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

Yeh-lu Ta-shih

The leader of the nomadic remnant of the Western Liao dynasty known as the Kara Khitai, Yeh-lü Ta-shi was one of the early historical personages misunderstood to be Prester John.

As Silverberg (p. 11) recalls, Yeh-lü Ta-shi was a descendent of the first Khitan Emperor of China. After escaping to central Asia in 1124 with about 200 followers following the collapse of the Liao Dynasty, Yeh-lü Ta-shi was able to establish a new kingdom by winning the support of local Turkish tribes. His 1141 victory over the Seljuk Turks was subsequently mistranslated into a victory of eastern Christians over a formidable Muslim army at a time when western Europe desperately needed a sign of hope after a streak of failed crusading ventures.

During this process of mistranslation, Yeh-lü Ta-shih morphed into an early model for later stories about Prester John. According to Hugh of Jabala's anecdote, recorded in Bishop Otto of Friesing's universal history, a certain Nestorian king called Presbyter Iohannes had defeated a large Muslim army in Ecbatana [note: this actually happened in Samarkand] and had plans to continue to Jerusalem, if not thwarted by an inability to cross the Tigris River. This story turned out to be a mutated retelling of lead of the Qara Khitai Yeh-lü Ta-shi's defeat of Seljuk Sultan Sanjar, though there are several important differences.

First, as Silverberg (pg. 12) points out, Yeh-lü Ta-shi was known to have received "a classical academic Chinese education" and is not known in any Chinese historical text to have been a Christian.

Second, Although he and his army did defeat the Seljuks in 1141, this battle occurred near Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan), not some 2,000 km west in Ecbatana (modern Iran), as Hugh of Jabala reports. Yeh-lü died in either 1143 or 1144 having not traveled much further west than Samarkand.

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Qara Khitai The Kara Khitai (known also as the Black Cathay) was established out of the ruins of the Chinese Liao Dynasty when, in 1124, some 200 followers of the Khitan imperial family escaped into Central Asia with their leader, Yeh-lü Ta-shih, fleeing from the Jurchen who had begun to make war on the Khitan in 1115. Within a few years, Yeh-lü Ta-shih successfully enlisted the support of a number of Turkish tribes in the area and established a formidable army.

The group's victory over the Seljuk Turks in 1141 was misunderstood in the Historia de duabus civitatibus as the deeds of an Eastern Christian potentate capable of uniting all of Christendom. This anecdote turned out not to refer to utopic Christians at all (nor Christians of any stripe), but to the Qara Khitai, led by the Buddhist (not Nestorian) Yeh-lü Ta-shih.

More specifically, Hugh's story refers to Yeh-lü Ta-shi and the Qara Khitai's 1141 defeat of Seljuk king Sanjar and his army at the Battle of Qatwan near Samarkand (not Ecbatana, as Hugh has it). Given the timing and location of this event, combined with the fact that the Qara Khitai were nominally Nestorian, it is reasonable to conclude that this event provided historians with a possible explanation for the beginning of the Prester John legend.

Traces of this historical battle also appear in Benjamin of Tudela's account of Kofar al-Turak, another early influence on the legend of Prester John. According to Brooks (pg. 77):
"Of interest to the discussion of the legend of Prester John is a passage in which Benjamin described a powerful king in the East. According to the narrative, the king’s name was Kofar-al-Turak, and this Asian king successfully destroyed the king of Persia. Benjamin claimed that Kofar-al-Turak’s forces 'slew many of the Persian army, and the king of Persia fled with only a few followers to his own country.' The account seems contemporaneous with the 1141 defeat by the Kara-Khitai of the Kara-Khanids, who were nominally vassals of the Seljuks. The idea that the forces of Islam could be defeated by conquerors from the East – especially if they were fellow Christians – no doubt was welcome news in Europe. The series of twelfth and thirteenth century papal and royal embassies to the Turkic nomads known collectively as the Mongols was in part due to the credence placed in the account of Benjamin of Tudela."
EARLY HIGHLIGHTS
The process of comprehensive and accurate cataloguing to find these answers remains ongoing. The results thus far are quite encouraging. Some highlights include:

Texts/Authors: over 100

Author Origin Countries (17): Greece, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway, Flanders, Turkey, England, Iceland, Portugal, Scotland, Russia, Netherlands, Syria, Ethiopia, Belgium

Languages (20): Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Old Norse, Old Icelandic, Old Russian, Middle High German, Old French, Anglo-Norman, Italian, Castilian, Catalan, Middle Scots, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English

Kingdom Locations (12+): Syria, Christian India, Turkey, Mongolia, Turkestan, Baghdad, China, Ethiopia, Russia, Nubia, Benin, Japan

Alternate Names for Prester John: Presbyter Iohannes, Patriarch John, King John, Prete Ianni, Presto Giovanni, Preste Juan, Prestre Johan, Presbytero-Johanides, Tsar-Priest John, Prete Ianne, Johannes Africanus, Bel Gian, Praeciosus Iohannes, Preste Ioam, Belul Jan, Jonanam, Presbyter Bedigian, Prestigian, Precious John

Alternate Titles: King David, King George, King of the Abexi, Kofar al-Turak, Keeper of the Grail, King Voddomaradeg, Senapo, King Ogané, Christien de Sentour

Historical Personages: Patriarch of Nubia, Abyssinia, Cathay, or India; Ethiopian Emperors (Eskender, Jan), John the Presbyter of Syria, Yeh-lu Tashi, Georgian General Orbelian, Ung Khan, Chinggis Khan, Wedem Ra’ad, King Gorguz of Ongut Turks, Oni of Ife, Zar’a Yakob, Dalai Lama

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