Letter to Prester John
Letter To Prester John (1177)
In 1177, Pope Alexander composed a letter to Prester John and sent Master Phillip, his personal physician, as envoy to urge John’s instruction in Catholicism. We never hear back from Master Phillip. While Alexander’s letter is typically read at face-value, it also has the effect of re-inscribing ecclesiastical power, in the form of doctrinal Catholicism, as the most important feature of any imperial project.
In 1177, Pope Alexander composed a letter to Prester John and sent Master Phillip, his personal physician, as envoy to urge John’s instruction in Catholicism. We never hear back from Master Phillip. While Alexander’s letter is typically read at face-value, it also has the effect of re-inscribing ecclesiastical power, in the form of doctrinal Catholicism, as the most important feature of any imperial project.
Brewer (pp. 94-6) provides an English translation of Alexander's letter. Although most critics understand this letter as a response to the Letter of Prester John, Brewer maintains "that is emphatically not the case." He sees the letter instead as a "curious anomaly."
For the Latin text of the letter, see Zarncke. Read Latin version online at Google Books (pp. 935-946).
Bernard Hamilton reads the letter as a kind of public rhetorical performance, a stance he supports by noting that Alexander made several copies of his letter (184). Although scholars, including Hamilton, have tried to explain the legend as a hoax perpetuated by Frederick’s inner circle that spiraled out of control, this explanation fails to account for the survival of the legend beyond the political intrigues of the twelfth century.
From Hamilton, "Prester John and the Three Kings of Cologne":
“[T]he aim of the author of this letter is to show that Frederick’s concept of church-state relations, unlike that of Alexander III, produced harmony in the Christian world, and enabled Christians to unite against the enemies of the faith” (180).