Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/739

Rh PRESTER JOHN 715 at Jerusalem ; but, when he arrived at the Tigris, and found no possible means of transport for his army, he turned northward, as he had heard that the river in that quarter was frozen over in winter-time. After halting on its banks for some years (per aliquot annos) in expectation of a frost he was obliged to return to his own land. This personage was said to be of the ancient race of the Magi mentioned in the gospel, to rule the same nations that they ruled, and to have such a plenitude of wealth and glory that he used none but a sceptre of solid emerald. It was as fired by the example of his ancestors (they said) that he was proposing to go to Jerusalem when thus obstructed.&quot; We cannot say how far the report of the bishop of Gabala, or other rumours of the events on which this was founded, made an impression on Europe at that time. But there can be no doubt about the impression that was made some twenty years later (c. 1165) by the wide circulation of a letter which purported to have been addressed by the poten tate in question to the Greek emperor Manuel. This letter, professing to come from &quot; Presbyter Joannes, by the power and virtue of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords,&quot; is filled with the most extravagant details of the greatness and splendour of the writer. He claims to be the greatest monarch under heaven, as well as a devout Christian and protector of Christians. And it was his desire to visit the Holy Sepulchre with a great host, and to subdue the enemies of the Cross. Seventy-two kings, reigning over as many kingdoms, were his tributaries. His empire extended over the three Indies, including that Further India where lay the body of St Thomas, to the sun-rising, and back again down the slope to the ruins of Babylon and the tower of Babel. All the wild beasts and monstrous creatures commemorated in current legend were to be found in his dominions, as well as all the wild and eccentric races of men of whom strange stories were told, including those unclean nations whom Alexander Magnus walled up among the mountains of the north, and who were to come forth at the latter day, and so were the Amazons and the Bragmans. His dominions contained the monstrous ants that dug gold and the fish that gave the purple ; they produced all manner of precious stones and all the famous aromatics. Within them was found the Fountain of Youth ; the pebbles which give light, restore sight, and render the possessor invisible ; the Sea of Sand was there, stored with fish of wondrous savour ; and the River of Stones was there also ; besides a subterranean stream whose sands were of gems. His territory produced the worm called &quot;salamander,&quot; which lived in fire, and which wrought itself an incombustible envelope from which were manufactured robes for the presbyter, which were Avashed in naming fire. When the king went forth to war thirteen great crosses made of gold and jewels were carried in waggons before him as his standards, and each was followed by 10,000 knights and 100,000 footmen. There were no poor in his dominions, no thief or robber, no flatterer or miser, no dissensions, no lies, and no vices. His palace was built after the plan of that which St Thomas erected for the Indian king Gondopharus. Of the splendour of this details are given. Before it was a marvellous mirror erected on a many-storied pedestal (described in detail) ; in this speculum he could discern everything that went on throughout his dominions, and detect conspiracies. He was waited on by seven kings at a time, by sixty dukes and 365 counts ; twelve archbishops sat on his right hand, and twenty bishops on his left, besides the patriarch of St Thomas s, the protopope of the Sarmagantians (Samar kand ?), and the archprotopope of Susa, where the royal residence was. There was another palace of still more wonderful character, built by the presbyter s father in obedience to a heavenly command, in the city of Bribric. Should it be asked why, with all this power and splendour, he calls himself merely &quot;presbyter,&quot; this is because of his humility, and because it was not fitting for one whose sewer was a primate and king, whose butler an archbishop and king, whose chamberlain a bishop and king, whose master of the horse an archimandrite and king, whose chief cook an abbot and king, to be called by such titles as these. But the extent of his power and dominion could only be told when the number of the stars of heaven and of the sands of the seashore could be told. How great was the popularity and diffusion of this letter may be judged in some degree from the fact that Herr Zarncke in his elaborate treatise on Prester John gives a list of close on a hundred MSS. of it. Of these there are eight in the British Museum, ten at Vienna, thirteen in the great Paris library, fifteen at Munich. There are also several renderings in old German verse. Many circum stances of the time tended to render such a letter accept able. Christendom would welcome gladly the intelligence of a counterpoise arising so unexpectedly to the Moham medan power; whilst the statements of the letter itself com bined a reference to and corroboration of all the romantic figments concerning Asia which already fed the curiosity of Europe, which figured in the world -maps, and filled that fabulous history of Alexander which for nearly a thousand years supplanted the real history of the Macedonian throughout Europe and western Asia. The only other surviving document of the 12th century bearing on this subject is a letter of which MS. copies are preserved in the Cambridge and Paris libraries, and which is also embedded in the chronicles of several English annal ists, including Benedict of Peterborough, Roger Hovedon, and Matthew Paris. It purports to have been indited from the Rialto at Venice by Pope Alexander III. on the 5th day before the calends of October (27th September), data which fix the year as 1177. The pope addresses himself as Alexander episcopus, serviis servorum dei, carissimo in Cliristo filio Johannij illustro et magnijico indorum regi [Hovedon s copy here inserts sacerdoti sanctissimo], salu- tem et apostolicam benedictionem. He recites how he had heard of the monarch s Christian profession, diligence in good works, and piety by manifold narrators and com mon report, but also more particularly from his (the pope s) beloved son Master Philip, his physician and confidant (medicus et familiaris noster&quot;), who had received informa tion from honourable persons of the monarch s kingdom, with whom he had intercourse in those (Eastern) parts. Philip had also reported the king s anxiety for instruction in Catholic discipline and for reconciliation with the apostolic see in regard to all discrepancies. Philip had also heard from the king s people that he fervently desired to have a church in Rome and an altar at Jerusalem. The pope goes on to say that he found it too difficult, on account of the length and obstructions of the way, to send any one (of ecclesiastical position ?) a latere, but he would despatch the aforesaid Philip to communicate instruction to him. And on accepting Philip s communications the king should send back honourable persons bearing letters sealed with his seal, in which his wishes should be fully set forth. &quot;The more nobly and magnanimously thou conductest thyself, and the less thou vauntest of thy ivealth and power (quanto . . . minus de divitiis et potentia tua videris inflatus), the more readily shall we regard thy wishes both as to the concession of a church in the city and of altars in the church of SS. Peter and Paul, and in the church of the Lord s Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and as to other reasonable requests.&quot; There is no express mention of the title &quot; Prester John &quot; in what seem the more genuine copies of this letter. But the address and the expression in the italicized passage