Thomas of Mancasola

Thomas of Mancasola, or Thomas of Mancasol^[1] (fl. 1328), was a Dominican cleric^[2] in the Chagatai Khanate who became bishop of Samarkand.^[3]

Prior to his appointment Thomas had served as a cleric in Mongol-ruled Turkestan. The region, in Thomas's time ruled by Eljigidey khan, allowed local Christians significant freedom to worship, and Thomas obtained a commendation from Eljigidey for the trip to Rome that saw him granted the bishopric of Samarkand.^[4]

Thomas is known from the Mirabilia of Friar Jordanus, which describes him as bishop of "Semiscat"; this place was positively identified as Samarkand during the nineteenth century.^[5][6] Thomas, according to the Mirabilia, accompanied Jordanus on a journey to take the pallium, an ecclesiastical vestment, to John de Cora, the newly appointed archbishop of Sultaniyah in Persia.^[7] Thomas's bishopric, along with that of Jordanus, fell within the province of this new metropolitan.^[8]

References

1. Moffett, Samuel H. (1998). A History of Christianity in Asia. Orbis. ISBN 1-57075-162-5.
2. Dickens, Mark (2000). "The Church of the East: The Rest of the Story". Fides et Historia: Journal of the Conference on Faith and History. 32 (2): 107–125.
3. Beazley, Charles Raymond (1949). The Dawn of Modern Geography: From the middle of the thirteenth to the early years of the fifteenth century (c.A.D. 1260-1420). P. Smith. p. 221.
4. Polo, Marco (1942). Travels of Marco Polo. Plain Label Books. p. 788. ISBN 1-60303-300-9.
5. Yule, Henry (1866). Cathay and the way thither; a collection of medieval notices of China. Hakluyt Society. p. 192.
6. "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 6. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 92. 1873.
7. Beazley, Charles Raymond (1911). "Jordanus" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 512.
8. Gerson da Cunha, J. (1993). Notes on the history and antiquities of Chaul and Bassein. Asian Educational Services. pp. 172–3. ISBN 81-206-0845-3.