The Prester Quest

The Prester Quest PDF Author: Nicholas Jubber
Publisher: Doubleday Uk
ISBN: 9780385607025
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description
In 1177, Pope Alexander III - keen to secure a Christian ally from the other side of the Dar al-Islam whose reputed wealth would prove invaluable to the Crusades - wrote a letter to the elusive King of the Indies, otherwise known as Prester John. The person the Pope personally selected to deliver this letter into the hand of Prester John was a physician called Master Philip. He was never heard of again... Eight hundred and twenty-four years later, armed with a copy of Pope Alexander's letter and with a redoubtable travelling companion from his university days, Nick Jubber set out from Venice with the express intention of somewhat belatedly completing Master Philip's mission. Over the next four months he would travel by bus, train, tractor and horse-drawn cart around the Eastern Mediterranean, through the Middle East and North Africa before homing in on Ethiopia and the closely-guarded tomb of a medieval king who legend links with the mythical, mystical figure of Prester John. From insights into medieval history and mysticism, through observations on politics and religious tensions, to accounts of eccentric customs (ranging from the different names for the Middle Eastern water pipe to the unusual nature of Ethiopian time-keeping) and the day-to-day hurdles encountered while travelling through strange, sometimes, alien lands, THE PRESTER QUEST is an ebullient, eccentric, erudite, enlightening and extremely readable account of an extraordinary journey.

The Prester Quest

The Prester Quest PDF Author: Nicholas Jubber
Publisher: Doubleday Uk
ISBN: 9780385607025
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1177, Pope Alexander III - keen to secure a Christian ally from the other side of the Dar al-Islam whose reputed wealth would prove invaluable to the Crusades - wrote a letter to the elusive King of the Indies, otherwise known as Prester John. The person the Pope personally selected to deliver this letter into the hand of Prester John was a physician called Master Philip. He was never heard of again... Eight hundred and twenty-four years later, armed with a copy of Pope Alexander's letter and with a redoubtable travelling companion from his university days, Nick Jubber set out from Venice with the express intention of somewhat belatedly completing Master Philip's mission. Over the next four months he would travel by bus, train, tractor and horse-drawn cart around the Eastern Mediterranean, through the Middle East and North Africa before homing in on Ethiopia and the closely-guarded tomb of a medieval king who legend links with the mythical, mystical figure of Prester John. From insights into medieval history and mysticism, through observations on politics and religious tensions, to accounts of eccentric customs (ranging from the different names for the Middle Eastern water pipe to the unusual nature of Ethiopian time-keeping) and the day-to-day hurdles encountered while travelling through strange, sometimes, alien lands, THE PRESTER QUEST is an ebullient, eccentric, erudite, enlightening and extremely readable account of an extraordinary journey.

The Quest for Prester John

The Quest for Prester John PDF Author: Charles Fraser Beckingham
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Prisoners of Prester John

Prisoners of Prester John PDF Author: Cates Baldridge
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786490195
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
During the 16th century, Portugal endeavored to locate the mythical kingdom of Prester John--a Christian nation rumored to be somewhere in the Orient, amidst the pagans and Muslims. This study chronicles Portugal's final attempt, a six-year odyssey in Ethiopia that resulted in a tragicomic collision with a proud but isolated Christian kingdom. After summarizing the Prester John myth and the many efforts it spawned, the work focuses on the Ethiopian mission's chronicler, Father Francisco Alvares, who fell in love with the country and its people, became a friend of its king, hid the Abyssinians' heresies from his superiors, and set in motion events that saved Ethiopia from imminent destruction. Unique in the annals of Europeans' initial contacts with African peoples, the Portuguese mission is a portrait of hopeful preconceptions buffeted and eventually transformed by encounters with a fascinating, utterly unexpected reality.

A Quest Too Far

A Quest Too Far PDF Author: Peter Edward Russell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan

Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan PDF Author: Paul Kekai Manansala
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1430308990
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
"Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan" examines how the seafaring trading people known as the "Nusantao" from Insular Southeast Asia influenced world history. This is a "blook," a book based on a weblog (blog). The decision to publish the book came after requests to make the information in the blog available in an easier-to-read and more portable format. The advantage of the printed work is that the blog entries are arranged in easy-to-manage chronological order with out the need for the clicking through the blog archives. The glossary entries are also in alphabetical order for easy look-up, and a word index and table of contents further increase the readiblity of the blog/book. Important supplementary articles have also been included in the appendices. A must-read for those who think there is more to history than what we find in "mainstream" publications.

Sign and the Seal

Sign and the Seal PDF Author: Graham Hancock
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671865412
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description
The quest for the lost Ark of the Covenent.

Prester John, the Mongols, and the Ten Lost Tribes

Prester John, the Mongols, and the Ten Lost Tribes PDF Author: Charles Fraser Beckingham
Publisher: Variorum Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
This study makes an important contribution to the study of the Prester John legend and will be of interest to a wide range of scholars working in the field of medieval history and literature. The principal sources relating to Prester John are reprinted here for the first time in more than a century, together with a number of key modern articles on this topic. In addition, an international group of scholars has contributed six new studies which examine the legend in the context of Mongol history, Russian literature, the medieval Jewish accounts of the Ten Lost Tribes, the crusading movement, and the Portuguese voyages of exploration.

The Fairy Tellers

The Fairy Tellers PDF Author: Nicholas Jubber
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
ISBN: 1529389259
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
‘A carnival of a book, rigorously researched and jostling with life’ —Amy Jeffs, author of Storyland Who were the Fairy Tellers? In this far-ranging quest, award-winning author Nicholas Jubber unearths the lives of the dreamers who made our most beloved fairy tales: inventors, thieves, rebels and forgotten geniuses who gave us classic tales such as ‘Cinderella’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Baba Yaga’. From the Middle Ages to the birth of modern children’s literature, they include a German apothecary’s daughter, a Syrian youth running away from a career in the souk and a Russian dissident embroiled in a plot to kill the tsar. Following these and other unlikely protagonists, we travel from the steaming cities of Italy and the Levant, under the dark branches of the Black Forest, deep into the tundra of Siberia and across the snowy fells of Lapland. In the process, we discover a fresh perspective on some of our most frequently told stories. Filled with adventure, tragedy and real-world magic, this bewitching book uncovers the stranger lives behind the strangest of tales.

Prester John

Prester John PDF Author: John Buchan
Publisher: House of Stratus
ISBN: 0755117131
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
After his father's death, our young hero sets off to make his fortune in South Africa. He gets tangled up in an African tribal uprising and a strange encounter and rumours he hears make him suspect that his destination may not be as predictable as he has supposed. Set at the turn of the last century, this is a riveting adventure story.

The Realm of Prester John

The Realm of Prester John PDF Author: Robert Silverberg
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0821441221
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
In this modern account of the genesis of a great medieval myth, celebrated science fiction author Robert Silverberg’s explores the mysterious origins of Prester John, the astonishing Christian potentate of the East. Prester John was a legendary figure who cast a powerful spell over Latin Christendom for almost five centuries. Rumors of the warrior-king-prelate’s fabulous realms first reached Europe in the eleventh century and quickly assumed an exalted status alongside such fabled wonders as El Dorado, The Fountain of Youth, and the Holy Grail. The defeat of a Moslem Turkish tribe by a Buddhist Chinese warlord seems to have been the unlikely historical nugget around which the Prester John myth grew, but contributions to this strange saga have also been traced all around the globe to the Apostle Thomas' apocryphal preaching in India, to the actual existence of small colonies of Nestorian schismatics in central Asia, and even to Genghis Khan.