Born c. 1220,
Peking, China
Died c. 1294,
Baghdad, present-day Iraq

Much is known about medieval travelers, such as Venetian Marco Polo (see entry), who journeyed from Europe to Asia, but there were also Asian travelers to Europe. For the most part, however, either no record was made of their trips or their accounts have remained undiscovered. One important exception was the journey of Rabban Bar Sauma, a Nestorian priest from Peking (now known as Beijing), China, who traveled to western France in the thirteenth century.

Bar Sauma was born around 1220 into a well-to-do Uighur family in Khanbalik, the capital of the Mongols, which later regained its Chinese name, Peking. At the age of 20 Bar Sauma became a monk and went to live in a cave, where he gained renown as a preacher. One of the people attracted by his preaching was a young monk named...