AZZOLINO (Ascelinus, Aicelinus, Azelinus, Ezelinus). — Lombard (from Cremona?), Dominican, sent by Innocent IV to the "King of the Tartars." He departed from Lyon in March 1245 and probably passed through Syria or Palestine, where he chose three other Dominicans as companions. In 1247 the mission arrived in Tiflis, where it was joined by Fra' Guicciardo da Cremona, residing in the Dominican convent of that city. On May 24, 1247, the envoys met a Mongol encampment, whose leader, Baigiuonjan, was presented with the Pope’s letters. Friar A. returned to Lyon in the summer of 1248 with two Tartar envoys, bearing to the Pope an edict from Grand Khan Güyük and a letter from Baigiu. Fra' Simone of St. Quentin, one of A.’s companions, wrote an account of the journey, of which only fragments survive, inserted in the *Speculum historiale* of Vincent of Beauvais.
AZZOLINO (ASCELINUS, AICELINUS, AZELINUS, EZE-LINUS)
Bibl.: P. Pelliot, *Les Mongols et la papauté*, in *Revue de l'Orient chrétien*, 24 (1924), pp. 225-335; G. Soranzo, *Il Papato, l’Europa cristiana e i Tartari*, Milan 1930, pp. 113-15.