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

Mirror of History

Speculum Historiale (1256-1269)

One of the great encyclopedic works of the Middle Ages, Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum contains a large chunk of the otherwise lost 1246 account of Simon of St. Quentin's and Ascelin of Lombardia's mission to the Mongols in 1245.

From Guzman (footnote 11 on pg 233):

"Vincent, copying from Simon of Saint-Quentin, records the popular rumor that Chinggis Khan married the daughter of King David, son of Prester John, and that the mother of Ogodei Khan was thus a Christian. This and the factors mentioned above led to numerous rumors of the Khan’s imminent conversion.”

To read the relevant portion of Vincent's Speculum Historiale in an English translation, see Book 32, chapters 2-52.

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History of the Tartars
Historia Tartarum (c. 1246)

Most of Ascelin’s journey to the land of the Tartars is lost, but that which remains, recorded by Simon of Saint-Quentin, was kept alive by Vincent of Beauvais in his Speculum Historiale.

As Morgan (p. 164) relates, "Simon had evidently picked up the story of Toghril's defeat at the hands of Chinggis Khan, and his subsequent death. For him, though, Chinggis's defeated enemy remains King David, son of Prester John, king of India."

In the portion of the narrative that survives (that which was transcribed by Vincent of Beauvais), Ascelin also reports that Prester John has integrated his family into the Mongol royal family by betrothing Prester John’s granddaughter to Chinggis Khan.

For more on Simon’s text and journey, see Guzman and Brewer (pp. 155-159).

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