MARIGNOLLI, GIOVANNI. – Franciscan, missionary, also called Giovanni di S. Lorenzo, born at the end of the 13th century in Florence. Summoned by the Pope to go to the land of Cathay, he departed from Naples in 1339 and returned to Avignon 13 years later, having completed the long journey to Khanbalik (Peking) by way of the Gobi Desert, reaching it in 1342, where he was well received by the Great Khan and remained for three or four years.
He departed again with a solemn escort provided by the Emperor, visited a large part of Cathay, and resumed his journey to Europe by sea, touching India, Africa, and the Holy Land. On 12 May 1354 he was elected bishop of Bisignano; but when his fame reached the Emperor Charles IV of Bohemia, the latter chose him as counsellor, chaplain, and chronologist. In 1356–57 he is found engaged in mediation and peace-making between the Florentines and the Bolognese, together with the Malatesta. Later he took part in disputes that had arisen between the Franciscans and the Primate of Ireland. He died before 22 March 1359. In 1898 a commemorative plaque was erected to him in the church of S. Croce in Florence.
As Charles IV’s chronologist, he wrote a Chronicon Bohemorum, from the origin of the world to his own times, into which he inserted here and there extremely interesting accounts of his itinerary,
topographical, ethnographic, and historical observations that make it exceptionally valuable. Ancient authors also attribute various other works to him, which, however, have not survived.