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

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

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521108799
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/16/2009
Series:	Past and Present Publications
Pages:	428
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

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.