Carpine's account [and] a complement to [it]". The Relation is dedicated to Boguslaus, "minister of the [Franciscan] friars who live in Bohemia and Poland", and the author claims to be writing in obedience to Boguslaus' authority, suggesting that the text was commissioned. It is an ethnographic report, although it also contains legendary material borrowed from the mirabilia (wonders) genre, perhaps because, as a non-traveler, de Bridia considered them missing from the accounts of the travelers. It reports the existence of dog-face people, ox-footed people and other monstrous races typical of the genre. Another people, the Parossits, appear to be the actual Permians. The Samoyeds are also mentioned. The magnetic island from the legend of Sinbad the Sailor is also incorporated. It is called Narayrgen, which is said to come from the Tatar for "Men of the Sun". Compared to the Ystoria and Benedict's De itinere, the Relation lacks information on the friars' travels. It is more focused on Mongol history, customs and plans. For its time, its account of Mongol history, genealogies and methods of warfare are among the most detailed. It covers the Mongol invasion of Europe from the 1220s through the 1240s, correctly crediting the invasion to Jochi's command rather than Batu's, as all other western sources do. His account of Genghis Khan's rise, however, is marred by legendary material, such as his encounter with Gog and Magog, inspired by the Alexander Romance. In places, the text of the Relation uses the correct spelling Tataros rather than the corrupt form Tartaros common in Europe. It records that the Mongols called the pope the "great pope throughout the West" (magnum papam per totum occidentem). Like Friar Julian and the Tractatus de ortu Tartarorum, the Relation portrays the Mongols as operating on three distinct fronts: against the Sultanate of Egypt, against the Sultanate of Rum (Anatolia) and against the Hungarians and Poles. Editions Notes Bibliography 13th-century Latin literature 13th-century Christian texts History of Mongolia