Prester John

Prester John was a legendary Christian priest and king who supposedly lived in the 1100s. A mysterious letter began to circulate around Europe that told of a magical kingdom in the east that was in danger of being taken over by barbarians. The letter was supposedly written by Prester John - the king of this legendary kingdom. The letter was written to Emanuel I who was the Byzantine Emperor of Rome at the time. There were over 100 different versions of the letter published. The imaginary kingdom was claimed to have existed in either central Asia or Ethiopia. It was supposedly crime-free and peaceful with rivers of gold and a Fountain of Youth. Pope Alexander II sent his friend, master Phillip, as a messenger to look for this kingdom but he never returned. The legend lived on for so long that cartographers included Prester John's kingdom on maps. The legend also sparked expeditions outside of Europe.

From Text: A mythical Christian monarch whose kingdom supposedly had been cut off from Europe by the Muslim conquests; some thought he was Chingghis Khan