tions of his predecessors with the Frank monarchs, and more especially with the court of Rome. He sent ambassadors to the Pope, and to the kings of France[1] and England, urging them to join him in an attack on the Mohammedans; and his envoys, one of whom was baptised at Rome, held out hopes that Arghun and his subjects might be induced to embrace the Christian faith. The chief agent employed by the Moghul prince in these negotiations was one Buscarelli de Gisolfi, a citizen of Genoa. Several of the letters of Pope Nicholas IV. to Edward on this subject are still preserved. In 1289, the pontiff wrote to say that Biscarellus de Gisulfo, envoy of "Argon," king of the Tartars, had presented letters to him announcing that the Moghul ruler was prepared to invade the Holy Land, at the time of the general crusade then contemplated. As this envoy was about to visit England he recommends him to Edward's notice.[2] Another Papal brief, dated December, 1290, also recommends Bascarellus de Gisulfo, and the other ambassadors of Arghun, among whom was Zaganus, a Tartar, who had become a convert to Christianity, to the protection of the English king.[3]
From the Wardrobe Account of the eighteenth year of Edward I., we learn that Buscarelli arrived in London on the eve of the Epiphany, January 5, 1290, accompanied by three esquires, a cook, eight horses, and six garçons; he remained thirteen days at the English court; and, in all, twenty days in England; his expenses were defrayed by Edward; his Tartar colleagues are not mentioned in the account. On the departure of Buscarelli, the king delivered to him a letter addressed to Arghun,[4] in which mention is
- ↑ For the negotiations between the Moghul sovereigns and the kings of France, see "Memoires sur les Relations Politiques des Princes Chrétiens, et partienlièrement des Rois de France avec les Empereurs Mongols: par M. Abel Remusat, Paris, 1822," 4to. Two original letters of Arghun are still preserved in the Royal Library at Paris; M. Remusat has given fac-similes of them.
- ↑ New Rymer, vol. i. pt. ii., 713.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 742. A third papal brief, dated January 1290, introduces Saabedin Archaon, another Tartar envoy, to Edward. Ib. p. 743.
- ↑ I am indebted to my friend Mr. T. D. Hardy, of the Tower, for the communication of this hitherto unpublished missive: it is as follows. "In omni nomine Salvatoris Argon' Regi Tartarorum illustri, salubriter vivere ac tronum regium justicia roborare. Reducentes ad sedule recordacionis examen devocionis eximie puritatem qua inclitus vir, genitor vester, erga Christicolas suis fulgebat temporibus, attendentesque quod vos, tanquam laudabilis imitator ipsius, Christi nominis et honoris cupiatis augmentum proinde virtutum, Domino gratias vobisque grates referimus multiformes; glorificetur altissimus Dominus dominantium et Rex regum qui tam bonum tamque laudabile propositum inspiravit conceptui mentis vestre, ut contra Soldani Babilon' sueque gentis perfidiam exsurgere delectamini in terre sancte subsidium et fidei Christiane, beatum quoque vos dicent omnes generaciones si vobis votum perseveret hujus-
