PRIEST GIANNI (PRETE JANNI). - Throughout the Middle Ages, particularly after the 13th century, the legend of the existence of the mysterious kingdom of Prester John was widely diffused in Europe; it was said to prosper somewhere in the East, beyond the "iron curtain" of Muslim domination. Marco Polo places this kingdom in China, in Shan-si.
In the 15th century the search for the kingdom of Prester John was the occasion for numerous journeys and expeditions that helped to broaden Europe's geographical horizon. The French friar Jordan de Séverac and the Italian friar Giovanni Marignolli were among the first to definitively place the kingdom of Prester John in Ethiopia. It was also sought by the Portuguese navigators who explored the coast of the Red Sea after the voyages of Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama. Popular imagination depicted the kingdom of Prester John as exceedingly powerful and wealthy. Modern hypotheses about the actual existence and the exact location of the kingdom of Prester John have no real substance, and the reason for the sovereign's name and for his priestly title is likewise uncertain.
Bibliography2 worksC. Errera, L'epoca delle grandi scoperte geografiche, Milan 1926, pp. 74, 109, and passim (with relevant bibliography). See also L. Olschki,
BIBL.: C. Errera, L'epoca delle grandi scoperte geografiche, Milan 1926, pp. 74, 109, and passim (with relevant bibliography). See also L. Olschki, Storia letteraria delle scoperte geografiche, Florence 1937, pp. 194-213; R. Lefevre, La leggenda del p. G., in Annali lateranensi, 8 (1944), pp. 9-89.
Valori, Francesco. “Prete Gianni (Prete Janni).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX, col. 1982. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/prete-gianni-prete-janni.
MLA
Valori, Francesco. “Prete Gianni (Prete Janni).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, col. 1982. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/prete-gianni-prete-janni.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec9_prete_gianni_prete_janni,
author = {Valori, Francesco},
title = {Prete Gianni (Prete Janni)},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {IX},
pages = {1982},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1952},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/prete-gianni-prete-janni}
}
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