|
Origin of the legend The stories of Saint Thomas proselytizing in India, which date back to at least the 3rd century, had obvious influence on the myth's development. Distorted reports of the Assyrian Church's movements in Asia had a hand as well. This sect, called "Nestorianism" 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. Additionally, a kernel of the myth may have been drawn from Saint Irenaeus's quotes, recorded by the ecclesiastical historian and bishop Eusebius, on the shadowy early Christian figure John the Presbyter of Syria, supposedly the author of two of the Epistles of John. The martyr bishop Papias had been Irenaeus' teacher; Papias in turn had received his apostolic tradition from John the Presbyter. Little links this figure to the Prester John legend beyond the name, however. 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). These visits apparently from the Saint Thomas Christians of India cannot be confirmed, evidence of both being secondhand reports. Later, the German chronicler Otto of Freising reports in his Chronicon of 1145 that in 1144, he had met, in the presence of Pope Eugene III in Viterbo, a certain Hugh, bishop of Jabala, an emissary seeking Western aid against the Saracens in the name of Prince Raymond of Antioch. Hugh told Otto 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 Media and Persia, the Samiardi, in a great battle "not many years ago". After this battle, 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. His fabulous wealth was demonstrated by his emerald scepter; his holiness by his descent from the Three Magi. During the Second Crusade, there was hope that Prester John would come to the aid of the holy cities and help recapture Edessa from the Muslims, and it is possible Otto recorded the tale to prevent complacency in the Crusade's European backers; according to his account no help could be expected from the powerful Eastern king. 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. The Seljuks ruled over Persia at the time and were the most powerful force in the Muslim world; the defeat at Samarkand damaged their strength substantially, and encouraged the Crusaders. 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, and this may have helped form the basis of the Prester John Legend. The 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. 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 carried on the letter's popularity in printed form; it was still current in popular culture during the period of European exploration. Part of the essence of the letter 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. Of Philip, nothing more is recorded, but it is most probable he did not return with word from Prester John. 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. At any rate, the "Letter"'s author was most likely a Westerner, though his or her purpose remains unclear. Prester John and the Mongol Empire 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. He had already conquered Persia, then under the Khwarezmid Empire's control, and was moving on towards Baghdad as well. This descendent of the great king who had defeated the Seljuks in 1141 planned to reconquer and rebuild Jerusalem. 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. According to Marco Polo, 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. 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. 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. 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 and Historia Trium Regum by John of Hildesheim, 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. 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. Prester John and Ethiopia
The 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, the fabled king left the maps for good. 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. Notes | ||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
 |
|
| |