The Papal Missions

John of Plano Carpini is the only one of Pope Innocent's envoys to the Mongols concerning whom we possess any personal details. Numbered among the first companions of Francis of Assisi, Carpini had since gained considerable experience within the Order both as an evangelist and as an administrator and diplomat. He had at an early date been deputed to head a preaching mission into Germany, and in 1228 became provincial minister of Germany, where the Franciscan chronicler Jordan of Giano speaks of him as making a notable contribution to the Order's growth. Transferred to Spain in 1230, he returned to Germany two years later as provincial minister of Saxony. 1 After his replacement in this office in 1239, there follows a gap of six years in which we know nothing of his activities.