In the letter to Philip IV, Arghun mentions Bar Sauma: The exchanges towards the formation of an alliance with the Europeans ultimately proved fruitless, and Arghun's attempts were eventually abandoned. However, Rabban Bar Sauma did succeed in making some important contacts which encouraged communication and trade between the East and West. Aside from King Philip's embassy to the Mongols, the Papacy also sent missionaries such as Giovanni da Montecorvino to the Mongol court. Later years After his embassy to Europe, Bar Sauma lived out the rest of his years in Baghdad. It was probably during this time that he wrote the account of his travels, which was published in French in 1895 and in English in 1928 as The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China or The History of the Life and Travels of Rabban Sawma, Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the Mongol Khans to the Kings of Europe, and Markos Who as Mar Yahbh-Allaha III Became Patriarch of the Church of the East in Asia, translated and edited by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge. The narrative is unique for its observations of medieval Europe during the end of the Crusading period, through the eyes of an observant outsider from a culture thousands of miles away. Rabban Bar Sauma died in 1294, in Baghdad. See also Church of the East in China Catholic Church in China John of Montecorvino Odoric of Pordenone Notes References Beazley, C. R., Dawn of Modern Geography, ii.15, 352; iii.12, 189–190, 539–541. Chabot, J. B.'s translation and edition of the Histoire du Patriarche Mar Jabalaha III. et du moine Rabban Cauma (from the Syriac) in Revue de l'Orient Latin, 1893, pp. 566–610; 1894, pp. 73–143, 235–300 Odericus Raynaldus, Annales Ecclesiastici (continuation of Baronius), AD 1288, f xxxv-xxxvi; 1289, lxi Records of the Wardrobe and Household, 1286-89, ed. Byerly and Byerly (HMSO, 1986), nos. 543, 1082 (for the meeting with Edward I at St Sever). Wadding, Luke, Annales Minorum, v.169, 196, 170-173 Zehiroglu, Ahmet M. (2014) ; "Bar Sauma's Black Sea Journey" Translations Rabban Bar Sauma's travel narrative has been translated into English twice: Montgomery, James A., History of Yaballaha III, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1927) Budge, E. A. Wallis, The Monks of Kublai Khan, (London: Religious Tract Society, 1928). Online A critical edition of the Syriac text with an English translation was published in 2021: Borbone, Pier Giorgio, History of Mar Yahballaha and Rabban Sauma.