Note 410 — Chapter XXVII
Reading edition
Un-khan, or, as he was popularly called, Prester John, and the marvels of his dominions, were for several centuries a subject of great interest to the people of Western Europe, and were an object of anxious inquiry to all travellers in the East. A pretended letter from this monarch to the pope, describing his dominions, was published in Latin, French, and other languages. Much information relating to Prester John is found in Matthew Paris, who wrote before the middle of the thirteenth century. Marco Polo in his travels (book i. ch. xliii.) mentions the former subjection of the Tartars to him. Roger Bacon did not believe the extraordinary tales which were current relative to Prester John—de quo tanta fama solebat esse, et multa falsa dicta sunt et scripta. (Opus Majus, edit. Jebb, p. 232.) A most profound and learned dissertation on the personage and history of Prester John, by M. D'Avezac, will be found in the Introduction to his edition of the History of the Tartars, by John du Plan-de-Carpin, (published in the transactions of the Geographical Society of Paris,) 4to, 1838, p. 165-168. [410]