Lawrence of Portugal
Franciscan friar and envoy sent to the Mongols in 1245
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Lawrence of Portugal was a Franciscan friar and an envoy sent by Pope Innocent IV to the Mongols in 1245.
A letter survives in the Register of Innocent IV, dating Lawrence's departure from Lyon to 5 March 1245. The letter, published in Monumenta Germaniae Historica and usually referred to as Dei patris immensa, suggests that his mission was primarily religious in character.[1] Lawrence was to have approached the Mongols from the Levant.[2] Nothing is known of his fate, and the possibility remains that he never left.[3]
A second Franciscan mission, led by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, left Lyon on 16 April 1245 and arrived in the Mongol capital of Karakorum more than a year later.