The Realm of Prester John

by Robert Silverberg

"Silverberg serves up the fantastic details lavishly while diligently striving to sort out the shadowy facts from the imaginative incrustations". -- Kirkus Reviews

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Travel, Mythology

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il mitico Prete Gianni che fece sognare letterati e uomini di chiesa nel Medioevo, con le sue lettere e le sue promesse di aiuto nella lotta contro l'avanzata inarrestabile dell'Islam... Due ipotesi. Sovrani cristiani nell'Asia orientale, o meglio, piccoli khan di tribù altaiche turco-mongole, come i Kerait e i Naiman, convertiti al cristianesimo nestoriano, e successivamente nerbo delle orde di Gengis Khan, venendo a contatto con viaggiatori e mercanti occidentali diedero origine alla leggenda del Prete Gianni, il potentissimo sovrano asiatico ad un tempo re e sacerdote. Un viaggio affascinante sulle vie carovaniere che dall'Asia Centrale si addentravano nel bacino del Tarim fino alle steppe della Mongolia, sulle tracce dei missionari nestoriani che prima del Mille avevano predicato e diffuso il cristianesimo tra le tribù nomadi.
E ancora, l'altra ipotesi nell'ultima parte del libro: il cristianesimo monofisita copto diffuso sugli acrocori dell'Etiopia fin dai primi secoli del Cristianesimo, i suoi imperatori cristianissimi, baluardi e protettori della fede che per secoli hanno lottato contro l'invasione musulmana dall'Arabia e dal Sudan, sono loro i prototipi del Prete Gianni?
Certo che con Mussolini, il maresciallo Graziani, le truppe italiane, le stragi di cristiani etiopi (preti, monaci, seminaristi, semplici laici) al tempo della guerra d'Etiopia, ci sarebbe stato bisogno veramente di un Prete Gianni!

[Marty Reeder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prester John was an elusive mythical figure from medieval times who frustrated many scholars in their attempt to discover him. Appropriately, Robert Silverberg has managed to make his treatment of the history of the Prester John myth similarly elusive and frustrating.

That is not to say that the myth and history of Prester John alone are not interesting, let alone fascinating. Here is a guy that was made up (?), discovered (?), transformed (?) in the early part of medieval times and he became immensely popular all over Europe. People wanted to believe that there existed a Christian king with a magical, mythical kingdom, somewhere out among the infidel Moslem nations, who would someday, with his invincible army annihilate all Saracen foes and reclaim the Holy Land for Christianity. And thus the tale of Prester John grew and his kingdom transformed and transported according to the times.

How could something like that NOT be interesting?! Well, read Robert Silverberg's book to find out the answer to that, apparently non-rhetorical, question. The guy managed to take all of the adventure and intrigue out of it and instead make a plodding, disastrous mess. It's not that he didn't approach it well. He tried to get down to the roots of the Prester John myth, identifying its inception and any remotely possible inspirations. But while his approach wasn't all wrong, his methods were horrid. Silverberg had a tendency to use long (and I mean, long) quotes in showing some of the original wording of the Prester John myths. I am not opposed to primary documents, in fact, I think they are great, but the problem came when he would compare one version with another. He did not just show the relevant parts of either one, instead he took nearly the complete texts of both versions and lined them up, one after another. Essentially, they all said the same thing, with tiny differences scattered throughout. Silverberg also tended to dwell on certain historical events and figures in great detail, even when they were only remotely (and that is a generous term) related to the Prester John myth. I think he does so because they were well known events or figures, and therefore interesting. And they were, but when it is off topic from what he is supposed to be doing, the extended lectures only serve to annoy all the more.

My best guess as to what happened here (which happens to be the same guess that I made for another boring non-fiction book)? Silverberg had enough information for an extended article in a scholarly journal or even in an educational magazine (perhaps that is where the idea for this book started), but then someone offered him a publishing contract and said, "All you have to do is beef it up a bit!" while grinning the grin of those idiot businessmen who don't understand anything about real books except how much they cost and can be purchased for. Silverberg then figured he would just extend his quotes, go off on some tangents, and then call it a day. Whatever it was, the results were a disaster. May the Realm of Prester John (at least in book form) stay hidden from my Christian eyes from here on out to forever!

[Pedro Pascoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a bit surprised that my first read of Robert Silverberg should be non-fiction rather than his more famous fiction. Yet, here we are.

Silverberg tackles one of the supreme phantoms of the Middle Ages, the elusive myth of Prester John, and establishes the rise and fall of this enigmatic character. Spanning nearly 500 years, the story of Prester John, the Christian heretical king on the far side of the Islamic States somewhere in the 'Indias' (which then spanned a much greater area of the European-imagined geography than at present), shifted from 'Asia' to Ethiopia, from leader to leader with greater or lesser accuracy to the already far-fetched and growing myth. It started with a letter, it ended with Portugese Jesuits being hung in Ethiopia, and in between it bewitched a swag of leaders across Europe, inspired many credible and less than credible travel writers, justified military incursions, and generally captured the imagination of Europe for centuries, until finally a suitable candidate for the mantle of 'Prester John' was more or less found, as described, then Catholicism tripped up over its own dick and spoiled the party for everyone. Well, be careful what you wish for, I guress.

Silverberg argues his case plausibly, and has a grand old romp through a large period of medieval history chasing the ghost of Prester John through the Mongols of Asia to the Kings of Abyssinia, culminating in a lengthy chapter on the Portugese and Ethiopia (which I must admit getting a bit bogged down in), but always painting a vivid picture of Europeans broadening their horizons with the search for Prester John. It really does bring into persepctive the ideas that a culture grapples with, the reliability of the ideas that we cherish, and the paths we end up taking as a result of a misunderstanding, and what cherished delusions we as a culture hold today that will have people of the future scratching their heas as much as we do today about Prester John.

Long one of my favourite stories from the Middle Ages, I was glad to read a researched account into the growth of this story, putting it into perspectives that I didn't understand beforehand. Now, to dive into Silverberg the fiction author?

[Old Man JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit disappointing for me. When I started reading I was expecting a fictitious adventure story set in the mythical Prester John realm similar to Silverberg's great sci-fi books but, unfortunately, this turned out to be a non-fiction discourse on the subject. It just didn't occur to me that it would be so. Anyway I read the book in spite of my disappointment. It was an interesting read that went extensively into how the myth was created and its history. It's a story based on wishful thinking and self-deception, typical of much of religious thinking. It was basically about a mythical powerful Christian kingdom located somewhere in India that had an invincible army that was going to come to the aid of the Christian's in their Crusade against the Islamic armies. Before I read the book I had heard about the Prester John legend but really had no idea what it was about. It was interesting but I would have preferred a fictional adventure story.

[Trey S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really amazing book. Before talking about the information inside it, the book is only about 320 pages but all the pages are crammed with facts and writing and honestly it is good like that, though it makes for a slower more in depth read. I still really enjoyed it a lot. In the beginning it talks about where the myth of Prester John comes from. It talks about geography of how medieval Europe saw the world. Prester John was said to live in the far east and was a Christian king who ruled over essentially a utopia. Starting with a supposed letter from him to the west and the pope, it talked about his kingdom. It convinced the west of his existence even though the letter was likely a made up forgery, though was it meant to fool people or meant seriously is still debated. The west and catholic Europe from the 11-14 hundreds thought he lived in Asia, though it was likely the mongols. The books tells history of the mongols, which is good and an added bonus to the information. Then looking towards Ethiopia, that was where he was actually and not really Asia/India. I say India because India as a concept was different, Europe saw India as lesser, middle, greater and didn’t have a full grasp of what India actually was. So they realized they were calling Ethiopia part of Asia/India essentially and looked there. The Portuguese got there and were convinced it was really Prester John, it wasn’t it was just another Christian kingdom that wasn’t catholic. Then the books tells the story of Ethiopia and how the Portuguese were involved there later on. They were in Ethiopia around 15-16 hundred. The book ends there with Europe realizing he indeed was a myth and not real but the book was really good and contained so much detail. A very fun read and the details I described here don’t do the book justice as there is way more not mentioned about the story of Prester John.

4.5/5

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read.

[Ben Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough introduction to the medieval world and the history of the myth of Prester John.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silverberg traces the roots, emergence, revisions, subtractions and additions to the medieval myth of the existence of a supremely powerful Christian monarch in the near and far east along with the sometimes quixotic efforts of western explorers to locate his kingdom.

The breadth of his scholarship is notable as he brings together sometimes rare texts from several languages across the span of five centuries. Generously sampled, these texts, often first hand accounts of merchants and explorers, are a curious mix of careful reportage and rumor-filled fantasy erupting into the gaps between what is known. Air in a squeezed balloon, Prester John's location migrated wherever the force of Europe's attention was not, filling Central Asia, India then Ethiopia with rivers of jewels, dead saints delivering the Eucharist, Gog and Magog, etc.

Silverburg imposes, for good or bad, a coherent, compelling narrative on the cluster of texts. What's sacrificed is room for analysis. The myth powerfully expresses medieval ideals and clearly served, with its promise of powerful Christian allies in the midst of pagans and 'Moors', as an inducement for Europeans to risk travel in uncharted territories. You know, topos, myth, pre-colonialism, blah blah blah-- Silverburg doesn't get to it.

[Mark Bahnisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up second hand at Archives, having no idea that Robert Silverberg had written non fiction. It's a fascinating read - particularly the story of the short-lived Jesuit conversion of the Ethiopian Church. Also intriguing to read of the vagueness of European notions of geography in the Middle Ages. Prester John was variously identified as a Tartar Khan and the Ethiopian Negus, Ethiopia being thought of as part of "India". The whole story is also deeply entwined with the Crusades.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

B. The myths and legends about this character are many, varied, inconsistent, but very colorful.
2nd read: I was a little more engaged this time. Especially the chapter on the Portuguese in Ethiopia and the descriptions of christianity during 15th and 16th centuries. 336 pages

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly dry read with huge chunks of text quoted from primary sources.
Learned a lot about Portugese and Ethiopian 15th-16th cent Hx I didn't know.