JOHN OF PLANO CARPINI. - Franciscan, missionary; b. toward the end of the 12th century at Pian del Carpine (Perugia), he took the Franciscan habit. The first notice we have of him is from 1221, when he was sent by St. Francis to Germany with the second expedition of Friars Minor, for which he prepared the way (cf. Giordano da Giano, Cronica, in Anal. Franc., I, 9).
In 1222 he was elected custos of Saxony, founding convents in various German cities (Hildesheim, Albertstadt, Magdeburg, etc.); in 1228 he was provincial minister of Teutonia and in 1230, while traveling to the General Chapter of Assisi, he founded the convent of Metz. The General Chapter entrusted him with the government of the friars in Spain. He returned in 1233 to the government of Saxony, remaining there for six years and extending the Order in Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland. Between 1239 and 1245 there is no information about him. But in that year Innocent IV sent him as his legate to the Tartars, and in 16 months he completed his mission, and on his return he stayed for three months with the Supreme Pontiff. After that he was sent as ambassador to Louis IX of France, because the latter had postponed the expedition to the Holy Land. Elected bishop of Antivari (the exact year is not known), in 1248 he occupied his see amid conflicts and difficulties that lasted until his death, which occurred on 1 August 1252.
The fruit of his legation to the Tartars is his Historia Mongolorum, which, besides four introductory chapters in which he treats of the geography, usages, customs and religion of the Tartars, contains a rapid historical synthesis of the growth of the Empire, and a detailed description of their army and their methods of combat, depicting in vivid colors their cruelties in order to stir the Westerners to arm themselves and unite against so powerful and dangerous an enemy. This is the purpose of the report. In a second redaction he added other chapters with more detailed personal references. The report has very great historical and ethnographic value; it was published several times and versions were also made in various languages. The most recent and best edition is that edited by Fr. A. van den Wyngaert, in Sinica Franciscana, I, pp. 27-130.