chieftain "Boricius, fourth in rank among the major Cuman leaders" and baptized him and his retainers in the presence of Duke Béla. The number of Cumans baptised with their chief varies from source to source. Emo specified a "large number", Alberic noted 15,000, and the Austrian chronicles Vatzonis, Leobiense and Claustroneuburgense described 10,000 converts. According to The Lives of the Brethren, another Cuman chieftain who was "an even more important leader" was baptized "with about a thousand of his kinsmen". In a 31 July 1228 letter to Archbishop Robert of Esztergom, Pope Gregory IX expressed joy at the missionaries' success in "Cumania" and the neighboring "land of the Brodniks". Creation and fall (1228–1241) The conversion of thousands of Cumans was followed by the creation of the bishopric of Cumania. According to Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Archbishop Robert of Esztergom consecrated Theodoric bishop of the new diocese in 1228. The consecration of Theodoric, who had been a monk in the Dominican province of Hungary, was confirmed by Pope Gregory on 21 March. The pope urged the head of the Hungarian Dominicans to send new missionaries to the Cumans and praised Duke Béla, who had decided to visit Cumania with Archbishop Robert. According to Pope Gregory's 1228 letter, the nomadic Cumans were willing to settle in newly established villages and towns and build churches. However, relations between the Cumans and their priests were often tense; the pope advised Bishop Theodoric of Cumania in 1229 to show mercy to the newly converted Cumans who had attacked clerics and not punish them for minor crimes. The pope exempted the Diocese of Cumania from the authority of the Archbishops of Esztergom on 13 September 1229, subjecting its bishop directly to the Holy See. Gregory IX urged King Andrew II of Hungary to allow the Teutonic Knights to return to Cumania in at least four letters between 1231 and 1234. Nevertheless, Hungary remained the principal ally of the Holy See in Southeastern Europe; Andrew II emphasized his claim to the newly conquered lands by adopting the title "King of Cumania" in the early 1230s. Pope Gregory wrote to Duke Béla on 25 October 1234, reminding him of his previous offer to build a church in Cumania and encouraging him to grant estates to the bishop of Cumania. The pope's next letter, written on 14 November 1234, stated that there were "certain people within the Cuman bishopric named