ABSTRACT
The Franciscan Friar William of Rubruck has often been described as an envoy of King Louis IX of France, but in fact he made his journey from Palestine to the Mongols early in 1253 in a missionary capacity and, as he told his Mongol interlocutors more than once, in accordance with the Rule of his Order. It is true that Rubruck does not emerge from his narrative as particularly erudite. He often misquotes Scripture, and he quotes the Aeneid once, incorrectly. As for Sartaq, Rubruck was not convinced that his Christian faith was genuine. But perhaps the essential point to be grasped is a different one: whatever the religious sympathies of any individual Mongol prince or general, his first concern was the maintenance and extension of the Mongol empire. The Cathar movement had excited considerable anxiety in Western ecclesiastical circles during the previous hundred years, and the emergence of the new mendicant orders of friars was part of the response.
