Rabban Bar Ṣawma (Syriac language: , ; 1220January 1294), also known as Rabban Ṣawma or Rabban Çauma (), was a Turkic Chinese (Uyghur or possibly Ongud) monk turned diplomat of the "Nestorian" Church of the East in China. He is known for embarking on a pilgrimage from Yuan China to Jerusalem with one of his students, Rabban Markos. Due to military unrest along the way, they never reached their destination, but instead spent many years in Ilkhanate-controlled Baghdad. The younger Markos was eventually elected Yahballaha III, Patriarch of the Church of the East and later suggested his teacher Rabban Bar Ṣawma be sent on another mission, as Mongol ambassador to Europe. The elderly monk met with many of the European monarchs, as well as the Pope, in attempts to arrange a Franco-Mongol alliance. The mission bore no fruit, but in his later years in Baghdad, Rabban Bar Ṣawma documented his lifetime of travel. His written account of his journeys is of unique interest to modern historians, as it gives a picture of medieval Europe at the close of the Crusades, painted by a keenly-intelligent, broadminded, and statesmanlike observer. Bar Ṣawma's travels occurred prior to the return of Marco Polo to Europe, and his writings give a reverse viewpoint, of the East looking to the West. Early life Rabban ("Master"; c.f. Hebrew "Rabbi" in Judaism) Bar Ṣawma was born c. 1220 in or near modern-day Beijing, known then as Zhongdu, later as Khanbaliq under Mongol rule. According to Bar Hebraeus he was of Uyghur origin. Chinese accounts describe his heritage as Öngüd, a Turkic people classified as members of the "Mongol" caste under Yuan law. The name bar Ṣawma is Aramaic for "Son of Fasting" though he was born to a wealthy family. He was a "Church of the East Christian", and became an ascetic monk around the age of 20 and then a religious teacher for decades. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem In his middle age, Rabban Bar Sauma and one of his younger students, Rabban Markos, embarked on a journey from Yuan China to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They traveled by way of the former Tangut country, Khotan, Kashgar, Taraz in the Syr Darya valley, Khorasan (now Afghanistan), Maragha (now Azerbaijan) and Mosul, arriving at Ani in the Kingdom of Georgia. Warnings of danger on the routes to southern Syria turned them from their purpose, and they traveled to Mongol-controlled Persia,