Searches for an Imaginary Kingdom
The Legend of the Kingdom of Prester John

This bold synthesis fills in many of the missing links between the histories of Europe and medieval China.

Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev (Author), R. E. F. Smith (Translated by)

9780521108799, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 April 2009

428 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.4 cm, 0.54 kg

The so called 'Kingdom of Prester John' was a Christian power thought to exist in Central Asia at the time of the twelfth-century crusades. At a deeper level, for the steppe peoples it constitutes a distant dynamic which led to the world-shattering rise of Mongol power under Chinggis (Genghis) Khan. The book ranges widely in subject matter, space and time. Christian history and ecological, demographic, social and economic history are all interwoven with the politics, religions and literature of the vast and varied area between European Russia and China from c800 to 1300. The author's views are distinctive and stimulating and are not always accepted by western specialists. But his bold synthesis fills in many of the missing links between histories of Europe and medieval China and makes it possible to think of these vast areas as, in some senses, parts of a greater whole.

Introduction
Foreword
Translator's notes
Part I. The Trefoil of the Writing Desk: 1. Overcoming the study of letters
2. An excursion into geography
3. The road through history
Part II. The Trefoil of the Bird's Eye View: 4. The dark century (861–960)
5. The shattered silence (961–1100)
6. Foreshadowing the legend's hero (1100–1143)
Part III. The Trefoil of the Barrow: 7. The courage and ruin of King David (1143–1218)
8. The loss of a dream (1218–1259)
9. Dealing with the Conquerors (1259–1312)
Part IV. The Trefoil of the Mouse-hole: 10. The tastes and sympathies of the author of the secret history
11. Jamuqa-sechen under investigation
12. Two in one
Part V. The Trefoil of the Tree of Thought: 13. An attempt to overcome self-deception
14. A space-time scheme
15. Construction of hypotheses
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]