The Letter

How did it all begin?

A letter was delivered from a mysterious man, allegedly named Prester John to Emanuel, Prince of Constantinople. Emanuel decided to forward the message to Emperor Frederic Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire. The letter quickly caught fire and spread from there. It came to a point where individuals were even taking parts of the letter and putting them into song.1

What is the letter?

At face-value, the letter of Prester John is a letter from one friend to another. It largely consists of Prester John describing his land and kingdom;  a quote from the translated letter says “Our land streams with honey, and is overflowing with milk”.2 He also talks about the precious stones there and creatures that roam. His boastfulness elicited the excitement of many and caused intrigue about the Christian Priest and the land he speaks so highly of.

Circumstances around the letter

How did such a small story catch so much fire? It was easy to tie in with real-world events. For example, the explorations of Marco Polo and the empire of Genghis Khan. Because of rumours and lack of reliable information on the historical events, personages and geographical areas involved became almost synonymous with the legend of Prester John.6 For instance, Marco Polo was said to be the only man other than Genghis Khan to see Prester John with his own two eyes and Genghis Khan was said to have fought Prester John for his daughter’s hand in marriage.3

How was Genghis Khan related to the legend?

mongol_empire_map
The Mongol’s expanding empire.4

Genghis Khan established the Mongol empire. He was one of the most feared conquerors, responsible for uniting the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian plateau. His empire is said to have spanned across most of Asia, including India and China.5

Who wrote the letter?

It is unknown who wrote the letter. However, it is known that Prester John is a legend in more ways than one. He is a legend because his name carried via word of mouth by many, far and wide, and for generations following the creation of the letter. He is also a legend because he is not real, simply a myth to be looked up to. Refer to The Myth Debunked for proof.

The significance of the letter

What did it accomplish? When Asia had opened up to Europeans again from the control of the Tartars it was opened to exploration in search of Prester John. This ended up being very important because it re-established ties with China. It also caused mapped versions of Africa to make an appearance due to the European’s search shifting to Africa (Ethiopia).6

  1. Robert Silverberg, The Realm of Prester John (New York City, New York: Doubleday, 1972), 137.
  2. Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (London, England: Rivingtons, 1876), 30-53.
  3. Ibid.
  4. AstroKey44, Mongol Empire Map, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_Empire_map.gif.
  5. Thomas J. Craughwell, The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How Genghis Khan’s Mongols Almost Conquered the World (Beverly, Massachusetts: Fair Winds Press, 2010), 255.
  6. Keagan Joel Brewer. Prester John. The Legend and Its Sources (London, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2015), 55.