An exiled Englishman as the Tartars' envoy
Editorial contextIn a letter Matthew copied under 1243, a cleric named Ivo of Narbonne says that among eight Tartars captured in Austria was an Englishman, banished from England for some crimes, who had twice come to the king of Hungary as envoy and interpreter for the Tartar king, threatening disaster unless Hungary submitted. The letter goes on (next page) to give his account of how he drifted east, learned many languages, and was recruited by the Tartars because they needed interpreters.
Of those fleeing, the prince of Dalmatia captured eight, one of whom the duke of Austria recognised: an Englishman by nation, but banished from the kingdom of England for ever for certain crimes. He, on behalf of the most wicked king of the Tattars, had twice come to the king of Hungary as envoy and interpreter, and had openly threatened the evils that afterwards happened, unless he surrendered himself and his kingdom to Tattar servitude.
Working translation
Original wording
Ex ipsis vero fugientibus princeps Dalmatiae cepit octo, quorum dux Austriae novit unum, Anglicum natione, sed propter quaedam maleficia de regno Angliae perpetua banniatione proscriptum. Hic ex parte regis nequissimi Tattarorum, bis venerat ad regem Hungariae nuntius et interpres, mala, quae postmodum contigerunt, satis manifeste praemuniendo comminatus est, nisi se et regnum suum Tattareae dederet servituti.
About Mongol army and its English interpreter
Keep in mind
Ivo's letter is a contested text and its author admits a shady past; the Englishman's story cannot be checked. The same letter includes lurid cannibalism stories.