{
  "book_metadata": {
    "book_name": "HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS",
    "book_author": "BERNARD DE VAULX",
    "publisher": "HAWTHORN BOOKS PUBLISHERS",
    "published_on": "2026"
  },
  "chunks": [
    {
      "chunk_index": 1,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        51
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00055-7604323d488ceefc8376.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Chapter Six",
      "chunk_data": "CHAPTER VI\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG\nTHE MONGOLS",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1200,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1299,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Early 13th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "St Francis of Assisi",
          "St Dominic"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Europe"
        ],
        "event": "The Franciscan and Dominican Orders came into existence while the Church was preaching the Crusade.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Missions",
          "Church"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 2,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        51
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00055-7604323d488ceefc8376.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Two Orders Answer Their Age",
      "chunk_data": "At the beginning of the thirteenth century while the Church was still preaching the Crusade, St Francis of Assisi's Order of Friars Minor and St Dominic's Order of Preachers came into existence at one and the same time. Although these two movements were different in character, there is no reason, in our opinion, why they should be considered as in opposition to one another. Each was an answer to certain needs of the time.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1200,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1225,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Early 13th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "St Francis of Assisi",
          "St Dominic"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Europe"
        ],
        "event": "The Franciscan and Dominican movements developed as responses to the religious needs of the early thirteenth century.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Missions",
          "Church"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 3,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        51
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00055-7604323d488ceefc8376.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Crusades Against Islam",
      "chunk_data": "Islam, or, as the phrase was, the Saracens, had behaved as a determined enemy of Catholicism in Africa and Spain. They occupied the Holy Places. By undertaking to free these from their domination, the Crusaders, as is made clear by a passage in the cartulary of the abbey of St Bertin, were seeking to increase the body of the Church and to restore to God lands and cities unjustly held by the infidels. But to these motives of a religious nature were added others of a very human kind which did not diminish as time went on.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1095,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1291,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "c. 1095–1291"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "The Crusaders"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Africa",
          "Spain",
          "Jerusalem",
          "Holy Places",
          "Abbey of St Bertin"
        ],
        "event": "The Crusaders sought to recover the Holy Places and expand the Church's territory from Muslim rule.",
        "tags": [
          "Crusades",
          "Religion",
          "War"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 4,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        51,
        52
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00055-7604323d488ceefc8376.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00056-2ff7da1a8f61c737ab59.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Francis Recasts Mission",
      "chunk_data": "Jerusalem was taken and lost again. This failure was salutary, we might almost be tempted to say, since it did not effect the lasting results on the intellectual and economic levels. It was when the spirit of the Crusades had revealed its weaknesses that St Francis came upon the scene and preached a missionary doctrine inspired, as was his whole life, solely by the spirit of the Gospel. We cannot say it was new, for it was that of the early Church.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1099,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1210,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "c. 1099–1210"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "St Francis of Assisi"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Jerusalem"
        ],
        "event": "After the failures of the Crusades, St Francis preached a Gospel-centered missionary doctrine modeled on the early Church.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Crusades",
          "Missions"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 5,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        52
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00056-2ff7da1a8f61c737ab59.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "A Nonviolent Mission",
      "chunk_data": "52\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nThe Moslems were commonly considered to be simply men whose throats were to be cut and they, in their turn, asked for nothing better than to return the compliment, so as to receive not only an eternal reward but also the golden besant the Sultan ordered should be given to every man who brought back the head of a Christian. St Francis suggested that men should go to them for no other purpose than to preach the Gospel and lead them to baptism without any threats or use of force.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1210,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1219,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Early 13th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "St Francis of Assisi",
          "Moslems",
          "The Sultan"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Islamic lands"
        ],
        "event": "St Francis rejected violent conversion and advocated preaching the Gospel and baptism without force.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Missions",
          "Peace"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 6,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        52
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00056-2ff7da1a8f61c737ab59.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Francis Meets the Sultan",
      "chunk_data": "He himself joined the crusaders in 1219 at Damietta and put his method into operation in spite of the opposition of Cardinal Pelagio. He went towards the enemy lines and succeeded in obtaining an audience of the Sultan Melck-El-Kamel. The Sultan argued that he could not change his religion without alienating his people. St Francis, having failed to achieve any result, came sadly away.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1219,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1219,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1219"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "St Francis of Assisi",
          "Cardinal Pelagio",
          "Sultan Melck-El-Kamel"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Damietta"
        ],
        "event": "St Francis joined the Crusaders at Damietta, met Sultan Melck-El-Kamel, and unsuccessfully sought religious conversion through peaceful preaching.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Crusades",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 7,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        52
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00056-2ff7da1a8f61c737ab59.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Dominican Missionary Aspirations",
      "chunk_data": "St Dominic too was prevented from realizing his desire to become a missionary but he wished that his disciples should take their share in missionary work. It was therefore in obedience to their illustrious founders that Franciscans and Dominicans, the wandering friars of both Orders, wanted to continue the evangelization of the Gentiles in Asia.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1210,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1225,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Early 13th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "St Dominic",
          "Franciscans",
          "Dominicans"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Asia"
        ],
        "event": "Franciscans and Dominicans continued their founders' missionary ambitions by evangelizing non-Christians in Asia.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Missions",
          "Asia"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 8,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        52
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00056-2ff7da1a8f61c737ab59.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Dominicans Reach the Comans",
      "chunk_data": "In about the year 1223, the Dominicans, under the protection of the king of Hungary, arrived among the Comans or Qiptchaq, who lived in the Ukrainian steppes and were for the most part Shamanists. The wave of conversions caused by the baptism of one of their chiefs became considerable enough to lead the papacy to establish a bishopric among the Comans. The Dominicans then moved on to the north-east into greater Hungary or the territory situated to the east of the upper reaches of the Volga. But the Mongol invasion soon wiped out every vestige of the Comanian mission.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1223,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1241,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "c. 1223–1241"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Dominicans",
          "King of Hungary",
          "Comanian chief"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Ukraine",
          "Ukrainian steppes",
          "Greater Hungary",
          "Volga"
        ],
        "event": "Dominicans evangelized the Comans, gained converts, and established a bishopric before the Mongol invasion destroyed the mission.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Religion",
          "Mongols"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 9,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        52,
        53
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00056-2ff7da1a8f61c737ab59.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00057-d90f7556b763fb4822e1.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Papacy Investigates the Mongols",
      "chunk_data": "These Mongols had nevertheless destroyed the Moslem empires of the Middle East. Further, as a large number of Nestorians lived under their rule and apparently in reasonable freedom, the papacy did not consider them at the outset as enemies. 53\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nInnocent IV sent ambassadors to them in preference to missionaries; their task was to explore the ground and to prepare for the return to unity of the schismatics and heretics and, if possible, to persuade the Mongols to abandon violent methods.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1245,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1247,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1245–1247"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Pope Innocent IV",
          "Nestorians",
          "Mongols"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Middle East",
          "Mongol Empire"
        ],
        "event": "The papacy initially treated the Mongols as potential partners and sent ambassadors to investigate their empire and religious policies.",
        "tags": [
          "Politics",
          "Religion",
          "Mongols"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 10,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        53
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00057-d90f7556b763fb4822e1.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Piano di Carpine Meets Güyük",
      "chunk_data": "Two Franciscans, Dominic of Aragon and John of Piano di Carpine, set out on a journey, one to the Armenians, the other to the Russians, while two Dominicans, Andrew of Longjumeau and Ascelin of Cremona, were sent, one to Syria and beyond and the other to the Mongol princes. In the end, Piano di Carpine alone made contact with one of these, Güyük. This khan gave a courteous hearing to his exposition of Christianity, refused to be baptized and took leave of the Franciscan, at the same time instructing him to tell the pope that he considered the papacy his (Güyük's) vassal.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1245,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1247,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1245–1247"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Dominic of Aragon",
          "John of Piano di Carpine",
          "Andrew of Longjumeau",
          "Ascelin of Cremona",
          "Güyük"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Armenia",
          "Russia",
          "Syria",
          "Mongol Empire"
        ],
        "event": "John of Piano di Carpine met Güyük, who heard Christianity but refused baptism and asserted superiority over the papacy.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Politics",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 11,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        53
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00057-d90f7556b763fb4822e1.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Andrew Visits Güyük's Widow",
      "chunk_data": "Reports which came in later claimed that some Mongol chiefs had become converts to Christianity. This time St Louis, with the pope's approval, sent Andrew of Longjumeau on a second mission. Meanwhile Güyük had died. His widow politely accepted the presents sent by the king of France. Among these were relics of the true Cross. She herself gave presents in return to the Dominican for St Louis but refused any precise undertaking in regard to the plan for a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Moslems of Irak. She too urged a counter-claim to the right of suzerainty over the West.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1248,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1251,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "c. 1248–1251"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "St Louis",
          "Andrew of Longjumeau",
          "Güyük",
          "Güyük's widow",
          "King of France"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Mongol Empire",
          "Irak",
          "West"
        ],
        "event": "Andrew of Longjumeau conducted a second mission to the Mongols, but Güyük's widow rejected a definite Franco-Mongol alliance.",
        "tags": [
          "Diplomacy",
          "Missions",
          "Politics"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 12,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        53,
        54
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00057-d90f7556b763fb4822e1.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00058-cb73fb77cb8a7801ba45.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Christianity at the Mongol Court",
      "chunk_data": "Nevertheless Andrew of Longjumeau returned to report some good prospects for future missions. The Mongols were strictly neutral in religious matters. Further there were Christians at court in the higher ranks of the administration and even in the near neighbourhood of the throne. It was even said that the mother of Mangou (the emperor and a grandson of Genghis Khan) and several of his wives were Christians as well as Sartach, the khan in command between the Don and the Volga. As Matrod writes in his Étude sur le voyage de Guillaume de Rubrouck: \"People began to dream of the days of St Helena, Constantine Chlorus and Constantine... in their over-excited imaginations they already saw the Cross casting its shadow over the tents of the nomads. It was still unsteady but an apostle would be able to plant it firmly there.\"",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1250,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1255,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "c. 1250–1255"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Andrew of Longjumeau",
          "Mangou",
          "Genghis Khan",
          "Sartach",
          "St Helena",
          "Constantine Chlorus",
          "Constantine",
          "Matrod",
          "William of Rubruck"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Mongol court",
          "Don",
          "Volga"
        ],
        "event": "Andrew reported favorable conditions for future missions because of Mongol religious neutrality and Christian influence at court.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Missions",
          "Mongols"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 13,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        54
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00058-cb73fb77cb8a7801ba45.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "William of Rubruck Travels East",
      "chunk_data": "54\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nThe apostle chosen was a Franciscan Friar Minor, William of Rubruck, who came from the village of that name in French Flanders. The letters St Louis gave him did not mention political problems, they merely begged Prince Sartack to authorize the bearer and his companion, Bartholomew of Cremona, to remain in the territories under his command \"in order to teach the word of God\". The king of France had asked William to write down an account of everything of every sort which he might see among the Tartars. This embassy which at first was sent to Sartach alone, that is to the territory north and north-east of the Caspian and Aral seas, went as far as Karakorum, the capital of the empire.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1253,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1255,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1253–1255"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "William of Rubruck",
          "St Louis",
          "Sartach",
          "Bartholomew of Cremona",
          "King of France"
        ],
        "places": [
          "French Flanders",
          "Caspian Sea",
          "Aral Sea",
          "Karakorum"
        ],
        "event": "William of Rubruck and Bartholomew of Cremona traveled from France to the Mongol capital to preach and report on the Tartars.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Travel",
          "Mongols"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 14,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        54
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00058-cb73fb77cb8a7801ba45.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Rubruck Impresses Mongol Princes",
      "chunk_data": "Everywhere the two Friars Minor, alone in the tower of Babel of the imperial horde, succeeded in gaining a hearing from the princes Sartach, Batou and Mangou, the great khan. They even won their esteem while the courtiers did all they could to be of disservice to them. The words of farewell addressed to them by Mangou were full of meaning. This hardened sceptic and his scepticism was doubtless due to the lack of zeal he saw among the followers of the various religions who lived at his court-paid homage to their generosity, their disinterestedness and their uprightness. In the humble and charitable conduct of the two Franciscans he caught at least a momentary glimpse of the value of the true faith.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1253,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1255,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1253–1255"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "William of Rubruck",
          "Bartholomew of Cremona",
          "Sartach",
          "Batou",
          "Mangou"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Mongol Empire"
        ],
        "event": "Rubruck and Bartholomew gained audiences and respect from leading Mongol princes despite court opposition.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Diplomacy",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 15,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        54,
        55
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00058-cb73fb77cb8a7801ba45.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00059-eefb1f4eceac5fc4817d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Routes Open to Missionaries",
      "chunk_data": "After this isolated visit, genuine missions, profiting by the very ancient relations between East and West, went to Asia. Between the West especially Italy and the Djagataï khanat, there existed means of communication which crossed the Crimea, passed through Saraï, a town on the Volga, to the north of the Caspian Sea, then south of the Sea of Aral as far as Almeligh at the centre of the middle Tartar empire. Further, 55\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\ncertain Italian cities had established banks for their trade, Venice at Tana on the Sea of Azov at the mouth of the Don, Genoa in several of the Black Sea ports. In all these places, the missionaries could quite safely establish posts to serve as stages for their work.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1255,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1290,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Late 13th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Italian merchants",
          "Missionaries"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Italy",
          "Djagataï Khanate",
          "Crimea",
          "Saraï",
          "Volga",
          "Caspian Sea",
          "Sea of Aral",
          "Almeligh",
          "Venice",
          "Tana",
          "Genoa",
          "Black Sea"
        ],
        "event": "Trade routes and Italian commercial settlements provided safe staging points for Catholic missions into Asia.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Trade",
          "Travel"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 16,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        55
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00059-eefb1f4eceac5fc4817d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Marco Polo Reaches China",
      "chunk_data": "A great Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, reached China shortly before them. He left Constantinople in 1260 with his brother and when he arrived at Pekin (Kambalik) he was very courteously received by the great khan Qubilaï and was commissioned by him to ask Gregory X (1271-6) to send missionaries to his empire. The first two parties went no further than Armenia.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1260,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1276,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1260–1276"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Marco Polo",
          "Qubilaï",
          "Gregory X"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Constantinople",
          "China",
          "Pekin",
          "Kambalik",
          "Armenia"
        ],
        "event": "Marco Polo reached China and Qubilaï asked Pope Gregory X to send missionaries.",
        "tags": [
          "Travel",
          "Missions",
          "Diplomacy"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 17,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        55
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00059-eefb1f4eceac5fc4817d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Monte Corvino Enters China",
      "chunk_data": "When Qubilaï sent a second request, a very experienced Franciscan, John of Monte Corvino, set out in 1289. He travelled by sea, embarked in the Persian Gulf and reached Quilon at the southern extremity of the Malabar coast, and then continued to St Thomas on the coast of Coromandel. From there he went on to the Chinese port of Zayton and completed the final stage of his journey on foot. When he arrived at Kambalik, he handed his pontifical letters to Qubilaï's successor.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1289,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1294,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1289–1294"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John of Monte Corvino",
          "Qubilaï"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Persian Gulf",
          "Quilon",
          "Malabar",
          "St Thomas",
          "Coromandel",
          "Zayton",
          "Kambalik"
        ],
        "event": "John of Monte Corvino traveled from Europe through India to China and reached Kambalik.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Travel",
          "Asia"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 18,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        55
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00059-eefb1f4eceac5fc4817d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Monte Corvino Builds Churches",
      "chunk_data": "His first audiences were Nestorians belonging to the kingdom of Ongüt, some hundreds of miles to the north-west of Kambalik. The king was converted and gave him every facility he needed for the building of a church at Olon-Süne, the capital. The ruins of this church were discovered a short time ago. During the following reign, a violent reaction among the Nestorians forced him to return to Kambalik, where he built a church.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1294,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1300,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "c. 1294–1300"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John of Monte Corvino",
          "King of Ongüt",
          "Nestorians"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Ongüt",
          "Kambalik",
          "Olon-Süne"
        ],
        "event": "Monte Corvino converted the king of Ongüt and built churches at Olon-Süne and Kambalik despite Nestorian opposition.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Religion",
          "Church"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 19,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        55,
        56
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00059-eefb1f4eceac5fc4817d.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00060-b19b94aee9575eee1505.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Christianity Expands in China",
      "chunk_data": "The progress of Christianity continued at an astonishing rate with 4,000 baptisms in one year alone (1305). When news of these results finally reached Rome, Clement V made Kambalik a metropolitan see. John of Monte Corvino was placed in charge of it with jurisdiction over the whole Mongol empire. He established a bishopric at Zayton. His apostolate among the various Christian families worked wonders. There were mass returns of Nestorians and Armenians to Rome. The section of the Alani people who had been deported to China by the Mongols and to whom William of Rubruck had so longed to give spiritual help, listened so religiously to John of Monte Corvino that they returned as a body to Roman Catholicism. They numbered fifteen thousand in all.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1305,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1307,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1305–1307"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John of Monte Corvino",
          "Clement V",
          "William of Rubruck",
          "Nestorians",
          "Armenians",
          "Alani"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Kambalik",
          "Zayton",
          "China",
          "Rome",
          "Mongol Empire"
        ],
        "event": "Monte Corvino recorded 4,000 baptisms in one year, became metropolitan of Kambalik, and brought 15,000 Alani back to Roman Catholicism.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Religion",
          "Conversions"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 20,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        56
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00060-b19b94aee9575eee1505.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Missionary Reinforcements Falter",
      "chunk_data": "Yet the illustrious Franciscan worked almost alone. Not that the papacy had abandoned him, but the missionaries were few in number and because of the distance, the length of time and the dangers of travel, the parties that set out arrived decimated. Sometimes they disappeared altogether. Yet Odoric of Pordenone, another great missionary, reached his destination. It is from him that we learn how venerated was John of Monte Corvino by the great khan and all his court. But their frame of mind remained like that of Mangou. They listened to the apostle with great interest but, with a few exceptions, went no further than this.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1300,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1320,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Early 14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John of Monte Corvino",
          "Odoric of Pordenone",
          "Mangou"
        ],
        "places": [
          "China",
          "Mongol Empire"
        ],
        "event": "Monte Corvino worked with few reinforcements, while Odoric reached China and reported the missionary's high standing at court.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Travel",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 21,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        56
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00060-b19b94aee9575eee1505.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Kambalik See Falls Vacant",
      "chunk_data": "After Monte Corvino's death, the see of Kambalik was vacant for ten years. The bands of missionaries had ceased to arrive. John of Marignoli eventually came to take up the work and experienced from the khan the same kindness that had been shown to John of Monte Corvino, with every facility to visit the Christian foundations in China.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1328,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1342,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "c. 1328–1342"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John of Monte Corvino",
          "John of Marignoli",
          "The khan"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Kambalik",
          "China"
        ],
        "event": "After Monte Corvino's death, Kambalik lacked a bishop for ten years until John of Marignoli resumed the work.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Church",
          "China"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 22,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        56
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00060-b19b94aee9575eee1505.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Ming Rule Ends Tolerance",
      "chunk_data": "This state of affairs so favourable to Catholicism was only changed when the Mongol dynasty was overthrown and replaced by that of the Ming with the Chinese nationalist reaction it brought in its train. Tolerance was replaced by the re-establishment of the official Confucian worship. Further, these Chinese Christian communities had become increasingly isolated from the West as a result of the establishment of areas under Moslem rule in central Asia.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1368,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1400,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "After 1368"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Ming rulers"
        ],
        "places": [
          "China",
          "Central Asia"
        ],
        "event": "The Ming overthrow of Mongol rule ended religious tolerance, restored official Confucian worship, and isolated Chinese Christian communities.",
        "tags": [
          "Politics",
          "Religion",
          "China"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 23,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        56,
        57
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00060-b19b94aee9575eee1505.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00061-d5153d0fb721e69bcc12.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Franciscans Evangelize Central Asia",
      "chunk_data": "Before they came under the yoke of Islam, the central Asian lands, extending roughly from Lake Balkhach to the Don basin, had been fairly successfully evangelized as early as the end of the twelfth century. The first to arrive, Franciscans from Hungary, had obtained from the Mongol princes an ordinance allowing them to join the hordes in small groups. They moved about, dressed as Tartars, placing their portable altars on carts similar to those of their hosts. From evening till morning, there were opportunities of teaching Christianity and bearing witness to what they taught. This continual presence brought about many conversions.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1180,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1220,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Late 12th–early 13th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Franciscans from Hungary",
          "Mongol princes"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Central Asia",
          "Lake Balkhach",
          "Don basin",
          "Hungary"
        ],
        "event": "Hungarian Franciscans traveled with Mongol hordes and evangelized central Asia through continuous pastoral contact.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Religion",
          "Central Asia"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 24,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        57
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00061-d5153d0fb721e69bcc12.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Golden Horde Khan Converts",
      "chunk_data": "57\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nThe most famous of these was that of one of the khans of the Golden Horde in 1311. But this success was not to last. The elder sons of the convert were dethroned by the Islamic party which transferred power to a prince of their own persuasion.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1311,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1311,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1311"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "A khan of the Golden Horde",
          "The khan's elder sons"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Golden Horde"
        ],
        "event": "A Golden Horde khan converted to Christianity, but his elder sons were later deposed by an Islamic faction.",
        "tags": [
          "Conversions",
          "Politics",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 25,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        57
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00061-d5153d0fb721e69bcc12.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Sarai Becomes a Bishopric",
      "chunk_data": "Nevertheless, Christianity continued to progress in the East. In 1318, Sarai, hitherto dependent on Kambalik, became an episcopal see. Later it had an archbishop with jurisdiction over the khanate of the Golden Horde.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1318,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1350,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "From 1318"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Christian clergy"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Sarai",
          "Kambalik",
          "Golden Horde"
        ],
        "event": "Sarai became an episcopal see and later an archbishopric governing the Golden Horde.",
        "tags": [
          "Church",
          "Missions",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 26,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        57
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00061-d5153d0fb721e69bcc12.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Black Sea Archbishoprics Founded",
      "chunk_data": "In 1333, two Dominicans, Francis of Camerino and Richard the Englishman, sent the pope news of the conversion of a prince of Alani, the governor of Vospro (Kertch) in the Crimea. John XXII made this city an archbishopric with suffragan sees in the ports of the Black Sea-Caffa, Kherson, Pera, Trebizond and Sebastopol in Abkhasia. After the Mongol governor of the Crimea had driven the Alani from Vospro, certain of these bishoprics disappeared, others lost their missionary character and the faithful under their jurisdiction were almost entirely members of the Italian colony.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1333,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1350,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1333–mid-14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Francis of Camerino",
          "Richard the Englishman",
          "John XXII",
          "Prince of Alani",
          "Mongol governor of Crimea"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Vospro",
          "Kertch",
          "Crimea",
          "Caffa",
          "Kherson",
          "Pera",
          "Trebizond",
          "Sebastopol",
          "Abkhasia",
          "Black Sea"
        ],
        "event": "John XXII established Vospro as an archbishopric after the conversion of an Alani prince, but Mongol actions later weakened its bishoprics.",
        "tags": [
          "Church",
          "Missions",
          "Politics"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 27,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        57
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00061-d5153d0fb721e69bcc12.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "John of Ziquia Builds Community",
      "chunk_data": "The most stable of the Christian communities on the Black Sea, that of Ziquia, was the work of a local Circassian by the name of John. He had been taken to Genoa as a slave, was converted to Catholicism and returned to his native land as a Franciscan where he made many converts. In 1349, the pope appointed John of Ziquia archbishop of Matrega (Tanan), a city lying opposite Kertch. After the conversion of the Kaitat people, from the Caspian Mountains in Daghestan, Maïera, Tarki and Kumuk became episcopal sees.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1349,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1355,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1349–mid-14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John of Ziquia"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Ziquia",
          "Black Sea",
          "Genoa",
          "Matrega",
          "Tanan",
          "Kertch",
          "Caspian Mountains",
          "Daghestan",
          "Maïera",
          "Tarki",
          "Kumuk"
        ],
        "event": "John of Ziquia returned from slavery as a Franciscan, converted Circassians, and became archbishop of Matrega.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Conversions",
          "Church"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 28,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        57,
        58
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00061-d5153d0fb721e69bcc12.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00062-e225f286815de08d1a1b.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Tamerlane Ends Circassian Hierarchy",
      "chunk_data": "Tamerlane's invasion abolished the episcopal hierarchy of these Circassian lands but did not totally destroy Christianity. It is known that there were still Franciscans and Christians of Latin rite among the Kaitats at the end of the fifteenth century. Further east, the Franciscan missionaries had made their way as far as Almaligh, the capital of the Djagataï Khanat, 58\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nwhere they had founded a friary.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1370,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1499,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Late 14th–late 15th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Tamerlane",
          "Franciscan missionaries",
          "Kaitats"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Circassian lands",
          "Kaitat",
          "Almaligh",
          "Djagataï Khanate"
        ],
        "event": "Tamerlane destroyed the Circassian episcopal hierarchy, although Christianity survived and Franciscans reached Almaligh.",
        "tags": [
          "War",
          "Missions",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 29,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        58
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00062-e225f286815de08d1a1b.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Almaligh Mission Suffers Martyrdom",
      "chunk_data": "John XXII erected a see there with Richard of Burgundy as its bishop. The khan welcomed him favourably and entrusted to him the education of his son, who was baptized and given the name John. The story of the Golden Horde was soon repeated here. After the death of the khan, who was well disposed towards Catholicism, an Islamic reaction set in, the friary was sacked, three of the friars, three lay brothers (one a native) and a Genoese merchant were martyred. Once this wave of hatred had subsided, the friary was rebuilt. But a new Islamic outburst finally obliterated the Christian community at Almaligh. In any case, it would not have survived Tamerlane.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1320,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1370,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John XXII",
          "Richard of Burgundy",
          "The khan of Almaligh",
          "John",
          "Three friars",
          "Three lay brothers",
          "A Genoese merchant"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Almaligh"
        ],
        "event": "Richard of Burgundy became bishop of Almaligh, but an Islamic reaction destroyed the friary and martyred its defenders.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Martyrdom",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 30,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        58
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00062-e225f286815de08d1a1b.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Dominicans Enter Persia",
      "chunk_data": "We have still to give an account of apostolic work in the southern territories: Persia, Chaldea, Armenia, India. Between the Mongols of Persia and the West, long-established relations existed and were improved by the fact that during the Crusades both parties had a common enemy in the sultan of Egypt. Although no military alliance had been concluded between the Crusaders and the Mongol sovereigns, the latter nevertheless gave a courteous welcome to the Dominican missionaries sent to them. John XXII withdrew Sultaniah, the capital of the khanat of Persia, from the Kambalik bishopric and erected it into an archdiocese in charge of the Dominicans.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1300,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1320,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Early 14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John XXII",
          "Dominican missionaries",
          "Mongol sovereigns",
          "Sultan of Egypt"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Persia",
          "Chaldea",
          "Armenia",
          "India",
          "West",
          "Sultaniah",
          "Kambalik",
          "Egypt"
        ],
        "event": "Dominicans entered Persia, and John XXII made Sultaniah an archdiocese under Dominican administration.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Church",
          "Diplomacy"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 31,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        58,
        59
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00062-e225f286815de08d1a1b.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00063-b92eca23505ed6fd875d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Armenian Union Encounters Resistance",
      "chunk_data": "They were unable to weaken the Islamic positions. Their apostolate, with papal approval, was directed almost exclusively to the dissident Christians and they found it difficult to achieve any lasting results. The difficulties arose from the frequent disagreement between the lower clergy and the ordinary faithful on the one hand and the patriarchs on the other. The former, who were deeply attached to the idea of a national Church, had no wish to return to unity, while their spiritual leaders were often favourably disposed to such a return. In Armenia, the missionaries were very successful at first. The archbishop of Karkilisse (St Thaddeus) submitted to Rome. The Qrna monastery followed suit and superintended the formation of the Order of the \"United Brothers of St Gregory the Illuminator\". The new Order showed great zeal, too much perhaps and in some respects ill-judged; in any case, a vigorous nationalist reaction became sufficiently widespread to counteract the movement towards unity.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1300,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1350,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Archbishop of Karkilisse",
          "St Thaddeus",
          "Members of the Qrna monastery"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Armenia",
          "Karkilisse",
          "Qrna",
          "Rome"
        ],
        "event": "Missionaries gained initial submission from Armenian religious leaders, but nationalist resistance opposed union with Rome.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Missions",
          "Politics"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 32,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        59
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00063-b92eca23505ed6fd875d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Ricardo Endures Persecution",
      "chunk_data": "The chief obstacle was Islam. A missionary at that time, the Florentine Ricardo of Monte Croce, suffered cruelly at its hands and in a saintly spirit deserving of mention. A fierce attack forced him to leave his place of residence at Baghdad where he had received the news that, shortly after the fall of Ptolemais, the friary at Accon had been destroyed and all the Dominicans living there massacred. He was taken prisoner, beaten, ordered to become a Saracen and on his refusal divested of the habit of his Order. He was given a camel driver's clothes and made to work at this trade.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1291,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1310,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Late 13th–early 14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Ricardo of Monte Croce",
          "Dominicans"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Baghdad",
          "Ptolemais",
          "Accon"
        ],
        "event": "Islamic persecution forced Ricardo of Monte Croce from Baghdad, imprisoned him, stripped him of his habit, and made him work as a camel driver.",
        "tags": [
          "Persecution",
          "Missions",
          "Martyrdom"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 33,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        59
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00063-b92eca23505ed6fd875d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Ricardo Accepts His Suffering",
      "chunk_data": "One of his letters (quoted in the Revue Biblique, 1893, II, p. 589) reveals the serene way in which he accepted his lot:\nEmbarrassed by my strange garb, I began to lead my camel by the chain and suddenly from a neglectful friar preacher as I had hitherto been, I became a vigilant camel driver. Overcome with joy, I burst into tears and cried: \"O Lord, I have been told that Mahomet was a camel driver. Have you decided to make me destroy him by wearing the same costume as he did? In any case, for your sake I do not refuse to fight in any sort of dress.\"",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1291,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1310,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "Late 13th–early 14th century"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Ricardo of Monte Croce",
          "Mahomet"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Baghdad"
        ],
        "event": "Ricardo of Monte Croce spiritually embraced his forced labor and persecution as a camel driver.",
        "tags": [
          "Religion",
          "Persecution",
          "Missions"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 34,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        59,
        60
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00063-b92eca23505ed6fd875d.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00064-d7ad0893f98d4c2b192d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Franciscans Martyred in India",
      "chunk_data": "The first Latin missions in India were the outcome of an outburst of Moslem fanaticism. Missionaries on their way to China had continued for some years to follow the route taken by John of Monte Corvino. They set out from Ormuz for the west coast of India. They went by coasting vessel from port to port as far as Quilon on the Malabar coast and from this point were taken to their destination by felucca. The Malabar coast therefore was originally no more than a series of stages on the way. But on one such occasion, a party under the direction of the Franciscan Thomas of Tolentino was stopped at Thana near Bombay and there found itself violently attacked by Moslems. Four Franciscans were martyred (1320). A 60\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nDominican in the same party, Jourdain Cathala de Séverac, had meanwhile decided not to continue on his way to China but to devote himself to the evangelization of the Nestorians scattered throughout the towns of India.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1320,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1320,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1320"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "John of Monte Corvino",
          "Thomas of Tolentino",
          "Jourdain Cathala de Séverac",
          "Four Franciscans"
        ],
        "places": [
          "India",
          "China",
          "Ormuz",
          "Quilon",
          "Malabar",
          "Thana",
          "Bombay"
        ],
        "event": "Moslem attackers martyred four Franciscans at Thana, while Jourdain Cathala de Séverac remained in India to evangelize Nestorians.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Martyrdom",
          "India"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 35,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        60
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00064-d7ad0893f98d4c2b192d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Quilon Mission Established",
      "chunk_data": "The first Latin mission to India was born. In the north, he found Islam firmly entrenched and his efforts remained fruitless. He was more fortunate with the southern Nestorians and succeeded in detaching a good number of them from the form of Christianity which they were practising, distorted as it was and tainted on occasion by idolatry. It was for these reconciled Christians that the papacy established a see at Quilon. Séverac was appointed its bishop. This bishopric was still in a flourishing state when Marignolli, the pope's legate, visited it in 1360.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1320,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1360,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1320–1360"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Jourdain Cathala de Séverac",
          "Marignolli"
        ],
        "places": [
          "India",
          "Quilon"
        ],
        "event": "Séverac established the first Latin mission in India, reconciled southern Nestorians, and became bishop of Quilon.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "India",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 36,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        60
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00064-d7ad0893f98d4c2b192d.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Asian Missionary Distances",
      "chunk_data": "For a better appreciation of the quality of the missionaries in Asia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we need only look at some of the distances on the map. From Rome to Vospro and Matrega, the two metropolitan sees on the Black Sea and stages of considerable importance for the missionaries, the distance as the crow flies is some 1,250 miles, from Vospro to Almaligh, the Djabataï bishopric, 2,250 miles, and from Almaligh to Kambalik 1,875 miles. To the south between Sultaniah and Samarkand the distance is 1,125 miles and 2,500 between Sultaniah and Quilon.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1200,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1399,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "13th–14th centuries"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Missionaries in Asia"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Rome",
          "Vospro",
          "Matrega",
          "Almaligh",
          "Kambalik",
          "Sultaniah",
          "Samarkand",
          "Quilon",
          "Black Sea"
        ],
        "event": "The text emphasizes the immense distances separating Asian missionary centers.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Travel",
          "Geography"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 37,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        60,
        61
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00064-d7ad0893f98d4c2b192d.webp",
        "raw\\pages\\00065-1ba1b8b71fb4ab29f08b.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Missions Survive Extreme Hardship",
      "chunk_data": "There could not have been more than a few hundred missionaries at the most to evangelize these immense areas. Communications between them were irregular except in the dioceses bordering on the Black and Caspian Seas, the only regions in which dioceses formed any sort of group. Everywhere else, there was almost complete isolation. The problem of the arrival of reinforcements became increasingly complicated the further east one went. The journey to China took some three years. If all went well, half of those who had set out arrived at their destination, the others died on the way. Yet this handful of isolated Christians and venturers for whom outbreaks of Islamic fanaticism, epidemics, want, even famine, were constant hazards, succeeded in founding and maintaining active Christian communities for almost a century and a half.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1200,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1350,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "13th–14th centuries"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Asian missionaries",
          "Isolated Christians"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Asia",
          "China",
          "Black Sea",
          "Caspian Sea"
        ],
        "event": "A small number of missionaries maintained Christian communities across Asia despite isolation, dangerous travel, disease, famine, and persecution.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Travel",
          "Religion"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 38,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        61
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00065-1ba1b8b71fb4ab29f08b.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Mongol Tolerance Sustains Missions",
      "chunk_data": "61\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nFor a long period they enjoyed the toleration of the Mongols. When Islam gained ground, they fought courageously and, as we have seen, took advantage of any opportunity that occurred to rebuild a church that had been destroyed, a friary that had been burned down, and accepted their trials like Ricardo of Monte Croce, in a spirit of genuine sanctity.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1200,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1350,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "13th–14th centuries"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Christian missionaries",
          "Ricardo of Monte Croce",
          "Mongols"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Mongol Empire"
        ],
        "event": "Christian communities benefited from Mongol tolerance and rebuilt churches and friaries after Islamic attacks.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "Religion",
          "Persecution"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 39,
      "chapter_name": "Chapter VI — The Missions Among the Mongols",
      "page_numbers": [
        61
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00065-1ba1b8b71fb4ab29f08b.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Tamerlane Destroys Missions",
      "chunk_data": "Tamerlane's invasions (1336-1405) were the final blow. The Tartar conqueror cut them off from all relations with the West, once he had established his mastery over the heart of Asia. The missions disappeared. The first Mongol empire had made the spread of Christianity possible in central Asia, the second wiped it out.",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1336,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1405,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1336–1405"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Tamerlane"
        ],
        "places": [
          "Central Asia",
          "West",
          "Mongol Empire"
        ],
        "event": "Tamerlane's conquests severed Asian missions from the West and ultimately destroyed the Christian mission network.",
        "tags": [
          "War",
          "Missions",
          "Central Asia"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "chunk_index": 40,
      "chapter_name": "Part II — From the Discovery of the New World to Gregory XVI",
      "page_numbers": [
        63
      ],
      "image_paths": [
        "raw\\pages\\00067-5073d2d2a36646b98e25.webp"
      ],
      "chunk_title": "Part Two Begins",
      "chunk_data": "PART II\nFROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE\nNEW WORLD TO GREGORY XVI",
      "time": {
        "start_year": 1492,
        "start_month": null,
        "start_date": null,
        "end_year": 1846,
        "end_month": null,
        "end_date": null,
        "time_display": "1492–1846"
      },
      "meta": {
        "people": [
          "Gregory XVI"
        ],
        "places": [
          "New World"
        ],
        "event": "The book begins Part II, covering missions from the discovery of the New World through the pontificate of Gregory XVI.",
        "tags": [
          "Missions",
          "History",
          "Church"
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}