NOTES ON THE CAPTURE OF WILLIAM BUCHIER BY THE MONGOLS in HUNGARY

Abstract

Abstract. In 1254, during his stay at Karakorum, Franciscan traveler William of Rubruck met Parisian born mastersmith William Buchier. Rubruck recorded that Buchier was captured in Hungary, during the Mongol invasion, by a half-brother of the Great khan Möngke (1251–1259), in a city called ‘Belegrave’. So far, the identification of the Mongol commander who had captured William Buchier largely remained out of the interest of the researchers. The city where he had been taken captive was frequently, and erroneously, identified as Belgrade, capital of modern Serbia. This article is dedicated to the subject “who was the half-brother of Möngke that captured William Buchier, and where and when it happened”. On the basis of the Rubruck’s report and other western and oriental sources related to the Mongol military campaign in central Europe, it is concluded that Buchier was captured by prince Böchek in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár, Bălgrad), modern Romania, in the early spring of 1241.