their own I do not find they have any besides some Fabulous Legends of the Lives of their Monks of which I shall only give the Reader a Taste In the Life of Tecla Haymanot the most famous of all their Monks both for Piety and Miracles the following Account of the Succession of their Grand Abbots is given The Angel St. Michael gave the Cowl to St. Anthony St. Anthony gave it to St. Macarius Macarius gave it to Pachomius Pachomius to Abbot Araguni or Michael who was one of the Nine Monks that came into Ethiopia Araguni gave it to Bazana Bazana to Mazralmoa Mazralmoa to Abbot John John to Abbot Jesus Jesus to Tecla Haymanot to whom Christ appeared and promised that whosoever should kill a Serpent upon a Friday should be pardoned all the Sins he had committed in Forty Years But notwithstanding the Lives of the Habassin Monks are all of a piece with the Lives of all the other Monks that are extant that is extreamly fabulous yet this must be said for them that Monkery continues to this day much the same among them as it was in the beginning from which in the Church of Rome it is so strangely degenerated For in Habassia Monkery much the same in Habassia as it was in the beginning any one that has a mind to be a Monk retires thereupon to the Desart where he puts on what Habit he pleaseth or judgeth to be most sutable to his pretensions Their Obligation so long as they profess themselves Monks which they are always at their liberty to give over is to fast every day in the Year till three a Clock in the Afternoon and to Assemble together at Midnight and at other certain Hours to perform their Devotions they do generally exercise great Austerities upon themselves being very strict in their Fasts many of them eating but once in two days and some never but upon Sundays some of them are said to have made Holes in the Trunks of Trees and to have lodged in them till the Trees have grown to shut them in Their Monastries are more like Villages than Roman Convents Their Monastries are little Villages every Monk having his distinct dwelling House with as much Land laid to it as a Man is able to cultivate and when they come to dye they dispose of their Goods as they please only the Land remains still to the Monastries Now this course falls in exactly with that of the Primitive Monks who always lived in Deserts where they work'd hard and were under no Vows whereas the Roman Monks have their Monastries in or near Princes Courts and in all Populous Cities and tho generally hurried into that Profession either by their Parents or by some sudden fit of Melancholy are fettered in it by Vows for their Lives and are so far from putting their Hand to any work that they are every where become proverbial for Laziness and as for their Buildings they are much more like Palaces than the Dwellings of People that have renounced the World and taken a Vow of Poverty upon them The most famous of all their Monastries is that of Alelujah wherein formerly there are said to have been 40000 Monks together all the Country about having been given to the Monks thereof to cultivate I do not find that any sort of Learning did ever flourish among the Habassins so that they have but few Books besides the Bible the Canons of the first Councils the Homilies of the Greek Fathers and the Lives of their Saints The Habassins do hold the Scriptures to be the perfect Rule of the Christian Faith The Habassins hold the Scriptures to be the perfect Rule of Faith insomuch that they deny it to be in the Power of a General Council to oblige People to believe any thing as an Article of Faith without an express warrant from thence Their Canon of Scripture consists of 85 Books the Old Testament consisting of 46 and the New of 39. As to the Doctrine of our Saviour's Incarnation They are Eutychians they are all Eutychians holding that there is but one Nature in Christ which is the Divine by which they will have the Humane to have been swallowed up they were led into this Heresy by Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria who was condemned with Eutyches for it by the General Council of Calcedon whose Authority they for that reason reject pretending that its Decrees were imposed on the Church by Marcian the Emperor on which account they call all those who have yielded Obedience to it Mellites or Royalists as they themselves are called Jacobites from one James a Syrian who was a great Stickler for the Eutychian Heresy They allow the Bishop of Rome to be the first Patriarch They deny the Popes Supremacy but condemn his pretending to a Supremacy over the whole Church as Antichristian and do detest Popery to that degree as to declare That of the two they would sooner turn Mahometans than Roman Catholicks The Supream Authority in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil The Emperor is Head of the Church is in the Emperor They have but one Bishop at a time who is stiled the Abuna that is our Father he is always an Alexandrian Monk and upon notice of a Vacancy is consecrated and sent into Ethiopia by the Alexandrian Patriarch to whom this Church hath always been subject he has the seventh place in a General Council he Ordains only by Imposition of Hands he hath Lands both in the Kingdom of Dembea and Tigre from which besides several Perquisites he receives a considerable Revenue Their Priests Marry Their Priests may Marry after they are in Orders and as often as they are Widowers They are said to have divers Forms of Baptism viz. I baptize thee in the Holy Spirit They have divers Forms of Baptism I baptize thee in the Water of Jordan Let God Baptize thee Come thou to Baptism They Circumcise both Males and Females and all are Baptized every Year on the Feast of Epiphany they hold that Men derive their Souls no less than their Bodies from their Parents and that the Children of Christian Parents and especially of a Christian Mother are saved notwithstanding they dye without Baptism They celebrate the Eucharist but once a day in a Church All that are present at the Celebration of the Sacrament must communicate They do not elevate nor adore the Host nor keep it after the Communion They break it after it is consecrated They reckon the receiving of it breaks their Fast at which none must be present without communicating the Laity as well as the Clergy receive the Cup they do not elevate nor Worship the consecrated Elements neither are they kept after the Communion they consecrate unleavened Bread which they break after it is consecrated they reckon the receiving of the Sacrament breaks their Fast for which reason they never receive it on Fasting-days till after Three a Clock in the Afternoon They do not
Ambassador desired Esimethus who was their King at that time to enter into a League Offensive and Defensive with their Neighbours the Madaans who were Sarazens and having joined their Armies for to invade Persia The Kings did both promise to do what the Romans had desired of them but when they came to execution they found their parts not to be feasible the Silks that were brought by the Indians being all constantly bought up by the Persian Merchants who lay much nearer to them than the Ethiopians and for the Homerites the vast Deserts they were to pass thorough before they could come at the Persians discouraged them at this time from attempting it though King Abraham did attempt it afterwards but with no success But as it is the common Fate of Nations The Homerites conquered by the Ethiopians their Deliverers that invite their Neighbours into their Countrey to be conquered by their Deliverers so it fared with the Homerites at this time for the Servants and Thieving part of the Ethiopian Army finding Arabia a much better Country than their own they resolved to remain where they were and not being long contented to live among the Homerites as Inmates they set up to be their Masters and having by force of Arms deposed Esimetheus Esimetheus made King of the Homerites deposed by the Habassine Army which put Abraham in his place they bestowed the Crown upon one Abraham a Christian but who had formerly been a Slave to a Roman Merchant that resided at the Port of Adel in Ethiopia Hellenesteus having received Advice of the Pranks his Subjects that remained in Arabia were playing dispatched 3000 Soldiers thither to chastise their Insolence and restore his Creature Esimetheus to his Royal Dignity which those Troops were so far from doing that having been corrupted by some Emissaries sent among them by Abraham so soon as they landed when they came to engage the Rebels after having slain their Chief Commander who was a Prince of the Blood they all went over to them with a Resolution to stand by Abraham to the last Hellenestens being much troubled at this Loss sent a greater Army than the former against Abraham which coming to blows was totally routed by him after which Hellenesteus growing weary of the Charge of the War gave it over leaving the unfortunate Esimetheus to his unkind Stars Elmicinus in his Sarazen History reports The Ethiopians send an Ambassador to the Patriarch of Alexandria That in the 39th year of the Hegira which is 659 of Our Lord an Ambassador was sent from Ethiopia to Simon Syrus the Jacobite Patriarch of Alexandria to intreat him to ordain them a Bishop and some Presbyters which the Patriarch having I know not for what reason deny'd to do the Ambassador complained of him to Adulmelius the Sarazen King of Egypt who commanded the Patriarch to ordain him as many as he desired but the Ambassador did so highly resent Symon's denial that when he offered him his Service he would not make use of him but employed another Bishop which was the cause of great Disturbances in the Church In the 561st year of Diocletian James the Abuna of Ethiopia deposed by the Queen and restored by the King afterwards which is the 845th of our Lord saith the same Historian there was a Bishop in Ethiopia whose name was James whom the Queen taking advantage of her Husband's absence in the Wars banished Ethiopia substituting another Bishop in his room for which the Kingdom was plagued with a great Drought and Pestilence but the King returning home and being much dissatisfied with the Queen for what she had done sent to the Patriarch of Egypt whither the deposed Prelate was retired to command him back to his Province which the Patriarch did and the Bishop when he return'd was received with the general joy of the whole People In the Eighth year of Chalifatus Mutamidi or as others will have it A Tribute laid on the Patriarch of Alexandria by the Calif of Egypt in his Seventh year which was the 265th year of the Hegira one Michael being Patriarch of the Alexandrian Jacobites he had a Tribute of 20000 Crowns laid upon him for the advancing of which Sum he was obliged to sell to the Jews the fourth part of all the Churches in Alexandria and the Lands belonging to him in Habassia as also the Church in the Neighbourhood of Malaca in Cosvoim in the City of Misra and to tax every Christian at a Kirati yearly all which amounted to but half the Sum of the Tribute In the 807th year of the Martys The Nile diverted from coming down to Egypt and turned into its old Channel again upon the Intercession of the Bishop of Alexandria which is the 1165th of Christ the Nile being extreamly low in Egypt the King thereof whose name was Mustausirus sent the Patriarch Michael with rich Presents to the King of Ethiopia who having received the Patriarch with great respect did at his request order the Nile to be turned into its old Channel again out of which he had diverted it whereupon the Nile rose in one night to its usual heighth in Egypt to the great joy of the King and the whole Countrey who when the Patriarch returned home did him great honours Paulus Venetus reports that in the year 1258. an Habassin King having been hindered by his Councellors from going in person to Jerusalem did send a Bishop thither The King of Habassia victorious over the King of Aden with rich Offerings who was not only robbed of all he had as he passed thorough the Kingdom of Aden but upon his refusal to turn Mahometan was sent home with a mark of infamy upon his Body at which barbarous Treatment the Habassin was so much incensed that having got together a great Army he marched against that Sarazen Tyrant and having beat him in a pitched Battel and made great Desolations in his Countrey for some Weeks he returned home laden with Spoils and Honours Haiton Armenus in his Directions to the Christians how to recover the Holy Land adviseth them to write to the King of the Nubians meaning the Habassins to invade Egypt with a numerous Army which would divert the Sarazens from coming with their whole force against them into Syria When or wheresoever the Arabick Canons falsly attributed to the first Council of Nice were made the 36th of them relates wholly to the Bishop of Ethiopia and runs as follows THE Ethiopians have no power to create or chuse a Patriarch The 7th place in a General Council given to the Abuna of Ethiopia by the Arabick Canons of the Council of Nice whose Prelate must be rather under the Jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Alexandria or in case they should come at any time to have one among them in the place of Patriarch and who should be stiled Catholicus he shall not notwithstanding that have a right to ordain Archbishops as other Patriarchs have having neither the
Furthermore If you shall think fit to marry either your Daughters to our Sons or your Sons with our Daughters it will be extreamly acceptable to us She desires a Daughter of Portugal for her Black Prince and will be much for both our Advantages by laying a foundation of a Brotherly Alliance betwixt us Which Marriages we are and shall always be ready to enter into with you What remains is That the Health and Grace of our Redeemer Christ Jesus and of our Holy Lady the Virgin Mary may extend themselves to you your Sons and Daughters and your whole Family Amen We do furthermore certify you That in case you and we join our Forces we shall with God's assistance be strong enough to destroy the Enemies of our Holy Faith for at Sea where by reason of our Empire 's lying so much within Land we are not able to do any thing You praised be God are the most powerful of all Jesus Christ being your Helper for in truth the things done by you in the Indies are miraculous and more than humane If you will set out a Fleet of a 1000 Ships we will take care to furnish them with all Necessaries Upon the Emperor of Habassin's having made this glorious Proposition to him King Emanuel resolved to send a splendid Embassy to his Court named Don Edward Calvam who had been Secretary of State to two Kings and Ambassador at the Courts of Vienna France and Rome and one Rodriguez de Lima and Francis Alverez one of his Chaplains in Ordinary to go Ambassadors sending rich Presents by them both to the Emperor and his Grandmother These Ambassadors with Matthew in their Company went to Goa on the Fleet that carried the Viceroy Lopez Suares by whom they were sent in the Year 1520. with a strong Convoy to Arkiko a Port in the Red-Sea belonging at that time to the Habassins Galvam who was the first in Commission dying by the way in the Island of Camara was succeeded by Lima who having made but a short stay at Arkiko begun his Journey towards the Habassin Court where when he arrived he was received by the Emperor with extraordinary joy and kindness Matthew who died in the way betwixt Arkiko and the Court having been splendidly interr'd by the Ambassadors in the Monastry of Bisoym The Ambassadors who were to have returned to the Indies by the same Fleet they came upon having brought their Negotiation to a speedy issue made what haste they could back to Arkiko where to their great mortification they found the Fleet they were to have embarked upon gone the Moncons or Trade-Winds which in those Seas blow six Months from one Point and six months from the opposite not permitting them to wait any longer for them And to encrease the mortification of this Disappointment they met with Letters which had been left for them by the Admiral that advised them of the Death of King Emanuel the greatest and most fortunate Prince that ever wore the Crown of Portugal The Ambassadors not knowing how long it might be before they should have a Fleet to carry them to Goa and being certain that by reason of the Moncon it must be at least six months before one could possibly come to them they returned to the Court again where they remained four years before any opportunity for Goa offered it self But at the end of four years they embarked upon a Fleet at Arkiko sent on purpose to fetch them carrying an Habassin Ambassador home with them with Letters to the King of Portugal and the Pope The Ambassadors did not arrive at Lisbon before the Year 1527. where the Habassin Ambassador whose name was Zaga Zabo was received with all the marks of friendship and kindness but whatever was the cause of it he was to his great sorrow detained above 10 years in that Court He hath given the World a large Account of the Faith and Customs of the Habassins which though false in abundance of Particulars I shall set down at length having first translated the Habassin Emperor's Letters to the Pope and the King of Portugal The Letters of the most Serene David Emperor of Ethiopia to Emanuel King of Portugal writ in the Year 1521. In the name of God the Father as it was always and who has no beginning In the name of God the only Son who was like unto him before the light of the Stars was seen and before he laid the foundations of the Sea but who in time was conceived in the Womb of a Virgin without Human Seed and without Marriage for after this manner was the knowledge of his Office In the name of the Comforter the Spirit of Holiness who knoweth all Secrets that are or ever were and all the height of Heaven which is sustained and upheld without Pillars and who enlarged the Earth which before was not known nor created from the East to the West and from the South to the North neither are they First and Second but a Trinity join'd in One Eternal Creator and One Council and One Word thorow all Ages Amen THESE Letters are sent by Mani Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin which was the name that was given me at my Baptism but the name I assumed when I took the Government upon me is David the Beloved of God the Pillar of the Faith of the Race of Judah the Son of David the Son of Solomon the Son of the Pillar of Sion the Son of the Seed of Jacob the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh Emperor of the Great and High Ethiopia and of Mighty Kingdoms and Provinces King of Xoa and Affate and of Fatigar and of Angote and Bara and of Baaligaura and of Adea and of Vangue and of Goiam where the Nile riseth and of Damarua and of Vaquem Edri Ambea Vagni Tigri Mahon and Sabaym where Queen Saba lived and of Barnagaes and Lord of all the Countries as far as Nubia on the Confines of Egypt These Letters are addressed to the most Potent and Excellent King Emanuel who liveth in the love of God and who continues stedfast in the Catholick Faith the Son of the Apostles Peter and Paul King of Portugal and Algarves the Friend of Christians the Enemy Judge and Conqueror of the Mahometans and Heathens of Africk and Guinea from the Promontory and Island of the Moon to the Red-Sea of Arabia Persia and Ormus and of the whole Indies and of all the Provinces Islands and Lands belonging to them the Destroyer of the Mahometans and of all the mighty Heathens the Lord of Towers and of High Castles and Walls the Propagator of the Faith of Jesus Christ Peace be with you King Emanuel who relying uton God's Assistance do slaughter the Mahometans and with your Fleet and Armies every where drive the Infidels out as Dogs Peace be with the Queen your Wife the Friend of Jesus Christ and the Servant of the Virgin Mary the Mother of the Saviour
the Roman Pontiff in the Year 1524. In the name of God the Father Almghty maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God who was the same with him from the beginning of the World and who is Light of Light and very God of very God and in the name of God the Holy Ghost who is true God and proceedeth from the Father I The King at whose Name the Lyons do tremble who am by the Grace of God called Achami Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin the Son of King David the Son of Solomon the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh and by Grace the Son of St. Peter and St. Paul do send these Letters Peace be with you O Just Lord and holy powerful pure and sacred Father who art the head of all Bishops and fearest no-body because there is none that hath power to curse thee who art the most watchful Curate of all Souls and the Friend of Pilgrims and the sacred Master and Preacher of the Faith and the Enemy of every thing that offends the Conscience and the lover of all good Manners and a holy Person whom all do bless and praise O happy and holy Father I do obey you with reverence because you are the peace of all and do deserve whatsoever is good so that it is but just that according to the divine Commands of the Apostles all should yield obedience to you This belongs to you but they have likewise commanded us to reverence all Bishops Archbishops and Prelates and to love you as a Father and to reverence you as a King and to believe in you as a God For which cause I do humbly with bended knees and with a sincere heart tell you holy Father That you are my Father and I am your Son Holy and most mighty Father Why have you never sent any Nuncio's to us to be informed of our health for since you are our Pastor and we are your Sheep you ought not to have been unmindful of us nor ought you to have reckoned us to have been too remote from your Territories for your Nuncio's to have visited us seeing from the most remote Kingdom of the Earth that is Portugal your Son King Emanuel has commodiously sent his Ambassadors to us so that if God had deferred calling him to Heaven the things he and I were treating about had undoubtedly had a happy Issue before this time I should be glad to hear healthful things from you by certain Nuncio's having never had a word from your Holiness nor heard of you by any other way but by some of our vowed Pilgrims who neither carried Letters from us to you nor brought any from you to us and who therefore when we enquired of them could only tell us That going from Jerusalem after they had performed their Vows there to visit the Thresholds of the Apostles at Rome they had seen you giving us a general Account of your Affairs I took great pleasure in their Relations beholding in them the Image of your holy Countenance which appeared to me to be like that of an Angel and I must own that I do love and reverence you Nevertheless it would be much more grateful to me devoutly to contemplate your Words and Letters I must therefore beg it of you that you would send a Nuncio to me to exhilerate my heart with your Blessing for since we agree in Faith and Religion that is the thing of the World that I desire most and that my Friendship may be as the Ring you wear on your Finger or as the Gold Chain that is about your Neck that so I may be always in your heart and memory Friendship being much increased by greateful Words and Letters when holy Peace from which all human Joy doth flow naturally embraceth them For as one that is very thirsty is extreamly desirous of cold water as the Scripture has it so Nuncio's and Letters coming to me from remote parts either from your Holiness or any Christian King will fill my heart with extraordinary Pleasures such as theirs are filled with who after a Victory come to gather rich Spoils All this may be done with great ease now the King of Portugal has opened a way to it who some times since sent Ambassadors with other Persons of Quality to us which was a thing had never been done by any Christian King or Pope before to any of our Ancestors Only in the Archives of our Great Grandfather Zera Jacob who was King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and a most Formidable Prince the Copies of some Letters to him from Eugenius the Roman Pontiff are still preserved the purport whereof is as followeth EUgenius the Roman Pontiff to our beloved Son King Zara Jacob the King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and who is mightily dreaded He goes on and tells him That his Son John Paleologus who had been dead two years the King of the Kings of the Romans had been called by him to celebrate a holy Synod to which he came accompanied by Joseph the Patriarch of Constantinople and a great many other Archbishops Bishops and Prelates as also with the Procurators of the Patriarchs of Antioch Alexandria and Jerusalem who had all united themselves to him in the love of the holy Faith and Religion So that now the Unity of the Church was re-established and all the old Controversies thorow God's assistance were ended and whatever was erroneous and contrary to Religion dissipated and right Order restored which had filled all People with joy We do here send you that Letter of Eugenius which has been preserved entire and would likewise have sent you the whole Order and Power of the Pontifical Benediction had it not been so large a Volume it being bigger than the Book of Paul to the Gentiles the Nuncio's that brought these Papers from the Pope hither were Theodore Peter Didimus and George the Servants of Jesus Christ You would do well holy Father to command your Papers to be looked over among which it is like you will meet with some Records of these Matters You may see by this holy Father that if you should be pleased to write any thing to us the memory thereof will be preserved in our Archives thorough all Ages And happy is the Man whose Memory is preserved in the Records of the holy City of Rome the Chair of St. Peter and St. Paul who are the Lords of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Judges of the World and my believing them to be so was the cause of my writing these Letters to your Holiness that I may obtain your Favour and that of your holy Conclave and therewithal all sorts of Blessings and the increase of all good things I do furthermore supplicate your Holiness to send us the Images of some Saints namely that of the blessed Virgin Mary that by that means your Holiness may be frequent
for the first six days being many times forced for want of Mules and Horses to draw their Artillery by strength of Arm at which work Gama is said to have been still one of the foremost After a continued fatigue of six days they arrived at Deboroa a Province belonging to Bahurnagays where the Monks and Christians who were retired into the Mountains for fear of the Mahometans having heard of their arrival flocked in to them from all parts Praising God and giving Gama and his Men a thousand blessings for having come to deliver them out of the grievous bondage they were brought under by the Mahometans Gama seeing them all in tears endeavoured to comfort them by telling them That as it was nothing but the strong desire he had to restore their Prince and them to their former free and happy state that had brought him into Ethiopia so he did not doubt but with God's Assistance to do it both speedily and effectually for them and to make the Infidels repent of their having invaded a Brother and Ally of the King of Portugal and of the Ravage they had made in a Christian Empire The People being much comforted by these assurances waited upon Gama to a Church that was not far off where having all performed their Devotions Gama with his men repaired to the Tents that were provided for them by Baburnagays where they were entertained with all the dainties the Countrey did afford The day following Gama divided his men into Six Companies putting 50 in a Company and ordered the other 100 to be a Guard to the Royal Standard He sends an 100 of his men to fetch the Empress to his Camp and to be immediately under his own Command the Captains were John O Affonso Manuel da Curnha Humphrey da Abreu and Francis Velha Curnha and Velha were dispatched immediately with their Companies to wait upon the Empress with Gama's Complement to her and to guard her to the Camp The Empress when she heard of their being at the foot of her Precipice for such it was rather than a Mountain ordered the Baskets to be let down and when she saw them she weeped for joy and thanked God and the King of Portugal for so seasonable a succor and having enquired after the state of Gama's health and some other particulars she ordered them to be conducted to the Lodgings that were provided for them where they were entertained as handsomely as the place and the Empress's Circumstances would afford The next Morning the Empress who was quite sick of her Confinement was let down from the Rock and having mounted a Mule richly equipped she marched with her Portuguese Guard towards Gama The Empress arrives at the Camp who when he had notice of her being near rode out to meet her having first ordered his men to stand to their Arms and upon a signal given to salute her with three Vollies The Empress to do Gama the greater honour Unvailed her head when he came up to her receiving him with extraordinary respects Gama after having done the Obeisances that were due to her Character told her That as he and all the Men she saw were sent by the King of Portugal to her and her Son's Assistance so they were all to a man resolved to sacrifice their Lives for the Faith of Christ and in defence of that Christian Empire The Empress thanked him very cordially and told him God would certainly reward him for such a service though her Son and she should happen never to be in a condition to do it not but that she hoped that his Valour and Conduct would raise them to a capacity of being bountiful to their Benefactors After the Compliments were over the Empress with the Ladies that attended her went to the Tent that was provided for them being waited upon to it by Gama and most of his Officers On the second day after her arrival in the Camp Gama drew all his Men up in a body before her Tent and exercised them before her she was extreamly pleased with their Persons and Discipline and promised her self great things from so well Disciplined a body In a Council of War at which the Empress and Baburnagays were present it was agreed That their Camp should remain where it was till the end of October and that in the mean time they should send to the Emperor to acquaint him with the arrival of the Portuguese Troops The Emperor being acquainted with the arrival of the Portugueses writes to Gama to come and joyn him The Emperor so soon as he received advice thereof writ immediately to Gama desiring him to March towards him with all the haste he could make to prevent the Enemies putting himself betwixt them to hinder their conjunction But whatever was the cause of it it was the 5th of December before Gama decamped from Debora when taking the Empress along with him and being joyned by 2000 Habassins he Marched toward the Emperor in as good order as the nature of the Countrey would permit him the Mahometans who were employed by Granhe to raise Money flying before him as he Marched and the Habassins so soon as their Lord Dans were gone running in to him from all parts for Protection supplying him with all Necessaries On the 1st of February 1542. they came before a strong Mountain which Granhe had got into his hands by Treachery into which by reason of its Commanding all the Countrey about he had put a Garison of 1500 men this Mountain is not above Three days March in a right line from Debora but what made them to be near Two Months in getting to it was their having fetched a great Compass in order to the reducing of several of the best Provinces to the Emperor's Obedience which they did only by Marching thorough them Gama finding all they had done if they did not make themselves Masters of this Mountain would signify nothing did resolve whatever it cost him to attempt it the Empress was much against his doing it and gave this for her Reason That should the Portugueses be baffled in that Attempt as considering the Strength of the Place and the Garison it was too likely they might the Mahometans to whom at present their Name was become terrible would recover their courage again But Gama offered such strong reasons for their not leaving such a Garison behind them that the Empress was overcome by them and gave her consent to its being Attaqued The Mountain was both High and Steep and on the top of it was a Plain of near a League in compass in which was water sufficient for the Garison It had Three Entries which were all strongly fortified both by Art and Nature The Chief of them was called Amba Caneâ— which is the Name of the Mountain it self The Second is called Amba Xambut The Third Amba Gadalet They had all of them Governors with a Guard of Five Hundred Men well Armed with Bows and Scimiters to defend them
The Emperor joins the Habassins and Portugueses where they had not been Ten Days before the Emperor came to them with a small Army but having after some Months got a Body of 500 Horse and 8000 Foot together he resolved to march and offer the Enemy Battel being strongly urged to it by the Portugueses who tho but 90 in number were mad to revenge the Death of their General Cunha who after the Defeat had retreated with 40 of his Portugueses into Tigre was sent to to come and join the Gross but that not being possible by reason of the Enemy's being posted betwixt them the Emperor advanced with the Forces he had with him and being come within sight of the Enemy encamped himself strongly for some days during which time there were frequent Skirmishes in all of which the Portugueses are said to have done Wonders if not to have wrought Miracles The Habassin General in whose Conduct and Courage the Soldiers placed their chief confidence happening to be slain in an Ambush the Turks had laid for him the Emperor had much ado to keep the Army from dispersing upon that unlucky Accident and to prevent it was obliged to offer the Enemy Battel some days sooner than he had otherwise intended to have done The Portugueses having desired it had the Van given them and were joined with 250 Habassin Horse and 3500 Foot The Rear which was commanded by the Emperor in Person consisted of the same Number of Horse and Foot The Enemies Van which was made up of 200 Turks with Fire-Arms 600 Moorish Horse and 7000 Foot was commanded by Granhe himself and the Rear consisting of 600 Horse and 6000 Foot by a great Turkish Captain The Two Armies were no sooner drawn into the Field He fights and routs Granhe than they ran upon one another with great Fury making a great Slaughter on both sides and the Body of Turks happening to charge the Habassins that were in the Van gave them such a shock as obliged them to retreat in great disorder which having been timely observed by the Portugueses who were hewing their way through the Battalions they were engaged withal they wheeled about and attacked the Victorious Turks with that vigor that they quickly forced them to give ground and with the loss of a great many of their best men to retire to their Gross but the Portugueses not being content with that followed their Blow and with the Assistance of the Habassins who had rallied again broke into the Main Body of the Enemy so as to make it give ground apace which being perceived by Granhe he galloped up to them and having put himself on their Head did act the part both of a great Captain and a stout Soldier till he received a Mortal Wound with a Musket Bullet in his breast Granhe killed fighting His men when they saw him fall from his Horse instead of seeking to revenge his Death or to carry off his Body threw down their Arms and betook themselves to their heels only a Turkish Captain who was near him when he received his Death's Wound defended his Body with his Scimiter in his hand till he fell dead upon it and sold his own life dear The Portugueses and Habassins pursued the Enemy so close that few of them escaped the Turks were all killed to 14 who keeping together in a Body got before it was day to the place where Granhe had left his Queen whom with a vast Treasure in Gold and Jewels they conveyed to a place of safety to the great loss and sorrow of the Habassins It is said there was not one Portuguese killed or wounded in this Fight which they will have to have been a miracle owing to the Standard they had bore ever since Gamas's death which was our Lady of mercy whereas before when they lost men they had fought under the Banner of the five Wounds of Christ which are the Arms of the King of Portugal Upon the news of this Victory all the Princes and Governors of Ethiopia The Emperor being restored to the quiet possession of his Kingdom quarrels with the Portugueses who had sided with Granhe flocked to throw themselves at the Emperor's feet who by pardoning them all to a man was immediately restored to the full and quiet possession of his Empire The Emperor for some time after the Victory caressed the Portugueses highly acknowledging on all occasions that he owed his Crown purely to their Valour But whether it was that the Emperor after the fashion of too many Princes looking upon the Services the Portugueses had done him as too great to be rewarded by him did for that reason begin to hate them as a reproach to him or that the Portugueses overvaluing their Services which is likewise a common fault on the other side did grow troublesome and insolent thereupon The chief cause of this Quarrel was the Abund urging the Emperor to turn Roman-Catholick presently and demanded greater Rewards than were just or than the Emperor could conveniently give them or whether it was the Patriarch's teizing the Emperor instantly to declare himself a Roman-Catholick it is certain they came in a short time to an open rupture the Emperor accusing the Portugueses of Impertinence and Insolence and the Portugueses the Emperor of Ingratitude and breach of Faith pretending he had promised the King of Portugal that whensoever he should be restored to the peaceable possession of his Empire he would immediately declare himself a Roman-Catholick and give the third part of his Dominions to the Portugueses But the Emperor as he absolutely denied his having ever made any such promise so he conjured the Patriarch not to trouble him any more about his Religion being resolved never to change it for that of Popery which he called Nestorianism and accused of worshipping Four Gods The Emperor is resolved never to turn Roman-Catholick adding accused of worshipping Four Gods adding That he was the Pastor and Prelate of all the Franks that were in Ethiopia but had nothing to do with his Subjects who had a Prelate of their own to wit the Patriarch of Alexandria in whose obedience after the Example of his Ancestors he was resolved to live and die The Patriarch finding he was not to be persuaded to embrace Popery was for trying whether he could not terrify him into it by obliging the Portugueses by his Censures not to serve him any longer until he made profession of it The Emperor is said at first to have laughed at this Excommunication as the effect of the impotent Passion of an angry old man who would needs be exercising jurisdiction where he had none and it is more than probable considering his present Circumstances and the small number the Pertugueses were then reduced to that he continued to do so to the last Notwithstanding it is reported That when he found the Portugueses would serve him no longer unless he declared himself a Roman-Catholick that he submitted abjuring
it that nothing would satisfy him but the Father's Celebrating the Roman Mass in his hearing which he did with all the Solemnity that a single Priest in his circumstances could do it and after Mass gave him a Sermon of an hour long but happening as he was drawing to a conclusion to say that he had a great deal more to add were it not that he was afraid of being tedious to his Majesty the Emperor sent him a Message to go on for that he should take great pleasure in hearing more from him Whereupon the Father gave him half an hour more The Emperor was so well satisfied both with the Mass and the Sermon that he sent the Father his Dinner from his own Table and having called him to him in the Evening he enquired of him concerning the signification of every particular Ceremony and Vestment that he had made use of in the Mass appearing to be extreamly well pleased with all the Father's Answers A little time after the Empress Dowager Mariam Zima coming to Court desired to hear the Father say Mass and Preach and having heard him commended both the Mass and Sermon extreamly declaring That she could be content to live in a desert all her days with so Godly a man as Father Peter So that the Father had now got all the Three late Governors at his Devotion who as is probable from the sequel of the Story had a great mind to be governing again which they knew a few Portuguese Troops would help them to with ease at any time As for the Emperor he was either not sensible of this Plot or else he endeavoured to countermine them by caressing the Father as much as they could do for their Lives And so one day when the Father was to preach before him the Chair he used to sit in when he preached happening to be out of the way the Emperor ordered his own Chair of State to be carried to him and having seated himself on the Ground said That it was not reasonable for the Preacher and Master to stand and the Hearer and Scholar to sit and after having thanked the Father for his good Discourse he told him That now his name was high in Ethiopia he would advise him as a friend to be careful how be did any thing whereby he might forfeit the opinion the world had of his Wisdom and Holiness For said he the flesh is always fighting against us and overcomes us many times before we are aware for which good admonition the Father kissed his hand and having returned him many thanks promised him always to remember it The Emperor having sent for the Father one day after having shut himself up with him and his Favourite Habitucum Laca Mariam in his Closet required him to swear upon the Cross not to divulge the secret he was about to impart to him which the Father having done he told him That being now fully convinced that the Pope was the Head and Universal Pastor of the Church The Emperor discovers his intention to Father Peter to turn Roman-Catholick he was resolved to submit himself to him and to desire him to send a Patriarch with a competent number of Friars into Ethiopia to instruct his People in the true Faith The Father who was overjoyed to hear these words from the Emperor threw himself at his feet wishing him a long life that he might be able to accomplish a design that would be so much to the benefit of his own Soul and the Souls of his People In pursuance of which Resolution the Emperor is said to have prepared an Edict prohibiting the observation of Saturday and of divers other Habassin Rites and to have been for running on so furiously to introduce Popery into his Empire that Father Peter found himself obliged in policy to give a check to his Zeal by telling him That it would be safer and better to proceed more slowly for fear of ruining his great design by Precipitation The Emperor asked him with heat Why he was against his making haste to introduce the true Faith into his Kingdom What did he think his Subjects would murther him for attempting to do it Adding What if they should do you think I can lose my life for a beiter Cause The Father made answer That though to lose his life on such an account would be a great Mercy and Honour to his Majesty yet it would not be so but an irreparable loss to his Subjects in such a Juncture Here Luca Mariam interposed and told the Emperor the Father loved him and had given him good advice but the Emperor interrupting him said Come come we must lose no time here are Letters I have writ to the Pope and the King of Portugal concerning this Affair and having put them into the Father's hands he desired him to translate them into the Languages of those Courts which Letters tho they were never sent the Emperor having been slain in the Field before any opportunity offered I shall here set down THE Letters sent by Asnaf Segued The Emperor's Letter to the Pope Empeperor of Ethiopia do come to the much Honoured Father and Humble Pastor the Godly and Holy Clement Pope of the Noble City of Rome Peace be with your Holiness the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ who did partake of Poverty with the Poor and of Honour with the Honourable Preserve your Holinesse's Life and Person as the apples of Eyes Amen How is your Holiness Hear Sir what we write After we had ascended the Throne a certain Friar whose name is Peter Pays of the Society of Jesus and who hath the Yoke of the Law of Christ upon his neck did visit us and has given us a veâ—ryparticular account how your Holiness labours even to the shedding of your blood to destroy Sin may the Eternal God who has begun this work bring it to an happy Issue We being informed that your Holiness does never walk out of the Paths of truth we rejoiced much at it Praise be to God who hath given us a good Pastor who guards the folds with his Holiness and judgeth the poor with truth He hath likewise told us that you are always ready to assist Christians that are in necessity and to afford them Strength and Comfort having learnt the Lesson of Saint Paul who in his Epistle to the Galatians saith While we have time let us do good unto all but chiefly to those of the Houshould of Faith for which reason your Holiness assists Christian Kings chiefly Wherefore since God hath been pleased to bestow on us the Empire of our Fathers we are desirous of entering into a strict Friendship with you and with our Brother Philip King of Spain And in order to make it the closer and more lasting we do wish that he would send his Daughter hither to be married to our Son and with her some Soldiers to help us For we have Infidel Enemies called Galls who when we go against them flee
before us but so soon as our back is turned are making inroads upon us again For the destruction of this Enemy it is that we desire to have some troops from you with Artificers of all Trades and Fathers to instruct us that we may be of one heart and one body and that the faith of Christ which is destroyed by the hands of Infidels may be established and that there may be peace and love among us This was formerly desired by our Ancestors but it did not please God it should be accomplished in their times but the Turks who then hindered it may now with ease be driven out of the Island of Matzua for which reason we intreat your Holiness to recommend this our request to our Brother desiring him to comply therewith and to execute it speedily We do not trouble your Holiness with many words being well assured of your readiness to grant what we shall desire See that the Fathers you send hither be learned and holy that so they may be able to instruct us in whatsoever is necessary to our Souls I shall add no more a few words being enough to the wise The Emperor of Ethiopia's Letter to the King of Spain THE Letter writ by the Emperor Asnaf Segued cometh to our Brother Don Philip King of the Kings of Spain Peace be with your Majesty The Peace and Love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sign of the Holy Cross be always with your Majesty How is it with you As I returned from the War to the place where I was to reside all the Winter a certain Father whose Name is Peter Pays of whose Learning and Piety I had heard before came to visit me I was very glad to hear the account he gave of the state of your Majesty's Health and the welfare of your Kingdoms and did return Thanks to God for having given you such Prosperity that none of your Enemies are able to disturb it May our Lord increase the number of your Majesty's years and bring what he hath begun to an happy issue Hear Sir your Majesty is not ignorant that in the days of the Emperor Asnaf Segued when a certain Mahometan called Granhe invaded Ethiopia and destroyed all our Churches a Confederacy was concluded and confirmed by an Oath betwixt our two Crowns and that when my Ancestors sent to John King of Portugal for some Succors he sent us some which were Commanded by Don Christopher de Gama and which in conjunction with our Army Conquered that Mahometan The High and Mighty God who exalteth the humble and throws down the proud being our helper After which there was Peace and Quietness the force of the Mahometan who had not the fear of God before his Eyes being broken in pieces The Portugueses remained among us in great Honour wanting for nothing till the day of their Death as their Posterity do not to this day Wherefore we being Christians no less than our Ancestors and under the obligation of the same Oath we ought to have the same Enemies that is the Galls who destroy our Lands and who when we go against them with our Armies do run away from us but so soon as our back is turned do as Banditti make inroads into our Empire for which reason we do desire your Majesty to send us some Soldiers and with them your Daughter to be Married to our Son by which means our Alliance will be firmer and we shall be one Body and of one Heart Our Son is Seven years Old and your Daughter as we are informed is but Three so they shall be bred together with the milk of Wisdom and shall be taught the Holy Scriptures I do also wish that your Majesty would with your Troops send me Artificers of all Professions and that you would do it speedily that so being united in the Faith of Christ there may be Peace and Love betwixt us and that this Empire which is the Land of our Lady and of Christ our Redeemer may not be lost The Mahometans are extreamly Zealous for their Sect and do whenever there is occasion help one another and ought not your Majesty to do the same for your Faith which is above all As to what we write to you concerning your sending your Daughter hither you are not to think that we desire her for any other end than to establish an Alliance between us and that she may be a pledge of Peace for the future May God who can do all things fulfil our wishes Hear farther Brother in order to the establishment of our Affairs Do you send a Viceroy to the Island of Matzua and my General shall be at the same time at Arkiko on the Continent by which means we shall bridle the Power of the Turks and being Masters of those parts we will send our Merchants with all sorts of Goods and Provisions into yoar Conquests and will divide the Customs between us our Countrey is very Rich and wants for nothing and the reason why we have not hitherto sent any Merchants to these parts with Provisions of Honey Gold and Slaves is because we have a mind to pinch the Turks for whom we have no kindness but when your Viceroy is once come with his Portugueses we shall quickly send Merchants to them with all sorts of Commodities May our Lord God bring what we desire and what is grateful to your Majesty to a happy issue that so the Power of the Turk which is a great Stone of Scandal may be utterly broke It does not appear by these Letters that the Emperor was in such a violent fit of Zeal when he wrote them for a Roman Patriarch and for submitting his Church to the Pope immediately as he is reported to have been in when he delivered them to Father Peter for though in both of them he writes very earnestly to have the Infanta and some Troops sent with all possible expedition he does not say one word of his Church's submission or of a Roman Patriarch And in case Father Peter when he acquainted the Emperor with the Infanta's Age did to make his Court the better feed him with hopes of obtaining her for his black Prince it was no more than what his Countreyman Gundamore did here in England either with the same Infanta or her Sister and the restitution of the Palatinate It might have been expected that Father Peter now he had brought the Emperor to be a Bigot for Popery beyond what he desired should have stuck close to him till he had done the work and that no small matter should have made him to have left the Court where his presence was so necessary but whatever was the true cause of it the Father all of a sudden desires leave of the Emperor to go to Nanina a place two days journey from the Court pretending to be called thither by extraordinary business and when the Emperor Father Peter withdraws from Court upon a slight pretence who was very unwilling to part with
to repair immediately to his Camp promising to grant him every thing that he should desire of him The Father his two Spiritual Patients being either Dead or quite Recovered by this time accepted readily of the invitation and being come to Athanateus's Camp was received by him with extraordinary Kindness and Respect But the Father after he had been some time among the Rebels finding their Heads strangely divided how they should dispose of the Crown now they had it in their hands Finding them divided he retires to wait to see where the Crown would fix some of them being for restoring it to Jacob and others for giving it to Suseneus a Bastard Son of Faciladas the Third Son of the Emperor David he judged it his safest course to retire to Fremona there to wait till he saw where the Crown would fix and having received advice of the arrival of some Jesuits at Fremona that furnished him with a fair pretence for leaving Athanateus to go thither to learn what news they brought from the Indies And having got Athanateus's promise That the Portugueses who were in the Emperor's Service should not be punished with the loss of their Estates which they were reckoned to have forfeited he took his leave of him for some time The Father when he came to Fremona found the Two Jesuits there who were to have come along with him from Dio and within a few days after Two Fathers more came to him who were Father Lawrence an Italian and Father Luis a Portuguese so that the Jesuits were now as strong as ever in Ethiopia only they wanted a Patriarch Father Peter during this his retirement is said to have taken a great deal of pains to little purpose with an Habassin Monk to convert him to the Roman Church but what the Father could not do was done one Night by a dream the Monk had which was That he should certainly be damned if he did not go presently and confess himself to the Father Whom we shall leave confessing his dreaming Convert and return to see what the Rebels are doing The Grandees The Grandees are divided so me being for restoring Jacob others for Crowning Suseneus and some for themselves tho they all agreed to pull down the late Emperor yet when they came to fill the Throne again fell all in pieces some being for restoring Jacob and others for proclaiming Suseneus without so much as once mentioning the Son of the late Emperor being afraid it is like to put the Son in the Throne they had dragged the Father out of This Suseneus as has been observed was a natural Son of Faciladas the Viceroy of Gojam the Third Son of the Emperor David He had been most of his time in Arms not against the Emperors but their Ministers who he pretended had unjustly deprived him of the Lands that were left him by his Father by which course of life he was become the best Captain and had got a small body of the best Disciplined men in Ethiopia under his Command Upon the present Vacancy of the Throne Suseneus proclaims himself Emperor Suseneus looking upon his own title to it to be the same with that of Jacob's who was a bastard no less than he sends his Confident Bella Christos to Rez Athanateus to acquaint him with his intention of pretending to the Crown and to try if he could persuade him to declare for him making vast promises of what he would do for him if he would help him to it Athanateus who upon some heats which had happened between them had left Za Selasse who was altogether for restoring Jacob received Suseneus's Message but coldly which makes it probable that he was for setting up himself being incouraged to do it by some promises that had been made him of Portuguese Succors but Suseneus apprehending that it would be so followed the Messenger he sent to Athanateus in Person with his Army and being come within a days March of him sent him word that if he did not declare for him presently he would visit him next day and did not doubt but to give him cause to repent of his Irresolution Athanateus being sensible that he could neither avoid coming to blows with Suseneus nor was strong enough to deal with him submitted and joined with him in proclaiming him Emperor Upon which reinforcement Suseneus dispatched a Courier to Za Selasse and his Confederates to acquaint them with his being now proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia commanding them upon their Allegiance and as they loved themselves and their Countrey to lay down their Arms and submit themselves peaceably to him Za Selasse who was a turbulent man and cared for no Emperor that was not of his own making nor for them long neither was much surprized at this brisk Message and having called a Council of War to consider what was best to be done in this juncture it was unanimously agreed that they should send Suseneus back word that they had sent for the Emperor Jacob and were every day expecting him to resume the Crown he had been so unjustly deprived of Suseneus tho much troubled at this answer sent them a Second Message immediately to acquaint them That since God had been pleased to bestow the Crown upon him he was resolved never to part with it but with his life neither to Jacob nor to his Father Malac Sagued if he should rise from the Dead and pretend to it Za Selasse detaining this Second Messenger Prisoner went himself with his Army to return an answer to Suseneus who having received advice of his advancing towards him and knowing himself not to be strong enough to give him Battel retreated to the Mountains of Amara leaving Athanateus to shift for himself and to make the best terms he could with the Confederates who upon his having pleaded that he was constrained much against his will to give his consent to Suseneus being proclaimed Emperor was not only pardoned by them but was restored to his former Post in their Army Upon Jacob's delaying to come to the Army he is chose Emperor by them which having waited some Months and no Jacob appearing among them the Soldiers began to Mutiny telling their Officers plainly That they would wait no longer for a Milksop who had neither the wit to keep a Crown when he had it nor the courage to come to have it restored to him again Za Selasse not knowing what to say for Jacob's not having come all that time and fearing lest the Soldiers and Officers might declare Suseneus Emperor without him resolved to be before-hand with them and to have the thanks of doing it himself And accordingly he dispatched a Courier immediately to Suseneus to invite him to come and take the Empire upon him promising to maintain him in the possession thereof with the last drop of his blood Suseneus tho overjoy'd at the News did not care to trust his person with the Army without some farther assurance of their good intentions
Master May Christ our Lord who is the beginning and end of all things carry on that Amity and Friendship which he hath begun between us The principal cause of my writing to your Majesty at this time is to renew the Familiarity and Correspondence which was between our Ancestors which Friendship together with the Adoption of the Holy Spirit has much enobled us Wherefore we desire your Majesty to send us some strong and stout Soldiers to help us to beat the Enemy out of our Ports your Troops when they arrive will find us provided with Arms and all other necessary Provisions of War and in a readiness to assist them to the utmost It being much fitter that those Ports should be in your Majesty's hands than in the hands of the greatest Enemies of our holy Faith your Majesty's Ancestors sent an Army of Gallant men into Ethiopia at a time when the Enemy was ready to have destroy'd our Faith and Empire We might destroy all our Enemies with great ease if we were assisted by the powerful Kings that profess the Gospel and who do comfort our hearts with the Memory of heavenly things we being all Sons of Heaven as St. John witnesseth saying What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit Furthermore we are at war with another Enemy who are called Gauls and who do give us much trouble Wherefore we beseech your Majesty to send us some stout Troops and such as are Zealous for our holy Apostolical Faith and that with all possible Expedition We on our part have for some time been ready to receive them and if they were once come it will quickly appear that all that we design is feasible For why since Christ our Lord is our Common Head and we are all his Members and the Heavenly Father hath begot us all in one Womb of Baptism and that not with corruptible seed should we not be all tied in one chain of love with one Soul and one Body If these Letters were writ by the Habassin Emperor which I do very much doubt they plainly discover that the Fathers chief Argument to persuade him to submit himself to the Pope was the promise of Portuguese Troops but the reason why I suspect these Letters not to have been writ by the Emperor but by some Missionary in the Indies and who had never so much as been in Ethïopia are 1. That Seltam Saged or Suseneus 's Father was never Emperor as he is said in these Letters to have been 2. Guerreiro in his relation of Ethiopia printed at Lisbon in the Year 1611 sets them down under the name of the Emperor Jacob These Letters were probably forged by some Missionary or Malasequet 3. Their Phraseology excepting an affected sprinkling here and there of uncouth Phrases as also their Complements are so much Spanish that an Habassin has not less of the air of a Spaniard than they have of the Letters that were certainly known to have been writ by some of those Emperors Lastly Pereira tells us That the Habassin Emperors from the time that the remains of Gama 's Troops went over to the Turks and assisted them against Ademas dreaded nothing so much as the coming of Portuguese Soldiers from the Indies but whatever the Emperors did there being nothing that the Jesuits desired so earnestly it is to be feared that they made bold with the Emperor's name in the solliciting of them But there are more Letters behind which whether genuine or suppositious I shall set down leaving them to the censure of the judicious Reader The Letter of Raz Athanateus to the King of Portugal THE Letter of Peace and Love Athanateus's Letter to the King of Portugal sent by Athanateus cometh to the High and Powerful Emperor of Portugal with the Peace of our Lord Christ who was Crucified on the holy Cross for the Redemption of the World May this Peace be always with your Majesty The cause of my writing this Letter to you is the earnest desire that the Emperor and I both have to see some Portuguese Troops in this Countrey We do therefore most earnestly beseech your Majesty to send us a Body of stout well-disciplin'd men in order to there covering of our Ports which are at this time in the hand of the Enemies of our Faith When your Soldiers arrive we will take care that they shall be supplied with Arms and all other Necessaries Your Majesty's Ancestors assisted us when the Mahometans broke in upon us and we do to this day remember what great things Christ wrought for us by their means I must therefore a second time intreat your Majesty to send us a Body of stout Soldiers whom when they arrive I shall be ready to receive with open Arms and my mind gives me they will come at some time or other concerning which affair Father Peter Pays will write more at large to your Majesty Written in Ethiopia the 13th of December 1607. The Letter of Raz Athenateus to the Viceroy of the Indies THE Letter of Peace and Love His Letter to the Viceroy of the Indias sent by Athenateus cometh to the great Viceroy of the Indies with the peace of our Lord Christ who died on the holy Cross for our Redemption may that Peace be always with your Excellency and your whole State Amen Hear Sir My Father was always a great friend to the Portugueses that came into these parts having continually favoured them in all things as I have done ever since his death having on all occasions assisted them both with my Interest and my Purse and saved several of them when condemned to die being willing to preserve the remains of the first Portugueses that came among us until more should come to them for the good of this Empire I have had it for some years in my thoughts to write to you but have still been hindered by the Wars we have of late been so much embroiled in out of which God has been pleased to deliver us at last and to give us an Emperor of a Sound Judgment and who governs all things with great prudence who upon my acquainting him with the great need we stand in of Portuguese Succors was pleased to write himself to the King of Portugal for some commanding me to do the same and to acquaint him how much we desire them and how much their coming will be for God's Service I must therefore intreat your Excellency to lend us your helping-hand in this affair that so it may be brought to a speedy Issue Let there be at least a Thousand Soldiers sent and let it be done with all possible Expedition for which Service you will have honour in the sight of God who will undoubtedly reward you for it and were there but once a way opened for it your Excellency shall want nothing that this Empire affords I shall say no more since Father Peter Pays who is acquainted with all my secrets can disclose
defend it with the last drop of his blood This Proclamation brought the whole Countrey in to Julius out of which having formed a numerous Croisade he marched directly towards the Nile with an intention to have fallen first upon Raz Cella the great Champion of Popery He Marcheth with a great Croisade against the Emperor but happening in his March to come near the place where the Abuna resided he went to wait on him to have his Blessing the Abuna who was glad to see him was not satisfied with giving him a Thousand Blessings for being so valiant for the truth but though he was above a Hundred Years of Age he would go in person in the Croisade The Abuna goes against him in person telling Julius That as he should partake of the benefits of that holy War if it had success so he was resolved likewise to partake of its dangers And whereas Julius was for beginning with Raz Cella the Abuna diverted him from it by telling him That since he was at the head of so great and zealous an Army he ought not to spend its first heats which were always the strongest in lopping off Branches but in striking at the Root which being once destroyed the Branches would wither of themselves He likewise encouraged the Soldiers by telling them That they fought for the best Cause in the world that is the true Religion which the Emperor and his Brother if let alone would certainly destroy assuring them That whosoever was slain in this holy War would die a Martyr and go straight to Heaven thundering out his Excommunications at the same time against the Emperor and his Brother and all that adhered to them as Apostates from the Faith The Emperor hearing that Julius was Marching towards him with a numerous and Zealous Croisade sent to his Brother to make all the haste he could to come and join him with his Army but fearing lest Julius who made long Marches might be up with him before his Brother could join him He incamped his Army so that the Enemy's Horse in which their main strength consisted if they should attack him in his Camp would be of little use to them When the Armies were within sight of one another the Emperor sent his Daughter who was Wife to Julius to try if she could persuade her Husband to lay down his Arms promising him not only a pardon for what he had done but every thing that a subject could reasonably desire of his Prince And in case she should not be able to bring him to submit she was then to try if she could obtain a Cessation of Arms of him for a few days but Julius either reckoning himself secure of a Victory that would have the Crown for its reward or being fearful to take the Emperor's word after he had provoked him so much would hear of nothing but of Fighting saying He would either die a Martyr for his Religion or by Conquering its Enemies secure it from being ever destroy'd And that he might lose no time He fights the Emperor's Army and is killed he attacked the Emperor's Camp before his Princess was well got back to her Father and having put himself at the head of a brisk body of men be advanced towards his out-guards who though they did not come in to him would not strike a stroke telling their Officers flatly That they would never draw their Swords against a man who was fighting in Defence of their Religion Julius observing this asked aloud all the way he went where the Emperor was that was resolved to destroy the Religion of their Forefathers which he was there with his Sword in his hand ready to defend against him and all Mankind with which as if it had been the word of the Imperialists he advanced within sight of the Royal Tent without having met with the least opposition until a body of Tigrians who were posted not far from it put a full stop to his Career thorough whom as he was hacking his way he was knocked off his Horse with the blow of a stone under the left Eye and as he lay on the ground had his head presently chopped off which was carried to the Emperor by a private Sentinel The Body that advanced with Julius having as it were lost their Soul in their Commander was presently hewed all in pieces and the Tigrians following their blow The Croisaide is totally defeated and the old Abuna slain and the other Imperialists who would not strike a stroke before joining with them now that Julius was slain they put the whole Croisade immediately to the rout every man of them so soon as they heard of their General 's being killed throwing down their Arms and crying out for Quarter The old Abuna was stunned so with this sudden turn of things that he was not able to stir from the place where he had posted himself but though several of the Imperialists knowing him to be the Abuna had out of Reverence to his character and great Age passed by him without offering him any violence yet a true Roman Catholick say the Jesuits whose name was Za Michael having found him out gave him such a blow in the neck with his Lance that he laid his head at his foot with whose and Julius's death this great Croisade vanished having had no other effect than to enrage the Emperor more than he was before against the Alexandrians The Emperor upon this Victory prohibits his Subjects to observe Saturday and their Religion who immediately upon this Victory set forth a Proclamation prohibiting all his Subjects upon severe penalties to observe Saturday any longer This Impious Proclamation as the Habassins reckoned it produced a bitter Libel directed by way of a Letter to the Emperor wherein he was told That his Subjects were all amazed at his wickedness in commanding the violation of that Sacred day advising him not to be rid by the Jesuits A severe Libel comes out against the Emperor who were an Ignorant little sort of people and who being of the race of Pontius Pilate and Uncircumcised did teach that there are Two Natures in Christ Adding That they were men swallowed up in the Gulph of their own Fopperies and did run headlong like an unbridled Horse without looking before them and did well deserve to have a Milstone tied about their Necks and to be thrown into the Sea and to be made partakers of the Curse that befel Pope Leo for having deni'd the Unity of Christ's Nature and after a great huddle of Texts of Scripture in favour of their Doctrines it at last admonisheth the Emperor that in case he was not weary of his Crown and the high Dignity he had received from the Popes of Egypt who wore the holy and new Ephod and bore the badge of the Cross to give over trying such new Experiments concluding thus Ah! We do here send this precious stone which enlightens the eyes of the blind May it be for an offering
and as Misfortunes do seldom come single his tears were not well dried up for this loss before he received the bad News of Tecur Egzi the Grandee that was to have gone Ambassador to Portugal being killed by the Galls in an inrode they had made into the Kingdom of Damotes Upon the fall of these Two Pillars of the Roman Church the Alexandrians about the Court grew bolder every day and having observed the Emperor to be Melancholy upon such a run of Losses they all waited upon him in a Body one of them in the Name of all the rest asking him Sir We desire to know how long we are to worry one another thus The poor Peasants that are in Arms have no Quarrel with your Highness but only for forcing them to be of the Roman Religion That Religion may perhaps be true but it is what they do not understand neither will they trouble themselves being well satisfied with their Old Religion to study a New one and so being resolved never to be of any other Faith but that of their Forefathers they have set up an Emperor who has promised to defend them in the Profession of it calling us Turks and Moors for having not only embraced a New Religion our selves but for Persecuting of them because they will not do it The Emperor tho he returned them no answer to these passionate Remonstrances encouraged them by his silence and attention to what they said to ply him daily upon that point desiring him at least to leave his Subjects to their liberty of being of which of the Two Religions they liked best But as when things are tumbling The Patriarch hastens the downfall of Popery by two indiscreet acts every small push hastens their fall so there were Two Actions of the Patriarch's which gave Popery a terrible shake in the tottering condition it was in at Court The first was His having commanded the Corps of an Eminent Monk who had been for several years General of the whole Order of Tecla Haymonot to be taken out of the Grave where it lay Buried in a Church and to be thrown into the open Fields for his having declared at his Death That he died in the Alexandrian and not in the Roman Faith It is not to be imagined say the Jesuits how great a storm this act of Discipline put the whole Empire into it being in every Body's mouth That the Romanists were not satisfied with Persecuting People while they were alive who would not turn to their Religion but did Persecute them beyond the Grave which puts a stop to the Rage of all other Nations and Sects of People by Commanding their Bodies contrary to the Laws of Humanity to be taken out of the Earth and thrown for a Prey to Birds and Wild Beasts The second was the Patriarch having committed a Woman to Prison for being a Witch and notwithstanding upon his having been informed that there was a Law in Ethiopia which prohibited People to believe that there is any such thing as Witches the belief whereof they say is founded upon the Error of the Manichees That there are Two Independent Gods a Good one and a Bad one he commanded her presently to be set at Liberty yet that was not sufficient to stop the Clamour or to keep the Alexandrians from accusing the Portugueses of being Manichees and who in defiance to the ancient Laws of the Empire were endeavouring to bring the belief of Two Eternal and Independent Principles in among them There was another thing happened at this time too which though in it self ridiculous made a great noise and did Popery some disservice A Man who appeared to be Distracted running into the great Hall of the Palace cried out He had a Message from Heaven to deliver to the Emperor the Alexandrians who were believed to have made the Farce having persuaded the Emperor to hear what he had to say he told his Highness That it was now Three days since he was Raised from the Dead and having since been carried up to Paradise was sent by God to deliver the following Message to him Hear O Emperor I have bore with you for some Years expecting that you would have Repented of the great Sin you have been guilty of in forsaking the Religion of your Forefathers during all which time the Blessed Virgin has been on her Knees before her Son to Intercede for you but I am now to tell you That in case you do not Repent of that Sin that God will Punish you with a strange Judgment But notwithstanding the Emperor Commanded the Fellow to be soundly Whipp'd for his News the Alexandrians made great use of what he had said it being reported over the whole Empire That an Angel from Heaven had appeared to the Emperor with a Command to him from God to return to his Old Religion But among other things the Emperor is said to have been displeased with himself for having in the first heats of his new Religion settled so much Land on the Patriarch which he would gladly have had a pretence to have resumed again to settle it upon his Younger Sons but whatever were the cause of the Emperor growing every day less fond of Popery the Alexandrians being at him continually for a Toleration he promised to speak to the Patriarch about it and accordingly having sent for him he told him He opposes a Toleration when proposed to him by the Emperor He had done all that was in his power to have introduced the Roman Faith into his Empire but he was now satisfied that it was not to be done by force it being visible that his People hated it more than ever since he Commanded them to embrace it Besides there was an absolute necessity of his granting them a Toleration since if he did not he would quickly have his whole Empire against him his Soldiers that he made use of against the Peasants being in their hearts no less Alexandrians than the Peasants themselves The Patriarch who was extreamly troubled to hear this from the Emperor told him That his Highness was miserably misled by Evil Counsellors who under pretence of a Toleration sought the utter Extirpation of the Roman Faith But the Emperor urging still That something must be done to satisfy the minds of his Subjects the Patriarch was forc'd to promise the Toleration of all such Ancient Habassin Customs as were not contrary to the Faith but upon condition that such a Toleration should not be Proclaimed because if that were done the Habassins he said would Triumph so upon it as to conclude that the Roman Church was about to make Her Exit out of Ethiopia While Popery was in this declining state Dom Apolinar D' Almeyda the new Bishop of Nice arrived in Ethiopia bringing a Jubilee with him and Letters from the Pope to the Emperor and the Prince which Letters though I have great reason to believe they were writ in Ethiopia in order to rekindle the Emperor's Zeal for
with this Protestation complied so far with the Patriarch's desires as with the concurrence of Father James to publish a second Proclamation wherein he declared That there was nothing he desired so much as to have all his Subjects of the Roman Faith and that his intention in his former Proclamation was only to Tolerate Three Customs that were not contrary to that Faith and that he would never have done that had not the Patriarch given his consent to it Nevertheless he reckoned he was bound in Honour to return a sharp Answer to the Patriarch for his having made so bold with him in his Protestation which he did in the following Letter The Letter of the Emperor Seltem Saged cometh to the Patriarch with the Peace of God who is Blessed for ever HEAR The Emperor's answer to the Patriarch's Protestation We have received a Paper from Your Lordship and do understand all that is contained therein relating to the matters your Lordship gave us leave to do in order to put a stop to Rebellions and to quiet the minds of our People that they may no longer fight against the Faith The particulars were That they might Fast on Wednesdays and observe their Festivities as formerly and use their old Offices with your Corrections And being at Dancas we were desired by our whole Camp since your Lordship had been pleased to Dispense with our People as to those Customs to acquaint them therewith by our Proclamation which we consented to the rather that the Rebels might not think that they had frighted us into such a compliance with them which they would have done had we delayed the publishing of it any longer but being now informed that their minds are pretty well quieted by what I have done I have published a second Proclamation according to your Directions neither in this whole matter have we done any thing but what was concerted between us As to what your Lordship saith of their publishing what they please that publish Proclamations and of their understanding them as they please that hear them that can proceed from nothing but from your Lordship's having been misinformed for How dare they who publish our Proclamations publish them any otherways than as they are or they that hear them understand them otherwise So that I cannot imagine that any body should have the impudence to say That Thad changed the Faith to the great mortification of Catholicks when it is so plain that I have not made the least alteration therein neither did the Hereticks rejoyce so much as you speak of they having been all told before that they were not to use their former Offices without your Emendations of them They must therefore have been People of Factious Spirits and of Ill designs that have put such stories in your head since we have done nothing but what your Lordship had agreed to neither did they who published our Proclamation either add or diminish any thing Things being thus your Lordship might very well have spared your bidding us Remember Ozias and comparing us with one who was Punished by God with the Leprosie for having taken the exercise of the Priestly Function upon himself which as he ought not to have done so we have never offered to do it having only published a Proclamation wherein there was nothing that you had not agreed to when the Roman Faith first took footing in Ethiopia The Jesuits never wrought any Miracles in Ethiopia it was neither introduced into it by the Preaching of the Jesuits nor by any Miracles that were wrought by them nor by no other means but by our being convinced that your Faith agreed with our Books and that the Church of Ethiopia must therefore be in an Error it was this induced us to Establish the Roman Faith by our Commands and Proclamations contrary to the Humour of our People because we believed it to be true all which we did of our own accord despising a visible Kingdom in hopes of one that is invisible As to your Lordship's admonishing us to fix our Eyes not on a Temporal but on a Heavenly Kingdom How many Subjects have I had Slaughtered And how many Provinces have I lost for having done so I need not tell you their Numbers you know them as well as I do my self so that I cannot for my life see wherein I have offended God in this whole matter Had we been forced to have embraced your Faith you might then have had some cause to be jealous that we have a mind to forsake it but having voluntarily embraced it we cannot undo what we have done nor destroy what we have built The Emperor declares his Resolution to continue a Roman Catholick I would therefore advise your Lordship for the future not to have your Ears open to false and wicked men that put such things into your head This Letter though it gave the Patriarch several Reprimands as it did also his whole Order in denying that any of them had ever wrought any Miracles in Ethiopia which is very strange considering how many they pretend to work on all such occasions Yet for the notice it gave him of a second Proclamation and the assurance of the Empeperor's resolution to continue stedfast in the Roman Faith he was so well satisfied with it that he judged all things to be set pretty well to rights again and resuming his ancient courage thereupon ventured to do a thing which gave a terrible blow to his Patriarchal Authority The Patriarch is baffled in a great point of Jurisdiction The case was this A certain Judge having turned Monk denied to pay a yearly Pension which some Lands which he kept still in his hands were charged with to a certain Parish Priest of which the Priest having complained to the Patriarch he presently commanded the Monk to pay the Priest his dues but the Monk instead of obeying denied that he had any Jurisdiction over him appealing from him to the General of his Order as the proper Prelate in all such cases and the Cause coming to be Tried at Court the Patriarch was cast the Judges having given their Opinion That the Patriarch having no more Power than their former Abuna 's had no Authority over the Monks which the Patriarch had hitherto pretended to and had constantly exercised having in this and an hundred things besides extended his Jurisdiction beyond what any of the Abuna's had done The Country being put in a pretty good humour by the Toleration which according to the Patriarch's fears was every where extended beyond its intention the Emperor sets about raising a great Army to go against the Peasants who would not be satisfied with any thing under the Re-establishment of their Old Religion and the Banishing the Patriarch and the Fathers out of Ethiopia as the Causes of all the Blood that had been shed in it for several Years But the raising of such an Army as the Emperor designed requiring time his Brother by the advice
Ruin his Kingdom the Emperor taking him up short asked him How that was possible since he had no Empire left to Ruin And so dismissed him And whereas formerly the Fathers when they left the Emperor used to be conducted out of the Court with Ceremony there was no body now took the least notice of Father Manuel unless it were to make Faces at him as he passed through the Rooms but the Father was not got out of the Court when the Drums beat for the Publishing of the Proclamation which he came to have put a stop to the Proclamation was as followeth HEAR The Proclamation for restoring the Alexandrian Religion Hear We formerly gave you the Roman Faith believing it to be true but innumerable multitudes of my People having been slain upon that account under the Command of Julius Guergis Cerca Christos c. as now also among the Peasants We do therefore Restore the Religion of your Fathers to you so that your Priests are to take Possession of their Churches again and to officiate therein as formerly Never was any Proclamation received with greater expressions of Joy than this was there being nothing to be heard in or about the Camp for some Hours for the noise of the Trumpets Excessive Joy and Festivities thereupon and of innumerable multitudes of People continually ecchoing each other from all quarters of the Camp with acclamations and shouts of God Bless the Emperor and let the Alexandrian Faith Flourish At Night the whole Camp and Countrey was Illuminated with Bonfires into which most if not all of the Popish Converts threw the Beads and Reliques that had been given them by the Fathers and that with so much Contempt and Indignation as abundantly manifested that they had never had any inward Respect for their New Religion but had only profess'd it out of fear The Patriarch and Fathers though mortified to the last degree by this sudden change of things nevertheless since the publick Exercise of the Roman Worship was not prohibited they went on faying their Masses as formerly and on the Sunday following the Proclamation The Patriarch is advised by his friends to give over preaching The Patriarch himself Preached in the Camp with some Passages of whose Sermon for he could not forbear reflecting severely upon what had been done the Alexandrians were so much inraged that he was advised by his Friends to forbear Preaching till the storm the late Proclamation had raifed was a little abated which they said it would be the sooner for its being so extreamly violent But the Alexandrians who could not presently forget how hard they had been rid by the Patriareh and Fathers when they were in the saddle were never satisfied till they had all their Churches and Lands taken from them The Romanists have all their Churches and Lands taken from them The Emperor dieth and is Succeeded by his Son Basilides and had obtained a second Proclamation which Commanded all the People of Ethiopia to be of the Alexandrian and of no other Faith The Emperor did not long survive this Revolution dying the September following of an Hectick Fever in the Sixty first year of his Age. The Fathers will have him to have died in the Communion of their Church But however that were it is certain he was buried by the Habassin Monks and with their Offices in the Church of Ganeta Jesu which they had taken from the Fathers The Prince Basilides being Proclaimed Emperor so soon as the breath was out of his Father's Body Raz Cella coming amongst the rest of the Grandees to Swear Allegiance to him was received by him with all the marks of Honour and Affection that his near Relation to him could pretend to the Emperor among other kind things telling him That hereafter he should look upon him and treat him as his Father rather than as his Uncle But whatever was the matter this kindness betwixt the Nephew and Uncle was not long-liv'd the Fathers pretend that Raz Cella's constant Zeal for their Religion was the cause of it and particularly his having acquainted the Emperor with his Father's having appeared to him and commanded him to tell him that it was a madness to lose an Eternal Kingdom to secure one that was Temporary But what is certain is that the Emperor giving no credit to his Uncle's Vision Basilides throws his Uncle Raz Cella into Prison had him arrested and committed to Prison as a Traytor disarming the Patriarch and Fathers at the same time and commanding them from all parts of the Empire to Fremona in Tigre the Viceroyship of which Kingdom he had bestowed upon one who he was certain would enter into no Cabals with them The Order run thus HEAR He sends for the Patriarch and Fathers Arms and Banisheth them all to Fremona My Lords what We say and write unto you You cannot be ignorant of our being ingaged in a War with the Peasants of Lasta and of our Empires not having had one hours Rest since this War begun You must therefore send us the Muskets and Carabines and all your other Arms together with all the Powder and Bullets that you have in your keeping We have sent Daniel and Miserata Christos to receive them to whom you must not fail to deliver them and when the War is over they shall all be restored to you again or if you are willing to sell them they will give you your price for them There is an Alexandrian Abuna arrived here he has been for some time Incognito in the Kingdom of Narea and who when I desired him to Confer holy Orders made me answer He could not do it so long as there was a Roman Patriarch about us for which reason we command your Lordship to repair to Fremona and to take all your Fathers and Books and Goods with you we shall take care to appoint a Captain to attend you thither with a strong guard with which Orders the Messengers carried a verbal Instruction which was That if any opportunity for the Indies should offer the Patriarch Bishop and Fathers had free leave to make use of it The Patriarch when he was served with this Order complained the Emperor was very hard upon them and that he could not judge otherwise but that his design in taking their Arms from them at the same time he banished them to Fremona was that they should be all Murthered by the way as to the Arms he said they owed nothing to Ethiopia and as he was resolved never to give them away so he was no Gunsmith to sell Arms. Nevertheless if they were resolved to have them from him they might find them in such a place but that he would declare to all the World that he was robbed of them but having before the Messengers had seized the Arms received advice that Father James was likewise served with an order to deliver all the Cannon Muskets and Armour for Man and Horse that were in his Custody He
we have appointed Za Mariam and the Nobles of Sararoa and Amestea to convey you safe to Matzua where if you please you may buy a Ship to carry you home having also writ to the Bashaw of that Port in Arabick to use you kindly and to suffer you to part in peace As to the motion you have made of returning to the Indies by the way of Dancaly and the Port of Bahur a way which your self excepted none ever yet came the Fathers and all the other Portugueses having come continually by Matzua we must tell you that now your Expulsion is determined it is to no purpose to alledge reasons why you cannot go and that if you should shuffle any longer with our Orders that it will be your Ruin Have we taken any thing from you that you have got in Ethiopia that you should disobey us and say you will not go this is not right Be gone therefore without making any further reply or excuse your Expulsion being determined as you will understand by the Order you will receive The Patriarch perceiving that if he staid any longer at Fremona he must either go voluntarily to Matzua or be sent thither in Chains the new Abuna who was now got to Court and who I reckon had the chief hand in all all these severe Orders having as little compassion for the Romanists as they when they were in Power had had for the Alexandrians he dispatched a Messenger to O Kay to acquaint him with the danger he was in The Patriarch sends to O Kay foâ— a Guard and to desire him to send some Soldiers presently to help him to make his escape sending the Coadjutor and Six of the Fathers at the same time privately to a discontented Nobleman in the Saroa to try if they could persuade him to joyn with O Kay in protecting them but though that Grandee like a Brutal Man as he was told the Bishop and his Companions That he would have nothing to do with them O Kay according to his promise sent his Brother with a good Body of Men to a passage within a few Leagues of Fremona whither his Confederate Tecla Mariam who had been gained likewise by the Patriarch had undertook to convey them in safety The manner of their escape being concerted the Patriarch and Fathers having put themselves in a disguise so soon as it was dark stole out at their back-door and being come to the place where Tecla waited for them they were conducted by him to O Kay's Brother who conveyed them to O Kay The Patriarch and Fathers are lodged safe in O Kay's Territories by whom they were received with all testimonies of kindness and for their security were lodged by him in an impregnable Mountain in the Province of Bur where they had not been many days before the Coadjutor and his Six Companions came to them not having been able to bring any of the Nobles they had visited into an Association to Secure them The Emperor was much troubled when he heard of O Kay's having undertaken to Protect the Patriarch and Fathers against him in Ethiopia and being sensible that nothing but an assurance from them of a Portuguese Army could have tempted one of his Principles who had on all occasions shewed himself a Zealous Alexandrian The Emperor treats with O Kay to deliver them up to him to have done it he resolved to send to O Kay and to grant him every thing he would desire on condition he would surrender them to him to dispose of them as he should think fit O Kay though overcome by this Proposition when it was made to him yet had too much Honour to deliver People who upon his having promised to Protect them had put themselves into his hands up to the resentments of an inraged Prince neither would he upon any terms yeild to the cutting off of Father Lobo 's Head on which the Emperor insisted much knowing him to have been the most active promoter of an Association against him amongst his Subjects All the Court could bring O Kay to O Kay will not yeild to that but promises to carry them to Matzua was to carry the Patriarch Bishop and Fathers to Matzua and there to leave them to shift for themselves as well as they could and to suffer them to be notified in the Emperor's Name to depart Ethiopia in two days upon pain of Death The Patriarch when the Messenger had notified him and asked him Whether he thought he had not been the cause of bloodshed enough already in Ethiopia Made Answer That he was under an higher obligation to the Emperor of Heaven not to leave his Sheep for whom he was ready to lay down his life among devouring Wolves And having obtained leave to speak with O Kay he asked him What he intended to do with him and the Fathers now he had them in his hands He made Answer Not to deliver you to the Emperor but to convey you in safety to Matzua where you will not be long before you will meet with an opportunity of returning to Dio or some other Port belonging to the Portugueses in the Indies The Patriarch not at all satisfied with this Answer after having told him That it was only to have avoided being sent thither by the Emperor that they had desired his Protection and that he had promised them oftener than once to secure them in his Province until the Portuguese Fleet which they daily expected arrived with Succors Asked him again Whether he had determined to violate his Faith with them To which O Kay returned this short Answer That there was no remedy for it and that they must prepare themselves to begin their Journey to Morrow The Patriarch finding there was no good to be done with O Kay addressed himself to the Company conjuring them in the Name of God To consider what a wicked thing it was to be the Executioners of the expulsion of a true Pastor and Patriarch and of the Preachers of the Gospel and that by having a hand therein they would all incur the greater Excommunication from which the Pope only was able to Absolve them But he could have no other Answer from them But that they would venture that being resolved whatever were the Consequence of it to execute the Emperor's Orders In the Morning the Patriarch being spoke to to begin his Journey instead of that begun an Harangue which was heard quietly by the Company till he came to inveigh bitterly against the Emperor and his Counsellors for what they had done to him Whereupon the Habassins interrupted him telling him They would not hear their Prince railed at so without a cause and that he must come away presently for the Company waited for him to guard him to Matzua and not to hear him Preach or rather Declaim against Ethiopia and its Prince The Patriarch finding there was no staying for him in Ethiopia prevailed with O Kay who it seems had a mind to