'Walati (Vlachs). The Vlachs did not receive their sacraments from the Catholic bishop, but "from some pseudo-bishops of the Greek rite". According to the pope, the Vlachs persuaded "Hungarians, Saxons and other Catholics" who had settled in Cumania to join the Orthodox church. Gregory IX authorized Bishop Theodoric to consecrate a Catholic bishop for the Vlachs, and asked Duke Béla to help Theodoric impose his authority over the Vlachs. The pope's letter suggests that the Vlachs were a significant group (possibly the majority) among the peoples of Cumania, and they had their own local church hierarchy. The Mongols again invaded the easternmost regions of the "Cuman steppes", forcing tens of thousands of Cumans to seek refuge in Hungary or Bulgaria around 1240. The Bishopric of Cumania was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Central Europe in 1241. According to the contemporaneous Roger of Torre Maggiore, Bochetor and "other kings" led the Mongol army to the "land of the bishop of the Cumans" and annihilated the local army. The invaders destroyed the episcopal see and murdered many Dominican friars: Aftermath (after 1241) The Mongols conquered the steppes as far as the Lower Danube. They massacred or enslaved many Cumans, but significant Cuman groups survived and preserved their separate identity in the Mongol Empire until the end of the 14th century. The Holy See did not abandon the idea of proselytizing in Cumania after the Mongol invasion, and Pope Innocent IV praised the Dominicans for their successful missions to the Cumans in 1253. However, Pope Nicholas III mentioned in a 7 October 1278 letter that Catholics had disappeared from the Diocese of Cumania because no bishop lived there since the destruction of the episcopal see. The pope urged Philip, Bishop of Fermo (his legate in Hungary) to investigate the situation in the former bishopric. Franciscan friars played an important role in Catholic missions to the lands east of the Carpathians. The Holy See had authorized the order to administer the sacraments, build churches and grant indulgences in Cumania in 1239, renewing the authorization six years later. Missionaries risked their lives in the lands subject to the Mongols in the first half of the ; "Saracens" murdered Friar Pietro da Unghera near Transylvania in 1314, and Friars Blasius and Marcus were martyred in Siret in 1340. Pope John XXII considered restoring the bishopric in 1332. In a letter addressed to Csanád Telegdi, the