Pro tempore, No. 20, 2025.
Review article
Prester John, the Evolution of the Christian Notion of the Orient in the High and Late Middle Ages (Summary)
Ante Erceg
Lovro Klaso
Abstract
This paper seeks to present the reader with the evolutionary narrative about Prester John, a mythical ruler from the Far East within the medieval Christian imagination. Based on the works of roman geographers and church fathers, the myth of Prester John has, throughout the centuries of its existence, changed in accordance with the changing Christian understanding of the world, but has throughout the Middle Ages never been questioned, because it perfectly slotted into the established Christian worldview. Since the letter to Manuel Komnenos from 1165 until the age of Francisco Álvarez, the myth underwent several revisions, and even switched locations from India to Ethiopia, but it never disappeared. It merely expanded and changed to suit the needs of its time.
Keywords
Prester John; Orient; Middle Ages; India; Ethiopia; Mongols; geography; Crusades; Christian worldview; interpretations; medieval imagination
Hrčak ID:
349437
URI
Publication date:
20.9.2025.
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