AZZOLINO (Ascelinus, Aicelinus, Azelinus, Ezelinus). - A Lombard (from Cremona?), Dominican, sent by Innocent IV to the “king of the Tartars.” He left Lyons in March 1245 and probably went through Syria or Palestine, where he chose three other Dominicans as companions. In 1247 the mission arrived at Tiflis, where fra' Guicciardo da Cremona, resident in the Dominican convent of that city, joined II. On 24 May 1247 the envoys came upon a Mongol encampment, whose leader, Baigiunojan, received the Pope’s letters from them. Frate A. returned to Lyons in the summer of 1248 with two Tartar envoys, bearing for the Pope an edict of the great khan Güyük and a letter from Baigiu. Fra' Simone di St-Quentin, one of A.’s companions, drew up an account of the journey, of which only fragments survive, incorporated into the Speculum historiale of Vincenzo di Beauvais.
AZZOLINO (ASCELINUS, AICELINUS, AZELINUS, EZELINUS)
BIBL.: P. Pelliot, Les Mongols et la pabaute, 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.
Cite this article
“AZZOLINO (ASCELINUS, AICELINUS, AZELINUS, EZELINUS).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), p. 368. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/azzolino-ascelinus-aicelinus-azelinus-ezelinus.