First
authenticated mention of Prester John: in the "Chronicle" of
Otto, Bishop of Freising, in 1145. A prelate from Antioch
had come to Pope Eugene II with a request that the Western
church send another crusade. He told the Pope victory
was assured, thanks to a certain John who governed as
priest and king in the Far East.
Twenty years later Fredrick (Barbarossa), Manuel of Constantinople, Emperor
of Byzantium and Pope Alexander III reviewed letters from Prester John
indicating the existence of a fabulously wealthy Christian kingdom in
the East. These manuscripts (written in several languages) are considered
Nestorian forgeries. Many of them (possibly up to 100) still exist in
various libraries.
The letters inspired and stirred the medieval imagination. Prester John
was soon connected with the legend of the Holy Grail.
It
was believed that Prester John ruled over 72 country and was incredibly
rich in gold and silver as ell as all sorts of other unknown stuff, including
unicorns.
Various speculations emerged:
1. Negus of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) was Prester John. Abyssinian priests
travelled to Jerusalem and described their country to Portuguese merchants
as the kingdom of Prester John. This set off a spat of Portuguese exploration
(including Vasco da Gama). In the middle of the 16th century the King
of Ethiopia was nicknamed 'Prester John' by the Europeans.
2. In 1122 one 'John, the Patriarch of the Indians' visited pope Calixtus
II in Rome bringing news of Prester John, ruler and priest in the East.
Various statements in the manuscript indicate India. specifically the
port-city of Malabar in Southern India (also visited by Vasco da Gama).
St Thomas is also mentioned 'and in the large India is buried the body
of St. Thomas the Apostle'. The growing of pepper is mentioned. Pepper
grows in Southern India but not Ethiopia. Warrior elephants are also
mentioned. As African elephants cannot be trained, this has to refer
to Indian elephants which can.
3. In the 13th century Marco Polo identified Prester John with the Khan
of the Kereit, a tribe in Mongolia. A monk wrote of the "rumours sweeping
right across Christendom of the coming of King David of India, whose
other name is Prester John, to the aid of the crusaders."
4. St Thomas, was supposed to have travelled to India (or thereabouts),
there to establish a Christian community that retained many of the ideals
of the original church, and which would blossom into an almost perfect
Christian kingdom, ruled over by this legendary king, Prester John. The
legend of the journey of St Thomas to India was current by the 3rd century
AD, and was widespread enough in the 833 for Alfred the Great to send
two priests with gifts to St Thomas' shrine on the east coast of India.
Here is a suggestion of a Gnostic Christian interpretation which curiously
corresponds with the St Thomas gospel found at Nag Hammadi (1945).
5. Moslem interpretation: The Moslems also believed that a Christian
kingdom existed in the East and feared an attack from that direction.
There was a legend that Prester John had already driven Islam out of
the East. This Islam pre-occupation with a Christian threat from the
East may have encouraged Islam to spread East as a preoptic move.
First
authenticated mention of Prester John: in the "Chronicle" of
Otto, Bishop of Freising, in 1145. A prelate from Antioch
had come to Pope Eugene II with a request that the Western
church send another crusade. He told the Pope victory
was assured, thanks to a certain John who governed as
priest and king in the Far East.
It
was believed that Prester John ruled over 72 country and was incredibly
rich in gold and silver as ell as all sorts of other unknown stuff, including
unicorns.