The Global Legend of Prester John delves into the enduring fascination with Prester John, an unreachable, collectively-imagined Christian priest-king who figured prominently in Europe’s entrance into an interconnected global world. This Element draws on “The International Prester John Project,” an archive of Prester John narratives, from papal epistles to missionary diaries to Marvel comics, all of which respond to the Christian heterotopia promised in the twelfth-century Letter of Prester John. During the medieval and early modern periods, the desire to legitimize the letter’s contents influenced military tactics and papal policy while serving as a cultural touchstone for medieval maps, travel narratives, and romance tales. By providing an overview of distinct narrative paths the legend took along with an analysis of the themes of malleability and elasticity within and across these paths, this Element addresses how belief in Prester John persisted for six centuries despite a lack of evidence.
Chris Taylor teaches literature and composition at WNMU. Prior to moving to Silver City in 2020, he taught at the University of Texas, Austin Community College, and Williams College, before briefly giving up the academic path to pursue who-knows-what here in the beautiful Southwest. He received his PhD in medieval literature in 2014 from the University of Texas at Austin. His dissertation focused on the emergence of the unknowable/unknowability as a deliberate formal and thematic feature of 14th century narratives that helped to begin to distinguish “literary” writing from other, more revelatory forms of narrative. He has published several articles on medieval cycle drama, the medieval fascination with the biblical figure Herod, and the legend of Prester John. His first book, The Global Legend of Prester John, was published in 2025 by Cambridge University Press. In his free time, Chris enjoys playing music, hiking with his dog, watching Cleveland sports, and wandering the aisles of various grocery stores. His Middle English accent is not very good.
