Prester John
The Kereit ruler Wang Khan as Prester John, illustration from The Travels of Marco Polo, 15th century.
Prester John
legendary ruler
Also known as: John the Elder, Presbyter John
Prester John, legendary Christian ruler of the East, popularized in medieval chronicles and traditions as a hoped-for ally against the Muslims. Believed to be a Nestorian (i.e., a member of an independent Eastern Christian church that did not accept the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople) and a king-priest reigning “in the Far East beyond Persia and Armenia,” Prester John was the centre of a number of legends that hark back to the writings of...