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

Friedrich Zarncke

Friedrich Zarncke was a late nineteenth-century German scholar whose enormous efforts to study the letter and legend of Prester John set the foundation for the academic study of this legendary figure. For better and worse, scholarship on the letter and legend has followed many of his basic assumptions and analyses about Prester John.

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On the Arrival of the Patriarch of the Indians to Rome under Pope Calixtus II De Adventu patriarchae Indorum ad Urbem sub Calixto papa secundo (1122)

Long considered to be an origin point for the legend of Prester John, the anonymous De Adventu appears to be a compilation of lore about India, most notably borrowed from Gregory of Tours. The connection to the Prester John legend involves an anecdote concerning a man called Patriarch John who traveled from India to Rome (by way of Byzantium) in 1122. Reportedly discovered by papal legates in Byzantium, and having arrived for diplomatic reasons, this John had allegedly visited the Byzantine church to be formally recognized as "Patriarch of the Indies" (his predecessor had died).

Upon arriving in Rome to an audience with Pope Calixtus II (r. 1119-1124), Patriarch John described the marvelous land over which he ruled, including India's capital city of Hulna (unknown to geographers), where he resided and was protected by the largest walls in the world.

In addition, this text discusses he reputed miracles performed by the Apostle Thomas, including his magical floating tomb.

Although De Adventu does not invoke the name "Prester John" directly, its linking of a rich Christian patriarch of India and the figure of St. Thomas allows scholars to see it as one of the early, potentially direct influences on the Letter of Prester John. Uebel argues that this text directly influenced the Elyseus Narrative.

The text features descriptions that the Letter of Prester John would later echo, including an emphasis on the magnificent size of the capital city, the realms inclusion of a biblical river (Physon) full of precious gems, the punishment for non-believers in his realm, and the resting place of the Apostle Thomas.

That this anonymous account is corroborated by Odo of Rheims' "Letter to Count Thomas" makes the de Adventu all the more compelling as a potential source text for the Prester John legend.

Michael Uebel provides an English translation of one of the more interesting moments in the text:
A short distance outside the walls of the city [Hulna] is a mountain, surrounded everywhere by the waters of the deepest lake, which extends in height out of the water, at the top of which stands the mother church of St. Thomas the Apostle… During the year the aforementioned mountain, where the church of St. Thomas is located, is not accessible to anyone, nor would anyone without cause dare to approach, but the patriarch who must go there in order to celebrate the sacred mysteries, and in the church people from everywhere are allowed entrance only once a year. 29. For, eight days before and after the approaching feast day, the level of the water surrounding the mountain so greatly diminishes that it is hard to tell there was any water there at all; from this place there, people from everywhere came together [to visit the sanctuary of St Thomas]

Zarncke created his edition of the text from nine manuscripts, one printing, one fragment, and from two chronicles which contained the tale (Brewer, 5)

Slessarev provides a useful overview of the text (pp. 9-11):
“The first Western sources to record the miracles performed by St. Thomas and to announce the victory of Prester John over a Moslem army had one common characteristic… Both accounts contain legendary elements, and while in the case of St. Thomas such a background was regarded as more or less natural, Prester John has been almost exclusively viewed in a historical setting. Yet he too was at least partially clothed in the garb of legend, and the connections between the two traditions want examination."
“The anonymous author called the Indian prelate Patriarch John and let him travel for a year from his home country to Constantinople where he was to be confirmed in his position and invested with a pallium. Here in the imperial city he became acquainted with papal envoys who had come from Rome to negotiate an end to the unfortunate split between the Greek and Roman churches… the Patriarch begged the papal emissaries to take him along on their return so that he might see Rome… and it was at a papal reception in the Lateran palace that the Indian dignitary told the story of St. Thomas’ miracle-working hand."
"The city over which he ruled… was the capital of India and its name was Hulna. In circumference it extended for four days’ journey and its walls were so thick that two Roman chariots set abreast could be driven on them. Through the middle of the city flowed the River Physon on its course from the earthly paradise. Its waters were crystal clear and they were full of gold and precious stones. Hulna’s population consisted exclusively of Christians among whom there were no heretics or unbelievers, because such persons either came to their senses or died."

Brewer's compilation of Prester John sources begins with de Adventu (pp. 30-38) and includes an English translation.

Read Latin text on Google Books (pp. 837-843)
More on St. Thomas and medieval Christianity in India.
Letter to "Count Thomas" on a certain Miracle of St. Thomas the Apostle Domni Oddonis Abbatis S. Remigii Epistola ad Thomam comitem de quodam miraculo S. Thomae Apostoli (1122)

This letter, penned by Odo of Rheims, describes the arrival to Rome of a Byzantine retinue escorting a nameless Indian Archbishop who described to an audience including Pope Calixtus II the marvels that occur in his country through the ghostly power of St. Thomas. Odo claims to have witnessed this meeting.

From Silverberg (p. 32):
“Odo, who lived from 1118 and 1151, probably wrote the letter between 1126 and 1135. In it he tells of being present at the court of the Pope when a delegation of ambassadors form Byzantium arrived, bringing with them a certain Archbishop of India, whom Odo does not name… He declares that the ruler of the archbishop’s country had died, leaving no heir, and the archbishop had gone to Byzantium to obtain a new prince for his land from among the Byzantine emperor’s entourage. Twice the monarch had received the archbishop graciously and had nominated one of his courtiers to the Indian throne, but each time the designated candidate had perished en route to India. The emperor had declined to select a third; but instead of setting out immediately for his homeland, the archbishop had gained permission to visit Rome in the company of the Byzantine ambassadors… Odo relates that the Pope and his cardinals refused to believe these tales until the archbishop swore an oath that convinced them”
The events in this text largely mirror those described in the de Adventu, with some key differences. For one, Odo claims that Patriarch John arrived with a Byzantine retinue while the de Adventu asserts that John arrived with a group of returning papal legates. In another example, Odo records that it is a river that prevents access to the mountain that houses the magical shrine of St. Thomas, rather than the lake de Adventu suggests. Though a minor discrepancy, the motif of rivers is bountiful in Prester John lore.

From Slessarev (p. 12):
“The greatest deviation from De adventu occurs, however, in the explanation of the causes of the Patriarch’s trip to Constantinople. According to Odo, the prince of the country, friendly helper of the archbishop, had suddenly died. This misfortune compelled the prelate to go to the emperor at Byzantium and beg him for another prince. The Greek monarch received him graciously and provided him twice with a suitable candidate from his immediate entourage, but in both cases, for no reason stated, the courtiers died while en route to India.”
For original Latin text, see Zarncke's edition. Read Latin text on Google Books (pp. 843-845)

For an English translation, see Brewer (pp. 41-42).
More on St. Thomas and medieval Christianity in India.
Latin version of letter to Prester John
For the still-authoritative critical edition of the Latin manuscripts:
Friedrich Zarncke, “Der Priester Johannes,” Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Classe der königlich sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften 7 (1879): 872-934.
Read on Google Books
The Elyseus Narrative Composed anonymously in the late twelfth century, this short text describes the legend of an Indian-born priest who travels to the court of Prester John. Some of the material appears to be borrowed from the de Adventu (or at least suggests its influence).

Both texts share a preoccupation with the Apostle Thomas, though the Elyseus narrative places the miracles associated with this figure in a curious (and highly relevant) locale: Edessa.

The Elyseus narrative situates the miracles of St. Thomas on a mountain just outside of this recently lost Crusader county. Edessa was regarded as an important locale, both for its Christian population and for its strategic location as a Christian gateway to the East. Edessa had also been historically considered a hotbed of Nestorianism, Prester John’s reputed faith, ever since the School of Edessa’s support of Nestorius in the fifth century. While Jerusalem might be the center of the Christian world, Edessa, the first crusader state to be established and also the first to be lost, figures as the first success in the expansion of the boundaries of a Latin Christian empire. Whatever inspired the timely conjunction that brought Edessa and Prester John’s India together suggests that reports of the events within these locales might have been circulating more closely than their geographies might otherwise indicate.

The account of Elyseus is notable also for its depiction of the Earthly Paradise, which is said here to exist on top of four mountains in India, suggesting a possible source for those who sought Prester John in Tibet.

As Brewer (p. 274) notes, the text is known in only one manuscript, edited by Zarncke (p. 122-27). There is no known English translation.
Annales Pegavienses According to Brewer (p. 276) notes that the text contains "a short notice stating that in 1202 the Tartars, under their leader King David, son of Prester John, came forth from the mountains of India to destroy foreign lands" and adds that this story "was copied almost verbatim a number of times in other works, for which see Zarncke, Abh.2, pp. 73- 5."