From the 15-th century Georgia had got surrounded by Ottoman forces, which culminated in the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 and the Trapezuntine Empire in 1461. Due to events that took place in the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, the Papacy saw Georgia, together with the central European countries, as its strategic ally in the detaining of Ottoman expansion.  In the sixties and seventies of the 15-th century, the Aq Qoyunlu confederation became the principal Eastern ally of the European countries within the anti-Ottoman coalition (the Magyar Kingdom, the Kingdom of Poland, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, the Holy Roman Empire), which, in turn, made Georgia Uzun Hasan’s ally. Consequently, Georgia became the subject of the close and sustained attention of the Papal Curia, European diplomats and travelers. While pursuing their own objectives, they wrote down what they saw and familiarized European society with Georgia through their accounts. Various archival materials and collections (including Herzog August Bibliothek) reveal hitherto unknown records which enable me to attain a better insight into the endeavors of the western and central European missionaries to the Hope See or to the East and find traces of Georgian intercourse with them.

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