Prester John letter circulates

1165

A forged Latin letter purporting to come from a Christian priest-king ruling an eastern empire near Paradise began passing hand to hand across Europe. Popes wrote seriously to his phantom court. The myth would fuel exploratory fantasies for three hundred years. The letter described a kingdom of marvels - rivers of gems, fountains of youth, lands free from poverty and sin - that captured the medieval imagination with a power no factual geography could match.