Karakorum
City of the Mongol khans in the valley of the Orkhon. William of Rubruck, who was there in 1254, describes its two quarters, its mud wall with four gates, twelve temples, two mosques and one Christian church.
William of Rubruck thought the city, leaving aside the khan’s palace, smaller than the village of Saint-Denis. It had a quarter of the “Saracens”, where the markets were, and a quarter of the Cathayans, who were craftsmen; palaces for the court secretaries; twelve temples of idols “of different nations”, two mosques and, at the far end of the town, one church of Christians. A mud wall with four gates surrounded it (William of Rubruck, Journey, Rockhill, pp. 220–221). The khan Möngke had a walled palace beside the city wall (William of Rubruck, Journey, Rockhill, pp. 207–208).
His translator, W. W. Rockhill, notes that the site was fixed in 1889 by the Russian traveller N. Yadrintsev on the left bank of the Orkhon river (William of Rubruck, Journey, Rockhill’s note, p. 220). See Franciscan Envoys to the Mongols and the Church of Khanbaliq.
What happened here
- 1245 to 1307, firm dateFranciscan Envoys to the Mongols and the Church of Khanbaliq
Innocent IV sends Franciscans to the Mongol khan in 1245 and is told in reply to come and submit. William of Rubruck debates before the khan’s umpires at the Mongol court in 1254. By 1305 John of Montecorvino has a church and a choir in Khanbaliq.