Page 124 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

It was reported that knights of the Crusades who reached Jerusalem
saw pilgrims from Ethiopia. Some believed an army led by Prester John
would come from the East to assist the crusaders at the time of the
second Crusade in the twelfth century. However, the soldiers of Prester
John failed to appear, and the crusaders were soundly defeated by the
Muslims. About this time when things looked dark, a letter arrived in
Europe from Prester John. It read in part:

I, Prester John, who reign supreme, exceed in riches, virtue and
power over all creatures who dwell under heaven. Seventy-two
kings pay tribute to me. I am a devout Christian and everywhere
protect the Christians of our empire, nourishing them with alms.…
Our magnificence dominates the Three Indias, and extends to
Farther India, where the body of St. Thomas the Apostle rests.…
To show our great humility, we choose to be called by a less name
(Presbyter) and to assume an inferior rank. If you can count the
stars in the sky, and the sands of the sea, you will be able to judge
thereby the vastness of our realm and our power. (Forbath, 24–25)

The letter was a marvelous bit of forgery, but it was accepted as truth
by the church of Rome. It perpetuated the legend about the Christian
king beyond Persia. Late in the twelfth century, the Pope sent his
personal representative to find the king. Unfortunately, he disappeared
and apparently never returned. By the fifteenth century, it was widely
held that Prester John lived in Ethiopia.

Koschorke introduces and quotes from a sixteenth century report of
Leo Africanus that seems to shed light on Prester John’s rule, Christian
activities, and realm:

This is evident in the report of Leo Africanus (1494?–1552), who
was born in Granada as Al-Hassan Ibn-Muhammad al Wezzani,
and who was active as a jurist in Moroccan Fez. During one of his
many trips he was captured by Christian pirates and, on account
of his erudition, was not sold into slavery, but presented to Pope
Leo X (1513–1521), who enabled his release. After his conversion
and baptism he composed in 1526 an account of both of his
trips to Africa in 1509 and 1516. “The said country is called by
the Latines Aethiopia. From thence come certain religious friars

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