Rabban Bar Sauma

Rabban Bar Ṣawma (Syriac language: ܪܒܢ ܒܪ ܨܘܡܐ, [rɑbbɑn bɑrsˤɑwma]; c. 1220 – January 1294), also known as Rabban Ṣawma or Rabban Çauma^[2] (simplified Chinese: 拉班·扫马; traditional Chinese: 拉賓掃務瑪; pinyin: lābīn sǎowùmǎ), was a Uyghur or Ongud monk turned diplomat of the "Nestorian" Church of the East in China. He is known for embarking on a pilgrimage from Yuan China to Jerusalem with one of his students, Markos (later Patriarch Yahballaha III). Due to military unrest along the way, they never reached their destination, but instead spent many years in Ilkhanate-controlled Baghdad.

The younger Markos was eventually elected Yahballaha III, Patriarch of the Church of the East and later suggested his teacher Rabban Bar Ṣawma be sent on another mission, as Mongol ambassador to Europe. The elderly monk met with many of the European monarchs, as well as the Pope, in attempts to arrange a Franco-Mongol alliance. The mission bore no fruit, but in his later years in Baghdad, Rabban Bar Ṣawma documented his lifetime of travel. His written account of his journeys is of unique interest to modern historians, as it gives a picture of medieval Europe at the close of the Crusades, painted by a keenly-intelligent, broadminded, and statesmanlike observer.^[3]

Bar Ṣawma's travels occurred before the return of Marco Polo to Europe, and his writings give a reverse viewpoint, of the East looking to the West.