Gilliome Rubruk Flemish traveler, monk. Country: France

Biography of Guillaume Rubrouck

Guillaume Rubrouck, also known as Rubrouck, Roebroeck, or Willem, was a Flemish traveler and monk. He lived between 1215 and 1220 and died in 1293. Rubrouck embarked on several journeys throughout Mongolia, Palestine, the Caucasus, and other regions.

Rubrouck was a Franciscan monk and a renowned traveler in Asia. He is known for his book "Journey to the Eastern Countries." In 1253-1255, he was commissioned by the French king Louis IX to undertake a diplomatic mission to the court of Mongolian prince Möngke in Karakorum. This mission was prompted by the fact that while Louis was waging war against the Arabs in Syria, the Mongolian Khan Hulagu attacked the Arabs from the Persian side, providing assistance to Louis. Additionally, there were rumors that the Khan had converted to Christianity. Wanting to verify this and secure a new ally in the fight against Muslims, Louis decided to send Rubrouck to Mongolia.

Rubrouck's journey was the most significant European exploration of inner Asia before Marco Polo. In the spring of 1252, Rubrouck and his companions set off from the city of Acre, a port in Northern Palestine, towards Constantinople, where they stayed until May of the following year. With recommendation letters from Emperor Baldwin II, they crossed the Black Sea and landed in the port of Sudak on the southern coast of Crimea. Here, the monks purchased a covered wagon drawn by four oxen and set off towards the lower reaches of the Volga River, heading to Batu's camp in the spring of 1253.

After a two-month journey, Rubrouck arrived at the camp of Khan Sartaq, who agreed to receive the foreigners. Dressed in church garments and carrying a Bible, Psalter, prayer book, crucifix, and incense, they entered Sartaq's tent while singing prayers. Sartaq observed the monks and their attire with curiosity but did not engage in negotiations with them. Instead, he suggested they proceed to his father, Khan Batu. However, Batu also declined to negotiate with the envoys of the French king and sent them to the Great Khan Möngke, who resided in Karakorum. Rubrouck's route approximately overlapped with that of Carpini's journey. On August 8th, he crossed the Itil (Volga) River, the third of the four great rivers he mentions in his description. Continuing eastward for 34 days after crossing the Ural River, he arrived at the Syr Darya River basin before turning southeast. For seven days, Rubrouck traveled along a mountain road, possibly through the northwestern foothills of the Kyrgyz Alatau range.

On November 8th, he reached the Talas River valley and the city of Kenchat, and the following day, he reached another settlement closer to the mountains. Rubrouck writes, "I asked about the mountains and learned that it was a continuation of the Caucasus Mountains, which extend on both sides of the Caspian Sea from west to east. Here, I also learned that we had already crossed the aforementioned sea into which the Itil flows." Following this, Rubrouck and his companions crossed the mountains and traveled through a "beautiful plain, with high mountains on the right and the sea or a lake on the left; it takes 15 days to go around it." This was Lake Balkhash. Rubrouck then proceeded, like Carpini before him, past Lake Alakol and through Mongolia to the court of the Great Khan, where he arrived on December 26th. From here, Rubrouck and the entire court moved to the capital, Karakorum. According to Rubrouck, the city was surrounded by earthen walls with gates on each of the four sides. The Great Khan Möngke's palace, two Muslim mosques, and one Christian church (Nestorian) were the main buildings of the city.

At that time, the Great Khan was not in the capital, and Rubrouck and his companions were required to travel to the residence located in the northern part of the country, beyond the mountains. During the audience with the Khan, they froze their toes due to the severe cold as they followed the rule of going barefoot, typical of Franciscan monks. When they entered Möngke's presence, they saw "a snub-nosed man of medium stature lying on a large couch; he was wearing a fur garment that shone like a seal's skin." Falcons and other birds were sitting on perches around Möngke. Various drinks were offered to the envoys of the French king, including arak, kumis, and honey. However, the envoys abstained from drinking, while the Khan himself soon became intoxicated, and the audience had to be concluded. Rubrouck spent several weeks at Möngke's court and encountered many German and French prisoners who were forced to produce weapons and household items. After several audiences with the Great Khan, Rubrouck was given permission to return to Karakorum and wait out the winter there.

The Mongol capital did not leave a lasting impression on him, except for the court of the Great Khan. What struck the monk was the presence of, in addition to pagan temples, Buddhist temples, two mosques, and one Christian (Nestorian) church, which provided evidence of a level of religious tolerance that was incomprehensible to medieval Catholics. Möngke sent a letter to the French king, in which he referred to himself as the ruler of the world and demanded an oath of allegiance from the French if they wanted to live in peace with him.

On June 6th, 1254, Rubrouck left the Mongol capital and traveled back along the same route. However, upon reaching the city of Astrakhan near the mouth of the Volga River, he headed south this time and journeyed through Derbent, Nakhchivan, Erzurum, and Asia Minor to reach the port of Acre on the Mediterranean coast. He returned to his monastery in August 1255.

Rubrouck's mission to Karakorum yielded important geographical information. If Herodotus accurately described the Caspian Sea as an inland lake, subsequent writers deviated from this understanding. By the time of Strabo, the Caspian Sea had become, in the minds of ancient people, a gulf of the ocean. Ptolemy corrected this error, but medieval writers returned to the previous misconception. Rubrouck's personal exploration confirmed Herodotus's position, stated seventeen centuries earlier.

Rubrouck was the first person in European literature to suggest that Cathay (China) and Seres were two parts of the same entity. He also pointed out that Cathay (Northern China) bordered the ocean to the east. In terms of diplomacy, Rubrouck's journey did not bring any benefits. Christian Europe did not receive the desired assistance in the fight against Islam. However, this journey significantly expanded knowledge about Central Asia. Rubrouck left behind a written account, composed in Latin, which was first published in 1589.