Medieval Diplomacy

Prester John 9: The End Part One

What happens to a mythical priest-king when you get too close to him? Does he just disappear?

Prester John 8: Ambassador Mateus and his Many Doubters

In the early years of the 16th-century, Ethiopia's regent, Eleni, sent an ambassador to Portugal to propose an alliance. She sent a man named Mateus. Unfortunately for Mateus, almost nobody believed him.

Medieval Lives 1: al-Ghazāl

This is a story about Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakam al-Bakrī al-Jayyānī, known also as al-Ghazāl (the Gazelle). It's the story of a 9th century poet on an embassy from the Emirate of Córdoba to a Viking ruler.