And
Prester John suffers from the notion that anything of its time about Africa is bound to be 'racist', though in fact Buchan makes a hero of his renegade black clergyman, John Laputa.
Islam) and the pervasiveness of Gentilism, especially interesting are his allusions to the Portuguese reaching out to the Grand Negus of Abyssinia, whom he associates with the followers of the mythical figure of
Prester John.
They also heard tales of
Prester John, the legendary Christian ruler, whose kingdom was said to be far in the African interior.
Among other familiar ones are William Tell,
Prester John, the Man in the Moon, Saint Patrick's purgatory, the piper of Hameln, swan-maidens, and Theophilus.
The topos of presenting the utopian essays in the framework of travel reports is eminently medieval and reminds one of the twelfth-century Letter of
Prester John which presents the ruler of an Eastern country who seeks to balance heathen and Christian elements.
The title of this work, a doctoral dissertation done in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, might be translated as The Land of
Prester John and Utopia: The Representation of the Civilizations of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
When
Prester John, the legendary Christian king of the East and the anticipated saviour of the West from the infidel, was not found in Asia, his kingdom was relocated in Africa.
Some medieval readers of the Letter of
Prester John, on which the myth was based, also saw the realm of
Prester John as a [utopian] enclave of Christianity (= culture) that existed in peaceful coexistence with pagan (= non-culture) countries, many of whose rulers recognized the superiority of
Prester John.
Unlike the Belgian exhibition though, the RA's visitors will in the words of the curator, artist Tom Phillips, `make a circular journey around the whole continent' starting off with intimate objects from primaeval and Pharaonic Egypt, taking in the neglected artistic traditions of East Africa, including Christian Ethiopia, the land of
Prester John to Renaissance and medieval explorers, and, poignantly, the delicate basket decoration of the Tutsi from Rwanda.
It was purported to lie somewhere in the Indies: and it was said that
Prester John combined military acumen with saintly piety and that he was descended from the Three Wise Men.
In the 15th century, when the Portuguese were exploring Africa, they kept looking for this elusive king called
Prester John.
27) The cross near the Red Sea denotes the kingdom of the legendary
Prester John.
