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The International Prester John Project: How A Global Legend Was Created Across Six Centuries

Albéric of Trois-Fontaines

A Cistercian chronicler of the Trois-Fontaines abbey in eastern France, Albéric (d. c.a. 1252) records the Prester John letter as first appearing in 1165 in his chronicle.

Brewer (p. 146) introduces Albéric:

"Alberic's chronicle, penned progressively from 1232 to 1241, discusses various aspects of the Prester John legend, providing accounts of the Prester John Letter, Alexander Ill 's letter, the Fifth Crusade, and giving in particular further details of the conquests of the Mongols in Russia and Eastern Europe. Alberic was the first Christian outhor who acknowledged the Mongols might be 'neither Christians nor Saracens.' At the end of this excerpt, Alberic changed his mind about associating Prester John with the Mongols, and put forward the idea that the Mongols killed Prester John and took over his domain, an idea that became increasingly popular as an explanation for why the belligerent Mongols were initially thought to be a benevolent Christian kingdom."

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Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Fontium Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Fontium (1232-1253)

Written over ten years in his home monastery of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines' Chronicle treats world events up to the current time.

The conventional dating of the Letter of Prester John to 1165 derives from Alberic, who explains that the letter was initially sent out to several European kings, but most especially to Frederick Barbarossa and Emperor Manuel.

As Brewer (p. 11) explains, Alberic's Chronicle, along with scribal addition, dated to 1170, in one thirteenth-century copy of the Letter, comprise the only extant evidence regarding the original date of composition of the letter of Prester John.

Alberic's chronicle also contains summaries of the mid-thirteenth century Dominican missions to the Mongols, and he was the first author to point out that the Mongols might be "neither Christians nor Saracens" (qtd. in Brewer, p. 146).

Alberic narrates the death of Prester John as follows (qtd. in Brewer, p. 149):
Indeed, at that time there arose the Tartars, a certain barbarian people under Ihe power of Prester John. When Prester John was in battle against the Medes and Persians, he called them to his aid, and placed them in forts and fortifications; they, seeing they were stronger [than him], killed him and occupied his land for the most part, setting a king above them, as though he was Prester John; and from that time on they did many evils in the land, such that this year they killed 42 bishops in Greater Armenia.

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Keagan Brewer