misc on crystal palace

[Mark Kohut]

I first learned the name Prester John in some philosophy courses. His name
was used in sentences about which we had to talk about "the logical meaning
of". For example, Prester John visited Byzantium. Discuss knowing what is
below.

Mentioned by Shakespeare, the title of a John Buchan novel and in an
Umberto Eco novel among other places, there is at least one whole book
about him in folk tales as well as in manuscripts such as below-- from the
way back.

Serendipitously today, I learned that one of the major elements of the
legend is that he lived in a crystal palace in a wonderful utopia.
Letter of Prester John[edit
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prester_John&action=edit&section=2>
]

No more of the tale is recorded until about 1165 when copies of what was
certainly a forged *Letter of Prester John* started spreading throughout
Europe.[15]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prester_John#cite_note-rossabi-5-15> An
epistolary wonder tale with parallels suggesting its author knew the *Romance
of Alexander <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_romance>* and the
above-mentioned *Acts of Thomas*, the *Letter* was supposedly written to
the Byzantine Emperor <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire>Manuel
I Comnenus <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_I_Comnenus> (1143–1180) by
Prester John, descendant of one of the Three Magi and King of India.[18]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prester_John#cite_note-18>[19]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prester_John#cite_note-19> The many marvels
of richness and magic it contained captured the imagination of Europeans,
and it was translated into numerous languages, including Hebrew
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language>. It circulated in ever more
embellished form for centuries in manuscripts, a hundred examples of which
still exist. The invention of printing
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing> perpetuated the letter's
popularity in printed form; it was still current in popular culture during
the period of European exploration
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Discovery>. Part of the letter's
essence was that a lost kingdom of Nestorian Christians still existed in
the vastnesses of Central Asia.
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