Prester John

,

Prester John 10: The End is not the End

,

It's the end of the Prester John story, or at least the end for now. The priest-king pops up in Tibet and dives into the world of fiction and comics, and the Dalai Lama makes an appearance.

,

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.

,

Prester John 7: The Way from Lisbon

,

It's part 7 of the Prester John story, on the trip to Prester John's Ethiopia, and on the Portuguese crown's pursuit of the priest-king and how that story was connected to the developing ones of exploration and colonialism.

,

Prester John 6: The Ethiopian Prester John

,

This is the first of two episodes on the next jump in the Prester John narrative, as the story pivots to Ethiopia and as Ethiopian envoys and pilgrims travel in 15th-century Italy and Spain.

,

Prester John 5: The Mongol Priest-King

,

The Mongols, their conquests, and the travellers who went to see them were all going to necessitate some changes to the Prester John narrative. This episode is all about those changes.

,

Prester John 3: The Fifth Crusade

,

The crusaders make their way first to Acre and then to Damietta. Perhaps someone would be along to help them soon?

,

Prester John 2.5: Papal Correspondence

,

A shorter episode, on a letter from Pope Alexander III to Prester John.

,

Prester John 2: Where From and What For

,

On the many fantastic additions to the Letter of Prester John (Dragons! Strange Bakeries! Etc!), and on the theories around it.

,

Prester John 1: The Letter

,

The legend in its early forms: the arrival in Rome of a patriarch from the east, the chronicles of Otto of Freising, and that famous "letter."

,

Marco and the Polos 2: Of Assassins and Other Things

,

Over the next few episodes, I’ll be talking about the Marco Polo text, a book that goes by various names, and I'll be looking at both the history of the book and the history contained within it. I’ll also continue to follow the story, such as it is, that the book gives us of the Polos and their travels. Today, we’ll be looking at their departure from Venice, their journey towards Kublai Khan, and some of the themes of the text as well a bit of the history/mythology it contains. 

,

To See the Mongols 3: An Interregnum

,

Over the last two episodes, we heard about Euro-Mongol relations through the unlikely body of Friar Carpine. We’re going to continue with that theme today touching on a couple of different diplomatic missions to and from the Mongol empire. I’ll also be covering some of the history, some of the events occurring between the Carpine mission and that of our next major traveller. When we look at the khanate of this period, we’ll see another death, another interregnum, and a new khan. First though, let’s get ourselves caught up.