Editing Prester John (section)

== Origin of the legend ==
Though its immediate genesis is unclear, officially the origin of the legend of Prester John originates from a letter that the Byzantine emperor [[Manuel I Komnenos]] received in 1165. The sender was: "''John, Christian Sovereign and Lord of Lords''".

The letter described the very rich lands of this monarch located in central Asia. The king said he lived in an immense palace made of gems and gold and said he governed a huge territory extending from Persia to China. For many years the myth of Prester John was associated with the dream of reaching a sumptuous kingdom, where all material pleasures were fulfilled and people lived in opulence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In search of the kingdom of Prester John • Neperos |url=https://www.neperos.com/article/s8ydb945643216a6 |website=Neperos.com|date=16 February 2024 }}</ref>

The legend of Prester John drew strongly from earlier accounts of the Orient and of Westerners' travels there. Particularly influential were the stories of [[Thomas the Apostle|Saint Thomas the Apostle's]] proselytizing in India, recorded especially in the third-century work known as the ''Acts of Thomas''. This text inculcated in Westerners an image of India as a place of exotic wonders and offered the earliest description of Saint Thomas establishing a Christian sect there, motifs that loomed large over later accounts of Prester John.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=17–18}}

Similarly, distorted reports of movements in Asia of the [[Church of the East]] (Nestorianism) informed the legend as well. This church had gained a wide following in the Eastern nations and engaged the Western imagination as an assemblage both exotic and familiarly Christian.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|p=20}} Particularly inspiring were the Church of the East's missionary successes among the [[Mongols]] and [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] of Central Asia; French historian [[René Grousset]] suggests that the Prester John story may have had its origins in the [[Keraites|Kerait]] clan, which had thousands of its members join the Church of the East shortly after the year 1000. By the 12th century, the Kerait rulers were still following a custom of bearing Christian names, which may have fueled the legend.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=191}}
[[File:PriesterJohannes.jpg|thumb|250px|Prester John from [[Hartmann Schedel]]'s ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'', 1493]]

Additionally, the tradition may have drawn from the shadowy early Christian figure [[John the Presbyter]] of [[Syria]], whose existence is first inferred by the ecclesiastical historian and bishop [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] based on his reading of earlier church fathers.<ref>{{cite book |author=Eusebius |author-link=Eusebius |title=The Ecclesiastical History, in Two Volumes |volume=I |translator-last=Lake |translator-first=Kirsopp |translator-link=Kirsopp Lake |date=1926 |orig-date=c. 300 |page=293 |location=London |publisher=William Heinemann |url=https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalhi01euseuoft |access-date=2021-06-17 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> This man, said in one document to be the author of two of the [[Epistles of John]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Decretum Gelasianum |orig-date=c. fifth century |date=2000-12-02 |translator-last=von Dobschütz |translator-first=Ernst |website=The Tertullian Project |url=https://www.tertullian.org/decretum_eng.htm |access-date=2021-06-17 }}</ref> was supposed to have been the teacher of the martyr bishop [[Papias of Hierapolis|Papias]], who had in turn taught [[Irenaeus]]. However, little links this figure, supposedly active in the late first century, to the Prester John legend beyond the name.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=35–39}} The title "Prester" is an adaptation of the Greek word "πρεσβύτερος, presbyteros", literally meaning "elder" and used as a title of [[priest]]s holding a high office (indeed, ''presbyter'' is the origin of the English word ''priest'').<ref>{{OEtymD|Prester John}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/presterjohn.htm |title=Prester John |last=Rosenberg |first=Matt |date=2004-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108034648/http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/presterjohn.htm |archive-date=2016-11-08 |url-status=dead |access-date=2021-06-18 |website=About.com}}</ref>

Later accounts of Prester John borrowed heavily from literary texts concerning the East, including the great body of ancient and medieval geographical and travel literature. Details were often lifted from literary and pseudohistorical accounts, such as the tale of [[Sinbad the Sailor]].{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=16, 49–50}} The ''[[Alexander romance|Alexander Romance]]'', a fabulous account of [[Alexander the Great]]'s conquests, was especially influential in this regard.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=46–48}}

The Prester John legend as such began in the early 12th century, with 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]].{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=29–34}} These visits, apparently from the Saint Thomas Christians of India, cannot be confirmed, evidence of both being secondhand reports. What is certain is that German chronicler [[Otto of Freising]] reported in his ''Chronicon'' of 1145 that the previous year he had met [[Hugh of Jabala|Hugh]], bishop of [[Jabala]] in Syria, at the court of [[Pope Eugene III]] in [[Viterbo]].<ref name=halsall>{{cite web |editor-last=Halsall |editor-first=Paul |date=December 1997 |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/otto-prester.asp |title=Otto of Freising: The Legend of Prester John |website=Internet Medieval Sourcebook |publisher=Fordham University |access-date=2021-06-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414185918/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/otto-prester.asp |archive-date=2021-04-14 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=3–7}}{{sfn|Bowden|2007|p=177}} 

Hugh was an emissary of Prince [[Raymond of Poitiers|Raymond of Antioch]], sent to seek Western aid against the [[Saracens]] after the [[Siege of Edessa (1144)|Siege of Edessa]]; his counsel inspired Eugene to call for the [[Second Crusade]]. Hugh 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 [[Media (region)|Media]] and Persia, the Samiardi, in a great battle "not many years ago". 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. His fabulous wealth was demonstrated by his emerald scepter; his holiness by his descent from the [[Biblical Magi|Three Magi]].<ref name="Otto 1928">{{cite book |author=Otto I Bishop of Freising |author-link=Otto of Freising |translator-last=Mierow |translator-first=Charles Christopher |translator-link=Charles Christopher Mierow |title=The Two Cities: A Chronicle of Universal History to the Year 1146 A.D. |pages=443–444 |date=1928 |orig-date=1146 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University |url=https://archive.org/details/twocitieschronic0000otto |access-date=2021-06-17 |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

[[Robert Silverberg]] connects this account with historic events of 1141, when the [[Qara Khitai]] khanate under [[Yelü Dashi]] defeated the [[Seljuk Turks]] in the [[Battle of Qatwan]], near [[Samarkand]]. The Seljuks ruled over Persia at the time and were the most powerful force in the Muslim world; the defeat at Samarkand weakened them substantially. The Qara Khitai at the time were [[Buddhists]], not Christians, and there is no reason to suppose Yelü Dashi was ever called Prester John.{{sfn|Rossabi|1992|p=5}} However, several vassals of the Qara Khitai practiced Nestorian Christianity, which may have contributed to the legend. It is also possible that the Europeans, who were unfamiliar with Buddhism, assumed that if the leader was not Muslim, he must be Christian.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=12–13}}{{sfn|Jackson|2005|pages=20–21}} The defeat encouraged the Crusaders and inspired a notion of deliverance from the East. 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.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|p=8}}