Reflets messianiques sur les manuscrits hébreux des lettres du Prêtre Jean

This article discusses various chronological aspects of the Hebrew correspondence of Prester John by focusing on the connections between their chronology and Jewish mythopoesis. In line with the observations of previous scholars (Neubauer, Ullendorff, Beckingham and Perry), this article indicates Davin de Vives (David b. Chayyim) as the scribe of the manuscript JTS, Rab. 34 which contains the Hebrew letter to Emperor Frederick. It suggests that the scribe wrote this manuscript in the second half of the 15th century. It claims possible (although not certain) to identify this scribe with the Jew Davin de Vives which the archival documentation attests in 1479 in Aix en Provence. Finally, the paper presents the Hebrew letters in the context of the messianic expectations of the Mediterranean Jewish communities and in the frame of the historical events that marked the relations between Jews and Christians in Ethiopia between the 15th and 16th centuries. In the appendix, we give notice of the text of an apocalyptic-astrological prophecy which predicts the destruction of Prester John by the tribe of Dan. In our opinion, this source represents a further example of the ‘counter-history’ of the myth of Prester John.