Buscarello de Ghizolfi

Buscarello de Ghizolfi was a Genoese merchant and diplomat who served the Mongol rulers of Ilkhanate, Arghun (1284 – 1291), Ghazan (1295 – 1304) and then Oljeitu (1304 – 1316). Buscarello

Buscarello belonged to a great family of Genoa that played an important role in the maritime trade of the city. The first mention of him is from 1274 in connection with the arming of a galley, and in 1279 he was with his brothers at Layas in Cilicia. Subsequently he has entered the service of Arghun of Persia, who conferred upon him the title qūṛčī (quiver carrier).

In 1289, Buscarello was sent as an ambassador of Arghun of Persia to Europe to negotiate an alliance between Europeans and Mongols agains the Muslims. Buscarello presented the plan to Philip IV of France (r. 1285 – 1314) and to Edward I of England (1272 – 1307) in 1290. With the answers from these sovereigns, he returned to Rome in December 1290. In 1291 he set out from Genoa to Iran accompanied by an envoy from the king of England, Sir Geoffrey Langley.

Buscarello was sent on several such missions but despite many back and forth communications, the attempts were never successful.