The International Prester John Project: How A Global Legend Was Created Across Six Centuries Main Menu Orientation to Project Path One: 1122-1235 Path Two: 1236-1310 AD Path Three : 1311-1460 AD Path Four : 1461-1520 AD Path Five: 1521-1699 AD Path Six: 1700-1800 AD Global Middle Ages

Maps

5281
The next step was to visualize the data from the three aforementioned tables. The maps below, created with Carto DB, illustrate the unfolding of the legend over time. Taken together, these maps show how the once-European phenomenon of Prester John spread across the globe.

The composite map below visualizes the data from the three aforementioned tables, covering the years 1122-1700.




In addition to plotting over six centuries worth of information, this map depicts four layers:
  • Author Origins (orange)
  • Author Travels (red) 
  • Textual Origins (blue) 
  • Kingdom Locations (polygons, shaded according to the year ascribed to the Prester John sighting). 
By clicking on the points on the map, the reader can learn more about that particular author, text, or Prester John sighting. The following information, if known, is available for each entry: 
  • Author Origins (orange): author name, century, birth/death dates, occupation
  • Author Travels (red): dates of relevant travel, city of origin, occupation, location when writing about Prester John, locale that author visited that is furthest away from city of origin
  • Textual Origins (blue): name of text (in English), name of text (original), century, approximate date of composition, terminus ante quem, original manuscript language, number of extant manuscripts of text, and translation languages.
  • Kingdom Locations (polygons): century, year ascribed to Prester John observation, proposed location of John’s kingdom, name of John’s kingdom (if applicable), names or titles ascribed to the figure other than Prester John (if applicable), and contemporary historical resonances (if applicable). 
While the composite map illustrates something of the sheer volume of Prester John data available as well as the legend’s global reach, it does not tell much of a story in itself. In the following section, I will break this data down in a series of focused maps organized by what I will henceforth refer to as “eras” of the legend. I have designated five such eras. In the following section, I will use these maps to help tell the global story of Prester John. 

This page has paths:

  1. Introduction Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com