Duarte Lopes
Brooks describes Lopes entry into the Prester John legend (p. 145):
Jump to the Report on the Kingdom of the CongoNews of the exploits of the Portuguese in contacting the mythical priest-king did not rapidly filter out to Europe, however, and the myth of Prester John continued to tantalize the imaginations of European monarchs and adventurers. One such voyager was who departed in 1578 on an expedition for the Spanish crown along the West and Central African coasts. His destination was the Kingdom of Congo, and he left “in a ship called the S. Antonio, belonging to an uncle of his, which was laden with various merchandise for that king." Part of his account records his dealings with the Congolese king, while other sections of the narrative discuss his fascination with the Prester John myth. The Filippo Pigafetta text relied upon information passed from Lopes to his Italian counterpart, which might have even included an original (lost) text Lopes composed in Portuguese.