Citizendia
Your Ad Here

For other uses, see Prester John (disambiguation).
"Preste" as the Emperor of Ethiopia, enthroned on a map of East Africa in an atlas prepared for Queen Mary, 1558. (British Library)
"Preste" as the Emperor of Ethiopia, enthroned on a map of East Africa in an atlas prepared for Queen Mary, 1558. The Emperor ( Ge'ez: ንጉሠ ነገሥት nəgusä nägäst " King of Kings " of Ethiopia was the hereditary Mary I (18 February 1516 &ndash 17 November 1558 was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death (British Library)

The legends of Prester John (also Presbyter John), popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. The British Library ( BL) is the National library of the United Kingdom. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a Pater familias over an extended family A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world The Orient is a term which simply means the " East " It originated in Western Asia to describe that part of the world Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular fantasy. Reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John was said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of Saint Thomas resided. "Three Kings" or "Three Wise Men" redirects here This article addresses the Saint Thomas Christians and the various churches and denominations that form the Nasrani people. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Earthly Paradise. The Gates of Alexander (Caspian Gates were a legendary barrier supposedly built by Alexander the Great in the Caucasus to keep the uncivilized barbarians of The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters Not to be confused with Eden Gardens.The Garden of Eden ( Hebrew "pleasure" גַּן עֵדֶן Arabic: جنات عدن, Among his treasures was a mirror through which every province could be seen, the fabled original from which derived the "speculum literature" of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, in which the prince's realms were surveyed and his duties laid out. The medieval genre of speculum literature, popular from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries was inspired by the urge to encompass encyclopedic knowledge within a single The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere [1]

At first, Prester John was imagined to be in India; tales of the "Nestorian" Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the legend. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Nestorius Nestorius (c  386 &ndashc  451) was a pupil of Theodore of Mopsuestia in Antioch in Syria (modern Thomas the Apostle, also called Judas Thomas, Doubting Thomas, or Didymus, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. The early 3rd century text called Acts of Thomas is arguably the most Gnostic of the New Testament apocrypha, portraying Christ as the "Heavenly After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers convinced themselves they had found him in Ethiopia. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Prester John's kingdom was the object of a quest, firing the imaginations of generations of adventurers, but remaining out of reach. He was a symbol to European Christians of the Church's universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity, in a time when ethnic and interreligious tension made such a vision seem distant.

Contents

Origin of the legend

Prester John from Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493
Prester John from Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

The stories of Saint Thomas proselytizing in India, which date back to at least the 3rd century, had obvious influence on the legend's development. Hartmann Schedel ( February 13, 1440 &ndash November 28, 1514) was a German physician humanist and Historian, one The Nuremberg Chronicle, written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, with a version in German translation by Georg Alt is one of the best documented early printed books Distorted reports of the Assyrian Church of the East's movements in Asia had a hand as well. The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (ܥܕܬܐ ܩܕܝܫܬܐ ܘܫܠܝܚܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܪ̈ܝܐ ‘Ittā Qaddishtā wa-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi This church, called "Nestorian" by Europeans who mistook it as adhering to the teachings of Nestorius, gained a wide following in the Eastern nations and engaged the Western imagination as an assemblage both exotic and familiarly Christian. Nestorius (in Greek: Νεστόριος; c 386&ndash c 451 was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 [2] Additionally, a kernel of the tradition may have been drawn from Saint Irenaeus's quotes, recorded by the ecclesiastical historian and bishop Eusebius of Caesarea,[3] on the shadowy early Christian figure John the Presbyter of Syria, supposed in one document to be the author of two of the Epistles of John. Saint Irenaeus (Greek Ειρηναίος (2nd century AD - c 202 was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, Roman Empire (now Lyons France For the mythical king see Prester John John the Presbyter is an obscure figure in early Christian tradition who is either distinguished Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Three books in the New Testament, thought to have been written between 90-100 are collectively called the Epistles of John: First Epistle of John [4] The martyr bishop Papias had been Irenaeus' teacher; Papias in turn had received his apostolic tradition from John the Presbyter. For the Genus of Grass skipper Butterflies, see Papias (butterfly. Little links this figure to the Prester John legend beyond the name, however. [5]

Whatever its influences, the legend began in earnest in the early 12th century with two reports of visits of an Archbishop of India to Constantinople and of a Patriarch of India to Rome at the time of Pope Callixtus II (1119 – 1124). In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated Bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others this means that they lead Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Blessed Pope Callixtus II (or Calistus II) (died December 13 1124) born Guy de Vienne, the fourth son of William I Count of Burgundy [6] These visits apparently from the Saint Thomas Christians of India cannot be confirmed, evidence of both being secondhand reports. This article addresses the Saint Thomas Christians and the various churches and denominations that form the Nasrani people. Later, the German chronicler Otto of Freising reports in his Chronicon of 1145 that the previous year he had met a certain Hugh, bishop of Jabala in Syria, at the court of Pope Eugene III in Viterbo. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Otto von Freising ( Otto Frisingensis) (c 1114 in Klosterneuburg – September 22, 1158) was a German Bishop and chronicler Hugh of Jabala was the Bishop of the Syrian town of Jabala during the 12th century Jableh (also spelt Jebleh, Jabala, Jablah and Gabala; Arabic: جبلة is a coastal city on the Mediterranean in Syria Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Pope Viterbo is an ancient city and Comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the Province of Viterbo. [7][8] Hugh was an emissary of Prince Raymond of Antioch seeking Western aid against the Saracens after the Siege of Edessa, and his counsel incited Eugene to call for the Second Crusade. Raymond of Poitiers (c 1115 &ndash June 29, 1149) was Prince of Antioch 1136&ndash1149 The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade The Siege of Edessa took place from November 28 to December 24, 1144, resulting in the fall of the capital of the Crusader County of Edessa The Second Crusade (1147&ndash1149 was the second major Crusade launched from Europe, called in 1145 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the He told Otto, in the presence of the pope, that Prester John, a Nestorian Christian who served in the dual position of priest and king, had regained the city of Ecbatana from the brother monarchs of Medes and Persia, the Samiardi, in a great battle "not many years ago". Ecbatana ( Old Persian: Haŋgmatana, written Agbatana in Aeschylus and Herodotus, Agámtanu by Nabonidos The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Afterwards Prester John allegedly set out for Jerusalem to rescue the Holy Land, but the swollen waters of the Tigris compelled him to return to his own country. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great Rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern His fabulous wealth was demonstrated by his emerald scepter; his holiness by his descent from the Three Magi. "Three Kings" or "Three Wise Men" redirects here

Otto's story appears to be a muddled version of real events. In 1141, the Kara-Khitan Khanate under Yelü Dashi defeated the Seljuk Turks near Samarkand. This article refers to the Khitan Khanate. For the Turkic state see Kara-Khanid Khanate. Yelü Dashi (耶律大石 Yēlǜ Dàshí or 耶律達實 Yēlǜ Dáshí or Yeh-Lu Ta-Shih (r The Seljuq (also Seljuq Turks, Seldjuks, Seldjuqs, Seljuks; in Turkish Selçuklular; in Ṣaljūqīyān; in Samarkand (Samarqand Самарқанд سمرقند UniPers: "Samarqand" is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of The Seljuks ruled over Persia at the time and were the most powerful force in the Muslim world, and the defeat at Samarkand weakened them substantially. The Kara-Khitan were not Christians, however, and there is no reason to suppose Yelü Dashi was ever called Prester John. However, several vassals of the Kara-Khitan practiced Nestorian Christianity, which may have contributed to the legend. [9] The idea was introduced into the academic mainstream by Lev Gumilev in his popular book about Prester John, "Searches for an Imaginary Kingdom" (1970). Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov (Лев Никола́евич Гумилёв ( October 1, 1912, St Whatever the case may be, the defeat encouraged the Crusaders and inspired a notion of deliverance from the East, and it is possible Otto recorded Hugh's confused report to prevent complacency in the Crusade's European backers; according to his account no help could be expected from a powerful Eastern king. [10]

Letter of Prester John

No more of the tale is recorded until about 1165 when copies of the Letter of Prester John started spreading throughout Europe. An epistolary wonder tale with parallels suggesting its author knew the Romance of Alexander and the above-mentioned Acts of Thomas, the Letter was supposedly written to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus (1143 – 1180) by Prester John, descendant of one of the Three Magi and King of India. Alexander romance is any of several collections of legends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the Great. For the eldest son of Andronikos I Komnenos and father of Alexios I of Trebizond, see Manuel Komnenos (born 1145. [11] The many marvels of richness and magic it contained captured the imagination of Europeans, and it was translated into numerous languages, including Hebrew. It circulated in ever more embellished form for centuries in manuscripts, a hundred examples of which still exist. The invention of printing perpetuated the letter's popularity in printed form; it was still current in popular culture during the period of European exploration. Printing is a process for reproducing text and image typically with ink on Paper using a printing press The Age of Discovery or Age of Exploration was a period from the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans explored Part of the letter's essence was that a lost kingdom of Nestorian Christians still existed in the vastnesses of Central Asia.

The reports were so far believed that Pope Alexander III sent a letter to Prester John via his emissary Philip, his physician, on September 27, 1177. Pope Alexander III (c 1100/1105 &ndash August 30, 1181) born Rolando (or Orlando) Bandinelli, was Pope from 1159 Events 489 - Odoacer attacks Theodoric at the Battle of Verona and is defeated again Of Philip, nothing more is recorded, but it is most probable he did not return with word from Prester John. [12] The Letter continued to circulate, accruing more embellishments with each copy. In modern times textual analysis of the letter's variant Hebrew versions have suggested an origin among the Jews of northern Italy or Languedoc: several Italian words remained in the Hebrew texts. Content analysis (sometimes called textual analysis) is a Methodology in the Social sciences for studying the Content of Communication PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Languedoc ( in French Lengadòc in Occitan) is a former Province of France, now continued in the modern-day ''régions'' of Languedoc-Roussillon [13] At any rate, the Letter’s author was most likely a Westerner, though his or her purpose remains unclear.

Mongol Empire

Depiction of the Kerait ruler Wang Khan as "Prester John" in "Le Livre des Merveilles", 15th century
Depiction of the Kerait ruler Wang Khan as "Prester John" in "Le Livre des Merveilles", 15th century

In 1221 Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre, returned from the disastrous Fifth Crusade with good news: King David of India, the son or grandson of Prester John, had mobilized his armies against the Saracens. The Keraits or Kereits (Кэрэйд Kereid; Керей were a cluster of tribes in central Mongolia before the rise of the Mongol Empire. This article is about Wang Khan Toghrul ruler of the Kereit For the Seljuk leader see Toğrül. Jacques de Vitry (c 1160/70 &ndash 1240 or 1244) was a theologian chronicler and cardinal from 1228 &ndash 40 The Bishop of Acre was a Suffragan bishop of the Crusader Archbishop of Tyre. The Fifth Crusade ( 1217 &ndash 1221) was an attempt to take back Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful He had already conquered Persia, then under the Khwarezmian Empire's control, and was moving on towards Baghdad as well. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia The Khwarezmian Empire, more commonly known as the empire of the Khwarezm Shahs ( Khwārezmšhāḥīān, "Kings of Khwarezmia " Baghdad (بغداد) is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous This descendent of the great king who had defeated the Seljuks in 1141 planned to reconquer and rebuild Jerusalem. [14][15]

The bishop of Acre was right in the fact that a great King was conquering Persia; however "King David", as it turned out, was no benevolent Nestorian monarch nor even a Christian, but the pagan warlord Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan ( or;, Chinggis Khaan, ʧiŋgɪs χaːŋ Činggis Qaɣan; 1162–1227 born (meaning "ironworker" was the Mongol founder His reign took the story of Prester John in a new direction. The Mongol Empire's rise gave Western Christians the opportunity to visit lands they had never seen before, and they set out in large numbers along the Empire's secure roads. The Mongol Empire ( Mongolyn Ezent Güren or mn Их Mонгол улс Ikh Mongol Uls; 1206–1368 was the largest contiguous Empire Belief that a lost Nestorian kingdom existed in the east, or that the Crusader states' salvation depended on an alliance with an Eastern monarch, explains the numerous Christian ambassadors and missionaries sent to the Mongols. The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European Crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and These include the Franciscan explorers Giovanni da Pian del Carpine in 1245 and William of Rubruck in 1253. The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, or John of Plano Carpini or John of Pian de Carpine or Joannes de Plano (c William of Rubruck (c 1220 in Rubrouck Flanders - c 1293 was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer [16]

The link between Prester John and Genghis Khan was elaborated upon at this time as the Prester became identified with Genghis' foster father, Toghrul, king of the Keraits, given the Jin title Wang Khan Toghrul. This article is about Wang Khan Toghrul ruler of the Kereit For the Seljuk leader see Toğrül. The Keraits or Kereits (Кэрэйд Kereid; Керей were a cluster of tribes in central Mongolia before the rise of the Mongol Empire. This is an article for the Jurchen Jin Dynasty (1115–1234 For other Chinese dynasties whose names are also rendered "Jin" in Pinyin, see Jin Dynasty Fairly truthful chroniclers and explorers such as Marco Polo,[17] Crusader-historian Jean de Joinville,[18] and the Franciscan voyager Odoric of Pordenone[19] stripped Prester John of much of his otherworldly veneer, portraying him as a more realistic earthly monarch. Marco Polo ( September 15 1254 – January 9 1324 at earliest but no later than June 1325 was a Venetian trader and explorer Jean de Joinville (c 1224 &ndash December 24, 1317) was one of the great Chroniclers of medieval France. Odoric of Pordenone (real name Odoric Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi) ( c. Joinville describes Genghis Khan in his chronicle as a "wise man" who unites all the Tartar tribes and leads them to victory against their strongest enemy, Prester John. [18] William of Rubruck says a certain "Vut", lord of the Keraits and brother to the Nestorian King John, was defeated by the Mongols under Genghis. Genghis made off with Vut's daughter and married her to his son, and their union produced Möngke, the Khan at the time William wrote. Möngke Khan (Мөнх хаан also transliterated as Mongke Mongka Möngka Mangu or Mangku ( c [20] According to Marco Polo's Travels, the war between the Prester and Genghis started when Genghis, new ruler of the rebellious Tartars, asked for the hand of Prester John's daughter in marriage. The Travels of Marco Polo is the usual English title of Marco Polo 's travel book nicknamed Il Milione ( The Million Angered that his lowly vassal would make such a request, Prester John denied him in no uncertain terms. In the war that followed, Genghis triumphed and Prester John perished. [21]

The historical figure behind these accounts, Toghrul, was in fact a Nestorian Christian monarch defeated by Genghis. He had fostered the future Khan after the death of his father Yesugei and was one of his early allies, but the two had a falling out. Yesugei Baghatur ( Yesügei, Yesükhei) was Genghis Khan 's father After Toghrul rejected a proposal to wed his son and daughter to Genghis' children, the rift between them grew until war broke out in 1203. Genghis captured Toghrul's daughter Sorghaghtani Beki and married her to his son Tolui; they had several children, including Möngke, Kublai, Hulagu, and Ariq Boke. Tolui, also rendered Toluy or Tolui Khan (Толуй; c 1190 &ndash 1232 was the youngest son of Genghis Khan by Börte. Early years Kublai Khan studied Chinese culture and became enamoured of it This article is about the founder of the Ilkhanate For the head of the Chagatai khanate please see Qara Hülëgü Hulagu Khan, also known as Ariq Böke, or Arigh Bukha, or a combination of both (Аригбөх; died 1266 the youngest son of Tolui, was a grandson of Genghis Khan and a claimant

The major characteristic of Prester John tales from this period is the kings' portrayal not as an invincible hero, but merely one of many adversaries defeated by the Mongols. But as the Mongol Empire collapsed, Europeans began to shift away from the idea that Prester John had ever really been a Central Asian king. [22] At any rate they had little hope of finding him there, as travel in the region became dangerous without the security the Empire had provided. In works such as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville[23][24] and Historia Trium Regum by John of Hildesheim,[25] Prester John's domain tends to regain its fantastic aspects and finds itself located not on the steppes of Central Asia, but back in India proper, or some other exotic locale. " Jehan de Mandeville " translated as " Sir John Mandeville " is the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of supposed travels written in John of Hildesheim or Johannes de Hildesheim (died 1375 was a writer and Carmelite monk from the German town of Hildesheim. Wolfram von Eschenbach tied the history of Prester John to the Holy Grail legend in his poem Parzival, in which the Prester is the son of the Grail maiden and the Saracen knight Feirefiz. According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish plate or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers Parzival is a major medieval German Epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German Feirefiz is a character in Wolfram von Eschenbach 's Arthurian poem Parzival. [26]

Ethiopia

A map of Prester John's kingdom as Ethiopia
A map of Prester John's kingdom as Ethiopia

Though Prester John had been considered the ruler of India since the legend's beginnings, "India" was a vague concept to the Europeans. Writers often spoke of the "Three Indias", and lacking any real knowledge of the Indian Ocean, they sometimes considered Ethiopia one of the three. The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Westerners knew Ethiopia was a powerful Christian nation, but contact had been sporadic since the rise of Islam. Since no Prester John was to be found in Asia, European imagination moved him around the blurry frontiers of "India" until they found an appropriately powerful kingdom for him in Ethiopia. [27]

Marco Polo had discussed Ethiopia as a magnificent Christian land[28] and Orthodox Christians had a legend that the nation would one day rise up and invade Arabia,[29] but they did not place Prester John there. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) Then in 1306 thirty Ethiopian ambassadors from Emperor Wedem Arad came to Europe, and Prester John was mentioned as the patriarch of their church in a record of their visit. Wedem Arad (died 1314 was {{IPA|nəgusä nägäst}} (1299 – 1314 of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. [30] The first clear description of an African Prester John is in the Mirabilia Descripta of Dominican missionary Jordanus, around 1329. The Order of Preachers ( Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum) after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is Jordanus or Jordan Catalani (f 1321-1330 was a French Dominican Missionary and explorer in Asia known for his Mirabilia [31] In discussing the "Third India", Jordanus records a number of fanciful stories about the land and its king, whom he says Europeans call Prester John. After this point, an African location became increasingly popular; by the time the emperor Lebna Dengel and the Portuguese had established diplomatic contact with each other in 1520, Prester John was the name by which Europeans knew the Emperor of Ethiopia. Dawit II ( Ge'ez ዳዊት dāwīt) enthroned as Emperor Anbasa Segad ( Ge'ez አንበሳ ሰገድ anbassā sagad, Amh Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. The Emperor ( Ge'ez: ንጉሠ ነገሥት nəgusä nägäst " King of Kings " of Ethiopia was the hereditary [32]

The Ethiopians, though, had never called their emperor that. When ambassadors from Emperor Zara Yaqob attended the Council of Florence in 1441, they were confused when council prelates insisted on referring to their monarch as Prester John. Zar'a Ya`qob or Zera Yacob ( Ge'ez ዘርአያዕቆብ zar'ā yāʿiqōb "Seed of Jacob" modern The Council of Florence (originally Council of Basel) was an Ecumenical Council of Bishops and other ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic Church They tried to explain that nowhere in Zara Yaqob's list of regnal names did that title occur. "No matter," says Robert Silverberg, author of The Realm of Prester John. Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is a prolific American author best known for writing Science fiction. "Prester John was what Europe wanted to call the King of Ethiopia, and Prester John is what Europe called him. "[33] Some writers who used the title did understand it was not an indigenous honorific; for instance Friar Jordanus seems to use it simply because his readers would have been familiar with it, not because he thought it authentic. [34]

While Ethiopia has been claimed for many years as the origin of the Prester John legend, most modern experts believe the legend was simply adapted to fit that nation in the same fashion it had been projected upon Wang Khan and Central Asia during the 13th century. Modern scholars find nothing about the Prester or his country in the early material that would make Ethiopia a more suitable identification than any place else, and furthermore, specialists in Ethiopian history have effectively demonstrated the story was not widely known there until well after European contact. When the Czech Franciscan Remedius Prutky asked Emperor Iyasu II about this identification in 1751, Prutky states the man was "astonished, and told me that the kings of Abyssinia had never been accustomed to call themselves by this name. Czechs (Češi ˈt͡ʃɛʃɪ archaic Čechové) are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic Iyasu II or Joshua II ( Ge'ez ኢያሱ 21 October 1723 &ndash 27 June 1755) was {{IPA|nəgusä nägäst}} "[35] In a footnote to this passage, Richard Pankhurst opines that this is apparently the first recorded statement by an Ethiopian monarch about this tale, and they were likely ignorant of the title until Prutky's inquiry. [36]

End of the legend

When 17th century academics like the German orientalist Hiob Ludolf proved that there was no actual native connection between Prester John and the Ethiopian monarchs,[37] the fabled king left the maps for good. Orientalism refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers designers and artists and can also refer to a sympathetic stance Hiob Ludolf (or Job Leutholf) ( June 15, 1624 - April 8, 1704) was a German Orientalist, and born at Erfurt But the legend had affected several hundred years of European and world history, directly and indirectly, by encouraging Europe's explorers, missionaries, scholars and treasure hunters.

Literary references

Though the prospect of finding Prester John had long since vanished, the tales continued to inspire through the 20th century. William Shakespeare's 1600 play Much Ado About Nothing contains an early modern reference to the legendary king,[38] and in 1910 British novelist and politician John Buchan used the legend in his sixth book, Prester John, to supplement a plot about a Zulu uprising in South Africa. William Shakespeare ( baptised Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare. First published in 1600 it is likely to have been first performed in the autumn or winter The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located John Buchan 1st Baron Tweedsmuir GCMG GCVO CH PC ( August 26, 1875 &ndash February 11, 1940 Prester John is a 1910 Adventure novel by John Buchan. It tells the story of a young Scotsman David Crawfurd's adventures in South Africa The Zulu ( IsiZulu: amaZulu) are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10-11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The book was popular, and exists as an excellent example of the early 20th century adventure novel. The adventure novel is a Literary genre of novels that has Adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger as its main theme Perhaps due to Buchan's work, Prester John appeared in pulp fiction and comics throughout the century. Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines Comics (via Latin from the Greek "" kōmikos, of or pertaining to "comedy" from kōmos "revel" For example, Marvel Comics has featured "Prester John" in issues of Fantastic Four and Thor. Marvel Comics is an American comic book company owned by Marvel Publishing Inc Prester John is a Fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe, based loosely on the mythical Christian king Prester John The Fantastic Four is a fictional Superhero team appearing in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. Thor is a Fictional character that appears in Comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Charles Williams, a prominent member of the 20th century literary group the Inklings, made Prester John a messianic protector of the Holy Grail in his 1930 novel War in Heaven. Charles Walter Stansby Williams ( September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945) was a British Poet, Novelist, Theologian The Inklings was an informal literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford, England, for nearly two decades between the early The Prester and his kingdom also figure prominently in Umberto Eco's 2000 novel Baudolino, in which the titular protagonist enlists his friends to write the Letter of Prester John for his stepfather Frederick Barbarossa, but it is stolen before they can send it out. Umberto Eco (born 5 January 1932 is an Italian Medievalist, semiotician, Philosopher, literary critic and Novelist, best Baudolino is a 2000 novel by Umberto Eco about the adventures of a young man named Baudolino in the known and mythical Christian world of Frederick I Barbarossa (1122 &ndash 10 June 1190) was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned Eventually Baudolino and company determine to visit the priest's wonderful kingdom which turns out to be everything and nothing like they expected.

Notes

  1. ^ See Speculum in medieval titles like the Speculum maius of Vincent de Beauvais, the Mirrour of the Blessed Lyf of Iesu Christ (about 1400) and A Mirror for Magistrates (1559), and other works. The Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais ( Vincentius Bellovacensis) (c Mirror for Magistrates is a collection of English poems from the Tudor period by various authors which retell the lives and the tragic ends of various historical figures
  2. ^ Silverberg, p. 20
  3. ^ Eusebius. Historia Ecclesiastica, book III, xxxix, 4.
  4. ^ According to the 5th century Decretum Gelasianum. The so-called Decretum Gelasianum or Gelasian Decree was traditionally attributed to the prolific Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome 492&ndash496
  5. ^ Silverberg, pp. 35–39.
  6. ^ Silverberg, pp. 29–34.
  7. ^ Halsall, Paul (1997). "Otto of Freising: The Legend of Prester John". Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Retrieved June 20, 2005.
  8. ^ Silverberg, pp. 3–7
  9. ^ Silverberg, pp. 12–13
  10. ^ Silverberg, p. 8
  11. ^ Silverberg, pp. 40–73.
  12. ^ Silverberg, pp. 58–60
  13. ^ Bar-Ilan, Meir (1995). "Prester John: Fiction and History". In History of European Ideas, volume 20 (1-3), pp. 291-298. Retrieved June 20, 2005.
  14. ^ Jacques de Vitry; Huygens, R. B. C. (Ed. ) (1970). Lettres de Jacques de Vitry. Leiden.
  15. ^ Silverberg, pp. 71–73.
  16. ^ Silverberg, p. 86.
  17. ^ Polo, Marco; Latham, Ronald (translator) (1958). The Travels, pp. 93–96. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044057-7.
  18. ^ a b Jean de Joinville; Geffroy de Villehardouin; and Shaw, Margaret R. Geoffrey of Villehardouin (in French Geoffroi de Villehardouin) (1160 &ndash c B. (translator) (1963). Chronicles of the Crusades. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044124-7.
  19. ^ Odoric of Pordenone; Yule, Henry (translator); Chiesa, Paolo (introduction) (December 15, 2001). Sir Henry Yule ( May 1, 1820 - December 30, 1889) was a Scottish Orientalist. The Travels of Friar Odoric. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-4963-6.
  20. ^ William of Rubruck; Jackson, Peter; Ruysbroeck, Willem van; Morgan, David (editors) (1990). The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck. London: Hakluyt Society. ISBN 0-904180-29-8.
  21. ^ Marco Polo, pp. 93–96.
  22. ^ Silverberg, p. 139.
  23. ^ Halsall, Paul (March 1996). "Mandeville on Prester John". Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Retrieved June 20, 2005.
  24. ^ Mosely, C. W. R. D. (1983). The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, pp. 167–171. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044435-1.
  25. ^ John of Hildesheim (1997). The Story of the Three Kings. Neumann Press. ISBN 0-911845-68-2.
  26. ^ Wolfram von Eschenbach; Hatto, A. T. (1980). Parzival, p. 408. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044361-4.
  27. ^ Silverberg, pp. 163–164.
  28. ^ Marco Polo, pp. 303–307.
  29. ^ Silverberg, pp. 176–177.
  30. ^ Silverberg, pp. 164–165.
  31. ^ Jordanus, Mirabilia, chapter VI (2).
  32. ^ Silverberg, pp. 188–189.
  33. ^ Silverberg, p. 189.
  34. ^ Silverberg, p. 166–167.
  35. ^ Arrowsmith-Brown, p. 115.
  36. ^ Arrowsmith-Brown, p. 115 n 24.
  37. ^ Ludolf, Hiob (1681). Historia Aethiopica.
  38. ^ Shakespeare, William (1600). Much Ado About Nothing, act II, scene 1.

References

External links

"Prester John" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic