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

English Letter of Prester John

Published in Antwerp in 1520, this printed version of the Letter represents the first truly English language version. As Niayesh (p.159), notes, the English version is dated internally as "[w]ritten in oure holy pallays in the byrth of my selfe .v. hodred and seuen."

Niayesh continues:

Here, Prester John shares his Methuselah-like longevity, not just with the biblical patriarchs but also with the naked and promiscuous New World cannibals who 'lyue comonly .iii.C. yere & more as w sykenesse they dye nat' (sig. A2v). Meanwhile the Amazons inhabiting the land of 'Feminie' under his dominion (sig. C3r) are hardly more feminine than the female Georgian fighters of the 'eyght [Christian] nacyon' who 'bere harneyse lyke the men and ... haue also beardes as ye men' (sig. C3r). As for the harrowing reports of New World cannibalism ('the man etethe his wyfe his chylderne / as we also haue seen' (sig. A2v), they find an echo which is distant both in space and in time through the ferocious hosts of Gog and Magog who turn allelophagous and devour each other whenever Prester John is left without enemies whom he might unleash them (sig. C2v-C3r). 

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