Freiburger historische Bestände - digital

koulam, das konikreich (IJ 8 s), is merely a duplication
of Coilur derived from Ramusio's version of Marco Polo.

das lant wird genant egtifilla This country is called Egtisilla.
(I 27 s).

Egtisilla, or Eyrisculla, is referred to in John of
Hildesheim's version of the " Three Kings " as an island
where St. Thomas lies buried.

Appollonius of Tyana.

Sant jeremias ind vorredt der bibcl St. Jerome in the introduction to
daf appolonius bifin difland gelcome the Bible says that Appolonius
fei (H I 23). came to this country.

Appollonius, if his biographer Philostratus could be
believed, was a contemporary of Jesus. St. Jerome is the
famous reviser and translator of that version of the Bible
known as the " Vulgata."

Fra Mauro (1457) has a legend to the same effect.

The Three Holy Kings and Prester John.

The three " holy kings " whose bones are exhibited
to credulous visitors at Cologne Cathedral and whose
memory is revived annually on Twelfth Day, were
undoubtedly the " King of Tarshish and the Isles," and
the " Kings of Sheba and Saba," of Psalm lxxii. It was
not doubted that these " kings " were descended from the
three wise men from the East, who, according to
Matthew ii. 1-10, were guided by a star to Bethlehem,
and there worshipped the new-born " King of the Jews."
The Venerable Bede (died 735) already knew that the
names of these " kings" were Caspar, Melchior and
Balthasar. John of Hildesheim (died 1375) wrote a
popular account of their story, which was first printed in
German in 1480.1

Closely connected with the legend of the Three Kings
is the reported existence of a powerful Christian Prince
—Presbyter or Prester John—in the centre of Asia.
This rumour first reached Europe through the Bishop of
Gabala in 1145, and it was supposed that this Royal
Priest was a direct successor or descendant of the Three
Kings. Dr. Oppert has satisfactorily shown that this
mysterious personage was Yeliutashe of the Liao Dynasty,
which ruled in Northern China from 906 to 1125. Having
been expelled by the Koreans, Yeliutashe went forth with
part of his horde, and founded the Empire of the Kara
Khitai, which at one time extended from the Altai to
Lake Aral, and assumed the title of Korkhan. The King
George in Tenduk, whom Marco Polo describes as a
successor of Presbyter John, was actually a relative of

1 For a reprint see Simrock's ' Deutsche Volksbiicher,' IV., Frankfurt,
1846.

this Yeliutashe who had remained in the original seats of
the tribe not far from the Hwang-ho, and of Kuku-kotan,
where the Kutakhtu Lama of the Mongols resided when
Gerbillon visited the place in 1<?88.2 It was this King
George whom Friar John of Montecorvino claims to have
converted in 1292.

The Tarshish of the Psalmist must be sought in the
East, in maritime India, and not at Tartessus in the
West; Sheba was in Southern Arabia, and Saba on the
authority of Marco Polo probably in Persia. " Saba
Ethiopie," however, in course of time, was transferred to
Abyssinia, and its Christian ruler was accepted as the
veritable and most popular " Prester John." Friar John
of Marignola (1338-53) is the first traveller who mentions
an " African archpriest," and on a map of the world which
Cardinal Guillaume Filastre presented in 1417 to the
library of Reims we read " Ynde Pbr Jo " at the easternmost
cape of Africa.3

On Behaim's globe the Three Kings are localised in
Inner Asia, on the Indian Ocean and in East Africa
(Saba).

da/ konikreich tar/is (H 36).

tar sis (H 41), with a picture of a town.

der heiligen drei konik ciner aus One of the Three Holy Kings of
tar/is genant (H 40). Tarsis, called ...

with a royal tent surmounted by a flag exhibiting three
negro heads.

Far to the north are the Three Kings conversing with a
traveller.

Tarsis (Tarssia) is shown on many mediaeval maps in
a similar position, for instance, on the Catalan map of
1375, where the three kings are shown on horseback about
to start for Bethlehem. Haiton is the authority for
placing Tarsis in this position.

The following legends refer to one of the kings
reigning on the Indian ocean. Opposite the island of
Taprobana we read :—

der heiligen drei konik ciner auf One of the Three Holy Kings of
jndie (H 15). India.

Beyond the Sinus magnus of Ptolemy is the following
legend:—

hie jn di/em gebirg i/l ein berg Here in these mountains is a moun-
gencnt Vaus auf tcelchen noch . . . tain called Vaus, upon which ....

On this mountain, the Mons victorialis (called Mount
Gybeit by John of Marignola) the Three Kings watched
for the appearance of the star which, according to Balaam's
prophecy (Numbers xxiv. 17), " should come out of
Jacob," and which guided them to Bethlehem.

2 On Presbyter John consult Oppert, ' Der Priester Johannes,' Berlin,
1864, and Zarncke, < Abhdlgn. d. phil.-hist. Classe d. Sachs Ak. d. W.,' VII.,
1879 ; TJzielli,' Bull. Sec. Florentine, daSoc. Afric. d'ltalia,' VIII., 1893.

3 Santarem, Essai III., 341.