Pranks, they have been a staple in every strata of the society from a long time. The only difference being that the pranks of the so called “nobility” or the upper class tend to showcase their superiority and upper classmanship, while that of lower and middle class was viewed as “uncouth”. Usually pranks are often viewed as a fun filled frolic or by some as meddlesome and tiring, but one such prank brought forth many upsides. However, pranks no matter who plays, tend to be short lived, however today we talk about one such prank that went not for a decade or a century but rather played out till a whopping 400 years. This takes place when the Crusaders had started gaining momentum in Europe.

In 1165, a certain letter had started circulating throughout the western Europe. To view it now, we can clearly infer that it was a hoax, however people at that time believed it to be true. The letter spoke of a realm filled with mystical features, such as the Tower of Babel, The fountain of youth, with mystical weapons and animals within their arsenal. It mentioned that the mysterious and fabled land was ruled by the letter’s mysterious author: Prester John. This prank or hoax brought about an age of exploration, inspired an intercontinental diplomatic relation and rather sadly brought forth an civil war. This letter came forth during a time Europe Crusaders were trying to find Christian allies to serve in their war against the practitioners of “blasphemous” religions, mainly the Muslims and the Jews. They were fascinated by an army that had defeated a vast Muslim army in the far east. They were referring to the Mongol warriors that consisted of some converted Christians. However like all news spread by the means of words and stories, it spread unreliably and by the time it reached Europe, the story had changed the Mongol horde to a great Christian army full of soldiers with strength of biblical proportions, with a enigmatic ruler leading them with similar goals as the crusaders of marching to Jerusalem. This was the time the forged hoax of a letter reached the hands of the crusaders and despite its obvious European origin the appeal was too great for the crusaders to ignore. Thus, began a search for the mystical realm in the east that Prester john ruled. Soon they even reached Africa in search for Prester John’s ancestors. This was the time that Portuguese reached Ethiopia and found about a Christian kingdom, and with a mix of confusion and diplomacy the Portuguese thought they had encountered the fabled kingdom of Prester John. This happened nearly 350 years after the letter had instigated the search. A decade later when the sultanate of Adal attacked Ethiopia the Portuguese came as help, and soon realized that they weren’t the fabled kingdom they had pegged them to be. Worse still the increasingly intolerant roman catholic church had deemed the sect of Christianity found in Ethiopia as heresy. This sparked a civil war between the “ideal” Christians and the “Ethiopian” Christians and in the 1630s Ethiopia cut all ties with Europe. Over the next two centuries the legend of John’s kingdom faded to oblivion.

Thus, ends the tale of the medieval version of modern click-bait.