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96-786: At first, Prester John was imagined to reside in India. Tales of the Nestorian Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle 's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia , and eventually Portuguese explorers came to believe that

192-639: A current one in Classical sources for Indian names. The martyrologist Rabban Sliba dedicated a special day to both the Indian king, his family, and Saint Thomas: Coronatio Thomae apostoli et Misdeus rex Indiae, Johannes eus filius huisque mater Tertia (Coronation of Thomas the Apostle, and Misdeus king of India, together with his son Johannes (thought to be a latinization of Vizan ) and his mother Tertia) Rabban Sliba Otto of Freising Otto of Freising ( Latin : Otto Frisingensis ; c. 1114 – 22 September 1158)

288-563: A fantasy short story featuring Prester John's realm secretly still ruled by his descendant, "The King Across the Mountains" in Amazing Stories (later republished in The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy , 1990). In 1988, Tad Williams 's novel The Dragonbone Chair of his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series would use the name Prester John as the name of the recently deceased High King of

384-573: A high office (indeed, presbyter is the origin of the English word priest ). Later accounts of Prester John borrowed heavily from literary texts concerning the East, including the great body of ancient and medieval geographical and travel literature. Details were often lifted from literary and pseudohistorical accounts, such as the tale of Sinbad the Sailor . The Alexander Romance , a fabulous account of Alexander

480-477: A historical and philosophical work in eight books, which follows to some extent the lines laid down by Augustine and Orosius . Written during the time of the civil war in Germany (1143–1145), it contrasts Jerusalem and Babel , the heavenly and the earthly kingdoms, and also contains much valuable information about the history of his own time. The chronicle, which was held in very high regard by contemporaries, covers

576-488: A legend that the nation would one day rise up and invade Arabia , but they did not place Prester John there. Then in 1306, 30 Ethiopian ambassadors from Emperor Wedem Arad came to Europe, and Prester John was mentioned as the patriarch of their church in a record of their visit. Another description of an African Prester John is in the Mirabilia Descripta of Dominican missionary Jordanus , around 1329. In discussing

672-525: A lost Nestorian kingdom existed in the east, or that the Crusader states ' salvation depended on an alliance with an Eastern monarch , was one reason for the numerous Christian ambassadors and missionaries sent to the Mongols. These include Franciscan explorers Giovanni da Pian del Carpine in 1245 and William of Rubruck in 1253. The link between Prester John and Genghis Khan was elaborated upon at this time, as

768-609: A member of the 20th-century literary group the Inklings , made Prester John a messianic protector of the Holy Grail in his 1930 novel War in Heaven . Prester John and his kingdom feature in two works by Umberto Eco . The first is the 2000 novel Baudolino , in which the titular protagonist enlists his friends to write the Letter of Prester John for his adoptive father Frederick Barbarossa , but it

864-465: A new age of peace following years of instability and civil war. Still retaining the habit of a Cistercian monk, he died at Morimond on 22 September 1158. In 1857 a statue of the bishop was erected at Freising , Bavaria. Otto is most remembered for two important historical works: The first of these is his Chronica sive Historia de duabus civitatibus ( Chronicle or The History of the Two Cities ),

960-564: A period of harmony between the imperial and ecclesiastical authority which had followed from the conversion of Rome to Christianity. Rome was seen as the fourth and final world empire. After that, authority was transferred to the Greeks ( Byzantines ), then the Franks ( Francia ) and later the Germans ( East Francia ). Also, he noted that Conrad III was the 93rd emperor from Augustus with Frederick I being

1056-589: A possible sea route to India, but also to inquire about Prester John. Covilhã managed to reach Ethiopia. Although well received, he was forbidden to depart. Contact for the purpose of finding allies, such as with Prester John increasingly fueled early European exploration and colonialism. More envoys were sent in 1507, after the island of Socotra was taken by the Portuguese. As a result of this mission, and facing Muslim expansion, regent queen Eleni of Ethiopia sent ambassador Mateus to king Manuel I of Portugal and to

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1152-489: A proposal to wed his son and daughter to Genghis Khan's children, the rift between them grew until war broke out in 1203. Genghis Khan captured Sorghaghtani Beki , daughter of Toghrul's brother Jaqa Gambu, and married her to his son Tolui ; they had several children, including Möngke, Kublai , Hulagu , and Ariq Böke . The major characteristic of Prester John tales from this period is the king's portrayal not as an invincible hero, but merely one of many adversaries defeated by

1248-417: A request, Prester John denied him in no uncertain terms. In the war that followed, Genghis Khan triumphed, and Prester John perished. The historical figure behind these accounts, Toghrul, was in fact a Nestorian Christian monarch defeated by Genghis Khan. He had fostered the future Khan after the death of his father Yesugei and was one of his early allies, but the two had a falling-out. After Toghrul rejected

1344-1509: Is celebrated as Indian Christians' Day. The name Thomas remains quite popular among the Saint Thomas Christians of the Indian subcontinent . Many churches in the Middle East and southern Asia, besides India, also mention Apostle Thomas in their historical traditions as being the first evangelist to establish those churches, the Assyrian Church of the East , the early church of Sri Lanka. Saint Thomas Christian denominations Syro-Malabar Catholic , Syro-Malankara Catholic , Latin Catholic Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church , Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Malabar Independent Syrian Church Chaldean Syrian Mar Thoma Syrian , St. Thomas Evangelical Protestant denominations Andhra Evangelical Lutheran , Assemblies Jehovah Shammah , Christian Revival Church , Church of North India , Church of South India , Garo Baptist , Indian Brethren , Indian Pentecostal Church of God , Church of God (Full Gospel) , North Bank Baptist Christian , Northern Evangelical Lutheran , Methodist Church , Presbyterian , The Pentecostal Mission , Seventh-day Adventist , United Evangelical Lutheran Thomas first speaks in

1440-671: Is certain is that German chronicler Otto of Freising reported in his Chronicon of 1145 that the previous year he had met Hugh , bishop of Jabala in Syria, at the court of Pope Eugene III in Viterbo . Hugh was an emissary of Prince Raymond of Antioch , sent to seek Western aid against the Saracens after the Siege of Edessa ; his counsel inspired Eugene to call for the Second Crusade . Hugh told Otto, in

1536-463: Is commemorated on August 31. The Malankara Orthodox Church celebrates his feast on three days, 3 July (in memory of the relic translation to Edessa , modern Şanlıurfa ), 18 December (the Day he was lanced), and 21 December (when he died). The Passing of Mary , adjudged heretical by Pope Gelasius I in 494, was attributed to Joseph of Arimathea . The document states that Thomas was the only witness of

1632-622: Is mentioned in the books and church traditions of Saint Thomas Christians in India, some of whom claim descent from the early Christians evangelized by Thomas the Apostle in AD 52. For example, it is found in the Malayalam ballad Thoma Ramban Pattu (The Song of the Lord Thomas) with the earliest manuscript being from the 17th century. The sources clearly have Thomas coming to India, then to China, and back to India, where he died. In other attested sources,

1728-513: Is recorded of Philip, but it is most probable that he did not return with word from Prester John. The Letter continued to circulate, accruing more embellishments with each copy. In modern times, textual analysis of the letter's variant Hebrew versions has suggested an origin among the Jews of northern Italy or Languedoc : several Italian words remained in the Hebrew texts. At any rate, the Letter 's author

1824-709: Is stolen before they can send it out. The second is in Serendipities : Language and Lunacy (1998) on the chapter 'The Force of Falsity' where Eco pronounces that the letter from Prester John "... served as an alibi for the expansion of the Christian world..." In July 1986 issues, Avram Davidson published both a nonfiction essay, "Postscript on Prester John" in Asimov's Science Fiction (part of his "Adventures in Unhistory" series, and later republished in his 1993 book of that title), and

1920-678: The Romance of Alexander and the above-mentioned Acts of Thomas , the Letter was supposedly written to the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus by Prester John, descendant of one of the Three Magi and King of India. The many marvels of richness and magic it contained captured the imagination of Europeans, and it was translated into numerous languages, including Hebrew . It circulated in ever more embellished form for centuries in manuscripts, examples of which still exist. The invention of printing perpetuated

2016-463: The Assumption of Mary into heaven. The other apostles were miraculously transported to Jerusalem to witness her death. Thomas was left in India, but after her first burial, he was transported to her tomb, where he witnessed her bodily assumption into heaven, from which she dropped her girdle . In an inversion of the story of Thomas' doubts, the other apostles are skeptical of Thomas' story until they see

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2112-709: The Book of Thomas the Contender , part of the Nag Hammadi library , he is alleged to be a twin to Jesus: "Now, since it has been said that you are my twin and true companion, examine yourself…" A " Doubting Thomas " is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience—a reference to the Gospel of John 's depiction of the Apostle Thomas, who, in John's account, refused to believe

2208-645: The Church of the East (Nestorianism) informed the legend as well. This church had gained a wide following in the Eastern nations and engaged the Western imagination as an assemblage both exotic and familiarly Christian. Particularly inspiring were the Church of the East's missionary successes among the Mongols and Turks of Central Asia; French historian René Grousset suggests that the Prester John story may have had its origins in

2304-621: The Common Worship calendar of the Church of England) prefer 3 July, Thomas is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival . The Eastern Orthodox venerates Thomas on the following days: Thomas is also associated with the "Arabian" (or "Arapet") icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God), which is commemorated on 6 September. He is also associated with the Cincture of the Theotokos , which

2400-618: The Council of Florence in 1441, they were confused when (Roman Catholic-led) council prelates insisted to the Ethiopians to refer to themselves as representatives of their monarch Prester John. They tried to explain that nowhere in Zara Yaqob's list of regnal names did that title occur. However, their admonitions did little to stop Europeans from calling the King of Ethiopia Prester John. Some writers who used

2496-628: The Crucifixion of Jesus . While it is often assumed he touched the wounds in art and poetry, the scriptures do not say that he touched the wounds, merely that Jesus invited him to do so, with it being unclear if he actually felt them. According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of modern-day state of Kerala in India , Saint Thomas travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach

2592-449: The Gospel of John . In John 11:16, when Lazarus has recently died, and the apostles do not wish to go back to Judea , Thomas says: "Let us also go, that we may die with him." Thomas speaks again in John 14:5. There, Jesus had just explained that he was going away to prepare a heavenly home for his followers, and that one day they would join him there. Thomas reacted by saying, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know

2688-566: The Guaraní tribes of Paraguay claims that the Apostle Thomas was in Paraguay and preached to them under the name of Pa'í Sumé or Avaré Sumé (while in Peru he was known as Tumé). in the estate of our college, called Paraguay, and twenty leagues distant from Asumpcion. This place stretches out on one side into a pleasant plain, affording pasture to a vast quantity of cattle; on the other, where it looks towards

2784-662: The Independence of Paraguay . This is mentioned by Franz Wisner von Morgenstern, an Austro-Hungarian engineer who served in the Paraguayan armies prior and during the Paraguayan War . According to Wisner, some Paraguayan miners while working nearby some hills at the Caaguazú Department found some stones with ancient letters carved in them. Dictator Francia sent his finest experts to inspect those stones, and they concluded that

2880-693: The Kerait clan, which had thousands of its members join the Church of the East shortly after the year 1000. By the 12th century, the Kerait rulers were still following a custom of bearing Christian names, which may have fueled the legend. Additionally, the tradition may have drawn from the shadowy early Christian figure John the Presbyter of Syria , whose existence is first inferred by the ecclesiastical historian and bishop Eusebius of Caesarea based on his reading of earlier church fathers. This man, said in one document to be

2976-597: The "Third India", Jordanus records a number of fanciful stories about the land and its king, whom he says Europeans call Prester John. After this point, an African location became increasingly popular. This may have resulted from increasing ties between Europe and Africa as 1428 saw the Kings of Aragon and Ethiopia actively negotiating the possibility of a strategic marriage between the two kingdoms. On 7 May 1487, two Portuguese envoys, Pêro da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva , were sent traveling secretly overland to gather information on

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3072-453: The 13th century. Modern scholars find nothing about Prester John or his country in the early material that would make Ethiopia a more suitable identification than any place else, and furthermore, specialists in Ethiopian history have effectively demonstrated that the story was not widely known there until the Portuguese began to circumnavigate around Africa, which is how they reached Ethiopia (via

3168-456: The 20th century. William Shakespeare 's 1600 play Much Ado About Nothing contains an early modern reference to the legendary king, as does Tirso de Molina 's El Burlador de Sevilla . In 1910, Scottish novelist and politician John Buchan used the legend in his sixth book, Prester John , to supplement a plot about a Zulu uprising in South Africa. This book is an archetypal example of

3264-582: The 94h. However, Pope Gregory VII 's unexpected excommunication of Emperor Henry IV in 1075 had shattered this unity. And this would thus usher in the seventh and last age in mankind's history. This period would be characterised with incessant crises that would precede the arrival of the Antichrist . Which would be a topic of the eighth and final book of the Chronicle . Better known is Otto's Gesta Friderici imperatoris ( Deeds of Emperor Frederick ), written at

3360-703: The Apostle I slew in India has overtaken me in Edessa; here and there he is all himself. There went I, and there was he: here and there to my grief I find him. Ephrem the Syrian , a doctor of Syriac Christianity , writes in the forty-second of his "Carmina Nisibina" that the Apostle was put to death in India, and that his remains were subsequently buried in Edessa , brought there by an unnamed merchant. According to Eusebius' record, Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to Parthia and northwest India. The Didascalia (dating from

3456-564: The Apostle Thomas are said to have been sent by an Indian king and brought from India to the city of Edessa, Mesopotamia , on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac sources, "Misdeos" and "Misdeus" in Greek and Latin sources respectively, which has been connected to the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan coinage of Vasudeva I , the transition between "M" and "B" being

3552-581: The Crusaders and inspired a notion of deliverance from the East. It is possible Otto recorded Hugh's confused report to prevent complacency in the Crusade's European backers – according to his account, no help could be expected from a powerful Eastern king. No more of the tale is recorded until about 1165 when copies of what was likely a forged Letter of Prester John started spreading throughout Europe. An epistolary wonder tale with parallels suggesting its author knew

3648-677: The Gospel, travelling as far as Kerala in South India, and reached Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor in Kerala State) in AD 52. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Ortona , in Abruzzo , Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle. He is regarded as the patron saint of India among its Christian adherents, and the Feast of Saint Thomas on July 3

3744-413: The Great 's conquests, was especially influential in this regard. The Prester John legend as such began in the early 12th century with reports of visits of an archbishop of India to Constantinople , and of a Patriarch of India to Rome at the time of Pope Callixtus II . These visits, apparently from the Saint Thomas Christians of India, cannot be confirmed, evidence of both being secondhand reports. What

3840-461: The Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea). Czech Franciscan Remedius Prutky asked Emperor Iyasu II about this identification in 1751, and Prutky states that the man was "astonished, and told me that the kings of Abyssinia had never been accustomed to call themselves by this name." In a footnote to this passage, Richard Pankhurst states that this is apparently the first recorded statement by an Ethiopian monarch about this tale, and they were likely unaware of

3936-495: The Mongols. But as the Mongol Empire collapsed, Europeans began to shift away from the idea that Prester John had ever really been a Central Asian king. At any rate they had little hope of finding him there, as travel in the region became dangerous without the security the empire had provided. In works such as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville and Historia Trium Regum by John of Hildesheim , Prester John's domain tends to regain its fantastic aspects and finds itself located not on

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4032-468: The Nestorian King John, was defeated by the Mongols under Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan made off with Vut's daughter and married her to his son, and their union produced Möngke , the Khan at the time William wrote. According to Marco Polo's Travels , the war between the Prester and Genghis Khan started when Genghis Khan, new ruler of the rebellious Tartars, asked for the hand of Prester John's daughter in marriage. Angered that his lowly vassal would make such

4128-488: The One-Begotten. The merchant is blessed for having so great a treasure. Edessa thus became the blessed city by possessing the greatest pearl India could yield. Thomas works miracles in India, and at Edessa Thomas is destined to baptize peoples perverse and steeped in darkness, and that in the land of India. ... Into what land shall I fly from the just? I stirred up Death the Apostles to slay, that by their death I might escape their blows. But harder still am I now stricken:

4224-508: The Orient and of Westerners' travels there. Particularly influential were the stories of Saint Thomas the Apostle's proselytizing in India, recorded especially in the third-century work known as the Acts of Thomas . This text inculcated in Westerners an image of India as a place of exotic wonders and offered the earliest description of Saint Thomas establishing a Christian sect there, motifs that loomed large over later accounts of Prester John. Similarly, distorted reports of movements in Asia of

4320-425: The Prester became identified with Genghis' foster father, Toghrul , king of the Keraites , given the Jin title Ong Khan Toghrul. Fairly truthful chroniclers and explorers such as Marco Polo , Crusader-historian Jean de Joinville , and the Franciscan voyager Odoric of Pordenone stripped Prester John of much of his otherworldly veneer, portraying him as a more realistic earthly monarch. Odoric places John's land to

4416-495: The Saviour on the Cross or . In the 16th century, cartographer Abraham Ortelius produced a speculative map of John's empire in Africa, featuring A lion rampant facing to the sinister holding in its paws a quasi-Tau cross of full height . Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle ( Greek : Θωμᾶς , romanized: Thōmâs ; Aramaic ܬܐܘܡܐ, romanized: Tʾōmā , meaning "the twin"), also known as Didymus (Greek: Δίδυμος, romanized: Dídymos, meaning "twin"),

4512-401: The Seljuks in 1141 planned to reconquer and rebuild Jerusalem. Controversial Soviet historian and ethnologist Lev Gumilev speculated that the much reduced crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Levant resuscitated this legend in order to raise Christian hopes and to persuade European monarchs who had lost interest by that time in getting involved in costly crusades in a distant region that

4608-481: The apostle in the New Testament is derived from the Aramaic תְּאוֹמָא Tʾōmā ( Syriac ܬܐܘܿܡܵܐ/ܬ݁ܳܐܘܡܰܐ Tʾōmā / Tāʾwma ), meaning "the twin" and cognate to Hebrew תְּאוֹם tʾóm . The equivalent term for twin in Greek, which is also used in the New Testament, is Δίδυμος Didymos . The Nag Hammadi copy of the Gospel of Thomas begins: "These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymus, Judas Thomas, recorded." Early Syrian traditions also relate

4704-513: The apostle's full name as Judas Thomas. Some have seen in the Acts of Thomas (written in east Syria in the early 3rd century, or perhaps as early as the first half of the 2nd century) an identification of Thomas with the apostle Judas, Son of James . However, the first sentence of the Acts follows the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in distinguishing the apostle Thomas and the apostle Judas son of James. Others, such as James Tabor , identify him as Jude, brother of Jesus mentioned by Mark. In

4800-422: The author of two of the Epistles of John , was supposed to have been the teacher of the martyr bishop Papias , who had in turn taught Irenaeus . However, little links this figure, supposedly active in the late first century, to the Prester John legend beyond the name. The title "Prester" is an adaptation of the Greek word "πρεσβύτερος, presbiteros", literally meaning "elder" and used as a title of priests holding

4896-405: The central part of the city of Chennai in India. Marco Polo , the Venetian traveller and author of Description of the World, popularly known as Il Milione, is reputed to have visited Southern India in 1288 and 1292. The first date has been rejected as he was in China at the time, but the second date is generally accepted. According to tradition, in AD 232, the greater portion of relics of

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4992-412: The disastrous Second Crusade. The section of the crusading army led by the bishop was decimated, but Otto reached Jerusalem and returned to Bavaria in 1148 or 1149. He enjoyed the favour of Conrad's successor Frederick I, was probably instrumental in settling the dispute over the duchy of Bavaria in 1156, and was present at the famous diet of Besançon in 1157. Otto mentions that Frederick I ushered in

5088-427: The early 20th-century adventure novel , and proved very popular in its day. Throughout the rest of the century, Prester John appeared sporadically in pulp fiction and comics . For example, Marvel Comics has featured " Prester John " in issues of Fantastic Four and Thor . He was a significant supporting character in several issues of the DC Comics fantasy series Arak: Son of Thunder . Charles Williams ,

5184-753: The empty tomb and the girdle. Thomas' receipt of the girdle is commonly depicted in medieval and pre- Council of Trent Renaissance art. According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of India, the Apostle Thomas landed in Muziris ( Cranganore ) on the Kerala coast in AD 52 and was martyred in Mylapore , near Madras , Tamil Nadu in AD 72. He is believed by the Saint Thomas Christian tradition to have established seven churches (communities) in Kerala. These churches are at Kodungallur, Palayoor , Kottakkavu (Paravur), Kokkamangalam , Niranam , Nilackal (Chayal) , Kollam , and Thiruvithamcode . Thomas baptized several families. Many families claim to have origins almost as far back as these, and

5280-445: The end of the 3rd century) states, "India and all countries condering it, even to the farthest seas... received the apostolic ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in the church which he built." According to traditional accounts, Thomas is believed to have left northwest India when an attack threatened and traveled by vessel to the Malabar Coast , possibly visiting southeast Arabia and Socotra en route, and landing at

5376-402: The error of idolatry vanished from India. 2. Through St. Thomas the Chinese and Ethiopians were converted to the truth. 3. Through St. Thomas they accepted the sacrament of baptism and the adoption of sons. 4. Through St. Thomas they believed in and confessed the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. 5. Through St. Thomas they preserved the accepted faith of the one God. 6. Through St. Thomas

5472-403: The fantasy world of Osten Ard. He is also mentioned in the Vertigo imprint comic Fables . The first single from American experimental pop band Animal Collective 's 2022 album Time Skiffs is called "Prester John". Various attributed arms have been given to Prester John. The nave of Canterbury Cathedral , which is adorned with heraldic bosses , represents Prester John with Azure ,

5568-406: The first book takes the history down to the death of Conrad III in 1152. It is not confined to German affairs, as the author digresses to tell of the preaching of Bernard of Clairvaux , of his zeal against the heretics, and of the condemnation of Pierre Abélard ; he also discourses on philosophy and theology. The second book opens with the election of Frederick I in 1152 and deals with the history of

5664-416: The former flourishing port of Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor ) (c. AD 50) in the company of a Jewish merchant Abbanes/Habban. From there he is said to have preached the gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various churches he founded were located mainly on the Periyar River and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. Thomas's alleged visit to China

5760-504: The kings of Georgia , which, at the time of Crusades, experienced military resurgence challenging the Muslim power. However, this theory, though regarded with certain indulgence by Henry Yule and some modern Georgian historians, was summarily dismissed by Friedrich Zarncke . The connection with Georgia is unlikely, considering that country was Orthodox, rather than Nestorian, and due to the fact that it and its predecessor states Colchis / Lazica and Iberia were well known and documented at

5856-488: The land of Shir (land of Seres , Tarim Basin , near what was the world's easternmost sea for many people in antiquity). Additionally, the testimony of Arnobius of Sicca , active shortly after AD 300, maintains that the Christian message had arrived in India and among the Persians, Medians, and Parthians (along with the Seres ). According to Kurt E. Koch , Thomas the Apostle possibly traveled into Indonesia via India with Indian traders. Ancient oral tradition retained by

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5952-411: The letter's popularity in printed form; it was still current in popular culture during the period of European exploration . Part of the letter's essence was that a lost kingdom of Nestorian Christians still existed in the vastness of Central Asia. The credence given to the reports was such that Pope Alexander III sent a letter to Prester John via his physician Philip on September 27, 1177. Nothing more

6048-459: The letters carved in those stones were Hebrew -like symbols, but they couldn't translate them nor figure out the exact date when those letters were carved. No further recorded investigations exists, and according to Wisner, people believed that the letters were made by Thomas the Apostle, following the tradition. According to Syrian Christian tradition, Thomas was killed with a spear at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai on 3 July in AD 72, and his body

6144-442: The life-giving splendors rose in all India. 7. Through St. Thomas the Kingdom of Heaven took wing and ascended to China . In its nascent form, this tradition is found at the earliest in the Zuqnin Chronicle (AD 775) and may have originated in the late Sasanian period. Perhaps it originated as a 3rd-century pseudepigraphon where Thomas would have converted the Magi (in the Gospel of Matthew ) to Christianity as they dwelled in

6240-438: The major ferial days of Advent . Traditionalist Roman Catholics (who follow the General Roman Calendar of 1960 or earlier), the Lutheran Church , and many Anglicans (including members of the Episcopal Church as well as members of the Church of England who worship according to the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer ), still celebrate his feast day on 21 December. However, most modern liturgical calendars (including

6336-438: The pope, in search of a coalition. Mateus reached Portugal via Goa , having returned with a Portuguese embassy, along with priest Francisco Álvares in 1520. Francisco Álvares's book, which included the testimony of Covilhã, the Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias ("A True Relation of the Lands of Prester John of the Indies") was the first direct account of Ethiopia, greatly increasing European knowledge at

6432-443: The presence of the pope, that Prester John, a Nestorian Christian who served in the dual position of priest and king, had regained the city of Ecbatana from the brother monarchs of Media and Persia, the Samiardi, in a great battle "not many years ago". Afterwards Prester John allegedly set out for Jerusalem to rescue the Holy Land, but the swollen waters of the Tigris compelled him to return to his own country. His fabulous wealth

6528-476: The region that would become Vienna . He became abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Morimond in Burgundy about 1136, and soon afterwards was elected bishop of Freising . This diocese, and indeed the whole of Bavaria, was then disturbed by the feud between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufen, and the church was in a deplorable condition; but a great improvement was brought about by the new bishop in both ecclesiastical and secular matters. In 1147 Otto took part in

6624-421: The religious historian Robert Eric Frykenberg notes that: "Whatever dubious historicity may be attached to such local traditions, there can be little doubt as to their great antiquity or to their great appeal in the popular imagination." It was to a land of dark people he was sent, to clothe them by Baptism in white robes. His grateful dawn dispelled India's painful darkness. It was his mission to espouse India to

6720-421: The request of Frederick I and prefaced by a letter from the emperor to the author. The Gesta comprises four books, the first two of which were written by Otto and the remaining two, or parts of them, by his pupil Ragewin or Rahewin . It has been argued that the third book and the early part of the fourth were also the work of Otto. Beginning with the quarrel between Pope Gregory VII and the emperor Henry IV ,

6816-411: The resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles until he could see and feel Jesus' crucifixion wounds . When the feast of Saint Thomas was inserted in the Roman calendar in the 9th century, it was assigned to 21 December. The Martyrology of St. Jerome mentioned the apostle on 3 July, the date to which the Roman celebration was transferred in 1969, so that it would no longer interfere with

6912-489: The same oral traditions from the Paraguayan tribes. He wrote: ...The paraguayan tribes they have this very curious tradition. They claim that a very holy man (Thomas the Apostle himself), whom they call "Paí Thome", lived amongst them and preached to them the Holy Truth, wandering and carrying a wooden cross on his back. The sole recorded research done about the subject was during José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia 's reign after

7008-459: The south, it is surrounded by hills and rocks; in one of which a cross piled up of three large stones is visited, and held in great veneration by the natives for the sake of St. Thomas; for they believe, and firmly maintain, that the Apostle, seated on these stones as on a chair, formerly preached to the assembled Indians. Almost 150 years prior to Dobrizhoffer's arrival in Paraguay, another Jesuit Missionary, F. J. Antonio Ruiz de Montoya recollected

7104-653: The steppes of Central Asia, but back in India proper, or some other exotic locale. Wolfram von Eschenbach tied the history of Prester John to the Holy Grail legend in his poem Parzival , in which the Prester is the son of the Grail maiden and the Saracen knight Feirefiz . A theory was put forward by the Russian scholar Ph. Bruun in 1876, who suggested that Prester John might be found among

7200-472: The term was a reference to Ethiopia , by which time it had been an isolated Christian "exclave" distant from any other Christian-ruled territory. Though its immediate genesis is unclear, officially the origin of the legend of Prester John originates from a letter that the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos received in 1165. The sender was: " John, Christian Sovereign and Lord of Lords ". The letter described

7296-505: The time were Buddhists , not Christians, and there is no reason to suppose Yelü Dashi was ever called Prester John. However, several vassals of the Qara Khitai practiced Nestorian Christianity, which may have contributed to the legend. It is also possible that the Europeans, who were unfamiliar with Buddhism, assumed that if the leader was not Muslim, he must be Christian. The defeat encouraged

7392-450: The time, as it was presented to the pope, published and quoted by Giovanni Battista Ramusio . By the time Emperor Lebna Dengel and the Portuguese had established diplomatic contact with each other in 1520, Prester John was the name by which Europeans knew the Emperor of Ethiopia . The Ethiopians, though, had never called their emperor that. When ambassadors from Emperor Zara Yaqob attended

7488-475: The time, with Episcopoi of Kartli having regular epistolary conversions with Bishops of Rome. Prester John had been considered the ruler of India since the legend's beginnings, but "India" was a vague concept to the medieval Europeans. Writers often spoke of the " Three Indias ", and lacking any real knowledge of the Indian Ocean they sometimes considered Ethiopia one of the three. Westerners knew that Ethiopia

7584-452: The title did understand it was not an indigenous honorific; for instance Jordanus seems to use it simply because his readers would have been familiar with it, not because he thought it authentic. Ethiopia has been claimed for many years as the origin of the Prester John legend, but most modern experts believe that the legend was simply adapted to fit that nation in the same fashion that it had been projected upon Ong Khan and Central Asia during

7680-519: The title until Prutky's inquiry. The Italian historian Peter Martyr d'Anghiera identified the land of Prester John with Chicora in his Decades of the New World . Francisco de Chicora , a native of what is now South Carolina , who was captured by Spaniards and taken to Spain by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón , had told Anghiera that his land was ruled by priests. Seventeenth-century academics like German orientalist Hiob Ludolf demonstrated that there

7776-561: The tomb, was first built in the 16th century by the Portuguese, and rebuilt in the 19th century by the British. St. Thomas Mount has been a site revered by Christians since at least the 16th century. Traditional accounts say that the Apostle Thomas preached not only in Kerala but also in other parts of Southern India – and a few relics are still kept at San Thome Basilica in Mylapore neighborhood in

7872-580: The tradition of making Thomas the apostle of China is found in the "Law of Christianity" (Fiqh al-naṣrāniyya), a compilation of juridical literature by Ibn al-Ṭayyib ( Nestorian theologian and physician who died in 1043 in Baghdad ). Later, in the Nomocanon of Abdisho bar Berika (metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia, died in 1318) and the breviary of the Chaldean Church it is written: 1. Through St. Thomas

7968-441: The very rich lands of this monarch located in central Asia. The king said he lived in an immense palace made of gems and gold and said he governed a huge territory extending from Persia to China. For many years the myth of Prester John was associated with the dream of reaching a sumptuous kingdom, where all material pleasures were fulfilled and people lived in opulence. The legend of Prester John drew strongly from earlier accounts of

8064-657: The way?" John 20:24–29 tells how doubting Thomas was skeptical at first when he heard that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to the other apostles, saying, "Except I shall see on his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." But when Jesus appeared later and invited Thomas to touch his wounds and behold him, Thomas showed his belief by saying, "My Lord and my God". Jesus then said, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." The name Thomas ( Greek : Θωμᾶς) given for

8160-499: The west of Cathay en route to Europe, and identifies its capital as "Cosan", variously interpreted by translators as a number of names and locations. Joinville describes Genghis Khan in his chronicle as a "wise man" who unites all the Tartar tribes and leads them to victory against their strongest enemy, Prester John. William of Rubruck says a certain "Vut", lord of the Keraites and brother to

8256-466: The years up until 1146, and from this date until 1209 it was continued by Otto, abbot of St Blasius (died 1223). In the Chronica , Otto reports a meeting he had with Bishop Hugh of Jabala , who told him of a Nestorian Christian king in the east named Prester John . It was hoped this monarch would bring relief to the crusader states. This is the first documented mention of Prester John. The text details

8352-500: Was a German churchman of the Cistercian order and chronicled at least two texts which carries valuable information on the political history of his own time. He was the bishop of Freising from 1138. Otto participated in the Second Crusade ; he lived through the journey and reached Jerusalem , and later returned to Bavaria in the late 1140s, living for another decade back in Europe. Otto

8448-548: Was a powerful Christian nation, but contact had been sporadic since the rise of Islam. No Prester John was to be found in Asia, so Europeans began to suggest that the legend was a reference to the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia. Evidence has suggested that locating Prester John's kingdom in Ethiopia entered the collective consciousness around 1250. Marco Polo had discussed Ethiopia as a magnificent Christian land and Orthodox Christians had

8544-505: Was born in Klosterneuburg as the fifth son of Leopold III , margrave of Austria , by his wife Agnes , daughter of Emperor Henry IV . By her first husband, Frederick I of Hohenstaufen , duke of Swabia , Agnes was the mother of the German king Conrad III and grandmother of the emperor Frederick I . Otto's sister, Judith or Ita , was married to Marquess William V of Montferrat . Otto

8640-712: Was demonstrated by his emerald scepter; his holiness by his descent from the Three Magi . Robert Silverberg connects this account with historic events of 1141, when the Qara Khitai khanate under Yelü Dashi defeated the Seljuk Turks in the Battle of Qatwan , near Samarkand . The Seljuks ruled over Persia at the time and were the most powerful force in the Muslim world; the defeat at Samarkand weakened them substantially. The Qara Khitai at

8736-476: Was far removed from their own states and affairs. The bishop of Acre was correct in thinking that a great king had conquered Persia; however "King David", as it turned out, was the Tengrist Mongol ruler, Genghis Khan . The Mongol Empire 's rise gave Western Christians the opportunity to visit lands that they had never seen before, and they set out in large numbers along the empire's secure roads. Belief that

8832-462: Was interred in Mylapore. Latin Church tradition holds 21 December as his date of death. Ephrem the Syrian states that the Apostle was killed in India, and that his relics were taken then to Edessa. This is the earliest known record of his death. The records of Barbosa from the early 16th century record that the tomb was then maintained and a lamp is burning there. The St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica, Chennai , Tamil Nadu , India, presently located at

8928-530: Was most likely a Westerner. In 1221, Jacques de Vitry , Bishop of Acre , returned from the disastrous Fifth Crusade with good news: King David of India, the son or grandson of Prester John, had mobilized his armies against the Saracens. He had already conquered Persia, then under the Khwarazmian Empire 's control, and was moving on towards Baghdad as well. This descendant of the great king who had defeated

9024-423: Was no actual native connection between Prester John and the Ethiopian monarchs, and search for the fabled king gradually ceased. But the legend had affected several hundred years of European and world history, directly and indirectly, by encouraging Europe's explorers, missionaries, scholars, and treasure hunters. The prospect of finding Prester John had long since vanished, but the tales continued to inspire through

9120-512: Was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament . Thomas is commonly known as " Doubting Thomas " because he initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ when he was told of it (as is related in the Gospel of John ); he later confessed his faith (" My lord and my God ") on seeing the places where the wounds appeared still fresh on the holy body of Jesus after

9216-666: Was thus related to the most powerful families in Germany and northern Italy. The records of his life are scanty and the dates somewhat uncertain. He studied in Paris , where he took an especial interest in philosophy . He is said to have been one of the first to introduce the philosophy of Aristotle into Germany, and served as provost of a new foundation in Austria . Having entered the Cistercian order, Otto convinced his father to found Heiligenkreuz Abbey in 1133, thus bringing literacy and sophisticated agriculture (including wine making) to

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