introduction

As soon as he was elected in 1271, Pope Gregory X received the letter from Kublai Khan, remitted by Niccolo and Maffeo. Kublai Khan was asking for the dispatch of a hundred missionaries, and some oil from the lamp of Jerusalum. The two Polos (this time accompanied by me, now 17) returned to Mongolia, accompanied by two Dominican monks, Niccolo de vincence and Guillaume de tripoli. The two friars did not finish the voyage due to fear, but we reached Kanbaliq and remitted the presents from the Pope to Kublai in 1274.