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Prester John
Sign in to saveAlso known as John Prester, Johannes Presbyter
mythical Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king
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- Prester John
- P12749
- Tobias S. Buckell
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"Preste" as the Emperor of Ethiopia, enthroned on a map of East Africa. From an atlas by the Portuguese cartographer Diogo Homem for Queen Mary, c. 1555–1559. (British Library)
Prester John (Latin: Presbyter Ioannes) was a postulated Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king. Stories popular in Europe in the 12th to the 17th centuries told of a Nestorian patriarch and king who was said to rule over a Christian nation lost amid the pagans and Muslims in the Orient. The accounts were often embellished with various tropes of medieval popular literature, depicting Prester John as a descendant of the Three Magi, ruling a kingdom full of riches, marvels, and strange creatures.