Introduction
“The Peregrinations of Prester John” affords the opportunity for users 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 across the centuries during which legendary material accrued and alongside the geographies the myth touched and helped shape.
This project shows 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 five 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.