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

Slessarev

Vsevolod Slessarev, Prester John: The Letter and the Legend. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1959.

This page is referenced by:

On the Arrival of the Patriarch of the Indians to Rome under Pope Calixtus II De Adventu patriarchae Indorum ad Urbem sub Calixto papa secundo (1122)

Long considered to be an origin point for the legend of Prester John, the anonymous De Adventu appears to be a compilation of lore about India, most notably borrowed from Gregory of Tours. The connection to the Prester John legend involves an anecdote concerning a man called Patriarch John who traveled from India to Rome (by way of Byzantium) in 1122. Reportedly discovered by papal legates in Byzantium, and having arrived for diplomatic reasons, this John had allegedly visited the Byzantine church to be formally recognized as "Patriarch of the Indies" (his predecessor had died).

Upon arriving in Rome to an audience with Pope Calixtus II (r. 1119-1124), Patriarch John described the marvelous land over which he ruled, including India's capital city of Hulna (unknown to geographers), where he resided and was protected by the largest walls in the world.

In addition, this text discusses he reputed miracles performed by the Apostle Thomas, including his magical floating tomb.

Although De Adventu does not invoke the name "Prester John" directly, its linking of a rich Christian patriarch of India and the figure of St. Thomas allows scholars to see it as one of the early, potentially direct influences on the Letter of Prester John. Uebel argues that this text directly influenced the Elyseus Narrative.

The text features descriptions that the Letter of Prester John would later echo, including an emphasis on the magnificent size of the capital city, the realms inclusion of a biblical river (Physon) full of precious gems, the punishment for non-believers in his realm, and the resting place of the Apostle Thomas.

That this anonymous account is corroborated by Odo of Rheims' "Letter to Count Thomas" makes the de Adventu all the more compelling as a potential source text for the Prester John legend.

Michael Uebel provides an English translation of one of the more interesting moments in the text:
A short distance outside the walls of the city [Hulna] is a mountain, surrounded everywhere by the waters of the deepest lake, which extends in height out of the water, at the top of which stands the mother church of St. Thomas the Apostle… During the year the aforementioned mountain, where the church of St. Thomas is located, is not accessible to anyone, nor would anyone without cause dare to approach, but the patriarch who must go there in order to celebrate the sacred mysteries, and in the church people from everywhere are allowed entrance only once a year. 29. For, eight days before and after the approaching feast day, the level of the water surrounding the mountain so greatly diminishes that it is hard to tell there was any water there at all; from this place there, people from everywhere came together [to visit the sanctuary of St Thomas]

Zarncke created his edition of the text from nine manuscripts, one printing, one fragment, and from two chronicles which contained the tale (Brewer, 5)

Slessarev provides a useful overview of the text (pp. 9-11):
“The first Western sources to record the miracles performed by St. Thomas and to announce the victory of Prester John over a Moslem army had one common characteristic… Both accounts contain legendary elements, and while in the case of St. Thomas such a background was regarded as more or less natural, Prester John has been almost exclusively viewed in a historical setting. Yet he too was at least partially clothed in the garb of legend, and the connections between the two traditions want examination."
“The anonymous author called the Indian prelate Patriarch John and let him travel for a year from his home country to Constantinople where he was to be confirmed in his position and invested with a pallium. Here in the imperial city he became acquainted with papal envoys who had come from Rome to negotiate an end to the unfortunate split between the Greek and Roman churches… the Patriarch begged the papal emissaries to take him along on their return so that he might see Rome… and it was at a papal reception in the Lateran palace that the Indian dignitary told the story of St. Thomas’ miracle-working hand."
"The city over which he ruled… was the capital of India and its name was Hulna. In circumference it extended for four days’ journey and its walls were so thick that two Roman chariots set abreast could be driven on them. Through the middle of the city flowed the River Physon on its course from the earthly paradise. Its waters were crystal clear and they were full of gold and precious stones. Hulna’s population consisted exclusively of Christians among whom there were no heretics or unbelievers, because such persons either came to their senses or died."

Brewer's compilation of Prester John sources begins with de Adventu (pp. 30-38) and includes an English translation.

Read Latin text on Google Books (pp. 837-843)
More on St. Thomas and medieval Christianity in India.
The Two Cities, A Chronicle of Universal History De Duabus Civitatibus (1157-1158)

Inspired by civil unrest in Germany and written shortly after the fall of Edessa in 1143, Otto of Freising's Historia de duabus civitatibus has come to be known for providing an important early source on the figure of Prester John.

Oddly enough, this vital information is nothing more than an a recorded anecdote from 1145 that tells of a colleague of Otto's called Hugh of Jabala, a bishop from Lebanon, who was relaying news of a promising Nestorian Christian prince, Iohannes. This news as given in the presence of Pope Eugenius III at Viterbo.

According to Otto, widely reputed to be a trustworthy historian, this Iohannes, hailing from the distant East of the Magi, had recently conquered Persia and headed West to assist crusaders in their defense of the Holy Land. Unfortunately, Otto relates, a flooded Tigris River prevented him from aiding his Latin Christian brethren. As summarized by Slessarev (27-28):
He [i.e. Hugh] related also that not many years before a certain John, a king and priest who dwells beyond Persia and Armenia in the uttermost East and, with all his people, is a Christian but a Nestorian, made war on the brother kings of Persians and Medes, called Samiardi, and stormed Ekbatana (the seat of their kingdom).

When the aforesaid kings met him with an army composed of Persians, Medes and Assyrians a battle ensued which lasted for three days, since both parties were willing to die rather than turn in flight. Prester John, for so they are accustomed to call him... emerged victorious.

He said that after this victory the aforesaid John moved his army to the aid of the Church in Jerusalem. But that when he had reached the river Tigris and was unable to transport his army across that river by any evidence he turned towards the north... tarried there for several years... [and] was forced to return home.”

In analyzing the anecdote that arguably sparked the Prester John fever across Europe, Niayesh (p. 157) notes the structural "ambivalence" of Hugh's account, noting that his story was "caught half-way between the pagan past of classical authorities and the present of Christian Crusaders" insofar as Prester John is "made to fight the long extinct nations of the Medes and Assyrians, rather than directly facing contemporary 'Saracens.'

Even the somewhat contemporaneous historical details do not, in actuality, herald a Christian savior of western Europe. Although this rumor spawned the centuries-long belief in an Eastern potentate capable of uniting Christendom, the initial account of an Eastern anti-Islamic leader was later understood to refer to the deeds of the Qara Khitai, a nomadic Chinese tribe descending from Manchuria. Significantly, this battle took place in Samarkand, not Ecbatana, as Hugh reports.

Nevertheless, despite historical mistranslation and Iohannes's failure to reach even Byzantium, this rumor helped set in motion, for many Europeans, a belated recognition of the world beyond the Tigris.

Brewer edits and translates the relevant passages of the chronicle (pp. 43-45).
Letter to "Count Thomas" on a certain Miracle of St. Thomas the Apostle Domni Oddonis Abbatis S. Remigii Epistola ad Thomam comitem de quodam miraculo S. Thomae Apostoli (1122)

This letter, penned by Odo of Rheims, describes the arrival to Rome of a Byzantine retinue escorting a nameless Indian Archbishop who described to an audience including Pope Calixtus II the marvels that occur in his country through the ghostly power of St. Thomas. Odo claims to have witnessed this meeting.

From Silverberg (p. 32):
“Odo, who lived from 1118 and 1151, probably wrote the letter between 1126 and 1135. In it he tells of being present at the court of the Pope when a delegation of ambassadors form Byzantium arrived, bringing with them a certain Archbishop of India, whom Odo does not name… He declares that the ruler of the archbishop’s country had died, leaving no heir, and the archbishop had gone to Byzantium to obtain a new prince for his land from among the Byzantine emperor’s entourage. Twice the monarch had received the archbishop graciously and had nominated one of his courtiers to the Indian throne, but each time the designated candidate had perished en route to India. The emperor had declined to select a third; but instead of setting out immediately for his homeland, the archbishop had gained permission to visit Rome in the company of the Byzantine ambassadors… Odo relates that the Pope and his cardinals refused to believe these tales until the archbishop swore an oath that convinced them”
The events in this text largely mirror those described in the de Adventu, with some key differences. For one, Odo claims that Patriarch John arrived with a Byzantine retinue while the de Adventu asserts that John arrived with a group of returning papal legates. In another example, Odo records that it is a river that prevents access to the mountain that houses the magical shrine of St. Thomas, rather than the lake de Adventu suggests. Though a minor discrepancy, the motif of rivers is bountiful in Prester John lore.

From Slessarev (p. 12):
“The greatest deviation from De adventu occurs, however, in the explanation of the causes of the Patriarch’s trip to Constantinople. According to Odo, the prince of the country, friendly helper of the archbishop, had suddenly died. This misfortune compelled the prelate to go to the emperor at Byzantium and beg him for another prince. The Greek monarch received him graciously and provided him twice with a suitable candidate from his immediate entourage, but in both cases, for no reason stated, the courtiers died while en route to India.”
For original Latin text, see Zarncke's edition. Read Latin text on Google Books (pp. 843-845)

For an English translation, see Brewer (pp. 41-42).
More on St. Thomas and medieval Christianity in India.
Avant La Lettre
The well-rehearsed beginnings of Prester John ground the legend in rumor, hope, and prophecy. As Vsevolod Slessarev has shown, the legend can be traced to the earliest written accounts describing an Indian Christian visiting medieval Europe. Two Latin texts, both describing an event taking place in 1122, give an account of a certain “Patriarch John,” hailing from India, who travels to the Pope early that year. Both texts (the anonymous De adventu and a letter from Odo of Rheims) give an account of the vast wealth and power of Christians who guarded the shrine of St. Thomas.

Although these early twelfth century texts create the expectation of a powerful eastern Christian king, it is with Otto of Friesing that the legend truly begins. Inspired by civil unrest in Germany and written shortly after the fall of Edessa in 1144, Otto’s Historia de duabus civitatibus (1146) furnishes an anecdote a colleague had recently heard about a Nestorian Christian prince, Iohannes.

Otto describes this figure as a morally pure, militaristically capable Eastern (Nestorian) Christian king claiming descent from the Magi. This Iohannes had recently conquered Persia and headed West to assist crusaders in their defense of the Holy Land. Unfortunately, Otto relates, a flooded Tigris River prevented him from aiding his Latin Christian brethren.

In addition to expanding the account offered by the two earlier twelfth-century texts, Otto's account corroborates a tradition of Eastern Christian potentates echoed in early medieval texts like the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius of Caesarea. Although the anecdote Otto records spawned the centuries-long belief in an Eastern potentate capable of uniting Christendom, the initial account of an Eastern anti-Islamic leader was later revealed to refer to the deeds of the Qara Khitai, a nomadic Chinese tribe descending from Manchuria.

This early account of the legend can be viewed as a reflection of the era that produced it: unstable leadership (four popes in the decade), the ascendancy of the Cistercians, the first Latin translation of the Qur'an (1143), the fall of Edessa (1144), the unsuccessful Second Crusade that resulted therefrom (1145).

The cultural context surrounding Otto's text reflects much of this. After all, Otto was also uncle to Frederick Barbarossa, the emperor (1150-90) who, at the time of Prester John’s advent, was engaged in a power struggle with Pope Alexander III (1159-81). In 1160, Frederick chose to recognize "antipope" Victor IV over Alexander III; as a result, Alexander excommunicated the Emperor.

The crusading support Prester John voiced likely helped assuage fears that the West might require outside assistance in order to maintain the recovered sites of Christian history.

These early references set the stage for the Letter of Prester John, the subject of the page that follows.
Prester John's Mirror "Before the doors of our palace, near the place where the fighters struggle in battle, is a mirror of very great size to which one climbs by one hundred twenty five steps. Indeed the steps of the lower one-third are of porphyry, and partly of serpentine and alabaster. From this point to the upper one-third the steps are of crystal stone and sardonyx, Indeed the upper one-third are of amethyst, amber, jasper, and sapphire. Indeed the mirror is supported by a single column. Above this column is set a base. upon the base are two columns, above which is another base, upon which are four columns, above which is another base and upon which are eight columns, above which is another base and upon which are sixteen columns, above which is another base, upon which arc thirty-two columns, above which is another base and upon which are sixty-four columns, above which is another base, upon which are also sixty-four columns, above which is another base and upon which are thirty-two columns. And so in descending the columns diminish in number, just as ascending they increase in number, to one. Moreover, the columns and the bases are of the same kinds of stones as the steps by which one ascends to them. Indeed at the top of the uppermost column there is a mirror, consecrated by such art that all machinations and all things which happen for and against us in the adjacent provinces subject to us are most clearly seen and known by the onlookers. Moreover it is guarded by twelve thousand soldiers in the daytime just as at night so that it may not be by some chance or accident broken or thrown down." (Uebel translation)

The Letter repurposes a magical mirror hailing from Persian literature (see Slessarev) into the primary bastion of defense in Prester John’s kingdom: a Christian panopticon. This “mirror of very great size” located “before the doors of our palace” rests atop a structure built on a series of geometrically stacked columns, a design recalling the famed gardens of the legendary Old Man of the Mountain. The mirror protects John's realm from invasion by allowing him to see any distance in any direction. In what seems more than a coincidence, this magical mirror is guarded by 12,000 soldiers both day and night – the same number of angels guard the top of the ladder leading into the Afterworld in stories of Muhammad’s Ascension. Thus, the Letter provides both a parallel and a complement to one of the stories of an Islamic Paradise.

By way of this panoptical mirror, Prester John oversees the doings of the entire world, and, moreover, the mirror shows what will occur in the future, allowing John to track the machinations of presumed enemies of Christianity everywhere.
Assidios An unrecognizable word in Latin, "assidios" may refer to wormwood, according to Slessarev, who suggests it as a Latinization of the Greek word(s) for wormwood, apsinthion and apsinthios.

Slessarev's argument has merit, especially considering the Letter's possible Greek roots (or the purposeful "Graecisms" allegedly embedded therein).