Customer Reviews

Realm of Prester John

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Most of us have come across the shadowy figure of "Prester John" in our readings on medieval history. In essence, a mythical, all-powerful, Christian king, his kingdom was located somewhere beyond the pale of "well known" (Western) Christian countries. Sited initially in central Asia, his domain kept shifting westward, until finally settling on Ethiopia -- this despite the fact that the rulers of Ethiopia disavowed using the title "Prester John." The author does a good job tracing the sources and history of this myth. He explains why, despite its many preposterous elements, the myth took strong root. He proposes the theory that the fuel propelling the myth was the need of a powerful Christian ally during the Crusades against Islam.

The book is well written, but a graphical timeline would help. Also the exploration of alternate geneses for the myth would make the book more complete.

All in all, an excellent introduction.

After finishing Umberto Eco's "Baulolino", I hit the library looking for books on the Prester John myth and came across one. It was extremely interesting and well written. Only the first 150-200 pages cover the history relevant to Eco's book and they were all I originally planned on reading, but the information about the Portuguese exploring Ethiopia fascinated me as well so I entered up reading the entire book. Quite worthwhile and highly recommended.