Prester John

[Karen Wingoof]

So I'm reading this book called Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe and there are several pages in there about the legends of Prester John. From what I can gather, there were still a lot of people of Magellan's time who believed the stories of Prester John - they believed he was this great Christian emperor who claimed a huge part of the world and whose empire was full of all kinds of weird and wonderful creatures. According to my book, the belief in Prester John and his amazing kingdom was the impetus for a lot of exploration in the 1400's and 1500's. 

Before I started reading this book I don't think I'd ever heard of Prester John before. Is there anyone amongst us who has some expertise on this character and would care to share...?