English Prester John Texts
For the first twenty-five years of its circulation, the Letter of Prester John, so far as we know, was copied exclusively in Latin. At least 5 of the 25 extant twelfth-century Latin manuscripts were copied in England. The specific version of the Letter found in each of these English manuscripts (Redaction B) represents just one of the seventeen distinct Latin versions of the Letter. However, it is this Redaction B, found in England, which forms the basis for the majority of the vernacular copies, including French, Anglo-Norman, Occitan, Italian, Spanish, German, Welsh, Danish, Swedish, Old Church Slavonic, Russian, and Serbian Letters of Prester John. In other words, England appears to be one of the first important footholds for the legend.
Notably, the British Prester John Letters stand out for their linguistic diversity. Yet, despite the importance of the British tradition of the Letter, it is difficult to not notice a rather conspicuous absence: the lack of a Middle English version. This absence accounts, in part, for the relative marginality of this text in English-language medieval scholarship (compared to French and German traditions, for example). While the Letter found its way to the other major European medieval vernaculars by the fourteenth century, it is not until 1520 that an English-language printed version that the Letter appears, and even that was printed in Antwerp.
Despite what some might consider a crucial lack, Prester John’s British popularity continues to increase during the Early Modern and Enlightenment periods. The European production of the Letter peaked in the fifteenth century, but as it trailed off elsewhere, it continued to soar in England. Of the 48 seventeenth-century texts Brewer lists in his annotated appendix on Prester John primary sources, a whopping 22 of them —nearly half— were composed in England.
See below for other texts written in English that discuss Prester John or the legend.
