To investigate the history of Mongolia and China in the thirteenth century, one must scrutinize three sources that can be trusted: Zhao Hong's "Meng-da bei-lu" ("A Complete Description of the Mongol Tartars") and Peng Dai and Xu Ting's "Hei-da shi-lue" ("Brief Information on the Black Tartars"), and finally Li Zhichang's "Chang-chun zhen-zhen si-yu ji" ("Note on the Journey to the West of the Righteous Chang-chun"). Carpini traveled to the East, over 770 years ago. What was the final destination of his mission - Tatarstan or China? At that time, present-day Mongolia and the surrounding territories up to the Bering Strait were called Tataria. He set out on his journey with Benedict from Poland and Stephen from Bohemia. Benedict was an interpreter and assistant Carpini. Benedict, by the way, himself left a description of the history of their diplomatic mission, impressions about the organization of life and life in Mongolia. However, his book "On the Journey of the Lesser Brothers to the Tatars" was published only in 1839.