Legendary Christian ruler of the East.
He was believed to be a Nestorian and a king-priest (prester being short for presbyter, "elder" or "priest") reigning in an unspecified part of the Far East. The legend arose during the Crusades in the 12th century, among European Christians who hoped that Prester John would prove an ally in the effort to regain the Holy Land from the Saracen s. In the 13th–14th century various missionaries and travelers, including Marco Polo , searched for his kingdom in Asia. After the mid-14th century, Ethiopia was the centre of the quest, as Prester John became identified with the emperor of that African Christian nation.