Andrew of Longjumeau

d.1270. French Dominican missionary. Born at Longjumeau (Lonjumel), he spent much of his life in the East as a missionary. In 1238 Louis IX of France sent him to Constantinople to collect a relic, the Crown of Thorns, which the Latin emperor Baldwin II had given to Louis in return for help and money. Before Andrew's arrival, debt forced Baldwin II to sell the crown to the Venetians. Andrew was thus obliged to take the relic first to Venice, where a high price was wanted for it, before he could take it to France. In 1245 Innocent IV sent him to the Holy Land to heal a reported schism there. Between 1248 and 1252 he accompanied Louis IX's ill-fated Crusade to Egypt, and he also visited the Great Khan, who rumor wrongly alleged had become a Christian.