RUBRUQUIS (WILLIAM of RUBRUCK). - Franciscan, itinerant missionary of the 13th century. Born at Rubrouck near Cassel, Flanders, now northern France (not to be confused with Ruisbroek, Brabant), between 1215 and 1220, died c. 1270.
As a young man he entered the Order and studied in Paris. In 1248, perhaps with the expedition of Louis IX, he departed for the Holy Land, remaining at Acre until 1252, when he set out as a missionary toward the land of the Mongols.
Many authors in the past maintained that his journey to the Tartars was a diplomatic mission on behalf of Louis IX, to invite him to lend aid against the Saracens, but it has been shown that R.’s purpose was entirely missionary; Louis IX, however, supported him and gave him a letter of recommendation to the Great Khan. He departed on 7 May from Constantinople and arrived at the latter’s court on 27 December of the following year (1253), after passing through the courts of many subordinate princes and overcoming many dangers. He obtained permission to remain at court for some time, but at the beginning of July 1254 he had to set out on the return journey, taking a different route from the one he had taken going, and arrived in the Holy Land in the summer of the following year, where his superiors assigned him again to Acre, as a lecturer. Having failed to obtain permission to go to Louis IX in Paris to relate to him in person the results of his expedition, he addressed to him his Itinerarium, which is one of the most valuable accounts that the Middle Ages has left us concerning the Tartars, for its minute descriptions of customs and manners, its important geographical information, and the accuracy of its details, to which the wide cultural preparation that R. demonstrates in it contributed. Having obtained through the King of France permission to go to Paris, he is found shortly afterward at court; then all trace of him is lost.