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1media/presterjohn.jpg2015-05-15T08:06:32-07:00Ece Turnator29e4049201e5a129c2f4f38633d734d2df4b7e075281119image_header1569472022-04-12T09:44:54-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6fPath One: 1122-1235
How a global story was created across eight centuries
In a global Middle Ages, there are few personages, fictional or historical, who have secured a more lasting impact on the way that Europeans came to know the world than that of Prester John. A product of cultural fantasy mixed with hope for historical change, Prester John has engaged the imagination of an increasingly global audience since the mid-twelfth century. Over the course of six hundred years, Prester John figured centrally in Christendom’s understanding of what the distant (i.e. non-European) world was like. Crusading aspirations depended on his arrival. Missionary undertakings in Asia and Africa leveraged their chances of converting natives against a presumption of his existence. Mercantile-minded men from Marco Polo through Christopher Columbus dreamt of the putative riches of his kingdom.
As part of the Global Middle Ages initiative, “The International Prester John Project” allows readers to experience the legend’s unfolding, piece-by-piece, as it swept up half of the world, from 1150 to 1700. The project tells the story of Prester John's rhetorical, textual, and cartographic peregrinations across Europe, Asia, and Africa from the legend's genesis in the twelfth century through the not insignificant cultural resonances that reverberate into the twenty-first century.
One goal of this digital project is to show that Prester John cannot be confined solely to the Middle Ages or to the recesses of the “premodern.” As will become clear, the popularity of the legend actually increases steadily over the eight hundred year period this project traces. Rather than a vestige of medieval superstition and belief, Prester John figures crucially in the project of European modernity.
*********************************************************************************************************** Continue this path by following the Contents heading to the "Letter of Prester John" to learn more about how this book works. To skip directly to any of the five time periods this book covers, follow the links below or use the navigation bar in the top left corner of the page.
12016-01-25T10:20:15-08:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6fThe International Prester John ProjectChristopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com21How A Global Legend Was Created Across Six Centuriesbook_splash1569472021-03-28T08:05:59-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f
Contents of this path:
12015-05-15T09:53:29-07:00Ece Turnator29e4049201e5a129c2f4f38633d734d2df4b7e07THE LETTER OF PRESTER JOHN36Intro page 2plain2016-07-25T11:23:23-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f
12015-05-20T07:47:19-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6fPROJECT OVERVIEW9Intro page 3plain2015-07-17T10:17:03-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f
12015-07-13T12:08:31-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6fEARLY HIGHLIGHTS10Intro page 4plain2024-01-05T09:24:18-08:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f
1media/Map_of_Angelino_Dulcert_cropped.jpg2015-05-17T12:19:05-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6fCOMPOSITE MAP19Intro page 5plain2016-04-02T19:31:45-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f
12015-05-20T08:04:05-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6fMOVING FORWARD6Intro last pageplain2016-01-25T10:27:49-08:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f
This page references:
12015-05-15T09:56:09-07:00Who is Prester John?3Who is Prester John?plain2021-06-10T12:07:23-07:00
12015-05-15T08:41:01-07:00Prester John for Queen Mary (1558)2Prester John in Ethiopia on 1558 Portuguese Mapplain2016-04-02T19:30:38-07:00