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

Johann Lorenz von Mosheim

Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1693-1755), a German Lutheran church historian and theologian, was a widely respected thinker and writer who penned some 85 works in German and Latin in his lifetime. He is considered the founder of the "pragmatic" school of church history, which advocates for a clear-eyed, unbiased examination of critical sources.

Among his four-score-plus books, his Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica appears to be the only one to comment on the legend. Later, Patrick Nisbet retells von Mosheim's version of events in the former's An Abridgment of Ecclesiastical History.

This page is referenced by:

Cyclopaedia Written by Ephraim Chambers and first published in 1728, this first English encyclopedia provides a view on the Prester John legend.

Chambers' entry on Prester John can be see in much the same form in Johann Lorenz von Mosheim's An Ecclesiastical History (1741), associating Prester John with Unc Khan.
An Abridgment of Ecclesiastical History Patrick Nisbet's An Abridgment of Ecclesiastical History (1776) retells the story of Prester John presented in Johann Lorenz von Mosheim's Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica (1741). The Abridgement is one of a handful of Enlightenment era texts that returns Prester John to the Asian Steppe using a mostly linguistic rationale.

Nisbet writes:
The cause of Christianity gained considerable ground in Asiatic Tartary, by a remarkable revolution that happened there. This was brought about by John a Presbyter, called Prester John. He was a Nestorian priest, a man of vast ambition, formed for enterprise, and distinguished by eminent talents. Upon the death of Kenchan, who reigned in the eastern part of Asia, the famous Prester John invaded his kingdom with surprising magnanmity, and proved successful. From a humble priest, he ascended to a kingly throne; and for a long time swayed a scepter over an opulent and powerful nation, who submitted to his victorious arms. He enlightened his dominions with the knowledge of the gospel, and left them to his son and successor David. But he was deprived of them toward the conclusion of this century, by Genghiz-Kan Emperor of the Tartars, a renowned and successful warrior.
Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica Published in Germany in 1741, Johann Lorenz von Mosheim's Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica is very much similar to Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia before him and Patrick Nisbet in his An Abridgment of Ecclesiastical History (1776) after.

Von Mosheim describes the emergence of Prester John in the Mongol era, following the death of "Coiremchan, otherwise called Kencham":
it was invaded, with such uncommon valour and success, by a Nestorian priest, whose name was John, that it fell before his victorious arms, and acknowledged this warlike and enterprising presbyter, as its monarch. This was the famous Prester John, whose territory was, for a long time, considered by the Europeans as a second paradise, as the seat of opulence and complete felicity. As he was a presbyter before his elevation to the royal dignity, many continued to call him presbyter John, even when he was seated on the throne but his kingly name was Ungchan (qtd. in Brewer, p. 261)
He then retells the oft-repeated story of King David, Prester John's son, and the former's defeat at the hands of Genghis Khan.