Editing Prester John (section)

== Letter of Prester John ==
No more of the tale is recorded until about 1165, when copies of what was likely a forged ''Letter of Prester John'' started spreading throughout Europe.{{sfn|Rossabi|1992|p=5}} An epistolary wonder tale with parallels suggesting its author knew the ''[[Alexander romance|Romance of Alexander]]'' and the above-mentioned ''Acts of Thomas'', the ''Letter'' was supposedly written to the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine emperor]] [[Manuel I Comnenus]] by Prester John, descendant of one of the Three Magi and King of India.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=40–73}}{{sfn|Uebel|2016}} The many marvels of richness and magic it contained captured the imagination of Europeans, and it was translated into numerous languages, including [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]. It circulated in ever more embellished form for centuries in manuscripts, examples of which still exist. The invention of printing perpetuated the letter's popularity in printed form; it was still current in popular culture during the period of [[Age of Discovery|European exploration]]. Part of the letter's essence was that a lost kingdom of Nestorian Christians still existed in the vastness of Central Asia.

The credence given to the reports was such that [[Pope Alexander III]] sent a letter to Prester John via his physician Philip on September 27, 1177. Nothing more is recorded of Philip, but it is most probable that he did not return with word from Prester John.{{sfn|Silverberg|1972|pages=58–63}} The ''Letter'' continued to circulate, accruing more embellishments with each copy. In modern times, [[Content analysis|textual analysis]] of the letter's variant Hebrew versions has suggested an origin among the [[Jew]]s of northern Italy or [[Languedoc]]: several Italian words remained in the Hebrew texts.<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Bar-Ilan |author-first=Meir |date=1995 |url=https://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/articles/publications/publications0047.html |title=Prester John: Fiction and History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222103905/https://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/presjohn.html |archive-date=2015-12-22 |journal=History of European Ideas |volume=20 |number=1–3 |pages=291–298 |access-date=2021-06-17 |doi=10.1016/0191-6599(95)92954-S}}</ref> At any rate, the ''Letter''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s author was most likely a Westerner.