Benedictus Polonus – Bibliography

I. Manuscript Sources (Relatio)

• Core Witnesses
  • Benedictus Polonus. Relatio. 1247.
    • • B (Vienna, ÖNB Cod. 512). → Principal witness / base
    • • P (Paris, BN Colbert 2477). → Collated witness
    • • G (Pullé’s 1905 printed edition; cited by Wyngaert — not an independent manuscript). → Cited for variant readings only
• Derivative / Not Used for Text-Base
  • Vatican MS (Vat. lat. 4016)
    • • Treated as derivative (aligned with P); not used to establish the text

II. Sources for the Epistola (Letter of the Great Khan)

• Primary Source
  • Epistola magni Chani ad Summum Pontificem. 1246.
    • • S (Fr. Salimbene, Chronica, MGH SS XXXII, 207–208). → Fullest text; followed for content
    • • B (Vienna, ÖNB Cod. 512). → Transmits the letter appended to the Relatio
    • • P (Paris, BN Colbert 2477). → Transmits the letter appended to the Relatio
    • • O (Vienna, Vindobonensis 389 [Rec. 713]). → Independent copy of the letter

II. Printed Primary Sources

• Critical Editions
  • D’Avezac, Marie-Armand, ed. 1839. Recueil de Voyages. Vol. 4. Paris: Société de Géographie. 774-779.
  • Dörrie, Heinrich. 1956. “Drei Texte zur Geschichte der Ungarn und Mongolen.” Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen 6: 125-202.
  • Glassberger, Nicolaus, ed. 1906. Analecta Franciscana. Vol. 2. Quaracchi: Collegium S. Bonaventurae.
  • Wyngaert, Anastasius van den, ed. 1929. Sinica Franciscana. Vol. 1. Florence: Collegium S. Bonaventurae.
• Translations
  • Dawson, Christopher, ed. 1955. The Mongol Mission. London: Sheed and Ward.
  • Geng, Sheng [耿昇], trans. 2013. 《柏朗嘉宾蒙古行纪》 [Giovanni da Pian del Carpine’s Travels to Mongolia]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.

III. Secondary Literature

• Aigle, Denise. 2014. The Mongol Empire between Myth and Reality: Studies in Anthropological History. Leiden: Brill.
• Bezzola, Gian Andri. 1974. Die Mongolen in abendländischer Sicht (1220-1270). Bern: Francke.
• von den Brincken, Anna-Dorothee. 1975. “Die Mongolen im Weltbild der Lateiner um die Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des ‘Speculum Historiale’ des Vinzenz von Beauvais.” Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 57: 117–140.
• Connell, Charles W. 2000. “Bridia, C. de (fl. c. 1245 C.E.)”. In Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia, edited by John Block Friedman and Kristen Mossler Figg, 74–75. New York: Routledge.
• Czarnowus, Anna. 2014. “The Mongols, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe: The Mirabilia Tradition in Benedict of Poland’s Historia Tartarorum and John of Plano Carpini’s Historia Mongalorum.” Literature Compass 11, no. 7: 484–495. DOI: 10.1111/lic3.12150
• Czekalska, Renata. 2019. “The Journey of Benedictus Polonus or a European Discovery of Asia before Marco Polo.” Acta Via Serica 4, no. 2: 79–95. → Full Text
• Fried, Johannes. 1986. “Auf der Suche nach der Wirklichkeit. Die Mongolen und die europäische Erfahrungswissenschaft im 13. Jahrhundert.” Historische Zeitschrift 243: 287–332.
• Guzman, Gregory G. 2000. “Benedict the Pole (fl. 1240s).” In Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia, edited by John Block Friedman and Kristen Mossler Figg, 57–58. New York: Routledge.
• Guzman, Gregory G. 2006. “The Vinland Map Controversy and the Discovery of a Second Version of The Tartar Relation: The Authenticity of the 1339 Text.” Terrae Incognitae 38, no. 1: 19–25. DOI: 10.1179/tin.2006.38.1.19
• Jackson, Peter. 2005. The Mongols and the West: 1221–1410. London: Routledge.
• Jackson, Peter. 2016. “The Testimony of the Russian ‘Archbishop’ Peter Concerning the Mongols (1244/5): Precious Intelligence or Timely Disinformation?”.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 26 (1–2): 65–77. DOI: 10.1017/s135618631500084x
• Münkler, Marina. 2000. Erfahrung des Fremden. Die Beschreibung Ostasiens in den Augenzeugenberichten des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
• Pow, Stephen. 2024. “A Proposal for the Identity of the Inner Asian City of Ornas (Hornach) Mentioned in Thirteenth-Century Latin Sources.” Acta Orientalia Hungarica. DOI: 10.1556/062.2023.00305
• Rosiński, Franciszek M. 2011. “Benedykt Polak – największy polski podróżnik w średniowieczu.” Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie 15: 9-28.
• Ruotsala, Antti. 2001. Europeans and Mongols in the Mid-13th Century: Encountering the Other. Helsinki: Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. → Full Text
• Schmieder, Felicitas. Europa und die Fremden: Die Mongolen im Urteil des Abendlandes vom 13. bis in das 15. Jahrhundert. Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1994.
• Strzelczyk, Jerzy. 1993, ed. Spotkanie dwóch światów. Stolica Apostolska a świat mongolski w połowie XIII wieku. Relacje powstałe w związku mit der misją Jana di Piano de Carpiniego do Mongołów. Poznań: Wydawnictwo ABOS.
• Strzelczyk, Jerzy. 2008. Benedykt Polak. Z Europy do Azji przez Kazachstan (1245-1247). Warszawa: Oficyna Olszynka.
• Werner, Gregor. 2016. “Travelling Towards the Peoples of the Endtime: C. de Bridia as Religious Re-interpretation of Carpini.” In Peoples of the Apocalypse: Eschatological Beliefs and Political Scenarios, edited by Wolfram Brandes, Felicitas Schmieder, and Rebekka Voß, 83–95. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110473315-005