Prester John

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Prester John, a legendary Christian king, endured in the imaginations of many medieval crusade theorists and geographers. Thought to be a savior who would assist the forces of Christendom to defeat Islam in a final crusade to take Jerusalem, Prester John occupied an important place in the minds of those who hoped for a successful crusade. In this episode, join newcomer Josh as he takes you on a whirlwind tour of Asia and Africa in search of this mythical figure.

Podcaster: Josh

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Further Reading

Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Idols in the East: European Representations of Islam and the Orient, 1100-1450, Cornell University Press, (2009).

Geraldine Heng, The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, (2018).

Kim Phillips, Before Orientalism: Asian Peoples and Cultures in European Travel Writing, 1245-1510, University of Pennsylvania Press, (2014). 

Prester John: The Legend and its Sources, Edited by Keagan Brewer, Crusade Texts in Translation v. 27, Routledge, (2015).

Brett Edward Whalen, Dominion of God: Christendom and Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, Harvard University Press, (2009).

​​Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)