Prester John was a mythical christian king who was said to rule over a country somewhere in Asia (or Africa) with legends and stories about him and his kingdom spanning centuries.
the idea of Prester John is said to originate from a letter that the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos received in 1165. The letter was said to be from: “John, Christian Sovereign and Lord of Lords”
His kingdom was told in the letter to be quite rich and civilized, with it being a quite warped view of what Central Asia/India was understood by Europeans to be like.
In the letter he claimed that he had a father called Quasideus (God-like) who built this kingdom after being spoken to by God.
The location of this mythical kingdom changed over the centuries as Europe began to more broadly trade with asia. Centuries later people believed the kingdom to be in Ethiopia or elsewhere in Africa.
Today it’s broadly understood that while Prester John wasn’t real it may have been a case of stories warping about the Keraites, a Khanate located around where modern day Mongolia is. They had converted to the Church of the East (often called the Nestorian Church) a branch of Christianity.
Notes
- There’s a minor Marvel villain called Prester John, see here. Not that relevant but I thought it interesting, he mostly seems to fight Deadpool and the Fantastic Four at times.
