Catholic bishop of Samarkand
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]
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