Name: 現実世界を変えた架空の王様 - マッテオ・サルヴァドーレ (The imaginary king who changed the real world - Matteo Salvadore)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T09:48:20.000Z
Duration: 5 min 34 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

In 1165, copies of a strange letter began  to circulate throughout Western Europe.

containing the Tower of Babel  and the Fountain of Youth—

all ruled over by the letter’s  mysterious author: Prester John.

Today, we know that this extraordinary king never existed.

But the legend of this mythical kingdom  and its powerful ruler

would impact the decisions of European leaders for the next 400 years.

Prester John’s myth would propel  the age of exploration,

inspire intercontinental diplomacy,  and indirectly begin a civil war.

When Prester John’s letter appeared,  Europe was embroiled in the Crusades.

Europeans campaigned to seize what  they regarded as the Christian Holy Land.

The Church vilified any faith  outside of Christianity,

including that of the Jewish and Muslim  communities populating the region.

Crusaders were eager to find Christian kingdoms to serve as allies in their war.

And they were particularly interested in rumors of a powerful Christian king

who had defeated an enormous  Muslim army in the Far East.

In fact, it was a Mongol horde including converted Christian tribes

But news of this victory  traveled unreliably.

Merchants and emissaries filled  gaps in the story

the Mongol horde had been replaced with a great Christian army,

commanded by a king who shared  the Crusader’s vision

And when a letter allegedly written by  this so-called “Prester John” appeared,

While the letter’s actual author  remains unknown,

its stereotypes about the East  and alignment with European goals

But despite the letter’s obvious origins  as European propaganda,

the appeal of Prester John’s myth  was too great for the Crusaders to ignore.

European mapmakers were guessing  the location of his mythical kingdom.

In the 13th and 14th centuries,  European missionaries went East,

They weren’t searching for  the letter’s author,

who would have been over a century old;  but rather, for his descendants.

The title of Prester John  was briefly identified

but it soon became clear that the Mongols were largely non-Christian.

Europeans began pursuing alternate routes  to the Far East,

and new clues to Prester John’s location.

At the same time these explorers  went south,

Ethiopian pilgrims began traveling north.

In Rome, these visitors  quickly attracted the interest

Since Ethiopia had been converted  to Christianity in the 4th century,

the stories of their African homeland  fit perfectly into Prester John’s legend.

Portuguese explorers scoured Africa  for the kingdom,

until a mix of confusion and diplomacy  finally turned myth into reality.

The Ethiopians graciously received  their European guests,

who were eager to do business  with the ruler

Though the Ethiopians were initially  confused by the Portuguese’s

they were savvy enough to recognize  the diplomatic capital it afforded them.

The Ethiopian diplomats played the part  of Prester John’s subjects,

and the Portuguese triumphantly announced an alliance with the fabled sovereign—

over 350 years after the European  letter had begun the search.

But this long-awaited partnership  was quickly tested.

a regional power supported  by the Ottoman Empire, invaded Ethiopia.

The Portuguese sent troops that helped  Ethiopians win this conflict.

it was clear that Ethiopia was not  the powerful ally Europe had hoped.

Worse still, the increasingly intolerant  Roman Catholic Church

now deemed the Ethiopian sect  of Christianity heretical.

Their subsequent attempts to convert  the people

and in the 1630s,  Ethiopia cut ties with Europe.

the legend of Prester John  slowly faded into oblivion—

ending the reign of a king who made  history despite having never existed.

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現実世界を変えた架空の王様 - マッテオ・サルヴァドーレ (The imaginary king who changed the real world - Matteo Salvadore)

enormous

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conflict

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