In the sixfth appointment of the conference series ‘Middle Ages on the Move‘, Lorenzo Pubblici will talk mainly about Giovanni di Pian del Carpine, an Italian friar and diplomat who embarked on a pioneering journey as the first papal envoy to the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. He will focus in particular on his perception of the Mongols in the Historia Mongalorum. Then, Sara Nur Yıldız will describe the merchants, monks and Mongols, focusing on Ilkhanate and the Black Sea region.

Lorenzo Pubblici is Full Professor of History and Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Humanities and Liberal Arts (DHLA) at the Santa Reparata International School of Arts (SRISA) in Florence. He is, together with Marcello Garzaniti, Scientific Director of CeSecom (Centre for the Study of Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages) and Director of the series Europe in Between. Author of monographs, articles and reviews published in leading Italian and international scientific journals.

Sara Nur Yıldız holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and is currently a lecturer at the Middle East Technical University. Her research focuses on the intellectual, religious, cultural and political history of medieval Anatolia and the Ottoman world in the early modern period. Her long list of publications, which includes works on Islamic and Ottoman medicine, Christian-Muslim interactions and trade in the Mongol world, underlines her deep understanding of the complexities of this historical period.