Prester John as Ong Khan
1 2015-05-15T09:57:45-07:00 Ece Turnator 29e4049201e5a129c2f4f38633d734d2df4b7e07 5281 2 Depiction of the Kerait ruler Ong Khan as "Prester John" in "Le Livre des Merveilles", 15th century plain 2015-05-17T16:29:31-07:00 Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com 946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6fThis page is referenced by:
-
1
2016-07-11T20:31:03-07:00
Ong Khan
11
plain
2023-12-31T14:17:54-08:00
Ong Khan, alternately known as Unc Khan, Toghril, Tooril Khan, Unach, King David, and King John was the Khereid ruler in the late 12th/early 13th centuries. The title ong is the Mongol form of the Chinese honorific wang meaning 'universal' (Hamilton, p. 248).
Reportedly a Nestorian Christian– although according to Bar Hebraeus' Chronicon Syriacum, a lapsed one– "Unach" Khan was killed by his blood brother and subordinate, the soon-to-be Genghis Khan, who was acting on rumors that a jealous Unc was planning to kill him.
This is the same figure known in other mid-thirteenth century texts as King David, son of Prester John.
Ong Khan figures in a number of Prester John narratives, including the Historia Tartarum (c. 1246), William of Rubruck's Itinerarium (c. 1253), the Chronicon Syriacum, Marco Polo's Travels, - 1 2015-05-15T09:53:29-07:00 Introduction: Page 2 4 Intro page 2 split 2015-05-17T11:58:56-07:00 Most crucially, 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. By plotting the proposed locations of John’s kingdom in line with the experiences of the authors responsible for these speculations, one begins to see the degree to which medieval and early modern writers used the idea of Prester John legend to create a global vision generated at the interstices of fact and fiction. As the maps shift over time— and with them, John’s kingdom— the degree to which Prester John’s kingdom helped determine the shape of the world begins to materialize.
-
1
2015-06-15T15:09:17-07:00
The Travels of Marco Polo [Divisament dou monde] (c. 1298)
3
plain
2015-07-24T17:35:54-07:00
For Polo, Prester John (or Un-khan) was a powerful prince who ruled over the Tartars (Mongols), but was overthrown, in a battle Polo himself describes, by the Mongol leader “Chingis-khan.”
Background on Polo’s expedition.
See Polo’s route.
Silverberg excerpts the three mentions of Prester John in the Travels:
More on the travels and their veracity:
