Over the next several posts, I will be presenting a sustained, multi‑part (and at times) longform interview with my dear friend, medieval historian Dr. Alfred J. Andrea, on the occasion of his forthcoming volume, Traveling to the “Tartars”: Three Missions to the Mongols, 1245–1248 (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2026). This project brings together six major textual witnesses to the earliest papal embassies sent to the Mongol Empire and offers them in new, carefully annotated translations. In the series that follows, Dr. Andrea addresses a range of questions concerning the origins and aims of the book, the historical significance of these thirteenth‑century encounters, the ways in which these friars’ reports have shaped modern understandings of early Mongol–European contact, and the methodological challenges posed by reading medieval ethnographic and diplomatic texts through contemporary lenses. He also reflects on the surprising modern resonances of cross‑cultural diplomacy, misinformation, and long‑distance communication, issues that confronted these envoys in the 1240s and continue to confront us today.

Without delay, let’s get to question 1.

This project brings together six major sources on the earliest papal missions to the Mongols and presents them in new, carefully annotated translations. For readers who may not be familiar with these missions or the significance of these documents, could you begin by explaining what the book is about, how the project came together, and what drew you to undertake it in the first place?

This question would take me many hours and several hundred pages to answer fully, but I will try to limit myself to far fewer. In fact, because I am a nice guy who does not want to exhaust anyone, let’s break this into two discrete replies.