The Infante Dom Pedro (1392–1449), prince of Portugal, warrior, traveler, regent, was hero and victim of a legend. In the Book of the Infante Dom Pedro, an early-sixteenth-century Spanish fantasy by Gómez de Santisteban, Pedro’s journeys may dimly reflect the Infante’s actual wanderings in Europe but also involve Amazons and Giants in a medieval world that includes the goals of Prester John’s court and Apostle Thomas’s shrine in the Indies.

Here is a full translation of the Book, with a detailed discussion of the real travels, their transformation into legend, the tale’s influence, and the Spanish author’s true purpose.