Prester John

The legend of Prester John (also Presbyter John), popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a mythical Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John was said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, with a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of St. Thomas resided. His kingdom was first imagined to be India, but later accounts shifted it to Central Asia and Ethiopia.

External links

• Otto of Freising on Prester John
• According to Sir John Mandeville, 14th century
• The Letter of Prester John in modern English (abridged)
• Meir Bar-Ilan, "Prester John: Fiction and History"
• {{gutenberg|no=611|name=Prester John}} John Buchan, Prester John An adventure tale.
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Prester John
• Encyclopedia Britannica (the 1911 edition)