was equally Venerable as are most of the Princes of the Royal Blood of Habessinia in the most flourishing years of pleasing Youth and through his Experience of Adversity and Prosperity worthy of the high degree to which he had arriv'd and which was more than all mild and ready to Forgive For among all the crow'd of so many Enemies he never punish'd any as by Law he might have done but without any disgrace suffer'd them to continue in their several Offices and in the same degrees of Honour even the Queen her self so mild and gentle even to a fault is the Disposition of those Kings saith Tellezius Moreover he behav'd himself with an undaunted Courage in all sorts of Danger For he had hardly grasp'd the Helm of Government in his hands when the Gallans understanding the Divisions at Court fell into Habessinia with three Armies and overthrew the Governor of Gojam who presum'd to fight against the King's Command whereupon the King arriving soon after leading an Army tir'd by a long March with a greater Courage than Force he assail'd the Enemy who pufft up with Victory bore down the Habessines with so much Violence that the Captains finding their Battalions recoil perswaded the King to betake himself to an early flight When he disdaining the motion as arguing Effeminacy leapt from his Horse and advancing with his Sword and Buckler cry'd out Here will I die you if you please may flye perhaps you may escape the fury of the Gallans but never the Infamy of deserting your King The Habessines mov'd with such a Speech and the Countenance of their Prince cast themselves into a Globe and with a Prodigious fury like Men prepar'd to dye broke in among the Gallans and constrain'd them to give back which the Fugitives perceiving presently return'd and renewing the Fight gain'd a glorious Victory with such a Slaughter of the Enemy that a greater had not been made among them at any other time The King believing that the Advantages of such a Victory were not to be let slip did not indulge himself to be as soon overcome with Banquets and Luxury under pretence of Refreshment but with a swift March led his Army over Mountains and Rocks against the other Body of the Enemy which with the same success he put to Flight The third Army not daring to withstand the force of the Habessine retreated into the Fastnesses of their Country Of these Four hundred thought themselves secure with their Prey in a steep and almost inaccessible Mountain But the Habessines now contemning their Enemies already terrify'd with the Slaughter of their own People couragiously drave them from their Holds and slew them every Mothers Son About the same time Peter Pays a Jesuit arriving in Habessinia at the Request of the King went to Court and so oblig'd him with several Discourses concerning Matters as well Ecclesiastical as Civil that at first privately then publickly he embrac'd the Latin Religion which he testify'd by Letters as well to the Pope as to the King of Spain then Philip the Third and preferr'd the Portugueses before his own Habessinians But this same Kindness of his to Strangers and a Foreign Religion begat him the Hatred of his People and caus'd his own Destruction For the Nobility of the Kingdom took it in great disdain to see their Ancient Religion chang'd and that the Patriarch of Alexandria should be deserted And they were the more enflam'd out of their Envy to the Portugals and the Rancour which they bore to Laeca-Marjam the King 's principal Friend Therefore they Conspire against him among themselves The Head of the Faction was one Saslac born of mean Parentage but of great fame for his Experience in War and for that reason proud He was exil'd by Jacob but recall'd by Za-Denghel and made Governor of Dembea consequently ungrateful and out of an inbred Stubborness frowardly disdaining Obedience Ras-Athanasius was drawn into this Society a famous Captain and a Man of great Conduct and being first in Dignity frown'd to see that he was but Second in the King's Favour and therefore he proves a Traitor to a most excellent King as one that had forgot who set the Crown upon his Head But the Cause of Religion was the main pretence the most prevalent to put the Minds of People into disorder for they were not ignorant what Preparations were making at Court for the introducing of the Latin Religion Frequent Complaints were therefore divulg'd abroad That the King was Revolted from the Church of Alexandria the Common Mother Church and that there was nothing intended by his frequent Discourses and familiarity with the Jesuits but the Abrogation of the Institutions of their Ancestors and the Introduction of new Ceremonies and Foreign Priests into the Kingdom That the Portugals would come in and establish their Religion by force of Arms and when they had done that would endeavour also to take the Kingdom from them That it behov'd them to succour their Distressed Countrey and that such a King was not to be endur'd who had first deserted the True Worship of God These things were easily inculcated into those that were of the same mind before But there was nothing which alienated so much the minds of the People as that the Portugueses had been heard to say That the Reduction so they call'd the Conversion of Ethiopia was but vainly attempted if it could not be upheld by force of Arms. The King having detected the Conspiracy calls the Portugueses together confiding in them as Foreigners and Men of the Latin Religion then marching with all speed toward Gojam he was deserted by the way first by Ras-Athanasius whom tho he suspected he durst not apprehend then by Jonael one of his Principal Captains Their example many others following forsake the King The King seeing himself left with a slender Guard applying himself to Peter Pays spoke these words This therefore befalls me because I am desirous to shew them the way of Truth and to set free the Weak from the Oppression of the more Powerful Thereupon Peter and the Commander of the Portugueses John Gabriel advis'd him to Protract the War till the heat of the Rebels fury waxed cool that his Friends with his Innocent Subjects would repair to his Assistance that the rest would in time come to themselves and repent their folly That Sedition was like a Torrent violent at first but that it abated by degrees But the King impatient of delay look'd upon Protraction as a Diminution of his Honour and being too full of Courage and in his boyling Youth resolv'd to try the Fortune of War that rarely accompanies rashness before the Rebels should encrease their Numbers So he Marches with a small Army of scarce Twelve thousand Men thinking to fall upon them e're they were aware of his coming This over-hastiness had but ill success For most of his Adversaries were Men experienc'd in War who did not follow their business negligently and besides they were as
thought that any Prince will suffer himself and his Subjects to be traduc'd for Heretics within his own Dominions Not long after Claudius was slain in a Battel against the Adelans to whom in regard he dy'd without Issue his Brother Adamas-Saghed Succeeded a Person quite of another disposition as one that retain'd nothing of his Moderation or Clemency For whatever Indulgencies Claudius had granted to Oviedo and the Embracers of his Doctrine he recall'd them all nor would he so much as permit that the Habessine Women who were Marry'd to the Portugueses should exercise the Religion of their Husbands to which he added many other severe Edicts declaring openly That his Brother was therefore punish'd by God because he did not persecute the Religion of the Franks as it is frequent to attribute Adversity or Prosperity to neglected or protected Religion Nay he proceeded so far that having sent for Oviedo he threaten'd him with Death if he continu'd divulging and sowing Roman Paradoxes in his Dominions Which when the Bishop refus'd to consent to saying That God was to be obey'd rather then Man he drew his Scymiter in a rage and unless the Queen and some of the chief Nobility had prevented him had undoubtedly dispatch'd the Bishop to the other World The Bishop therefore in this desperate Condition of Affairs retires to Fremona where he lay conceal'd thirty whole years together and assuming to himself after the Death of Barret the Title of Patriarch officiated among his own Portugueses without any further molestation in regard that Melec-Saghed after his Father's violent Death shew'd himself more mild and temperate to the Portugueses who behaving themselves more modestly gave him no cause of Provocation But at length all the Avenues into Habessinia being shut-up by the Turk and the Fathers that were sent thither being all taken and slain the State of Religion among the Portugueses was reduc'd to that extremity that all the Fathers being deceas'd there was none remain'd alive to officiate Divine Service At length Melchior Silvanus an Indian Vicar of the Church of St. Anns in Goa and for that reason disguis'd both by his Language and Colour ventur'd into Ethiopia and there officiated till the Arrival of Peter Pays after which he return'd into India leaving the said Peter as he had bin before all alone in his office of Priesthood CHAP. X. Of the New Mission and its Success till the Coming of the Roman Patriarch The Religion of the Portugueses very low in Habessinia New Hopes upon the arrival of Peter Pays Who Taught School at Fremona with the admiration of all The King sends for him Curiously receives him And permits Obedience to the Pope He abrogates the Observation of the Sabbath He obtains the King's Friendship by the Pope's and K. of Portugal's Letters The King therefore hated and slain Susneus Succeeds He perceives the Ignorance of his own Doctors and applys to the Fathers Several Disputes The King's Brother Embraces the Roman Faith Susneus promises Obedience to the Pope He causes a publick dispute concerning the two Natures in Christ. The Habessines confuted The King's Edict A disobedient Monk punish'd The Metropolitan complains The Event The Edict renew'd The Alexandrinians provok'd They Excommunicate the Romans The King resists Simeon replies Thence a Rebellion The Metropolitan's Anathema Elius the Head of the Conspirators slain So is Simeon The Sabbath abrogated The Effects Jonael the Viceroy Revolts The King defends the Abrogation Jonael hides himself Slain by the Gallans The People of Damota Rebel Vanquish'd The King publickly Embraces the Roman Faith New Commotions by his Son Gabrael He is slain THE Arch-Bishop of Goa and the Fathers of the Society were not ignorant of the afflicted Condition of the Roman Worship in Habessinia And therefore whereas before they had conceiv'd vast hope of Total Conversion of Ethiopia now the case was so far alter'd that they found themselves put to a Necessity of providing for their own few Countrymen least they should be utterly destitute of Provision for the Salvation of their own Souls as not having any Priests to perform Religious Duties among them Mov'd therefore by the Instigation of Conscience they took it into serious Consideration least while they were busyed about Subjecting Abassia to the See of Rome that nothing belong'd to it they should loose their own Countrymen Professors of their own Religion who had reason enough to forsake those that forsook them And therefore they made it their whole study how to supply them with Priests to govern their Ecclesiastical Affairs And indeed many had attempted the Journey but in vain Till at length with the dawn of the new Century new hopes began to shine forth For Peter Pays after his first unfortunate Attempt which had expos'd him to various Hazards and a Captivity in Arabia undertook a second Journey into Ethiopia wherein he prosperously Succeeded being well skill'd both in the Countries Customs and Foreign Languages and able to endure the temperature of those Climates John Gabriel a famous Portuguese Collonel had given King Jacob then reigning notice of his coming and had so possess'd the young Prince with the worth of the Person by the high Commendations which he gave him that so soon as the Winter was over the King sent for him But he being soon after depos'd Zadenghel was advanc'd in his Room Thereupon Peter Pays kept himself still at Fremona where not believing his time could be better spent than in instructing the Portuguese Children he chose out some of the riper Ingenuities and in a short time so manur'd them that they were able to answer to any Question propounded to them concerning the Christian Faith A thing both unwonted and wonderful to the Habessines to hear from Children what they could hardly expect from Persons of years and Experience But considering the Person he was not so much wonderful neither for he was a Man of a quick and ready Wit that could fit himself to all Humours of an affable and complaisant Temper and well skill'd not only in the Liberal Sciences but Mechanic Arts. The fame of so acute and laborious a Person and so happy in his Instruction being spread over the Neighbouring Regions in a short time reach'd the young King's Ears who being covetous to see such a Master and such Scholars by his Letters invited him to Court Thereupon in the Month of April 1604. accompany'd with two Portuguese Youths arriving at Court he was honourably receiv'd by the King as if he had bin one of the Nobles of his Kingdom not without great distast taken by the Monks whose Sloth compar'd to Peter's Diligence and Industry render'd them contemptible to most The next day several Disputes began about Controversies in Religion which the King was pleas'd both favourably and patiently to hear Mass was also said after the Roman manner and a Sermon Preach'd with which Zadenghel was so taken that having Communicated his Intentions to some of his intimate Friends he resolv'd to submit
himself to the Pope But in regard he durst not adventure to do it publickly he first conjur'd Peter not to reveal the Secret and then told him That he was Convinc'd by his Arguments that there was no other Universal Pastor and Vicar of Christ upon Earth beside the Pope of Rome That to deny it to him was to deny it to Christ that whoever did not follow his Example was not of the true Church and that therefore he had Decreed to request a Patriarch and Fathers from Rome to instruct his People Altho so sudden and so unexpected a Declaration of a King could not choose but infuse a joy unspeakable into the heart of Peter yet he contain'd himself only what his duty bound him to he could not but highly extol the Pious Intentions of the King Nor did the King delay The Secret with which he had trusted Peter under Oath he himself made Publick and presently set forth an Edict That no Person should any longer observe the Sabbath as a Holy day And indeed he was so forward that Peter was fain to check his Celerity and put a stop to his Career However Letters were written to Clement the VIII and Philip the Third King of Spain and Portugal and deliver'd to Peter's care for their safe and honourable conveyance In these Letters he offer'd his Friendship his Soldiers and his Workmen and withal requested some of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to instruct his Subjects These things were not so privately carry'd but that they were discover'd by some of the chief Nobility of the Kingdom who were no way satisfy'd at these underminings of their ancient Religion wherefore they conspir'd against their Prince and flew him in Battel Zadenghel being slain all Peter's great Hopes vanish'd of a sudden not only through Zadenghel's fall but by reason of the Civil Wars that ensu'd between Jacob and Susneus contending for the Royal Diadem And so all Promotion of the Roman Religion surceas'd till Jacob being vanquish'd and kill'd in the Field Susneus became Lord of Habessinia Who again kindly receiv'd and entertain'd Peter together with his Companions and to all his Requests lent a most gracious Ear. The Ecclesiastical Affairs of Habessinia were then but in a Low Condition there not having bin any Peace in the Country for about Fourscore years so that perpetual Wars had almost extinguish'd the Studies of peaceful Arts nor were there enough to perform Religious Duties in their Churches but less to obviate the Encroachment of insinuating Errors and Abuses in Religion The Metropolitans Persons for the most part the most ignorant that could be imagin'd took no more Cognizance of the Churches which they were appointed to govern then if they had bin under Foreign Jurisdiction only they took up their time in the Ordination of all sorts without any due Examination Therefore the King and his Nobility observing the Diligence of the Fathers in instructing the Habessine Youth their Zeal in the Conversion of the People their Eloquence in Preaching unheard of before their Sanctity of living so necessary among Neophytes and Proselytes were possess'd with so much Admiration and Affection toward them that they could promise to themselves no other way for restoring their decay'd Ecclesiastical Worship but by their means Therefore Letters were sent to the Pope and the King of Spain to request their Friendship and the Assistance of the Portugueses Peter Pays enlarg'd upon the same Subject and added much more concerning the King's Affection to the Roman Religion Frequent Disputations also were appointed of which the chief Theme was concerning the two Natures in Christ which being easily demonstrable out of the Writings of the Habessines themselves gave the Fathers great Advantage over the Ethiopian Doctors The Chiefest of all the Nobility Ras-Seelaxus the King's Brother by the Mother's side publickly professed the Roman Religion and receiv'd the Eucharist openly according to the Roman Manner whose example many of the Great Commanders in the Army both Collonels and Captains follow'd especially seeing the King's favour so constant toward the Fathers of the Society At length the King himself having receiv'd the Answer of Paul the V. in a Letter dated the 31 of January 1623. Promis'd to yield him Obedience as Universal Pastor of the Church and that he would admit a Patriarch sent from Rome so that necessary Succors were sent him withal without which it was impossible to accomplish a business of so much Difficulty and Importance He also signified his Intentions to send an Embassador with Father Antonio Fernandez after another manner and in another Equipage then had yet bin usual To say truth the King publickly favour'd the Roman Religion without any opposition in regard that the Sword had cut off the greatest part of the stiffest and most obstinate Defenders of the Alexandrian Worship Only the Monks remain'd behind who were baffled still in all their Attempts of Dispute Therefore the King to the end he might make it manifest to his whole Kingdom that he had not rashly but upon Mature Deliberation and as it were overcome by the force of Truth given way to a new Religion appointed a Solemn Dispute where he enjoyn'd most of the Nobility of his Kingdom to be present The Subject of the Disputation was again the repeated Question concerning the two Natures in Christ as if that had bin the utmost limit of all their Controversies And no question it might be true what Tellez has written that the Habessines were vanquish'd upon the first onset For the reality of the thing supported by so many Authorities and Reasons afforded an easie Victory Nevertheless there was another Dispute appointed some few days after which prov'd no less successful than the former Wherefore the King as if the War had now bin at an end and that now Truth had merited her Triumph put forth an Edict that all Persons for the future should believe and hold That there were two Natures in Christ between themselves really distinct but united in one Divine Person This Edict was little regarded by one particular Monk more wilful and stubborn than truly zealous who being for his Contumacy brought before the King and speaking in his presence more irreverently than became him was severely Scourg'd for his sawciness Of the Pain and Anguish of which Chastisement tho the Monk was only sensible yet the fear of it kept others in awe who not understanding that he was punish'd for his malapertness thought he had bin so severely dealt with for denying the two Natures These things being spread abroad Simeon the Metropolitan at that time absent hastens to the King with his Complaints That unusual things had bin done without his knowledge and that Disputes about Religion had bin appointed in his absence The King well understanding how unable he was to grapple with the Fathers in Dispute made him answer That since he was come he would appoint the same Disputations to be heard over again To which Simeon had not a
word to say And thus a second Victory being won from the Primate of Ethiopia himself a more severe Edict concerning the two Natures was publish'd by the Cryer making it Death for any Person to deny the contrary By this so sharp a Decree as if it had bin the loud signal to Battel it is incredible to think how the minds of the People were incens'd As for the Controversie it self they did not think it of so high a Concernment as to engage divided Parties in Blood and Massacre about it In regard that all acknowledg'd both Divinity and Humanity in Christ so that the Question was only about a word But let the Question be what it would such a severe way of proceeding was never heard of before in Ethiopia as being altogether contradictory to the mildness of Christ and his Apostles and the Lenity of the Primitive times So then if Men were to be scourg'd and whipp'd because they could not apprehend two Natures in Christ what must they expect if other Questions should be started about Innovations of greater difficulty in the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Fathers Exasperated with these fair pretences Simeon the Metropolitan together with several of the Nobility and among the rest Jamanaxus alias Emana Christos another of the King's Brothers by the Mothers side and lastly almost all the Interested Clergy and Monks met and held Consultations together to prevent the threatning Mischiefs and lastly combin'd to live and dye for the Defence of their ancient and settled Religion To this end Simeon under pretence of incumbent Duty which was to be watchful over the Preservation of the Constantinopolitan Religion fix'd an Excommunication Publickly upon the Dores of the great Church belonging to the Camp against all that embrac'd the Religion of the Franks or ventur'd to Dispute concerning it The King tho highly offended with this unexpected boldness of the Metropolitan durst not adventure to revenge himself However he Publish'd another Edict whereby Liberty was granted to every Person that so pleas'd to embrace and exercise the Fathers Religion already establish'd by fair Disputes and Arguments on their side Which so little terrify'd the undaunted Metropolitan that he thunder'd out his Anathema's against all that maintain'd two Natures in Christ. The Moderate Party bewail'd these Paper Skirmishes which they foresaw would break forth and end in Slaughter and Misery and that the King's Decrees would never be establish'd without the effusion of much Blood Sensible of these Fears several of the great Personages of the Kingdom together with the King's Mother Ite-Hamelmala most earnestly besought the King to desist from what he had begun and not to raise up implacable Seditions to the Ruin of himself and his Kingdom After which the Metropolitan with many Monks and Nuns came to the Camp and implor'd the King not to innovate any thing in Religion otherwise that they were prepar'd to lay down their lives for the Religion of their Ancestors At last the King referr'd the whole Business to another Colloquie which continu'd for Six days one after another but without any Success A clear Testimony that Controversies in Religion are not to be decided by Disputes After that all the Clergy throw themselves at the King's Feet and with Sighs and Tears beseech him Not to change a Religion so quietly Establish'd in Ethiopia for so many Ages by so many of their Emperors But nothing would prevail the King remain'd inexorable and immoveable so that the Petitioners departed full freighted with Exasperation and Rebellion Immediately all hopes of Concord and Agreement being lay'd aside the Sword was next unsheath'd whence follow'd those terrible Commotions and Bloody Wars that have almost ruin'd the most flourishing part of Ethiopia The Chief of the Conspirators were Jamanaxus Aelius the King's Son in Law Viceroy of Tigra the Eunuch Caflo and several others But to give the better Colour to their Rebellion and Design of Killing the King the Metropolitan caus'd a new and more severe Excommunication to be fix'd upon the Chief Church in the Camp by which all the partakers of the Latin Religion were Anathematiz'd In the mean time the Fathers of the Society relying upon the King's Favour hasten'd to get all things ready that might be of advantage to Establish their Doctrine To that end they translated Maldonatus upon the Four Evangelists Toletus upon St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans Ribera upon the Hebrews and some others into the Ethiopic Language which some esteem'd others by reason of the intermixture of Amharic words contemn'd as full of Barbarisms and Soloecisms But as for the Lord's Prayer and the Salutation of Mary being nothing but the Latin written in Ethiopic Characters they abhorr'd 'em as looking upon them to be nothing but Magic Spells On the other side the Alexandrians fell upon the Fathers with all the bitterest Invectives that might be those Paper Skirmishes being generally the fore-runners of more Bloody disputes In pursuance of which Aelius by an Edict Commands all the Franks to depart out of Tigra and the Alexandrians to follow him by which means having muster'd up a compleat Army he openly Rebels Simeon Curses the Franks but loads Aelius with his Blessings upon which he no doubt relying resolv'd to fight his Father in Law then upon his March against him with a strong Force notwithstanding all the Perswasions of his Wife to the contrary Fierce therefore and in the heat of his young Blood and over-confident of his own Faction not staying so much as to take his Breakfast but as it were Drunk with Fury and Rage only with a small Troop about him he leaps his Horse into his Father's Camp asking Where the King was and so what between the astonishment of some and the wonder of others what the Matter should be he rode up without any hurt to the King's Pavilion where at length the Alarum being taken he was soon surrounded Ston'd and Stabb'd to Death and so dearly paid for his rashness The Captain thus Slain the Soldiers betake themselves to their heels Simeon between the Fugitives and the Pursuers stood alone by himself like a man stupifyed whether not at first observ'd or neglected as a Clergy-man but at length being known he was Slain among the Crowd Both their Heads were sent about the Kingdom and expos'd as a Public Spectacle The Eunuch Caflo had his Head struck off Jamanaxus was pardon'd Thus the Kindred of Kings for the most part escape the Punishment of those Rebellions to which they themselves have given Life and Encouragement The King who was never fearful now more emboldened by his Victory now questions other Heads of Religion and soon after by Public Edict prohibits the Observation of the Sabbath as Judaical and Repugnant to Christianity In answer to this Edict some Person without a Name had written contemptuously of the Roman Religion reflecting severely upon the Fathers of the Society whom he call'd the Kindred of Pilate as being a Roman and withal sharply menacing
gave to Susneus of what he had done haughtily call'd him Apostate Nor is it to be question'd but that the Mahumetans and Neighbouring Nations were much Scandaliz'd at the Alteration of the Habessinian into the Roman Religion not out of any love to the one or hatred to the other but for fear the Portugueses strengthen'd by the Habessines should become their Masters The Turks also were mad that the Metropolitan of Ethiopia was no more to be sent for out of Egypt for by that same Tye they held the Habessines fast and lyable to what Conditions they pleas'd To these incessant Importunities the Queen joyn'd the pow'rful Charms of her own Supplication conjuring him by all the Obligations of Sacred Wedlock and common Pledges of their undoubted Offspring To be well advised what he did and not to ruin his Kingdom Himself his Fortune and his whole Family With the same importunity his Eldest Son Basilides and his Brother by the Mothers side Jamanax hourly sollicited his disturb'd mind and the better to accomplish their ends they underhand procur'd the Gallans that serv'd the King to desire a dismission as being unwilling to fight any longer against the Habessines in a quarrel about a new Religion Thus the King's rigor mollify'd at length Basilides after he had summon'd the Nobility and chiefest of his Father's Counsellors together held a Council wherein it was concluded That there was no other remedy to allay the Disorders of the Kingdom but by restoring the Alexandrian Religion And the better to perswade those that were of the Contrary Opinion they gave it out that the Romanists and Alexandrians were of the same Opinion in points of Faith That both affirm'd that God was true Christ and true Man And as for the asserting One or Two Natures they were only words of little Moment and not worth the Ruin of a Mighty Empire So that the King induc'd by these reasons gave liberty to every one that pleas'd to return to the Alexandrian Forms The Patriarch was not ignorant of these Transactions Whereupon being accompanied with his Coadjutor the chief of the Fathers he desir'd Audience of the King Which being granted after a short Pause Sir said He I had thought that we had lately bin the Victors but now I see we are Vanquish'd On the other side the Lasteneers being overthrown and put to flight have obtain'd their desires Before the Battel was fought 't was then a time to Vow and Promise but now to fulfil The Victory was gain'd by the Catholic and Portuguese Soldiers the God of Hosts favouring the Catholic Religion These are therefore but ill returns to his Divinity For I understand here has bin a Decree made giving free toleration again of the Alexandrian Religion But this is not a place I see to advise with Bishops and Religious Persons the illiterate Vulgar the Gallans and Mahumetans Women here give their Judgments in Matters of Religion Consider how many Victories you have gain'd from the Rebels since you have embrac'd the Roman Religion Remember that you embrac'd it not compell'd by force or fear but of your own free choice as believing it the Truer Neither did we come hither as Intruders we were sent hither by the Pope and the King of Portugal at your request Neither did they ever design any other thing in their thoughts but only to unite your Empire to the Church of Rome And therefore beware of exciting their just Indignation They are 't is true far distant hence but God is at hand and will require the Satisfaction which is due to them You will throw an indelible blemish upon the Lion of the Tribe of Juda which you bear for your Atchievement You will blur your own renown and the Glory of your Nation Lastly you will be the undoubted occasion of innumerable Sins by yâ—ur Apostacy which that I may not see nor feel the threatning revenge of the Almighty Command this Head of mine to be immediately strick'n off This said with tears in their Eyes the Patriarch and his Companions fell Prostrate at the King's feet in expectation of his Answer The King not any way concern'd reply'd in few words That he had done as much as he could but could do no more neither was a total alteration of Religion intended but only a Concession of some Ceremonies To which the Patriarch answer'd That he had already tolerated some and was ready to indulge more which did not concern the Substance of Faith So that he would put forth another Edict that all things might remain as they were To which he receiv'd no other reply but That the King would send certain Commissioners to Treat and Discourse with the Fathers Nor had they a better answer from the Prince who being an Artist at Dissimulation sent them away unsatisfy'd with ambiguous words Upon the 24th of June The favourers of the Alexandrian Religion to the end they might get the Decree already mention'd put in Execution Address themselves to the Emperor and choosing Abba-Athanasius for their Prolocutor beseech him That he would by a Publick Edict be pleas'd to give his Subjects Liberty to return to the Religion of their Ancestors that otherwise the Kingdom would be utterly ruin'd The King assented and order'd certain Commissioners to signifie his Pleasure to the Patriarch They presently fell sharply to work with him and upbraided him with the frequent Rebellions of the People Aelius Cabrael Tecla-George and Sertzac and with the Slaughter of so many Thousands as fell with them That the Lasteneers were still in Arms for their ancient Religion that all ran to them and deserted the King because all the Habessines pin'd after their ancient Religion However that for the future it should be free for every one to be at his own choice which to follow for so from the Time of Claudius till lately there had bin Peace and Quietness between different Opinions while the Portugueses exercis'd theirs the Habessines their own Religion After a short time of Deliberation an Answer was carry'd back to the King by Father Emanuel D' Almeyda That the Patriarch understood that the Exercise of both Religions would be free in his Kingdom That for his part he had an equal love for Ethiopia as for his own Native Country and therefore for his part he was ready to grant whatsoever might be done with safety to the Purity of sound Doctrine But that there was still a difference to be made between those who had not yet embrac'd the Roman Religion as the Lasteneers for that they might be conniv'd at but they who had positively embrac'd the Roman Faith and had bin admitted to Confession and the Sacraments no indulgence could be granted to them without committing a great Sin to return to the Alexandrian Schism By this Temperament the Patriarch design'd to have put a Bar upon the King and all the Court which had already publickly made Profession of the Romish Ceremonies But the King almost spent with Vexation and Grief made
That being most graciously and kindly entertain'd by the King he dy'd in Habessinia Others that being honourably dismiss'd by the King he was murder'd by certain Arabian Thieves As for the Patriarch after a long Captivity and very bad Usage from the Turks he was at length set at Liberty after he had pay'd for himself and his Companions a Ransom of 4000 German Dolars and so at length got safe to Goa Where tho he were advis'd to go himself into Portugual and give an accompt of the afflicted State of Ethiopia he thought it the better way to send Jeronymo Lobo with order to desire the Aid of a sufficient Military Power to restore him to his lost See Thereupon the diligent Jesuit not only went into Portugal but also to Mantua to Philip the Fourth and from thence to Rome But all his Negotiations prov'd ineffectual whether it were that they did not think it at that instant so Apostolical a way to propagate the Gospel by force of Arms or whether it were that they did not like the Charge of an Expedition from whence they could hope for little good there being no considerable Party in the Kingdom to give them footing and the encouragement of Assistance For the King watchful over all casualties put all to Death that favour'd the Roman Fathers Which occasion'd the Ruin of many of the Nobility among the rest Tecla-Selax and several Priests that had taken Roman Orders and all the Fathers except Bernard Nogueyra whom the Patriarch had created his Vicar For tho the Patriarch attempted afterwards to send several other Fathers yet all their Endeavours were in vain so that for a long time he could learn no News concerning the State of Ecclesiastical Affairs in Habessinia For the King fearing lest the Portugueses should invade his Dominions in revenge of the Fathers had brib'd the Turkish Basha's of Suaqena and Matzua willing enough to that of themselves not to admit entrance to any of the Franks The News of which coming to Rome the Minds of men were variously affected The greatest part were sorry that all their fair hopes of retaining Ethiopia in Pontifical Obedience were quite cut off Others blam'd the Fathers of the Society that through their Arrogance and Imprudence in managing the Temper and Disposition of the Habessines they had ruin'd both themselves and the Roman Religion whereas they ought to have made it their Business to have acted chiefly and in the first place for the Majesty and Authority of the Pope over the Universal Church and willingly to have suffer'd all Miseries and Martyrdoms rather than have quitted their Station Tellez involves these particulars in a general Relation saying That several Malevolent Reports were spread about in Rome and some there were who gave out That the Fathers out of meer detestation of their Persons and hatred of the whole Nation of Portugal were ejected out of Habessinia and that if other Preachers were sent the Habessines would willingly embrace both them and their Doctrine Which was a thing to be done with much less Expence and more probable to come to effect than Lobo's Project of sending an Army Therefore the Congregation for propagating the Faith took another Course and sent Six Capuchin Fryers all Frenchmen with Letters of Recommendation and safe Conduct from the Emperor of the Turks himself with Orders to try what they could do in Habessinia Two of these going by Sea landed at Magadoso seated upon the Eastern Coast of Africa but before they could get many Leagues up into the Countrey they were knock't o' the head by the Cafers Two of them got as far as the Confines of Habessinia but being discover'd they were presently Commanded either to return back or make Profession of the Alexandrian Religion and upon their refusal to do either were presently ston'd to Death Of which when the other two that stay'd at Matzua had notice they rather chose to return home again than suffer Martyrdom to no purpose Book 3. Chap. 14. P 369 Three Capuchins beheaded in the yeare 1648 by the Comand of Basilides King of the Habessines 1 The Citie and Iland of Suaqin 2. The red Sea 3. The Turkish Basha Gouernour of the Iland 4. F. Felix de S. Severino 5. F. Antonio de Patra Pagana 6. F. Joseph Tortulano from the Italian Originall At length also Bernard Nogueira was apprehended the last of all the Fathers and fairly Hang'd As for the Patriarch Mendez he liv'd in India till the year 1656. Where in the 22d of his Exile and the 77th of his Age he dy'd upon the 29 day of January He was endu'd with most accomplish'd gifts both of Body and Mind very Tall and of a firm Constitution of Body well read both in the Greek and Latin and every way fitted for his Employment Neither had he wanted Prudence had not the King's Favour and Success which oftentimes intoxicate the Wisest of Men transported him out of the way to act with that violence and severity where gentleness and caution were so requisite By which means instead of gaining he was forc'd to suffer the shameful detriment of that Authority which he had too far extended Others as Gregory told me excus'd him for that upon his arrival he found things so far driven on by the Missionaries that he could not with Honour recede from what they had done Since the Death of the Patriarch we have had no certain Relations out of Habessinia In the year 1652. a new Metropolitan was sent into Ethiopia who had bin seen by many Europeans in Egypt and was succeeded afterwards by several others as we have gather'd from certain Relation From whence we may infer That the report of Tellez was a thing fram'd out of Envy as if the King of the Habessines had sent his Ambassadors into Arabia to desire thence Mahometan Doctors with an intention to embrace Turcism which no man can think probable from what has bin already related For how is it likely that he who could not Protect the splendid Religion of the Romish Church and the specious Doctrines of the Fathers because they were thought by the Habessines to be repugnant to Scripture and the Decrees of the Primitive Church should be able to admit of the Vanity and Absurdity of Mahumetism the Original and Progress of which is so well known to the Habessines already A Religion that did not prevail by suffering and well-doing like the Christian Religion but by force of Arms was obtruded upon Barbarous and Discording Nations The Clergy and Monks so wedded to their Alexandrian Religion would no more endure it than they did the superstition of Susneus So that should the King and his Peers be so vain as to attempt a thing so detestable to his People he could not expect but to be more vigorously and generally oppos'd than ever his Father was But lastly the King's Letters of the last Date to the Governor of Batavia beginning with a Christian Preface sufficiently demonstrate that he was
A NEW HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA BEING A Full and Accurate DESCRIPTION OF The Kingdom of Abessinia Vulgarly though Erroneously called the EMPIRE of PRESTER JOHN IN FOUR BOOKS Wherein are Contained I. An Account of the Nature Quality and Condition of the Country and Inhabitants their Mountains Metals and Minerals their Rivers particularly of the source of the Nile and Niger their Birds Beasts amphibious Animals as the River Horse and Crocodile Serpents c. II. Their Political Government the Genealogy and Succession of their Kings a description of their Court and Camp their Power and Military Discipline their Courts of Justice c. III. Their Ecclesiastical Affairs their Conversion to the Christian Religion and the Propagation thereof their Sacred Writings their Sacraments Rites Ceremonies and Church Discipline the decrease of the Romish Religion their Contentions with the Jesuits their Separation from the Greek Church c. IV. Their private Oeconomy their Books and Learning their common Names their Dyet Marriages and Polygamies their Mechanick Arts and Trades their Burials their Merchandize and Commerce c. Illustrated with Copper Plates By the Learned Job Ludolphus Author of the Ethiopic Lexicon Made English by J. P. Gent. LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith Bookseller at the Prince's Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1682. J. LUDOLPHUS TO THE Courteous Reader AT length I present you with my Ethiopic Historie long-promis'd long expected by my friends Nor will this delay be wonder'd at by those that consider how I am ty'd to public duty and employment utterly dissonant from these sort of Studies Beside which there were many other Reasons For I had collected indeed the Body of the matter from the Writings and Discourses of Gregory the Habessinian but the Circumstances of time and place and the names of persons were yet wanting So that there was Timber and Bricks for the Building but only Lime and Cement was wanting Moreover after so many Fables had been Printed upon this subject I thought it would not be so prudently done to utter more novelty upon the credit of one single person lest a new truth might be lookt upon as a new Tale. At length having got into my hands Balthazer Tellez from whom as well to supply what I wanted as also to confirm what might seem to be doubtfull yet then likewise I wanted Leisure Which when the most Serene Saxo-Gotan Dukes had indulg'd me I Translated my family to Frankfort upon the Main to the end that I might have the benefit of several famous Libraries in that Noble City and the opportunity of a Learned Conversation and by that means accomplish my intended work which by Gods Assistance I did in six weeks After this when all was ready for the Press there still wanted what was necessary to forward the Publishing of this work A proper Amanuensis to transcribe the whole matter and to attend upon the Correction of the Impression which my occasions would not permit me to do and then in the next place such Forraign Characters as this work requir'd which Impediments were also at last remov'd For there was a certain Young Gentleman recommended to me eminent for his Learning and integritie by name John Henry Majus a Student in Theology and the Oriental Tongues Who being well skill'd in the Hebrew Language and the Dialect of the Rabbins by my help easily made himself Master of the Ethiopic and so fitted himself for the imployment I design'd Him He therefore by my directions made the heads of the Chapters the Sections the Index and Translated the Ethiopic into Latin assisted the work and put it forward taking upon him the whole Correction of it For which reason I can recommend his deserts the more justly to all good and learned Men. The Printing part was undertaken by Balthasar Christopher Wustius as well for that he was well known among Forainers as because he had a Printing House furnished with all sorts of Letters for Foraign Languages He also caused the Ethiopic and Amharic Characters to be engrav'd in Copper by the famous John Adolphus Schmide and afterwards to be cast for farther use But these could not be brought to perfection so soon as the Compositers requir'd and therefore there was a necessitie of mixing some old and less elegant with the new and neater Characters As to the Work it self I have said enough in the Proem No man understandeth the warts and defects better than my self Therfore I resolv'd to deferr the Publishing till newer and fuller relations return'd out of Ethiopia or that I might receive them from the bordering Regions as being furnished for that purpose with very great and most generous Recommendations till I had brought my design to a full and elaborate perfection But many Illustrious men and my most honour'd friends interceded with me telling me That never any thing came forth perfect at first in all its parts And that therefore this History was no longer to be conceal'd from the Christian and Learned World which it concerned to know these things For that if any thing should fall out hereafter worthy of remark it might be put into an Appendix or added to a new Edition Which makes me hope for pardon from the more Candid Reader if his desire or expectation be not satisfied in all particulars For I relate not altogether things beheld with my own eyes but what I have either read my self or heard from others yet congruous to Truth and well cohering between themselves If I have not reach'd the sence of my Authors I will amend upon admonition or else return my thanks and satisfaction to the admonisher That I should please all men a thing which never mortal yet attained none in prudence can exact from me nor dare I hope to have done it However I propose to my self to injure no man but every where to study moderation So they who take offence ought to be offended with my Authors not with me There are some perhaps who believe I might have spoken more in matter of Religion others that I have said too much certainly I had rather I could have omitted all so ungratefull to me are the Altercations of Christians among themselves in matters of Religion chiefly where the Decisions tend to Force and Arms. For they who think mutual Love and Charity is only due to men of their own sect certainly wander much from the scope of Christian perfection according to the precepts of Christ and his Apostles I have not aim'd at my own advantage nor my own increase of Reputation hard to be acquir'd now the world is so fertile in soaring Genius's I have only endeavoured to be in some measure profitable to the Commonwealth of Christianity and Learning out of a peculiar kindness to that for ought we know most ancient Nation of the Habessines I confess I have frequently bewail'd their misfortune for this that the enmitie ran so high between them and the Portuguesses that for their sakes all the other Europeans are suspected to that
Nation and not permitted to have any commerce among them But it has afforded me much more matter of grief that there should be such and so great Animosity nmong the Western Christians that as things stand there is no Counsell or help to be afforded for the ease and restitution of the Eastern Church or for the suppression of those Barbarous Idolaters The HEADS of the several CHAPTERS in the following HISTORY Book I. Of the Nature of the Country and Inhabitants THe Proem contains the Chief Writers of the Habessine Affairs which the Author follows or contradicts where he takes an occasion to give an account of Gregory the Habessinian whom Ernestus Duke of Saxony sent for to his Court at Gota together with the Argument and Method of the whole Treatise Chap. I. Of the various Names of the Habessines and the Original of the Nation from Arabia the Happy Chap. II. Of the true Situation and Bounds of Habessinia and the Kingdoms and Regions bordering on every side upon it Chap. III. Of the Division of Habessinia into several Kingdoms and Regions and what is at this day under the Dominions of the Negus Chap. IV. Of the vulgar Chorographical Table of the Country and the Authors new one with the Authors advice in reference to a Universal Geographical Alphabet Chap. V. Of the temper and nature of the Air and Soyl of the three not four Seasons of the Year the stupendious Winds and other Meteors Chap. VI. Of the high Mountains of Habessinia and their Rocks of a most Miraculous Form their advantages and conveniencie more especially of the Rocks of Amhara Geshen and Ambasel Chap. VII Of their Metals and Minerals more especially their Salt and Stibium Chap. VIII Of the Rivers of Habessinia more especially Nile its Fountains and Course that Niger is a Channel of Nile whether the Course of the River may be altered or turned another way to prevent its overflowing of Aegypt as also of the Lake Tzana Chap. IX Of the Fertility of the Soyl in general double and threefold Harvest Of the Vegitables and Plants Of the Psylli proving their Art of relieving the Poyson'd to be artificial not natural Chap. X. Of the Fourfooted Beasts the Bull Elephants the Unicorn c. Chap. XI Of Amphibious Creatures the River Horse the Water-Lizard and the Torpedo Chap. XII Of Birds the Casawaw and Pipi their tame Geese and Feeders Chap. XIII Of Serpents and Insects the Boa Salamander Hydra Chersydra Locusts and Ants. Chap. XIV Of the Nature and Disposition of the Inhabitants of the Jews and other Nations in Ethiopia Chap. XV. Of the Languages us'd in Ethiopia the Amharic and Gallanic Dialects Chap. XVI Of the bordering Nations more especially of the Gallans and the manners and customs of the Kingdom of Zender and their King who resembles an Ape Book II. Of their Political Government Chap. I. Of the Kings of the Habessines and their various Titles Names and Atchievments both true and fictitious Of the Name of Presbyter John the Stile of their Letters The Queens and the Titles of the Princes and Princesses of the Blood Chap. II. Of the Catalogues of the ancient Kings of the Habessines for the most part Fictitious Of the Royal Families their Antiquity and first of the Ethnic Family Chap. III. Of the Salomonean Family descended from Menihelec Son to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba whose Parentage and Place of Nativity where she Rul'd is discours'd Chap. IV. Of Menihelec the Son of Makeda and his Posterity Of Candace Of Abreha and Atsbeha brothers and of Caleb who Subverted the Kingdom of the Homerites Chap. V. Of the Zagean Family and the Kings that sprung from that Line more especially of Lalibala Chap. VI. Of the Restauration of the Salomonian Family and the Succession from thence David and Claudius c. in whose Reign the Jesuits first entred Habessinia Chap. VII Of the Kings of this Centurie till the present time Of the Counterfeit Jacob and the Impostor Tzaga-Christos in France A genealogical Table of the Habessinian Kings Chap. VIII Of the Royal Succession and Imprisonment of all the Kings Sons but the Eldest in the Rock Geshen Chap. IX Of the Kings Prerogative in Civils and Spirituals Chap. X. Of the Puissance of the Kings of Habessinia and how the Power of the Gallans might be Ecclips'd as also of the Royal Revenues Chap. XI Of the Royal City of Axuma and the Inauguration of their Kings Chap. XII Of the Kings Court his Table and manner of Feeding the Custom of receiving Embassadours and of the Grand Court Employments Chap. XIII Of the Royal Camp which may be compar'd to a Royal City Chap. XIV Of the Militarie Discipline of the Habessines Chap. XV. Of the Wars of the former Century more especially the Fatal Adelan War and how they were relieved by the Portugals Chap. XVI Of their Leagues and Embassies to the Portugheses and the Pope and the King of Portugal's reciprocal Embassies to them Chap. XVII Of the Viceroys Governours and Rulers of Provinces and their various Titles Chap. XVIII Of the Tributaries to the King of Ethiopia and the manner of presenting Petitions and Complements to the King Chap. XIX Of their Courts of Judicature and Law Proceedings their Appeals and Punishments Book III. Chap. I. Of the Ancient Religion of the Habessines and Tzagazaab's idle Confession of Faith their Judaic Rites their Circumcision abstinence from Swines Flesh and observing the Sabbath c. Chap. II. Of the Conversion of the Habessines to the Christian Faith Cedrenus and Callistus Confuted Chap. III. Of the advancement of Christianity by the assistance of Nine Holy Men. Of the Portentous Miracles of their Saints Their rigid Monastical Life of Tecla Haimanot and Eustathius and the Orders and Institutions of their Monks Chap. IV. Of the Holy Book among the Habessines the Translation of the Scripture into their Language their Division of the Bible Their Councils and Epitomie of the Habessine Religion the Book of Enoch and their Magical Prayers Chap. V. Of the present Religion of the Habessines and the Errours imputed to them by the Fathers what they Believe concerning the Trinity the Communion Transubstantiation Purgatory the Immortality of the Soul Angels c. Chap. VI. Of the Modern Rites and Ceremonies of the Ethiopic Church Chap. VII Of their Ecclesiastical Government Chap. VIII Of the separation of the Habessines from the Greek Church Chap. IX Of their first Quarrels with the Jesuits Chap. X. Of Susneus's Submission to the Pope and the Tumults and Rebellions that arose thereupon Chap. XI Of the Arrival of a Patriarch from Rome and the Progress of the Roman Religion during the Reign of Susneus Chap. XII Of the decrease of the Jesuits Power and their fall the Restoration of the Alexandrian Religion and the causes of so great an Alteration Chap. XIII Of the Expulsion of the Patriarch Chap. XIV What happen'd after the Expulsion Book IV. Of their private Affairs Chap. I. Of the Ethiopian
Letters and manner of Reading Chap. II. Of their Books and Learning their Lawyers and Physitians certain of their Opinions in Philosophy their Poetry Chap. III. Of the Appellative Names of Men used by the Habessines Chap. IV. Of their Domestick Oeconomie Matrimy Polygamie Dyet Habitations and Burials Chap. V. Of their Mechanic Arts and Trades Chap. VI. Of their manner of Travelling and the several ways into Ethiopia Chap. VII Of their Merchandize and the Commodities of the Country THE HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA OR THE KINGDOM of the ABESSINES I Am now about to write the History of the Abessines concerning whom there have been many large but few true Relations For these People having translated themselves from the Maritime Regions of the Arabian Gulf into the more upland Parts of Africa by reason their Commerce with Foreigners has been very inconsiderable have been known to very few of the Europeans Besides that the Name of Ethiopians which they assume to themselves is common to so many Nations that it has render'd their History very ambiguous for that many things generally spoken of the Ethiopians were more particularly attributed to the Abessines Neither were they wanting to their own honour while they appropriated to themselves whatever was said either in Scripture or elsewhere to their advantage Others there are who to wast their idle hours and designing some fabulous Inventions or to represent the Platform of some Imaginary Common-Wealth have chosen Ethiopia for the Subject of their Discourse Believing they could not more pleasantly Romance or more safely license Age and then an Exile for that contrary to the King's Command he had followed the Fathers of the Society into India and consequently exercised in Misfortune he had laid aside all Levity and Ostentation the Vices of Fortunate Youth So that although in truth I was sufficiently able by vertue of his Instructions and the knowledge which I obtained from him of the Ethiopic Language to have out done all those that have gone before me yet I was unwilling to refell the Errors of others upon the Credit of one single Person till I had more Authorities to support me Nor did I therefore underake this difficult Task only to consume my leisure hours in confuting the Errors or mustering up the different Opinions of Authors without any prospect of Publick-Benefit The History it self of this Nation deserves the Labour of an Accurate Pen. For whether you consider the Temper of the Clime or the Condition of the Soyl you shall hardly find in any other Part of the World more frequent Miracles of Nature The Countrey is situated between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equinoctial Line and enjoys a wonderful variety of Air The Champion Levels feel the Heat the Hilly Parts are no less subject to Cold. For this reason the Thunders are most dreadful and frequent Tempests terrifie both Man and Beasts Their Prodigious Mountains over-look the Clouds themselves Neither Olympus nor Athos here accounted Wonders nor Atlas it self which the Ancients fancied to be the Support of Heaven are to be compared with them Their Rocks of various Shapes and Figures so amazingly steep as not to be ascended yet inhabited Their surrounded Valleys rugged and representing Abysses for profundity Metals they also have but chiefly Gold did they know how to find and dig it forth Their dryest places in Winter are overflowed in Summer For those Advantages which the Rains afford the Fields in other places the Rivers supply in Ethiopia Among those Rivers Nilus for vastness and fame far exceeds all the Rivers of the whole World Whose Fountains so diligently sought by the Ancients are not only here found but it also now appears that the River Niger is no more than its left Channel Nor do all the Rivers of Habassia as in other Places empty themselves into the Sea but are some of them suckt up in the Sand so that it is more difficult to find the Mouths of those than the Sources of other Streams Plants they have of admirable Vertue and Beasts of all sorts many of which are unknown to us The largest also both of Foul and four-footed Beasts are here to be found The celebrated Unicorn so curiously sought for in all other Corners of the World was first seen here Cattel without number much larger than ours feed in the vast Woods affording Pasture sufficient as well for the Wild as Tame Nor is the variety of the Nations and People less to be admired so strangely differing in Language Customs and Ceremonies that it may be thought some distinct Part of the World rather than a particular Kingdom However all Abessinia Obeys one King who by reason of certain Princes that are subject to him calls himself Negusa nagast zait joperia King of the Kings of Ethiopia He derives his Descent from Solomon King of the Israelites by an ambitious tho dubious Claim defending the long series of his Family whether true or false with the force of Antiquity However it be this is certain That the Monarchy of the Abessines and the Royal Line are no less Ancient than any among the Europeans And for their Power they were formerly more Potent than any other of the African Kings But their Wars in the preceding Age with the Adelenses has brought them very low Afterwards they were so debilitated by the Fury of the Gallani that Abessinia is scarce to be found in Habessinia it self if you compare it with what it was in the times of Alvarezius But that which deserves the greatest admiration is the antiquity of the Christian Religion which first began under S. Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria at what time Frumentius Preached among them the Opinions and Ceremonies of which Church they still retain So that many Primitive Rites in other Places obsolete are here still in Use But that deplorable Schism which arose in the Council of Calcedon for which they alledge other Causes than our Writers do withdrew the Abessines all together from the Catholick Church at that time Flourishing while they followed the Patriarch of the Jacobites and rejected the Patriarch of the Melchites Yet all this while for so many Ages they have suffered no considerable Change in their Divine Worship till the beginning of this last Century at what time being split into Divisions by the Artifices of the Jesuits they have been cruelly shaken with Civil Discord and Bloody Wars some Adhering to the Romish other the Alexandrian Religion Of which and other things it is our Design to treat more fully in this our History and so to handle the matter as to discourse in the First Book Of Natural Things as the Situation and Names of the several Counties the Temper of the Climate the Condition of the Soyl the several Customs and Languages of the Nations and Inhabitants In the Second Book Of the Political Government the Succession of their Kings their Laws their Acts of War the Revenue of the Kingdom and the like In the Third Of their Ecclesiastical Affairs the
view taken from the Saracenic History In those days that is in the days of Michael the Patriarch Nilus fail'd extreamly Mustansir therefore a Mahumetan Prince of Egypt sent him to the Country of the Habessines with costly Gifts and other things of high value Whereupon the King of the Country came forth to meet him whom the Patriarch reverenc'd publicly After that the King demanded of him the cause of his coming Then the Patriarch made known to the King how that the Waters of Nile fail'd in Egypt to the unspeakable detriment of the Land and Inhabitants Thereupon in favour of the Patriarch the King commanded the Channel to be open'd through which the Water ran into Egypt which was then stopp'd up Which being done Nilus encreas'd three yards in one night and the River was so fill'd that the Fields of Egypt were water'd and sown So that the Patriarch return'd with great Honour into Egypt I could wish to hear the opinions of those that deny this place The words are clear of themselves that the King commanded the Channel that was stopp'd to be open'd The Historian himself is accounted a credible Author bred and born in Egypt as also Secretary to the Mahometan Princes of that Country So that he could not possibly be ignorant of such an accident and besides he wrote his History above a hundred and twenty years after the thing happen'd And therefore had it been an untruth he durst not have mention'd it for fear of being contradicted which he might easily have been But it may be objected That the Historian does not mention by whom the Channel was obstructed or whether it happen'd as many times it does naturally when the course of a Stream is damm'd up by trunks of Trees Mud and Stones driven by force and heap'd together in the narrow passages of the Water But this Objection does not resolve the doubt for such remarkable stops rarely or never happen in such large or violent Rivers Or if Nature could effect so much what might not be accomplish'd by Art Athanasius Kircher a person not only generally vers'd in the Affair of Egypt but more particularly in what related to the River Nile in his Catalogue of the Patriarchs of Egypt relates That one (t) In Supplement Prod. and Lexic Capt. p. 524. c. 2. This Michael was the 68th Patriarch of the Jacobites and dy'd about the year 1110. Michael was sent into Ethiopia for the restoring of Nile to its Channel from whence the Ethiopians had directed the Course of its Waters tho it be the fault of that learned Man to write much rather than accurately nor does he always commend his Authors The Question being put to Gregory he did not remember the Story of Michael but that he had heard from persons of great Credit That not far from the Cataracts of Nile all the Land toward the East lies level and unless it were for one Mountain that stands in the way Nile would rather flow that way than into Egypt or the Northern Sea So that if that Mountain were digg'd through a thing to be done with pains and difficulty the Course of the River might be turn'd and carry'd into the Red-Sea which is well known to the Turks and many of the Portugals And for this reason have the Emperours of Ethiopia obtain'd those advantagious Conditions from the Saracens Nay it is said That once one of the Ethiopian Emperours had an intention to have done it and had commanded his Subjects to undertake the Work but that he was prevail'd upon to desist at the entreaty of the Egyptian Christians I must confess this thing has very much perplex'd my thoughts nor are the Reasons that are brought against it to be contemn'd For either to raise a Mole or Dam of Stones and then to remove it again are things requiring so much toyl and labour that the Task does no way agree with the nature of the Abessines And it seems somewhat unlikely that so vast a River so long accustom'd to a declining and headlong Course should be diverted and compell'd to change its Channel I consider'd also with my self that if the King of Habessinia had the River Nile so much in his Power he might have all Egypt easily at his Devotion and that the Turk could deny him nothing whatever he demanded Nor would he ever suffer the Christians of his own Religion and the Patriarch who is the Head of his Church to groan under such a miserable Bondage Lastly I did not a little wonder that the Jesuits did not insinuate it into the heads of the Abessines to make use of that Power which Nature had put into their hands and that they did not use Threats rather than Intreaties and Bribes to obtain those conveniencies which they enjoy by the favour of the Turkish Basha who commands the Ports of the Red-Sea But all things consider'd and rejecting the History of Elmacine we may answer Tellez from the Relation of Gregory which is That a new Channel may be carry'd on not from those parts of Abessinia which lie upon the Nile and are so many Leagues distant from the Sea but from that part which is near the Cataracts and formerly perhaps belong'd to Nubia My first Opinion was That the Channel of Nile could no where be so easily alter'd as in that place where it divides it self into two Channels for that there by the direction of Nature her self it seem'd that the whole might be more easily turn'd another way where a part turns naturally without compulsion For tho other Rivers empty themselves into Nile beyond this separation and flow into Egypt yet are they not enough to make the Inundation so great as necessity requires which would not only be the ruin of Egypt but a great diminution of the Turkish Power But however it be this I believe to be certain That the King of Habessinia is now no more Lord of those places where the River Nile ever was or ever can be diverted from Nile nor are the Princes of those places now at his Devotion neither are they indeed Christians but unhappily revolted to Paganism So that whatever formerly might have been done cannot now be brought to pass not that the nature of the place obstructs the design but that the Prince of the Country wants Power or else has no inclination to the Project Otherwise I should not think it either absurd or improbable that some Rivers that make their way through the high Fields of Habessinia might be convey'd another way by the descents of the Hill through the sandy Levels that lye below to a vast diminution of the Egyptian Stream provided that skilful Artists were employ'd to survey the declivities of the places and the places most proper to carry off the Water For though it be a difficult thing to alter the Course and Limits of Rivers which Nature has settl'd yet Examples are not wanting We read in Herodotus L. 1. call'd Clio. That Nitocres King of the Babylonians
When the War with the Adelenses was ended and Grainus slain having certain Lands and Possessions granted them by Claudius they chose themselves Wives got Children and being furnish'd after the manner of the Country with Mules and Servants and other necessaries began to live comfortably for while the success of their assistance was fresh in memory they were courted and every where kindly entertained and had the free liberty of their Religion but these Priviledges were abridg'd by Menas successor to Claudius They impatiently brook'd to see their kindness so ungratefully retalliated it being the nature of Soldiers rather to do than receive injuries However their Lands were taken away for jealousie began to Rule or else exchang'd for worse and those bordering upon the Enemy so that at length the Kings of Portugal were forc'd to allow them Twelve hundred Patacks a year to maintain them In this last Century while the Fathers of the Society flourish'd they wanted for nothing but liv'd in great Prosperity but the Fathers losing their Credit they were again reduc'd to the extremity of Misery So that it was the fear of Mendez lest in that miserable Poverty forgetful of their Native Language and their Ancestors they should revolt to the Religion and Customs of the Habessines The End of the First Book CONCERNING Their Political Government BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of the Kings of the Abessines their Various Titles their Names and Arms. The King of the Abessines why called Prester John The King of Portugal sends to discover the Indian Trade and to find out Prester John One of them not finding him in India causes a false Report in Europe The true Presbyter John in Asia Why so call'd Ridiculous Expositions of his Name The true Title of the Kings of Abessinia They have a double Name relating to their Baptism and the Government sometimes treble which renders the Story uncertain Their Arms. Their Titles The Queens Title retain'd during Life The Title of the Noble Women THE King of the Habessines has been hitherto known to the Europeans by no other Title than that of Presbyter John which was first given him by the Portugueses The Occasion thus Peter the Son of Peter Prince of Portugal returning home from Venice carried along with him a Treatise of Paulus Venetus being a Discourse of the Affairs of India Itiner c. 52. wherein many things were more especially and magnificently written concerning Presbyter John which as the Portuguese Chronicles witness was the chief Motive to prosecute the Design of the Indian Navigation that Henry the Son of John the First had begun He being induc'd into a certain belief that there might a Compass be fetch'd about Africa by which means the Passage would be open into India as having read in the Relations of the Ancients that Hanno the Carthaginian sailing out of the Streights of Gibraltar came at length through the Ocean into the Red Sea and sent a Navy into the unknown Atlantic Sea to discover the Shore of Africa Whose Design John the Second pursuing to bring the Discovery to Perfection sent two Portugueses Skilful in the Arabic Language Peter Covillian and Alphonsus Payva to try what they could do among other things giving them more especially in charge to find out that so much celebrated Presbyter John that most wealthy King as he was reputed either in Asia or India hoping easily to obtain a League and Friendship with him as a Christian Prince They Travell'd through Egypt several ways into India and after a long and vain Search for Prester John Payva came home but Peter more inquisitive at length in some of the Ports of the Red Sea heard much talk of a most Potent Christian King of the Abessines that us'd to carry a Cross in his Hands as also of his Subjects who were great Favourers if not Followers of the Christian Religion Believing it therefore to be of little moment whether this famous Monarch liv'd in Asia or in Africa he certainly perswaded himself as being Ignorant both in History and Geography that this was the Prince so much sought after and thereupon gave Intelligence thereof to his own King while he himself continu'd his Journey into Ethiopia with a resolution to take a view of this Celebrated Presbyter Emperor who was look't upon as another Pope These glad Tidings the Portugals sooner believ'd than consider'd and so spread the News all over Europe for real Truth Credulity gaining easily upon those that are ignorant of Foreign Affairs and Kingdoms And now the Learned Men began to enquire into the Cause and Original of this same Appellation As it is the Custom generally to search for true Originals of feigned Names and wrest them after a strange manner to make good their own Opinions We find among the most Eminent Historians that formerly there was a certain Christian Prince that reign'd in the utmost Parts of Asia not far from the Kingdom of Tenduc toward (a) The most Skilful Geographers teach us That Cataya is no peculiar Kingdom but a Part of North China See Newhostus's China Embassy Cataya who being of great Power and Fame was by the Neighbouring Persians to signifie his remarkable Sanctity call'd Prester-Chan or Prince of the Adorers that is to say Christians or as Scaliger will have it Fristegiani the Apostolic Prince However the Name is to be pronounc'd we shall not contend but this is certain that the unskilful Vulgar having learnt the Name from the Italians who at that time were great Traders into the East call'd him by the Italian Name of Preste or Pretegianni or Giovanni after which the same Name prevail'd with all the People of Europe Thus his Name and his Fame continued for some Ages though under much obscurity For few understood that that same Asiatic Prester Chan was (b) Scal. in his Notes ad Comp. Ethiop but by what Authority he writes that the Ethiopians were beaten out of Asia by the Tartars I cannot apprehend driven out of his Kingdom by Cenchi or Cynges King of the Tartars Therefore for this reason because the Portugueses were greatly mistaken first in the Name and secondly in the thing it self that Name was given to this African King which belong'd to a King reigning some Ages since in Asia some Thousands of Miles distance Now after this Sir-name prevail'd among the Habessinians and yet there could be found no Cause or Signification of the same they began to find out (c) In the Itineracie of Hierome Wolsus words Foreign and altogether from the purpose to uphold their own Vanity as Gian-Belul Beldigian Tarasta Gian one among the rest super-exquisitely Critical perswading himself that Prete-Janni was faulty would have it to be Pretious-John as a Title more becoming the Person of a King This Epithete the Pope once assum'd and that he might not be thought to be in an Error many there were that obstinately maintain'd it l. 2. c. 2. so that Tellezius had much ado to instruct them better It
writing to the Pope uses only this Introduction Let the little book of the Letter from Malec-Saghed King of the Kings of Ethiopia come to the hands of the Holy Roman Patriarch In the same manner writing to the King of Spain Let the little book of the Epistle or Letter from Atznasf-Sagned King of the Kings of Ethiopia come to the hands of our Brother the Lord Philip King of the Kings of Spain Thus he also writes to his Subjects Let the Codicile of the Letter sent from Sultan-Saghed King of the Kings of Ethiopia come to the hands of our Servant N. N. Hear what we say to thee and what wee write to thee But Tellezius a Person of a more excellent Wit condemns and laughs at this Catalogue of which he accompts Damianus-Goez to be the Author He himself produces another as appears by the Order of the Kings and the years of their Reigns wherein he has traced the Succession as far back as from King Solomon trusting to the Credit and Tradition of the Habessines So that he numbers ninety and nine Kings but does not name them all He also omits all the Kings of the Zagean Family as unlawful Successors though it be the part of a Historian to recount as well the evil as the good the unjust as well as the just Princes in honour of their Virtues and in detestation of their Vices Moreover he says it is not the least part of that Glory which belongs to the Abbessines that they have such a long and ancient Series of Kings Nor is it to be question'd that though they cannot fetch their pedigree from Solomon yet they are able to deduce it from Atzbeha and Abreha two Brothers under whom the Christian Religion was first received among the Axumites and may contend for antiquity of descent with the most ancient Royal Families of Europe not to speak of the diuturnity of the Monarchy which is much more ancient Formerly the (i) See the learned Egyptian Cronical Canon of Sr. John Marsham and the Authors by him cited Egyptians boasted the antiquity of their Kingdom before that of all other Nations The (k) See John Newhoff's description of China c. 8. Chineses extend the Pedigree of their Kings beyond the Flood Johannes Magnus reckons up Kings of Swedland from the Deluge Others in other places take the same liberty whether out of love to flatter or fiction I cannot tell as if there were more pleasure in deceiving the Credulous then shame in being deceived by the Wise For no wise men will contaminate their works with such Fables or if indeed such Kings had ever been what does it signifie to them or their posterity if nothing more be known of them but only a monstrous kind of a name Our Gregorie had never (l) See the Catalogue annexed to Tzagaxi's fabulous History and Jerome Veechietti c. 39. heard of that same Cusus not his Nephevvs whom these Genealogy Writers put in the Front But being ask'd concerning King Arwe he made answer that there was an ancient Tradition among them that the most ancient Ethiopians worship'd for their God a huge Serpent in that language called Arwe-midre Whence it came to pass that some would have Arwe for the first King but however that he was slain by one Angab who for that bold attempt was created King and had for his Successors Sabanut and Gedut Tellez omitting all these Ethnic Kings as fictitious begins from the Queen of Sheba whom we shall follow rejecting that fabulous and corrupt Catalogue which numbers up a hundred seventy and two CHAP. III. Of the Salomonean Family which is said to have its Original from Menile-heck the Queen of Sheba's Son who came to visit Salomon The Ethiopians derive their Kings from the Queen of Sheba The relations of Tellez and Josephus Both reconcil'd The Tradition of the Arabians Their Contention with the Abessines Mendez his Argumuets for the Abessines The Opinions of Tellez and Gregorie The Author suspends his judgment for several reasons WE find in Sacred Writt that we may begin at the Fountain of Antiquity that the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to hear and behold the Wisdom of Salomon and that she brought along with her precious Gifts as Gemms Gold and Spices Our Saviour tells us A Queen of the South 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that came from the ends of the Earth to hear the Wisdom of Salomon The Ethiopic version renders the Queen of the South Nagasta-Azeb (m) Tellez erroneously takes Azeb for a proper name p. 63. which signifies the same thing Her therefore the Ethiopians assert to be their Queen and have her History written at large but mix'd with sundry Fables We shall transcribe the Summ of it out of Tellez who saith That the Queen of Ethiopia Maqueda understanding from her Merchant Tamerin the certainty of the Report which had bin spread abroad concerning the great Power and Wisdom of Salomon with a great train of her Nobility and Royal presents gave him an Interview at his own Court where she learnt from him the true Worship of God And at her return after a certain space of time she brought forth her Son Menilehec begot by Salomon and whom he had nam'd David This young Prince was afterwards sent to Jerusalem to his Father where by his order and care he was Exactly instructed in the Law of God Being grown up he was anointed King of Ethiopia and sent back into his own Kingdom accompany'd with several noble Israelites and Doctors of the Law who were joyn'd with him as Friends and Companions and Ministers of State among the rest went also Azaria the Son of Zadoc the High Priest And this is that Prince from whom all the Habessine Kings and the chiefest of the Nobility derive their Pedegrees to this day But then follows a Tale no less insipid then misbecoming the new King That these noble Jews nefariously and Sacrilegiously took away with them the Ark of the Covenant together with the Tables of the Ten Commandements the Temple being carelesly lookt after and the Gates being left open as it were by the Providence of God Presently the Mother upon his return resign'd her Kingdom to her Son David obliging him and all the Nobility of the Nation That they should never for the future admit a Woman to rule over them but onely males of the Line of David But it has bin the Long and Serious Enquiry of the Ancients of what Countrey and of what Progenie this same Queen of Sheba was Josephus while he writes the Antiquities of the Jews an Author not to be contemn'd tho in Forraign matters not so well vers'd affirms her to be one Nicaule mentioned hy Herodotus And yet in the Modern Editions of Herodotus there is no such Name to be found unless she should be the same whom he calls Nitocris That Nicaule according to Josephus was not onely Queen of Ethiopia but of Egypt in which 't is to be fear'd he is foully
Emperours descended from the Ancient Romans But if as the Posterity of the Israelites they continue in their Offices or are so sollicitous to preserve their Posterity why not as well in preserving the Histories of their Ancestors and in perpetuating Kindnesses between their Relations and those of the same Tribe or Family why not more choice in their Marriages more earnest in Visiting the Temple of Jerusalem and in giving mutual assistance to their Brethren Especially when Rehoboam the Brother of Menehelec suffer'd that great Loss of the revolt of the Ten Tribes and when he was invaded by Sisack King of Egypt whom no man better than the King of Ethiopia could have diverted when the Jews were oppress'd by so many Enemies when they were carry'd away Captive to Babylon when ruin'd by the Kings of Assyria and when subdu'd by the Romans For then the Passages were free thorough Arabia or Egypt and the Red Sea was open Lastly which is of most moment if the Ethiopians receiv'd their divine Ceremonies and Religion from Salomon why not his human Learning For Learning and Religion generally go together as may be prov'd by the Examples of many Nations But as to this their manner of writing and reading differs very much though some of their letters seem to be borrow'd from the Samaritans Lastly the Jews inhabiting up and down all over Ethiopia it would be of great Concern to put these Questions to them When and how they came thither What they think of these Traditions of the Habissines and what they find in their Books concerning them it not being probable that all their Books should be lost in a Country so well defended by nature But we have made too long a Digression now let us return to Menilehec CHAP. IV. of Menilehec the Son of Makeda and of his Posterity to the interrupted Succession of the Salomonians Menilehec first King the interpretation of his name nothing certain of his Son or Posterity Christ born in the Reign of Bazen No mention here of Queen Candaces She reign'd in Meroe not in Habessinia Abreha and Atzbeha Brothers and Kings first Christian Kings A Triumvirate of Kings Their Successors The Subversion of the Kingdom of the Homerites by Caleb He restores Nagra to the Christians His Successors Saif-ibn-de-Jazan advanced by the Persians Slain Bazen the last submits to the Mahumetans The Greek Histories Confused Caleb's Encomium The Martyrdom of the Nagranites Caleb's Successors The Salomonean Line interrupted NOW then they acknowledg Menilehec-El-Haqim to be the first King Which name some interpret As He. Others As God created him like me Neither of which interpretations can be pick'd from the Ethiopic Language However Ebn-El-Haqim is apparently in Arabic the Son of Wisdome or of Salomon Tellezius gives to his Son the name of Zadgur whereas Gedur in Marianus Victor's Catalogue precedes Queen Makeda Then saith he four and twenty Kings succeeded till Bazen reign'd and yet in the next Chapter writes him to be the Twentieth from Menihelec the Son of Salomon but neither does he name them neither will we detain the Reader amidst these uncertainties There is less doubt that Christ our Saviour was born in the time of Bazen more particularly in the Eighteenth Year of his Reign Here is no mention made of Candaces whom some of the Ethiopians acknowledg for their Queen in this contradictory to themselves while they will not admit a Female to the Throne And therefore it is more proper that we should in expounding that place in the Acts c. 8. v. 27. which speaks of the Queen of Ethiopia's Eunuch find out some other more probable part of Ethiopia bordering upon Aegypt which with some probability we may conjecture to be the Island of Meroe in regard that Pliny testifies That in that Iland reign'd a Certain Woman call'd Candace and that the succeeding Queens assum'd that name afterwards for many Years After Bazen for the space of 327 Years Ethiopia was govern'd by Thirteen Kings as Tellezius records it But he mentions not one of their names perhaps because he found there was nothing of certainty From the time that (t) Abreha is an Arabic word contractedly spoken Abra Erroneously taken for Abraham which they pronounce Ibrahim Abreha and Atzbeha held the Scepter the Ethiopic History has afforded much more clearness and light and the names of the Kings are more certainly recited Of these and several other Successive Kings there is mention made in the Ethiopic Liturgy and otherwhere For in their Commemoration of the Dead there is this Ejaculation Remenber Lord Abreha and Atzbeha Kings of Ethiopia My Ethiopic Poet also gives them this Encomium Peace be to Abreha and Atzbeha They in one Kingdom did the Scepter sway And yet in Love and yet in Concord still They liv'd as Princes with one Heart and Will Like those good Men that with Religious awe Walk'd in the Precepts of Mosaic Law Their Lipps the words of Christ's own Gospel taught To build him Temples with their hands they wrought They are applauded for their Concord rare among Brothers who are partners in Royalty yet that it may so happen is clear by that great Sentence A Kingdom may endure Collegues in Kingship so They can but endure themselves But much more were they to be Extoll'd for embracing the Christian Religion at what time Frumentius Preach'd of which more in due place But more then this the Habessines give us another Example of a Concording and Unanimous Triumvirate These Royal Triumvers were Atzfa Atzfed and Amey who govern'd the Empire long and prosperously by turns as they agreed A thing which the Habessines will hardly perswade most people to believe unless it were in reference to the hearing such businesses as afterwards requir'd common Consultation or the executing such Decrees as were made by Common Consent tho in such Transactions likewise there must be harmony and agreement To them succeeded Arado Aladoba and Alamid at what time several Monks went out of Aegypt into Ethiopia to propagate the Gospel To Alamid succeeded his Son Tacena and after him Caleb his Nephew who flourished in the time of the Emperour Justin about the Year 522. The Greek and Latin Authors call him Eles baan Perhaps from the Ethiopic name of Baptisme Atzbeha with the Arabic article El. El-Atzbeha from whence Eles baas He was famous for the Subversion of the Kingdom of the Homerites and revenging the blood of the Christians slain by that Impious Dunawas for which he was placed in the Kalendar of the Saints It is a Story most worthy remembrance wherein the Arabic and Ethiopic Historians very punctually agree with the Greeks and Latins This (u) You have the History at large in Baronius Anuals who sayes he had the Story from an Author of an unspotted Credit and the Writings of that time Dunawas was the Last King of the Sabeans who were afterwards call'd Homerites in opinion a Jew and therefore one that afflicted the Christians with a most dire Persecution For he
eager to come to a Field decision before the King should gather Strength In the mean time the Enemies of the new Religion Rendevouz'd together from all Parts and among the rest Abuna Peter the Alexandrian Metropolitan and chief Head of the Rebellion who by an unheard of President in Ethiopia contrary to the Laws of God and Man absolv'd the Rebels from the tye of their Oaths which they had Sworn to their lawful Prince which they themselves had already broke by virtue of a detestable Excommunication of his Prince Thus more and more embold'nd and contemning the Majesty of the King they turn'd their Veneration into Hatred And so with mutual Animosity they joyn Battel The Portugueses who fought in the right wing maintain'd their ground a long time believing the Kings and the Cause of Religion to be their own But in the left Wing of which the King himself took charge all things went to rack for many fled over to the Enemy many look'd on without striking a stroke resolv'd to follow the Fortune of the Day Thus the King forsaken by his own fought bravely for a long time till Laeca-Marjam and the rest of his Guard being slain he was himself struck down from his Horse with the sling of a Lance. After that getting up again to renew the Fight he was stuck through the body and slain with several Darts thrown at a distance reverence of his person not permitting them to come near to hurt him The third day after the Fight he was taken up and buried without any Funeral Pomp in a little Chappel hard by the Field of the Battel Such was the end of the short Life and Reign of this Famous and Lawful King of Ethiopia A doleful Warning to admonish us that the Cause of Religion ought to be moderately and prudently handled And that it behoves a Prince not to thrust himself rashly into a Battel especially when there is no certain Successor For proof whereof the fatal Example of Sebastian King of Portugal may serve among the rest CHAP. VII Of the Kings of this Centurie To our Times Susneus aspires to the Crown acknowledg'd by Ras-Athanasius He requests the same from Zaslac Who refuses at first then submits But Jacob appearing he takes his part So does Ras-Athanasius Jacob again made King He desires an agreement with Susneus but in vain They take Arms. Zaslac beaten he goes over to Susneus A new War Jacob and Abuna slain The Victor's Clemency Zaslac imprison'd he escapes invades Waleka and Gojam Kill'd by the Pagans Ras-Athanasius dyes Susneus kind to the Portugals and Jesuits He submits to the Pope A Counterfeit Jacob but dares not stand the coming of Susneus An Impostor of the same kind comes into France His Conditions his Epitaph Alibi boasts himself the Son of Arzo Susneus's Nativity Conditions Vertues Vices and Death His Son Basilides drives the Jesuits out of Ethiopia He kills his Brothers A General Table of the last Kings of Habessinia KIng Zadenghel being thus slain the War indeed ceas'd yet Peace did not presently ensue For the Rebels not dreaming of such a speedy Victory had not consider'd of a Successor Wherefore as it were stupid with Emulation Ras-Athanasius departs for Gojam and Zaslac for Dembea without ever holding any common Consultation Thereupon Susneus hearing of the King's death and believing that the Kingdom was now fallen to Him as being the Son of Basilides the Nephew of Jacob and Grandchild of David and then being also a Young man train'd up in the Gallan Wars belov'd and surrounded with the choicest of the Military Bands he conceiv'd no small hopes of his design First therefore he sends before one of the Faithfullest of his Friends to Ras-Athanasius with instructions to declare to him in short That whereas the Kingdom belong'd to him by right of Inheritance he should come presently and joyn Forces with his In the mean time Susneus not expecting an Answer follows the Messenger with the nimblest of his Army and writes to Athanasius as if already made King That he was at hand and that therefore he should come to meet him and pay him the accustom'd honours due to him Athanasius amaz'd at the unexpected approach of Susneus void of Counsel the Danger being Equal on both sides either to refuse or admit him at length finding all assistance far distant and no hopes of delay to give him time to consult with Zaslac he rather chose to be before-hand with the new King's Favours than to hazard the uncertain Fortune of a Battel So that Susneus being honourably receiv'd into the Camp was saluted King Which done he presently writes to Zaslac That by the Providence of God he had recovered the Throne of his Ancestors and was now marching for Dembea therefore he should take Care that there might be Forces there ready to receive him and those deserved Favours which he was ready to bestow upon them But he tho astonish'd at the suddain News was unwilling to acknowledg him for King whom he had not made himself and therefore consulting with his Friends return'd for answer That he would then obey him if Jacob to whom he had already by Message offer'd the Kingdom did not come before June and therefore begg'd that short delay Susneus no way pleas'd with the Condition wrote back to him again That he was King already and therefore would give place neither to Jacob once before adjudg'd unworthy nor to his Father Malec-Saghed though he should return from the other World Zaslac having receiv'd this surly Answer equally mettlesom and diligent turns his Arms upon him and comes on briskly to meet him Susneus finding himself prevented with the speedy March of his Adversary and perceiving himself over-match'd and which was worse not well in health retir'd to the Craggy Mountains of Amhara Ras-Athanasius also whose precipitancy Zaslac had upbraided retreated into other Fastnesses to avoid the Fury of his Associate In the mean time there being no News of Jacob the other Captains and Commanders of the Army began to scatterwords of discontent That they would not be without a King that if Jacob would not come there was no Person fitter than Susneus neither would he be at rest till he had obtain'd by force what they would not give him by fair means Zaslac fearing the Inconstancy of his own People and consequently a Revolt orders Commissioners to be sent and by them surrenders the Scepter to Susneus who presently sent a Person to whom Allegiance should be sworn in his Name Which being done Ten of the chiefest Peers ride forth to meet the new King and to conduct him with a Pomp befitting into the Camp And now Shouts and Acclamations are to be every where heard Neither were Banquets wanting with all other Solemnities usual at the Inaugurations of their Kings when on a sudden new Commissioners from Jacob quite disturb'd their mirth with such a suddain alteration as with which Fortune never more odly mock'd before the hopes of those that
1590 at what time King Naod was sent for from the Rock to ascend the Throne He had a Son about Nine years of Age whom he dearly lov'd which Child one of his chief Courtiers steadfastly beholding Certainly said he to the King this Child grows apace The Boy was of an acute Witt and understood what the Courtier drove at and therefore fixing his weeping Eyes upon his Fathers Face Oh Father said he Have I grown thus fast to be hurry'd from your sight to the Rock Geshen Which word strook his Father so deeply to the heart that having assembl'd the Nobility of his Court and Kingdom he told them That such a wicked and inhuman Custom was to be renounc'd Which was immediatly done neither he nor his Council considering that private affections are not to be preferr'd before the Safety of a Nation And thus it came to pass through the Kings unseasonable tenderness that this same Custome receiv'd and continu'd in Habessinia so much to the Health of the Government was abrogated to the unspeakable detriment of the Kingdom And from that time never any Prince was Exil'd to those Rocks Alvarez writes That David being advanc'd to the Throne his Younger Brother with the rest of the Sons of Naod were sent away to the Rock and afterwards That one of the Younger Sons Escap'd but was taken and sent back and that he saw him there From whence it may be objected against Tellezius That this Custome continu'd after Naod's time But we have some reason to believe That he foresaw this Objection because he binds it with an Asseveration saying The thing is certainly true and is easie to be confirm'd as well by the Fathers of the Society as by the Example of Susneus who tho he had several Sons yet never went about to send any of them to the Rock But then again when he sayes Alvarez is to be believ'd in all things that he saw there is some need of Reconciliation That is to say That the Sons of Naod the Brothers of David were then carry'd to the Rock and that one of them after an Escape was taken and sent back So that the new Constitution might not help them tho it were a kindness to the Sons of the succeeding Kings The Reports concerning the Pleasantness of those Rocks and the splendid attendance upon those Royal Exiles are all ridiculous Falsities The Rocks we have describ'd already And as for the splendidness of Attendance when the Custome was in force most certain it is that those Princes were kept close Prisoners and they that either attempted to Escape or were assisting to their Escape lay under great Penalties The Princes themselves were harshly us'd Neither was any person permitted to come at them so that their Education could never fit them for a Crown but was rather to put them out of Hopes of having any thing to do with the Affairs of this World It is reported of one of the Keepers that one morning observing one of his Royal Prisoners putting on a Garment somewhat neater than ordinary he not only chidd him and tore the Vestment but gave notice of it to his Father all which the poor Prince was forc'd to take patiently Afterwards the same Prince coming to be King himself did not onely forbear to revenge the Injury but hearing that his Keeper was gone aside as dreading some heavy punishment caus'd him to be sought out and being brought before him half dead for fear both prais'd and rewarded him Exhorting him to continue in his Office as Faithful to Him as he had bin to the King deceas'd And thus we generally impose upon others what we are very unwilling to endure our selves CHAP. IX Of the Priviledge and Power of the King in Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs The Kings Power absolute Experienc'd by the Jesuits Alphonsus the Patriarch offends the King He claims the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction He abrogates the Latin Religion calls Synods He forbears the right of Nomination not bound by the Secular Laws He has no Estates The benefit of them He enjoyes all Royal Priviledges but makes not use of all Hunting Lawful for all Private persons have nothing proper The King takes and gives as he pleases Certain Families excepted THe Power of the Abessinian Kings is absolute as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil Affairs Of which the Fathers of the Society have had sufficient experience in whose favour and to whose disadvantage he has exercis'd his supream Ecclesiastical Authority without ever consulting the Patriarch of Alexandria First when he put forth several Edicts for receiving the Roman Religion and abrogating the Alexandrian Ceremonies which was done with the consent of the Fathers Afterwards the state of Affairs changing when he dispenc'd by public Edict with certain Ceremonies that were indifferent Alfonsus the Patriarch reprov'd him It is not lawful said he for a King to put forth any such Edict as being purely Ecclesiastical and belonging to the Priestly Office and You ought to remember what the High Priest said to King Uzziah It belongs not to thee O King Uzziah to offer incense to the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron who are consecrated to that Ministry get thee forth out of the Sanctuary for it will not be imputed to thee as an honour by the Lord God to which the Patriarch added the Punishment that follow'd The King for that time gave way to the Patriarch and publish'd the Edict in another manner and form But not brooking the Comparison made between him and Uzziah among other things he gave the Patriarch this answer Wherefore didst thou bid us be mindful of Uzziah and wherefore didst thou compare us with him He was therefore punish'd by God for usurping the Office of the Priest which did not become him and because he offer'd Incense and Sacrifice to God which We never attempted to do onely We commanded an Edict to be publish'd about those Indifferent things which were agreed on between Us both Nothing more incens'd the King but that he saw his Prerogative call'd in question which for so many Ages had bin enjoy'd by his Ancestors and which was never deny'd by the Patriarch of Alexandria even before the Schisme Nor was he ignorant what the ancient Emperours after Constantine had done in the same Cases Nor was he so dull of apprehension as not to be able to distinguish between Episcopal rules and Kingly Jurisdiction which he thought belong'd to himself Which Prerogative tho he had a great Reverence for the Patriarch he would not part with but rather chose to publish another Edict which tended manifestly to the Diminution of the Patriarchal Power For the Patriarch had order'd a certain Monk to give some part of his Ecclesiastical Revenues to a certain Parish The Monk would not obey but complain'd to his Superiour one Iceg who obtain'd a Decree from the King wherein the Patriarch was enjoyn'd to keep to the Rules of the Metropolitans of Ancient Ethiopia and that Iceg should enjoy his
was hardly thought worthy so high an Employment and they were afraid of future shame for having acknowledg'd a false Embassadour After many and long delays at length they were satisfy'd and in return another Embassie was decreed to the Habessines and Odoardus Galvan was sent upon that Employment He dying by the way Rodorick Limez was sent in his room whose Priest was Francis Alvarez who left behind him an Itinerary written in the Portugueze Language in a plain and ordinary style tho afterwards for Curiositie's sake translated into several (a) By Michael de Selves into Spanish by others into Italian and Dutch Jovius promis'd also to do it into Latin but fail'd Languages Six Years Rodoric Limez resided in Ethiopia before he was dismiss'd by the King that he might be in a Capacity to make the same return of Kindness to the Portugals At length he sent him back joyning with him Tzagazaabus with Letters to the Pope and the King of Portugal flourish'd at the beginning with those usual Titles which we have already recited But what is to be admir'd 〈◊〉 Tzagazaabus arriv'd not at Rome till the Year 1539 being detain'd at Lisbon Certain other (b) Extant in Alvarez Damianus a Goez of the Ethiopian Customes and Tom. 11. Hispian Illustrat p. 1250. Letters were also recommended to Alvarez who carry'd them to Bononia and made a long Discourse of the Respect and Reverence which the Kings of Habessinia had to the See of Rome They were read before Clement the Seventh and the Emperour Charles the First with the general Applause of the Court of Rome but with no Success For that Claudius the King plainly deny'd to ratifie either those things or what John Bermudes afterwards related at Rome to the same effect as if never given in Command nor so understood but that the business of the Embassie and consequently the Letters themselves had bin faign'd and contriv'd by the Portugals However the Habessinians being reduc'd to very great streights at the Intercession of Bermudes had an assistance of Four hunder'd and fifty men granted and sent into Habessinia by the Command of John the Third But Peter Pays positively writes That this was done at the request of the Queen of Ethiopia And that Stephen Gomez who sail'd into the Red Sea to burn the Turkish Ships and by chance came to an Anchor before the Iland of Matzua after he had consulted his Councel of Warr resolv'd to send the said Supply as seeming to be for the honour of God and the King Of which Consultation there had certainly bin no need if the King had Commanded the Supply before However it were that Succour was not onely very necessary but very advantageous to the Habessines From which time the Habessines were not onely gratefully but honourably receiv'd among the Habessines nor did they then refuse the Latin Religion but frequently went to the Portugueze Chappels and admitted Them into Theirs Moreover they also gave Liberty to the Habessinian Women that were marry'd to the Portugueses to go to Mass with their Husbands and to partake of the same Ceremonies with them So that during the Raign of Claudius there was great Hopes both at Rome and at Lisbon that the Habessinians might be perswaded to embrace the Romish Religion But that Hope proving vain there was for some time a Cessation of Embassies and the Abessinian Friendship with the Lusitanians was almost interrupted untill by the Artifices of the Fathers of the Society the Minds of the later Kings were somewhat more inclinably dispos'd to give Obedience to the See of Rome Upon that Letters were written to the Pope and the King of Spain who was then also King of Portugal and answers upon them which gave an Occasion to Susneus to decree an Embassie into Europe To that purpose (c) Mistakenly Tecur-Egzy in Tellezius l. 2. c. 3. Fecur-Egzie was chosen and with him Antonie Fernandez was joyn'd who were commanded by unknown and by-ways to Travel Southward till they reach'd Melinda upon the Shore of the Indian Ocean from whence the Passage was more Easie and Safe into India Thereupon setting forth out of Gojam they Travell'd through Enarea from thence into the Kingdom of Zendero and so to Cambata the Last Kingdom under the Habessine Dominions Thence Travelling into Alaba they were forbid to go any farther by the Governour of the Province who was a Mahumetan He apprehended the Embassador with his Train and had not the Law of Nations bin of some force among the Barbarians for they had about them to shew both their Letters and Presents from the Emperour they had bin put to death with the Law in their own hands Being by that means set at Liberty after a Years and seven Months time spent in hard Travel after many sad Experiences of Savage Barbarity and a Thousand Jeopardies they return'd home without effecting any thing Nor can any reason be certainly given why those unknown and dangerous Ways were chosen thorough so many Barbarous Nations so many Wild and Desert Countries when the Road lay so plain through the Kingdom of Denoale in Friendship with the Abissines to the Port of Baylur which the Patriarch of Portugal afterwards securely made use of as if so tedious a Journey had bin impos'd upon the Undertakers not so much to go upon an Embassie as for the Discovery of Forraign Countries and By-Roads for the Direction of Travellers After that there happening a difference between them and the See of Rome all manner of Commerce and Communication with the Europeans ceas'd Insomuch that now they would with great reluctancy admit those whom before they so highly admir'd and with great difficulty would dismiss out of their affection to Arts and Sciences especially if they suspected them to be Clergy-men or under Religious Vows For which reason they try'd them first by offering a Wife to every Stranger Otherwise they rarely send any Embassadors abroad unless it be into Egypt when they have need of the Metropolitan For they are not onely ignorant of forraign Affairs and Languages but of the Ways and Roads of other Countries By reason of their Vicinity to the Turks and thence their frequent Commerce one with another sometimes they are forc'd to send Embassadors to Constantinople as in the Year 1660. So in the Year 1661 one Michael was sent thither with the wonted Presents a living Tecora several Skins of dead ones Pigmies and the like as Thevenot writes In the Year 1671 another Embassador was sent with some of those painted Beasts and Letters to the Dutch Governour of Batavia But they who are sent are generally Forrainers Maronites Armenians or else Arabians But as for what Leonardus Rauchwolf writes in his Itinerary it is altogether vain and false That Presbyter John having made a League with the Persians sent a Persian Bishop with so many Priests that in Two years time they converted Twenty Christian Cities to the Christian Religion It seems to be an old and confus'd
The next is Drubbing if the Crime be not Capital The punishment of the Nobility is Exilement into the Zanic Lake or into their high and steep Rocks which are in a manner like Ilands from whence however they frequently escape by reason that the People are easily corrupted by Bribery Homicides are deliver'd up to the next of (l) A Custome still us'd in Persia as you may read in Tavernier and Olearius Kin to the Party murder'd at whose free will it is to pardon the Malefactors sell them to forraign Merchants or put them to what death they please If the Homicide escape unknown the Inhabitants of the place and all the Neighbourhood are oblig'd to pay a Fine by which means many Murthers are either prevented or discover'd Most certainly the Law of Like for Like was always and still is accompted the most just and plainest among several Nations Hence that of Moses An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth But because there is not the same use of all members among men some men according to their various Callings having more use of one Member than another some being better able to lose their Hands than their Leggs others theâ—r Leggs than their Hands therefore among the Civiliz'd Nations this Law grew out of custome And it seems unjust to surrender the Offender to the Malice and Fury of the Offended Party when they may have unbyass'd Judges to give Sentence without Favour or Affection The End of the Second Book OF THE Ecclesiastical Affairs OF THE ABISSINES BOOK III. CHAP. I. Of the ancient Religion of the Abissines and their Judaic Rites The Ecclesiastical History of the Abissines corrupt and why The first Relation of Matthew the Armenian false Tzagazaabus's Confession as little to be credited Those of the Fathers and Tellezius more certain Ecclesiastical History commended The Tradition of some concerning the Original of the Judaic Rites Circumcision us'd by many How it differs from the Judaic No piece of holy Worship among the Habessines Females circumcis'd Why the Abissines abstain from Swines Flesh The Various Customs of Nations concerning Meats The Sabboth observ'd in the Primitive Church Different from the Lords Day and how Whether lawful to marry a Brothers Wife They abstain from the shrunck sinew What to be thought of Candaces Eunuch Menihelec's Posterity revolted from the true Religion Claudius disclaims the Judaic Religion NOw we proceed to the Ecclesiastical History of the Habessinians then which there is not any other more corrupt For whatever we find scatter'd in our Relations were neither collected out of the Books which are publickly authentic in Habessinia nor taken from the report of any persons there skill'd in the Ecclesiastical Affairs of that Country but partly ill related through the Rashness of the Writers themselves partly by the same persons or others ill understood through their ignorance of the Ethiopic Language The first Relation concerning the Religion of the Habessines was set forth by Damianus a Goez a noble Lusitanian from the Report of Matthew the Armenian First Ethiopic Embassador to Emanuel King of Portugal which Narrative of his (a) In a little Treatise often quoted Of the Embassie of the Great Emperor of the Indians contains many things ambiguous many other things altogether false Insomuch that Tzagazaabus the second Habessinian Embassador plainly tax'd the Author of it (b) For thus he sayes in his Confession of Faith Matthew in regard he was an Armenian could not so perspicuously understand our affairs especially those that related to our Faith And therefore he reported many things to King Emanuel which are not in use among Vs Which he did not out of desire to tell an untruth because he was a good man but because he knew little concerning our Religion But in my opinion that good man Matthew spake many things which he knew much better for his ignorance Tho he himself in the Confession of his Faith which the same (c) Extant in the 2. Tom. of Spain illustrated p. 1302. Goez set forth did not much excel him either for truth or probability for which reason Tellezius not undeservedly reprehends him Certainly Gregory was very much offended with him And when he heard his following Doctrines 1. That Jesus Christ was the Son of the Father and the beginning of himself in the same manner that the Holy Ghost was the Spirit of himself and proceeded from the Father and the Son 2. That he descended into Hell where was the Soul of Adam and Christ himself which Soul of Adam Christ received from the Virgin Mary and toward the latter end of the Book That Christ descended into Hell for the Soul of Adam and not for his own 3. That the Souls of men piously deceas'd are not crucify'd in Purgatory upon the Sabaoth and Lords Day 4. That by the Decree and Commandment of Queen Maqueda the Women were also to be Circumcis'd as having a certain glandulous piece of Flesh not unfit to receive the Impression and mark of Circumcision I say when Tellezius heard these things and many other of the same mixture in no small heat and Passion he cry'd out That they were Fictions Dreams nay meer Lyes frequently repeating these words If he said this he was a Beast of the Field Yet out of these Books most of those Stories have flow'd which our Writers have made public concerning the Religion of the Abessines But the Fathers of the Society having bin conversant so long in Ethiopia and view'd the Habessine Books after several Disputations and Discourses with them have bin able to afford us more Truth whose Acts and Writings being free for the perusal of Tellezius we shall cull the choicest of his accurate Relations and what he has reported more ambiguous or more partially out of his dislike of the Alexandrian Religion we shall correct out of their own Writings or from the Discourses of Gregory himself Certainly to Christians no History can be more pleasant than that of Ecclesiastical affairs especially if we look back to the Primitive Church For whom would it not ravish into a high admiration of the wonderful Providence of God as well in founding as preserving his Church when he shall consider that it grew up and increas'd not by the Propagation of Arms or human Arts but by the Oppression of Heathenish persecution To whom can it be unpleasing to consider with a Pious Contemplation the undaunted Courage of the Martyrs the Constancy of her Doctors the Sincerity of the Christian People the Purity of the Faith the Strife of Good Works the Patience of the Weak the plainness of the Rites and Ceremonies Which when they once began to be alter'd with the reverence to the Church be it spoken then also enter'd in Pride instead of Modesty Ambition instead of Charity together with Faction and Contention As if our leisure and our Quiet were therefore granted us by Heaven to consume that time in making Scrutinies into all the misteries of
whom To which the Book of Axuma agrees The Reasons of doubting and deciding Frumentius how call'd His Encomium Cedrenus and Nicephorus refuted IT is the Common Fame among the Europeans That the Conversion of the Habessines to the Christian Faith was begun by that Ethiopic Eunuch Acts 8.27 And perhaps the Habessines themselves believing it to be for their Honour were the authors of the Story confiding in the Credit of the Book of Axuma where the same history is set down as in the Acts of the Apostles and without any other Circumstances by which it may seem this story had not its first original among them but was transcrib'd Neither was Tzagazaabus better inform'd as appears by his Confession of Faith Nevertheless it seems very strange that King David should either assert or give his assent to Alvarez asserting the same thing whereas the Credit as well of the Ethiopic as Greek History absolutely tells us the contrary Some endeavour a Reconciliation of this difference as if the first dawnings of Christianity tho but very dark and obscure began at that time first to glimmer But then this should have bin demonstrated by solid Reasons relating not onely to the Ethiopic Nation in general but to the Habessinians in particular Whereas the Testimonies which we shall cite by and by do not speak of the Conversion of those that were half Christians before but either of the Jews or Heathens For we have already shew'd that Candaces was never Queen of the Habessines Neither is her Proper Name Lacasa which we find in the Vulgar Catalogues to be found in Tellezius For Hhendaqe or Hindaqe is a quite different word from Candace from whence others casting away the Aspirate derive the name Judith others as if they would correct the Error have strain'd it to Judith Nor was the name of Candace ever known to the Habessines tho familiar to the Inhabitants of Meroe Others refer the Conversion of the Habessines not to Candace's Eunuch but to the times of the Apostles and particularly ascribe it to St. Bartholmew others to St. Matthew or because there is no such thing to be found in his life to St. Matthias Of all which Fancies the Habessines knew nothing who hearing such Whimseys from our Countreymen not without reason answer'd That perhaps those things were to be understood of the Lower Ethiopia that lyes between Abassia and Egypt However we can never find out what the Success of those Apostles Preaching was what Kings or People withstood that Conversion what Pastors what Ceremonies what Books they made use of what form of Discipline or what was the Doctrine of that time Concerning all which things in regard there is so deep a silence we cannot acknowledg any such beginnings of the Christian Religion in Habessinia However this is certain That both the Habessine Grecian and Latin Writers Especially Ruffinus and his followers agree with one consent That the Conversion of the Ethiopian happen'd in the time of St. Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria under Constantine the Great about the Year of Christ 330. or not long after and that in this manner One Meropius a Merchant of Tyre Ruffinus calls him a Philosopher intending for India put into Harbour upon the Coast of Ethiopia in the Red Sea which at that time was also call'd the Indian Sea There dying or as Ruffinus will have it slain by the Barbarians he left two Young men Frumentius and Adesius Fremonatum and Sydracum the Habessines call them who being taken and brought to the King became highly favour'd and caress'd by reason of their Ingenuity and Industry and at length being made free of the Country were preferr'd by the King to keep his Books and Papers The King dying they remain'd in the same Imployment under the Queen Regent till the Young King came of age All this while they entertain'd the Christian Merchants that Traffick'd into those Parts with all kindness and did them all the good offices Imaginable and made themselves so remarkable for their Vertue and their Integrity among those Nations that the Christian Religion was highly esteem'd by all Which foundation being laid Frumentius took a Journey to St. Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria and was by Him for his great parts and Constancy in the Faith created the first Bishop of Ethiopia Thereupon returning into Ethiopia he initiated the Inhabitants in the Christian Religion by Baptisme then he ordain'd Presbyters and Deacons built Churches and so introduc'd the Christian Religion into Ethiopia Agreeable to this are those Relations which the Ethiopians have in their Book of Axuma onely that there is this addition to the Story of the Conversion made by Candace that these Tyrian Young men admir'd that the Ethiopians should believe in Christ and adore the Holy Trinity and that the Women wore Crosses upon their heads seeing that the Gospel had bin preach'd among them by none of the Apostles We wonder much more that Ethiopia should be converted in the time of the Apostles and yet have no Bishop no Baptism no Priests nor Deacons and that all these things should be first settled in the time of St. Athanasius Besides no man can be easily perswaded that such a beginning should remain so long time without a farther progress and that the Ethiopians themselves or the Bishops of the Neighbouring Christians should be so neglectful as not to lend their helping hands to the advancement of such fair Beginnings Especially at such a time when the Christians over the whole Roman Empire chiefly in Egypt suffer'd a most dreadful Persecution under Dioclesian How came it to pass that they did not seek for refuge in this Kingdom out of the reach of their Enemies where they were sure of Sanctuary and Protection from a Prince of their own Religion Could all the Ecclesiastical Histories and the Annals of the Patriarch of Alexandria have forgotten a Prince the first in all the World that had receiv'd the light of the Gospel Were there no Martyrs whose memories the Habessines are so sollicitous to preserve No War no Seditions upon the change of Religion but so great an Alteration without any noise To assert a thing of so much moment and yet to bring no Circumstances no particular Events and Casualties seems very discrepant from the Truth of History It is sufficient that the Ethiopians agree with us in the principal matters For whether Meropius dy'd or were slain whether Frumentius and Edesius were call'd Fremonatus and Sydrac signifies little Yet in that Place Ruffinus was strangely deceiv'd For he seems with others to have meant India properly so call'd when he neither knew the Bounds or Situation of it where he sayes That the Hithermost India adjoyns to Ethiopia Between which and Parthia he places the farthermost India So that he makes the farthermost India nearest to Ethiopia and Parthia more remote This was the reason that Baronius believ'd there were two Frumentius's and that one was a Preacher of the Gospel at Axuma whereas it was
as Adnael Adotavi Adotael Tilelmejus Cuercuerjam Flastaslaque With many others more horrid to Pronunciation But from hence it is apparent how much the Habassines resemble the Jews as affecting words of uncouth and unheard of insignificancy by which they thought to command both Heaven and Hell which carrying a kind of a dreadful sound the Habessines also use them in their forms of Anathematizing they cry And let him be accurs'd by Addirion and Actariel by Sandalphon and Hadarmel by Ansiciel and Patchiel by Seraphiel and Zeganzael by Michael and Gabriel and by Raphael and Meschartiel and let him be interdicted by Tzautzeviv and Haueheviv He is the great God and by the Seventy Names of that great King and on the behalf of Tzortak the great Ensign-Bearer CHAP. V. Of the Religion of the Habassines at this Day The Reports of Matthew the Armenian and Tzagazaab false or uncertain The Fathers have omitted their soundest Opinions And fix'd their several Errors upon them The Confession of Claudius Genuine The great Authority of the Synodal Writers They admit the Nicene and other Councils till that of Chalcedon They acknowledge the Trinity one Person of Christ and his sufficient Merit The Proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Son they deny Gregorie's Dispute and Opinion The Ethiopian interpretation of the word Proceed The Sacraments Baptism Communion under both Kinds The real Presence The words they use in Reference to it Gregorie's Opinion of Transubstantiation Of the Soul after Death They pray for the Dead Deny Purgatory Gregorie's Opinion concerning it The Original of Prayer for the Dead They pray to Saints and Angels Their Catechism for Children and Neophytes WEre the Symbolical Book of the Habessines which they call Hajmanot-Abau to be found in Europe we might easily Collect from thence the true and genuine Sence and Doctrine of the Ethiopic Church concerning the Heads and Articles of the Christian Faith for hitherto we find the most of them uncertainly deliver'd and for the Confession of Faith set down by Matthew the Armenian and Tzagazaab we have already taken notice of the failings in it The Fathers of the Society that have been conversant among the Habessines both in this and the former Century and frequently discours'd with their Learned Men passing by their sound and serious Opinions tax them of many Errors which they have receiv'd from the Greeks and Jews As for Example That the Spirit proceeds only from the Father That the Human Nature of Christ is equal to his Divinity They acknowledge but one Will and one Operation in Christ for which reason they believe that we affirm Four Persons in the Godhead seeing that we confess two Wills and two Natures in Christ. They repeat the Ceremony of Baptism every year upon the Feast of the Epiphany They believe that the Souls of the Just shall not be receiv'd into Heaven before the end of the World nor do they think them to be Created but produc'd out of Matter They neither confess the Number nor the particular Species of their Sins but cry in general I have sin'd I have sin'd They use not the Sacrament of Chrism nor Extream Unction upon the approach of Death nor do they mind the Consolation of the bread of life Insomuch that many of them stick not to say That they who follow the Roman Religion are not only Heretics but worse than the Mahumetans They reject the Council of Chalcedon casting many reproaches upon Leo the Great but highly applauding Dioscurus They deny Purgatory These things I chose to deliver almost in the very words of Godignus who Collected them out of the Relations and Letters of Gonzalez Rodoric Alphonsus de Franca Emanuel Fernandez and others of the Society Neither do they seem to be improbable but how they evade or excuse them we shall shortly declare As to what is said that some of them believe the Followers of the Romish Religion to be worse than Mahumetans I could not hear any such thing from Gregory neither did he think it was to be understood in reference to their Doctrine but their Tyranny over their Subjects it being the Custom of the Mahumetans only to vex and oppress all those who are under their Power professing a Religion contrary to theirs but never to rage against them with Fire and Sword In the mean time we have a Confession set forth by King Claudius but the scope of that Confession was only to clear himself and his Subjects from the Imputation of Judaism which he found to be the only reason that impeded the Amity between him and the Portugals Therefore leaving this Confession by what we can gather from their Publick Liturgies and the Writings and Sayings of Persons both Publick and Private the sum of the Habessinian Doctrine seems to consist of the following Heads First They acknowledge the Holy Scripture to be the sole and only Rule of what they are to believe and what they are to do insomuch that King David said to Alvarez That if the Pope should impose upon Him or His Subjects any thing what the Apostles had not written or permitted he would not obey him nor his own Metropolitan if he should attempt to do the like But with the Scripture they are so much in love that there is nothing more delightful to their Ears than the repetition of it Therefore saith Tellez Nothing more pleas'd the Habessines than to hear the Scripture often quoted in Sermons and the more Citations a man brings out of Scripture the more learned be is accompted Nor do they give much less Credit to the Three Oecumenical Councils as appears by the Confession of Claudius They generally make use of the Nicene Creed which they call Tzalot Hajmanot the Prayer of the Faith That which we use they have not no more than all the rest of the Eastern Churches a strong Argument that it was not compil'd by the Apostles tho' in regard of the Doctrine which it contains it may be truly call'd Apostolic For certainly the Nicene Fathers would not have stifl'd such a Creed or set forth another of their own had the Apostles left such an Epitome of their Doctrine behind them The Ancient Greek Councils then are the Councils which the Habessines have in reverence together with the Eighty four ancient Canons added to those of the Nicene Council till they come to that of Chalcedon which they do not only utterly reject but also Criminally reproach Whatever therefore the Catholic Church admitted and believ'd before that Council concerning God Three in one the Three distinct Persons in one Essence the Eternity of the Son of God the Existence of the Holy Ghost and other Articles of Faith all those things the Habessines willingly consent to and allow condemning those that Dispute against them By the way we are here to observe that the Ethiopic words Sabsatu Gaz Gaz Egza Bahr Three Persons and one God are vulgarly ill Translated being to have bin render'd Three Faces One Lord for the
they make use for the most part of the word Agal as being less Equivocal tho sometime we shall meet with the word Gaz to signifie Person ill render'd when taken for the Countenance or Face Which Circumstances when I read and consider I find all things to be perplex'd and obscure no certain State of the Question and the words themselves without limitation Equivocal Perhaps Eutyches himself could not explain what sort of Nature was meant how it was made out of the two How it was call'd or what the Qualities of it were But that he was so egregiously stupid as to think the two Natures so mix'd in Christ as Water with Wine and that he had so many Wise and Learned Men to follow him in that Opinion is almost incredible As for the Ethiopians they are most certainly not guilty of so sottish a Heresie For which reason I confess I cannot apprehend what these frequent Disputations were which the Fathers of the Society had with the Habessines wherein they say the Ethiopians were always forc'd to submit as being convicted out of their own Books Which is the more easie to believ'd in regard they so willingly acknowledge the Divinity and Humanity of Christ But that they should out of Contumacy and Heretical Pravity contradict the Fathers and choose to suffer Exilements and other Punishments or run the hazard of Civil Dissentions rather than forego their Opinion is hardly to be credited To me it seems therefore more probable that they could not agree about the words For if a man should first explain his meaning and tell them that by the two Natures in Christ we understand as well his Divinity as his Humanity and then upon this Explanation ask them Which Nature was wanting in Christ seeing they acknowledge but one Certainly they would answer That neither his Divinity nor his Humanity were wanting but that both continue and endure for ever And thus it will appear that they understand the word Nature far otherwise than we do and that the true state of the Question among the Habessines consists in this Whether by any or by what name both the Abstract Natures which undoubtedly they admit are to be call'd Now therefore because Tellez does not say in what Language they Disputed for the Habessines understand neither Latin nor Portuguese how they express'd themselves when they mention'd the words Essence Person and Nature how they explain'd Equivocal words or how the Interpreters render'd them whether they could not agree upon the common word or whether the word Substance displeas'd as fearing that to grant two Substances would be to grant two Persons I leave to farther enquiry Nor can I find out in so much Variety and Ambiguity of words what word is most proper to be us'd in our sense for the word Nature For the Jacobites when they make use of the Arabic Tabia or the Ethiopic Tabaje which answers to the Greek word Physis and by the Copts is call'd D Physis apply it only to things created more especially to the Elements but never to the Godhead which the Melkites and Greeks being destitute of any other make no scruple to do Hence the Contention For thus saith Eutychius Patriarch of Alexandria a Melkite In Christ there are Two Substances a Substance of Divinity and a Substance of Humanity but one Person To every Substance there belongs a Nature and so two Substances two Natures but one Person For this reason in Egypt where this unhappy difference still remains when the Copts cry out in Arabic Mashiah Wahid Tabiah Wahid One Will one Nature the Melkites answer Mashiatan tabiahtan Two Wills two Natures In the year 1634. an European of great Quality residing in Egypt and having vievv'd and read the Books of the Copts deliver'd his Opinion aftervvards That the difference and quarrel of the Parties proceeded more from a fear of the Consequence than from the Thing it self For the Greeks are for the Destruction of those Hereticks that confuse and mix the Divinity and Humanity of Christ. The Cophtites oppugn those that assert two Persons in Christ. Which if it be so that the Contention and Debate either formerly or now is only about the sence of words What Tears and Lamentations can suffice to bewail the sad Effects of such an Unfortunate Pedantic Brabble What breast that lodges a heart so hard that can refrain from bemoaning the sad and calamitous Contentions of those to whom Christ has so earnestly recommended the most strict Bonds of Charity by his own Example Humanity one would think should not be so inhuman for the sake of one word Nature misunderstood to tear up the foundations of Concord between those whose Nature the Eternal Word has assum'd into his most Holy Subsistence But as it is the Infirmity of our most corrupted Nature where Ambition from Ambition Emulation from Emulation Envy from Envy Hatred have taken root that the Mind possess'd with various Passions and Affections seeks no farther after Truth hence it is that Men with Ears obstructed and blinded Eyes pursue disputes to satisfie their private Ends not considering the true end of Arguing and Dispute CHAP. IX Of the Differences which happen'd between the Habessines and the Church of Rome more especially the Fathers of the Society to the beginning of this Century The Patriarch of the Melkites and Jacobites which the Habessines following disunited themselves from the Greeks and Romans They had Knowledge of the Pope Alexander the Third writes to the King of Ethiopia An Embassie to Eugenius the Fourth and Clement the 7th John Bermudes confirm'd by Paul the Third Whence Hopes of subjecting the Habessines to the See of Rome Barret and Oviedo made Patriarchs They send before to sound the King They Dispute with the King concerning Religion The Portugueses suspected Barret stays in India Oviedo kindly receiv'd Claudius acts moderately Grants Liberty to the Latins Oviedo desires more The King delays Mov'd with Oviedo's Epistle Oviedo Attempts Severity but in vain To Claudius his Brother Succeeds The Latins Liberty revok'd Oviedo threaten'd Melech Saghed milder to the Portugueses All their Priests Die THE Horrid flames of Discord being thus broken forth all those Nations that were Subject to the Alexandrian See separated themselves into Parties almost equal in Strength And every Faction chose its particular Faction The Grecian Christians who were in Subjection to the Constantinopolitan Emperor adher'd to the Patriarch of the Melkites The rest who inhabited the innermost Parts of Africa and among them the Axumites follow'd the Patriarch of the Jacobites and thus being rent not only from the Greek but Roman Church they had little or no knowledge of either After this the Power of the Saracens increasing and all Egypt being by them subdu'd all Correspondence and Communication of Arts and Knowledge ceas'd between Them and the Christians of our part of the World Nevertheless some glimpses they had of the Roman Pontiffs from the Acts of the Ancient Councils and reverenc'd them as
Chief among the Oecunomical Patriarchs On the other side the Pope laying hold of the occasion endeavour'd to Re-establish the former Correspondence and Amity not taking any notice of their being Monothelites or Favourers of the condemn'd Dioscurus To this purpose Baronius has set forth an Epistle taken out of Roger's English Annals written by Alexander the Third with this Superscription To our most dear Son in Christ the Illustrious and Magnificent King of the Indians the most Holy of Priests Which Epistle he erroneously believes to have bin written to Prester John whose Dominions were then very large in Ethiopia For that when Baronius wrote the King of the Habessines was reputed and commonly taken for Prester John But when Alexander the Third liv'd the real Prester John was then reigning in Asia Neither is any thing to be gather'd out of that whole Epistle that has any Relation to Africa or Ethiopia or the King of the Habessines nor are the Consequences of that Letter known to Baronius Only upon that occasion he conjectures that the Church of St. Stephen with the Buildings behind St. Peter's Cathedral were thereupon assign'd to the Habessinians though he is not certain by whom that Assignation was made whether by Alexander or any other Succeeding Pope Therefore if the Epistle were real we rather think it was written to the Asiatic Prester John then to the King of the Ethiopians Others there are that believe there was an Abessinian Embassy to Clement the Fifth residing at Avignon Nor is there any doubt made of the Embassy which Zera-Jacob sent to Eugenius the Fourth in the year 1439. toward the Conclusion of the Council of Florence Gregory had known nothing of it had he not seen the Embassador and his Retinue painted at Rome and known his own Countrymen by their Habit. In the former Century Francis Alvarez Priest to the Portugal Ambassadors sent into Ethiopia brought Letters from David to Clement the Seventh which he delivered to the Pope in a public Assembly of the Cardinals Charles the Fifth being there also present promising Reverence and Obedience withal to the Holy See in the Name of the King of Ethiopia It was a thing very grateful to the Pope that at a time when so many Northern Nations had revolted from the Roman See so many Kingdoms of the East and South should voluntarily submit to his Jurisdiction For which reason neither Alvarez's Credentials nor the words of the Epistle were over-nicely examin'd nor any extraordinary Scrutiny made to what Church or what sort of Religion the King himself was enclin'd to the end that had it been needful he might have bin absolv'd from the guilt of Heresie before his Admission into the Bosom of the Church For as we shall afterwards declare the Habessines made quite another Interpretation of their King's Intention In the mean time a certain form of Friendship long remain'd For when John Bermudes came to Rome to crave Assistance from the Europeans in the behalf of David so often vanquish'd by the Adelans Paul the Third hearing that the said Bermudes was by Mark the Metropolitan nominated his Successor and invested with Holy Orders made no scruple to confirm him and to ratifie the Ordination of a Schismatical Prelate There were then residing certain Habessines very good Men who Printed the New Testament with their Liturgies in the Ethiopic Language whom the Pope did not only tolerate but assisted at his own Expences In recompence of which Kindnesses they extoll'd and applauded the Benevolence of the Romans the Munificence of the Chief Pontiff and his Spiritual Daughter Hyeronyma Farnesia and acknowledg'd the Pope as the Head and Supream over all the Orthodox Christians Pius the Fifth also in his Letters to Menas tho a professed Enemy to the Romans call'd him his most dear Son whether he were ignorant of his hatred to the Latins which was a wonder or whether he had hopes to reclaim him by flattering Titles which Godignus rather conjectures to be the Pope's true Intention For this reason some there were who believ'd the Habessines to be Catholicks in the highest perfection and subject to the See of Rome tho Tellez deservedly taxes and derides their Credulity Nevertheless a vain hope had possessed the Minds of many of the more Zealous sort that that vast Kingdom then look'd upon to be four times as big as really it was might in a short time with little difficulty be annexed to the Pontifical Jurisdiction Among the rest the Founder of the Society of Jesus Ignatius Loyola bent all his Study to bring it to pass and to that end he shew'd a most Ardent desire to go himself and win the honour of Converting Ethiopia Which tho Julius the Third would not grant him the liberty to do nevertheless he so far prevail'd with him that by the connivance of John the Third King of Portugal the Patriarchal Dignity was conferr'd upon John Nonius Barret one of his Companions contrary to the Institutions of his Society tho Bermudes were then in Ethiopia already dignify'd with the same Title With him was joyn'd Andrew Oviedo a Bishop that if Barret through Mortality should miscarry he might not want an immediate Successor They Embarking in several Ships sayl'd into India In the mean time Claudius was become Successor to David his Father whose affection they thought it first expedient to sound before the Patriarch should expose himself to Casualties and Indignities Jacobus Dias was therefore sent before together with Gonsales Rodriguez and Fulgentio Freyre Jesuits who toward the beginning of February setting Sail from Goâ and a Month after arriving at the Port of Arkiko were there curteously receiv'd by the President of the Maritime Province and within the space of two Months brought to the King Who understanding that the King of Portugal was about to send Priests and other Ecclesiastical Persons to teach him and his People a new Religion was very much perplex'd in his Mind and long in Suspence what answer to return for he neither thought it convenient to admit them neither was he willing to offend the King of Portugal However he ventur'd upon several Colloquies with the Envoys the sum of which manag'd for the most part by Gonsalez tended to this That the Pope of Rome was Christ's Vicar upon Earth and the Supream Head of all Christianity and therefore if the Habessines were desirous of Eternal Happiness they should once more return and joyn themselves to their Lawful Head for that Christ himself had from his own lips asserted that his Church was but one Fold and over that but one Shepheard c. On the other side the Habessines made answer That an Affair of so great Consequence was to be consider'd and consulted upon with the other Patriarchs for to abandon their ancient Rites and Ceremonies upon private admonition and receive new ones was a thing full of danger and offence At length the King told them That if those Persons whom the King of Portugal should send
would take the pains to come to Matzua he would order some Person to be there both to give them a befitting Reception and Conduct them to his Court. Besides all this the King was no less fearful least the Portugals as it had befallen several other Kings in India should make him their Tributary and under the pretence of Religion powre into his Country a great force of Soldiers Arm'd and furnish'd with Fire-Arms Especially remembring what great Exploits a small Number of Portugals had perform'd in his Kingdom but a few years before A Jealousie that not long after increas'd to that height that when King David had seriously negotiated with Roderigo Limez the Portugal Embassador about the Recovery and Fortification of Matzua and Suaqena and had also offer'd assistance of Forces Provision and Money afterwards the Business was not only no farther mention'd but also the Portuguese Aid so necessary and so much desir'd was utterly refus'd so that he chose rather to leave the Port of Arkiko with the Island adjoyning in the hands of the Turk then to give Admission to the Portugals So prevalent is the fear of Foreign Domination But now Claudius's answer being return'd into India strangely surpriz'd the Patriarch Barret and his Associates who imagin'd that all things would have bin smooth and easie according to their wishes Thereupon after long deliberation they came to this result Lest the Patriarchal Dignity should be hazarded with a Prince ill affected which would be to the Detriment of the Pontifical Authority and a contempt of the King of Portugal by whose recommendation and favour they were sent that the Patriarch should remain in India with Melchior Caymero Bishop of Nice and that Oviedo should go alone to the end he might take his measures by the Event of Oviedo 's Success Oviedo being thus dispatch'd away with Five more Associates was kindly receiv'd by Isaac at that time Bahrnagass or Governor of the Sea-Ports The Common People ignorant of their Errand nor altogether averse to the Romish Ceremonies receiv'd the Bishop and his Associates with great testimonies of Kindness even to the kissing their hands The Romanists laying hold upon the occasion resolv'd upon a Procession from their own to the Habessine Church and were by them beheld with mutual Charity without the least upbrading or reproach of the Novelty The King also entertain'd them with great kindness only he took it ill that they should talk to him of yielding obedience to the Roman Pontiff Nevertheless as he was a most Prudent Person and worthy the high Dignity he enjoy'd he always carry'd himself with so great Moderation toward the Bishop that he still left him with some hopes of Success In the mean time the Roman Religion was every where freely exercis'd and no man forbid who defir'd to embrace it But the Bishop not content with so much favour began to press the King more urgently That at length without more delay he would submit himself to the Roman Pontiff He reply'd That his Ancestors had in sacred things given their Obedience to none but the Successors of St. Mark nor did he see any cause why he should desire Innovation and disturb his People well contented with their Abuna But the Bishop still continuing his Importunity The King told him That since he was come to him from a Region so far distant upon so honest a Negotiation he would consult with his Friends and his Learned Men upon a Matter of so great Importance Oviedo understanding that the King did nothing but spin out delays and hearing withal that the King's Mother and all the Blood Royal together with the Nobility and greatest Doctors of the Nation were utterly averse to any Alterations wrote an Epistle to the King wherein he put him in Mind That his Father had acknowledg'd the Pope of Rome for the Vicar of Christ that several of his Learned men had besought him that Claudius had wrote to the King of Portugal and that his Father had Commanded that they should not desire an Abuna from any other place then from Rome and that He himself had publickly promis'd Obedience to thee See of Rome That if any doubt remain'd concerning any Articles of Faith he should bring those things to a Publick Dispute and hear the Arguments on both sides it being but just that the Party that was foil'd should acknowledge and follow what the other had maintain'd for Truth and that the King should well consider whose advice he took or what Persons he consulted in so important an Affair That the Ends and Interest of Parents or Kindred were not to be regarded That the love of Christ was to be preferr'd before the love of Relations who being busied in Teaching his own Doctrine in the Temple of Jerusalem would not make use of his most Holy Mothers advice by which he shew'd that in the Cause of God no Man is bound to Communicate his Intentions to his nearest Friends Whether the King made any Answer or what it was is not known But Gregory told me That the sence of the King's Commands and Letters was quite different from the Expositions of Alvarez Bermudes and others addicted to the Roman Religion made of them at Rome and that it could not be otherwise in regard that before the Reign of Susneus the Habessines had never known what that Obedience meant Hower the King that he might not seem to distrust the strength of his own Cause and the learning of his own Subjects permitted frequent Disputes not yet made Publick by the Fathers of the Society From this Tellez reports That the Habessine Doctors appear'd very ignorant and illiterate in all their Disputes as never having Study'd Logic Syllogisms nor Enthymemes nor having any knowledge of the Subtleties of Scholastic Divinity From whence the Reader may readily Judge of the Progress and Events of such Disputes Tellez goes on and says That Claudius â—â—ary of the illiterateness of his own People for the most part undertook the Discourse himself and gave Oviedo not a little Trouble Moreover he complains That the Habessines when they were worsted would never acknowledge it but always boasted of the Victory and so all those Disputes came to nothing It was therefore thought more convenient to betake themselves to writing Nor did the King decline the Combat but answer'd them with other Writings tho they have not as yet bin permitted to visit the European Regions Oviedo impatient of his ill Success and finding he could not bring the Ethiopic Prince to do as he would have had him resolv'd to a more severe but unseasonable course And therefore to testifie his Indignation he left the Court and publish'd a Writing Where in he branded the Habessines with several Heresies and exhorted his Portugueses to have a care of them Which did not a little offend Claudius For a mind free and subject to none when once it refuses the persuasion of Argument is the more exasperated by affront and reviling Nor can it be
the King himself Tellez reports That it was stufft with places of Scripture but nothing to the purpose The King more incens'd by this Writing renew'd the Edict about the Sabbath and commanded the Husbandmen to Plough and Sow upon that Day adding as a Penalty upon the Offenders for the first Fault the Forfeiture of a weav'd Vestment to the value of a Portugal Patack for the second Confiscation of Goods and that the said Offence should not be prescribed to Seven years a certain form usually inserted in their more severe Decrees Certainly it must of necessity be true what Tellez reports of the Natural Piety of the Habessines since they were thus to be compell'd to the Neglect of the Sabbath by such Severe Laws when we can hardly be induc'd by stricter Penalties to observe the Lord's-Day Among the rest one Bucus a stout and famous Soldier felt the utmost rigour of this Decree for being accus'd to have observ'd the Sabbath he was made a most severe Example that others of less consequence might not think to expect any Mercy From thence Jonael Viceroy of Bagemdra took an occasion to Revolt alluring all to his Party who were displeased with the Edicts Upon which News many of the chiefest of the Court both Men and Women of which several were near allyed to the King with Tears in their Eyes besought him once more not to expose himself and the Kingdom to Calamity but to take Pity upon so many poor afflicted People offending out of meer Simplicity and Ignorance and not to disturb the Minds of his People with such unseasonable Changes The King far from being mov'd with their Tears but rather the more displeas'd to see so many all of one Mind that at once he might answer all confirm the wavering and terrifie the Headstrong having summon'd together the Chief Nobles and Commanders of his Army that attended the Court in a short but grave Oration put them in mind of past Transactions upbraiding them among the rest For that they had depriv'd Zadenghel both of his Life and Kingdom because he had forsaken the Alexandrian Religion to embrace the Roman Faith That for his part after his Victory obtain'd against Jacob he had bin severe to none but rather had pardon'd all nevertheless he was disturb'd with daily Seditions and Rebellions under pretence of changing his Religion when he only reform'd it For that he acknowledg'd as much and the same that others did That Christ was true God and true Man but because he could not be Perfect God unless he had the Perfect Divine Nature nor perfect Man without perfect Humane Nature it follow'd that there were two Natures in Christ united in one Substance of the Eternal Word Which was not to abandon but explain his Religion In the next place he had abrogated the Observation of the Sabbath Day because it became not Christians to observe the Jews Sabboth These things he did not believe in favour of the Portugueses but because it was the Truth it self determin'd in the Council of Chalcedon founded upon Scripture and ever since the time of the Apostles deliver'd as it were from hand to hand and if there were occasion he would lay down his life in defence of this Doctrine but they who deny'd it should first examine the Truth of it Having finished his Oration a Letter was brought him from Jonael containing many haughty Demands and among the rest the Expulsion of the Jesuits The King believing there would be no better way than to answer him in the Field Commanded the nimblest of his Armed Bands to March of which the Rebel having Intelligence and not willing to abide his Fury fled for shelter among those inaccessible Rocks whither it was in vain to pursue him Thereupon Susneus well-knowing that the Revolters would not be able long to endure the Inconveniencies and Famine that lodg'd among those inaccessible places blockt him up at a Distance So that Jonael at length weaken'd by daily desertions fled to the Gallans who being at variance among themselves kept their promis'd Faith but a short time for being underhand tempted with Rewards by the King they at length turn'd their Protection into Treachery and slew the Unfortunate Implorer of their Security This Bad Success however did not terrifie the Inhabitants of Damota inhabiting the Southern parts of Gojam who upon the News of the Prophanation of the Sabbath as they called it with their Hermites that sculk'd in the Deserts of that Province ran to their Arms. Ras-Seelax otherwise their Lord and Patron in vain Exhorting them to continue their Obedience whose kind Messages of Peace and Pardon they refus'd unless he would burn the Books Translated out of Latin into the Habessine Language by the Fathers and deliver up the Fathers themselves to be Hang'd upon the highest Trees they could find Thus despairing of Peace Ras-Seelax set forward tho deserted by the greatest part of his Forces who favoured the Cause of their Countrymen so that he had hardly Seven Thousand Men that stook close to him while the Enemies Body daily encreas'd However he resolv'd to Fight them knowing his Soldiers to be more Experienc'd and better Arm'd besides that he had about Forty Portuguese Musquetiers in his Camp When they came to blows the Victory fell to the King's Party tho it cost dear in regard that about Four hundred Monks that had as it were devoted themselves to die for their Religion fought most desperately of which a Hundred and fourscore were Slain Hitherto the King had not made Publick Profession of the Roman Religion partly out of fear of stirring up Popular Tumults against him partly being loath to dismiss his Supernumerary Wives and Concubines but at length encourag'd by so many Victories he lay'd all fear aside and publickly renounc'd the Alexandrian Worship and confessing his Sins after the Roman manner to Peter Pays dismiss'd all his Wives and Concubines only the first of those to which he had bin lawfully Marry'd His Example convinc'd many others who were not asham'd to keep many Mistresses but Adultresses also Not long after the King signify'd his Conversion to the Roman Religion to his whole Empire by a Publick Instrument not without the Severe reproof of the Alexandrian Patriarch The sum of his Manifesto was That having deserted the Alexandrinian he now reverenced only the Roman See and had yielded his Obedience to the Roman Pope as the Successor of Peter the Prince of the Apostles for that that See could never err either in Faith or good Manners and then he exhorted his Subjects to do as he had done He also discoursed at large concerning the two Natures in Christ and tax'd the Ethiopian Primates as guilty of many Errors But neither the King's Example nor his Exhortation wrought upon many For at the same time his Son Gabriel began to study new Contrivances tho with no better Success than they who had taught him the way For when he had intelligence that Ras-Seelax was marching
against him finding himself Inferior in Force he betook himself to the inaccessible Rocks of Shewa from whence at last by the Craft of a certain well-brib'd Gallan he was allur'd to come forth who feigning himself to be highly offended with Ras-Seelax came to the unwary young Prince and promis'd him the Assistance of all his Friends which while he was inveagled out to expect in a neighbouring Wood he was there surrounded by a select Party of the Enemy and pay'd for his rash belief with the loss of his Life CHAP. XI Of the Coming of the Roman Patriarch into Habessinia and how he Managed his Affairs there Alphonsus Mendez made Patriarch of Ethiopia His Inauguration and Journey to Goa c. Their miserable Reception at first His difficult Passage by Land Met by the Jesuits He comes to Fremona thence to the King The King swears Obedience to the Pope So does the Court Ras-Seelax's behaviour blam'd The Solemnity concluded with an Anathema New Edicts in favour of the Romish Worship The Women Commanded to swear The Patriarchal See New Disturbances occasion'd by the new Computation Baptism and Ordination reiterated Sermons Visitation and Confirmation A Countryman 's Joke A Seminary Tecla-George Revolts Suppress'd and Hang'd The Captain of the Guards excommunicated upon a slight Occasion by the Patriarch but Pardon'd at the King's intercession Their Courtiers offended Their Indignation increases and why A Witch imprison'd by Command of the Patriarch Which alienates the King's Affection from him His Authority decreases through private Grudges and an Act of Ras Seelax The Agawi Revolt The King 's ill Success Ras-Seelax more Prosperous against Luca-Marjam Kebax kill'd and Teker-Egzi These Mischiefs attributed to the Romans Melcax takes upon him the Regal Power Ras Seelax accus'd His Goods confiscated The Fathers render'd odious to the King Their Indulgencies laugh'd at Serthax's unhappy Revolt A New Expedition against the Lasti Prosperous at first at last Vnfortunate The Fathers tax'd The King indulges the Old Ceremonies The Patriarch offended Another more mild Edict but too late OF These prosperous Successes the Fathers wrote presently to Rome and into Portugal But very prudently there was nothing rashly decreed at first lest the Design of another Patriarch like that of Nonius Barret should come to nothing But when King Susneus himself had by his own Letters requested a Patriarch and had made publick Profession of the Romish Religion the Conclave then thought it not expedient to make any longer delays And therefore as if they had bin to send into some Portuguese Province upon the Nomination of Philip the Fourth then King of Portugal as well as Spain Alphonsus Mendez a Person of great Eminency by Nativity a Portuguese a Doctor in Theology and of the Society of Jesus which claim'd Ethiopia peculiarly to it self as a Province by them wholly converted to the Faith was created Patriarch Besides that it might have occasion'd great Emulation had a Person bin chosen out of any other Nation or Society Being inaugurated with the usual Ceremonies at Lisbon in the Month of May 1624. he set Sail and arriv'd at Goa where understanding that all things succeeded to the wishes of the Fathers he prepar'd for his farther Journey In November of the same year he arriv'd at Dios hoping there to find some of the Bannian Vessels to carry him into the Red-Sea But they being the year before over-burthen'd by the covetous Exactions of the Turks and fearing the Arabian Pirates had left off Trading into those Parts While he stay'd at Dio he was seasonably forewarn'd by the King's Letters by no means to come near Suaqena or Matzua but to make to rights for Baylur a Port of Dancala There he arriv'd the Third of April following with six Companions four Fathers and two Friers The Fathers were 1. John Velasco Castellano 2. Hierome Lobo or Wolph Which Name lest the Ethiopians should take an occasion to turn to an ill Omen they made a shift to change for another 3. Bruno de Santa Cruce 4. Francesco Marquese The Friers were Emanuel Luis Steward John Martin Attendants he had Thirteen One Servant Five Musicians Three Habessines Two Bricklayers and their Apprentices for the Building of Churches and Houses which the Ethiopic Fathers had desir'd him to bring with him The King had recommended him to the care of the Viceroy of Dancala a Mahometan but in Friendship with the Habessines But the recommendation was so early and he came so late that the Viceroy had forgot it So that his Reception there was very lamentable there being little or no Provision so much as of Necessaries made for him And their Hosts where they Lodg'd were so poor and covetous that instead of receiving any Kindnesses from them they were forc'd to purchase their sorry Convenience with the continual Supplies of their Avarice They could not get Mules or Horses anow to carry themselves and their Luggage so that most of them were forc'd to travel over the rugged and parch'd Earth in continual conflict with hunger thirst and intolerable heat Neither were they much better entertain'd for Sixteen days in the Court of the Viceroy himself all their Presents not sufficing to gratifie the impatient Appetite of his Avarice Parting from thence at the Mercy of those wicked and covetous Varlets that were their Guides and Owners of their Carriage-Horses they travel'd as they were led in daily fear of the Gallans over places where Battels had bin fought as it were Pav'd with the Skulls and Bones of the Slain till at last all these Difficulties and Dangers overcome they were met by Emanuel Barradas with some other Portugueses and Habessines upon the Confines of Tigra who furnish'd them with Provisions Carriages and all other things necessary Upon the strength of which Refreshments they began to ascend the towring Mountains of Abassia and the Fifth day after through more gladsom and verdant Fields and more grateful opportunities of resting themselves they arriv'd at Fremona where they stay'd not only all the Winter but all October and November being both unhealthy Months In December they arriv'd at Gorgora where upon a day appointed with a Noble Attendance and great Applause the Patriarch enter'd the Camp and after Mass said was conducted into the King's Pavillion and there by the King Commanded to sit down by him in a little Chair equal to his own In which great Pomp and State at length the Patriarch came to the point and agreed with the King that upon the XI day of February 1626. he should publickly swear Obedience to the Pope Upon which day together with the King and his Eldest Son Basilides appear'd the King's Brothers the Viceroys and Governors of Provinces and all others that were conspicuous for their Dignity and Quality In the Room were two little Chairs but very rich set one by the other upon which the King sate down on the right hand and the Patriarch in his Pontifical habit upon the left Being so sate the Patriarch
desires only mending the Ethiopic Mass but with apparent Detriment to his Authority For now the ancient Liturgies were every day read again without Contradiction the Report running abroad that the Emperor was return'd to the Old Religion The Patriarch's Power thus shaken the Courtiers still whisper'd in the King's Ears That the Roman Religion was become odious to all the People and that his Person would be in great Danger unless he also forsook it himself These Insinuations were back't by an Accident which tho ridiculous in it self gave a being to several Rumors and Reports For one day an Enthusiast came into the Palace and cry'd out That he was sent from God and the most Holy Virgin to declare in their own words to the King that unless he forthwith return'd to the antient Religion he should within a Fortnight undergo most severe Chastisements The King made answer That he would live and die in the Roman Religion and that the Messenger might the more speedily return his answer Commanded him to be Hang'd But at the Intercession of several who asserted the poor Fellow to be Frantick he only receiv'd a severe drubbing for the reward of his sawcy Prophesie Howevet tho he were laugh'd at by the Courtiers yet he so strangely stirr'd the minds of the Vulgar that they publickly reported That an Angel had bin sent from Heaven and that he had admonish'd the King to return to the ancient Alexandrian Faith In the mean while the inbred hatred against the Fathers daily increasing was greatly augmented by the envy of the Courtiers For they incens'd the King and his Eldest Son against Ras-Seelax the Fathers chief Friend and Patron of the Portugueses under pretence of their great care admonshing the two Princes To take heed that he did not abuse the Renown he had won in War and the favour of the Portugueses to invade the Royal Dignity That which more heighten'd these growing Jealousies was a misinterpreted act of Ras-Seelax who having order'd one Lecanax to be apprehended for Calumnies and Scandalous Reports thrown upon himself caus'd him afterwards to be put to Death tho he had appeal'd to the King This they said was done by Seelax not that the Person was guilty of the Crimes which were lay'd to his Charge but to remove out of the way one that was Privy to the Treasons and Conspiracies of Seelax Whereupon the King depriv'd him instantly of great part of his Lands remov'd him out of Gojam and took from him his Military Commands In the mean time tho Tecla-George had suffer'd and that the Heads of the Rebellion were taken off yet the Rebellion it self continu'd and the strength of it daily increas'd in such manner that it became the Original of Dismal and Diuturnal Commotions For the Agawi that inhabit the Mountains of Bagemdra had not yet lay'd down their Arms but being as they pretended more and more provok'd by-the King kept them in their hands to revenge their Injuries And the better to defend themselves they call'd to their Aid one Melcax a young Man of the Royal Blood who had bin bred among the Gallans and created him their Leader To him therefore as to a Sanctuary flock'd all those that bare any disaffection to the King all that hated the Roman Religion especially the Monks and lastly several of the Villagers and Country People All these thus embody'd were call'd Lasteners from Lasta a most invincible Rock and the chief Seat of the Rebellion And indeed it seem'd a vast Torrent of War ready to break forth to the utter Extirpation of the Fathers and all those of the Roman Religion if it prov'd so kind to spare the Royal Family it self Against these therefore the King having rais'd an Army of Seven and twenty Thousand Men marches himself in Person but with ill success at first For the Country People defended by the Security of the place as the Royalists came on still beat them off by rolling down whole Quarries at a time of ponderous Stones upon their heads which having put the Royalists into great disorder they came down and surrounded all the King 's Left Wing so that had not Kebax come to their relief with 300 fresh Men they had bin all cut to pieces The Soldiers being discourag'd by this overthrow the King who for that reason durst not adventure any further for that time left part of his Army to defend the Borders and hast'ning home was forc'd to recall See-lax lurking like an Exile in Gojam In the mean time the Tutelar Bands whether for fear or finding themselves too weak forsook their Posts so that the Lastaneers ravag'd all the Country as they pleas'd without Opposition till Seelax being got within their reach drave them back into their former Holes While this Rebellion rag'd in Bagemdra another broke out in Amhara being headed by Luca-Marjam near in Blood to the Royal Family but he being prevented and surpriz'd by the swift March of Ras-Seelax ended his Days and his Design together by falling from the Precipice of a Rock But the same good Fortune did not attend Kebax who impatient of delay and observing the Avenues more negligently guarded than they us'd to be the bait that betray'd him conceiv'd no less than that Opportunity it self had now proffer'd him the Victory So in he marches finding all clear before him for the present but no sooner was he in when those Mountaneers accustom'd to clamber their own Rocks and us'd to the By-ways and conceal'd Passages of that Rock were all on a sudden before and behind him so that after a great Slaughter of his Men deserted by the rest he was himself after a matchless defence oppress'd by Multitudes and Slain His and the Fall of Tegur-Egzi which soon after follow'd gave the Fathers no cause of Thanksgivings but afforded their Enemies great Opportunities and great Arguments to press the King to withdraw his Favours from them For observing their time when they perceiv'd him sad and perplex'd at so much ill Success and so many Revolts Oh Sir said they What will be the Issue of all these Combats and pernicious Wars Those illiterate Swains understand not the Mysteries of the Roman Worship nor any other Service of God then what they have bin bred and brought up to They call us Turks and Mahumetans because we have abandon'd our ancient Liturgies for this reason they have taken Arms and chosen to themselves a King For Melcax pufft up with the Success of his Affairs was arriv'd at that height of boldness that nothing now would serve him but the assum'd Title of a King He had distributed his Court-Employments after the manner of the Kings of Ethiopia among his Friends and daily increas'd in Number For all that abominated the Fathers chiefly the Nobility of Tigra privately gave him Encouragements and exhorted him not to desist from what he had so prosperously begun and that then neither the Affections of the People nor the Assistance of his Friends would be
wanting Elated with these golden Promises his Temerity carry'd him so far as to send as if he had now bin the undoubted King of Ethiopia a Viceroy into Tigra To this Viceroy he allow'd a Select Band of Soldiers for his Convoy but they neglectful and careless of their Military Duties took their Pleasure so much that at length surpriz'd in the midst of their Jollity by the Royalists they were forc'd to leave Four thousand of their Party behind them Slain upon the Spot while the shatter'd Remainders speeded back to lay the blame of their ill Success upon the unwary Conduct of their Leaders But the Lastaneers intent upon revenge had at length the same advantage against the Royalists who were stragling to destroy the approaching Harvest and pay'd them home with equal Slaughter for Slaughter Thus Fortune ballancing both sides the Author of these Miscarriages was enquir'd after and as soon found by those that watched their Opportunities For presently Ras-Seelax was accus'd as if he had bin negligent in Executing the King's Orders and had not sent timely Succors to the over-power'd Combatants And his Enemies so far prevail'd that Articles were fram'd against him to which he was compell'd to answer which he did and justify'd himself so well that in words indeed he was acquitted but in Fact condemn'd For he was again degraded and all his feudary Possessions and Military Employments granted away to Basilides Thus Ras-Seelax being once more lay'd by it was no difficult matter to undermine the Patriarch and the Fathers For against them the general Complaint was made That they had no other Design but as they had subjected the Empire in Ecclesiastical Affairs to the Roman Pope so to bring it under the Dominion of the King of Portugal in Seculars To this end under the pretence of Temples and Residencies they rear'd up Castles and Walls from whence they could never be expell'd with Spears and Arrows Many other things of the same Nature they suggested which if the King now through Age more jealous did not absolutely believe yet he hearken'd to them with a more easie Attention However outwardly and publick he shew'd the same Kindness and Affability to the Fathers as before and kindly receiv'd the Bishop sent from Rome to be a Coadjutor to the Patriarch But when he brought the Diploma's of the Jubilee open'd at Rome in the year 1625. and then granted to Ethiopia he was derided by most Men who could not comprehend those great Vertues of Indulgencies which the Bishop boasted of For some began to Discourse among themselves like the Pharisees Who is this who also forgives Sins Who can forgive Sins but only God To which the King made answer with a severe Countenance That the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven were given to Peter and that the use of those Keys belong'd to the Pope for the Granting Indulgencies However the Habessines as if those Indulgencies had afforded Materials for Sin bent themselves still more and more to Sedition and Tumult For the Revolt of the Lastaneers so well succeeding Sertzazax newly made Viceroy of Gojam so ill repay'd the King for his new favours that he not only revolted from him himself but which was more detestable to think he would have drawn in the young Basilides to have conspir'd with him against his own Father And when he could not prevail upon the young Prince he endeavour'd to have advanc'd another young Noble Gentleman of the Blood Royal to the end he might have reign'd himself under his Name But being overthrown and taken he was drubb'd to Death Seven of his Accomplices lost their Heads One of his chief Agents because he had vented horrid Blasphemies against the See of Rome and opprobrious words against the King was hung up upon an Iron Hook driven into a high Stake upon which after he had hung a whole Day because he repeated the same Provocations in the midst of his Torment he was at length run thorough the Body with several Spears and so ended his miserable Life So many and such lamentable Accidents as these pierc'd the very hearts of most People and the Lastaneers dispairing of Pardon hearing of such horrid Executions were the more resolute in their Rebellion Thereupon the King undertook a new Expedition with all his Forces against them and had taken the very Head and Ring-leader of all the Rebels had he not with a small Retinue made a shift to Escape yet he left behind him great store of rich Plunder But he could not be utterly Subdu'd in regard that so many Sculking Holes so many wide and spacious Rocks where those Savages liv'd and hid themselves like so many wild Beasts could neither be assail'd nor taken It happen'd therefore that Fortune wheeling about the Rebels overthrew a Select Party of the King's Forces and by and by with all their force lay hovering about the King's Army which they foresaw would in a short time want Provision The King therefore fearing to be clos'd up in those narrow Streights retir'd into Dembea before the War was at an end Which he did with so much hast more then it was thought he needed to have done that as it diminish'd his own fame so it gave Courage to the Rebels And now the Fathers great Enemies beholding the King 's Melancholly redoubled their Complaints That there would never be peaceful Days in Ethiopia so long as the Roman Religion bare so much sway That it was a very good Religion but above the Capacity of the People who would still prefer the Worship of their Ancestors to which they had bin bred from their Infancy before foreign Innovations which they understood not For who should perswade them That Circumcision was evil That the Holydaies of the Sabbath are not pleasing to God that the ancient Liturgy cannot be prov'd That the Roman Calendar is better then the Ethiopic That the Fasts of the Fourth Holyday are less acceptable to God then the Fasts of the Seventh How much more expedient and profitable were it to retain the ancient Ceremonies in such things as do not contradict the Substance of Faith But as for Ras-Seelax and others that endeavour the Contrary it was apparent they did it meerly to advance their own Designs against the King and Kingdom With these and such like Expostulations the King being overcome especially finding no other way of appeasing and quietting the Lasteneers and that Bagemdra was almost all in the Hands of the Enemy and at the same time all his Friends especially the Ladies of Quality laying before him the Danger he would be in should he be deserted by his Soldiers he at length press'd the Patriarch to remit whatever possibly might be remitted He foreseeing a terrible Storm tho sore against his Will thought 't was high time to lower his Sails for fear of Losing all while he hazarded the Saving of all Whereupon he submitted to the King's request nevertheless upon Condition That nothing Decreed should be remitted by Publick Acts
but only by a Tacit Connivance and that in the mean time there should be a Cessation of all Penalties and Mulcts Upon this the King intending a Third Expedition against the Lasteneers to make his Soldiers the more stedfast and obedient he put forth an Edict by which in general words an Indulgence was granted for the Exercise of all ancient Ceremonies not repugnant to Faith Thus every Person being left to his particular Liberty the Alexandrian Worship was again to the great Satisfaction of the People freely exercis'd but to the great grief of the Portugueses especially the Patriarch who presently wrote to the King complaining That contrary to his advice a Lay Prince should publish an Edict of that Nature in reference to spiritual Affairs for that it belong'd to him to set forth such Decrees putting him in mind of the words of Azariah the High-Priest to King Uzziah and of the Punishment that follow'd and admonishing him to amend that Fault by publishing some other Edict which should be propos'd by the assistance of some one of the Fathers of the Society The King obey'd and propounded an Edict which contain'd Three Articles 1. That the Ancient Liturgy but Corrected should be read in the Mass 2. That the Festivals should be observ'd according to the ancient Computation of Time except Easter and those other Festivals that depended upon it 3. That whosoever pleas'd instead of the Sabbath might fast upon the fourth Holyday And then as for answer to the Patriarchs Complaints he made this reply That the Roman Religion was not introduc'd into his Dominions by the Preaching or Miracles of the Fathers but meerly by his Edicts and Commands not by the assent of his People but of his own free will because he thought it better then the Alexandrian Therefore the Patriarch had no reason to Complain But these Concessions not being sufficient and coming too late prov'd altogether ineffectual not serving in the least to pacifie the Lasteneers or any other of the Discontented Parties CHAP. XII Of the Decrease of the Roman Religion and the Restoration of the Alexandrinian The Fathers ill Success The King prepares to restore the Alexandrian Religion Over-perswaded by the Queen and his Son The Decrees resolv'd on in Council The Patriarch makes a grave Speech to the contrary Vpbraids him with his Victories and threatens him At length he Supplicates but in vain The Edict passes Signify'd to the Patriarch who proposes a Medium The Edict publish'd to the great Satisfaction of the People The Ancient Ceremonies us'd An Invective Satyr against the Fathers The sudden Change censur'd WEE have hitherto seen the great Progress of the Roman Religion in Ethiopia the Authority of the Patriarch advanc'd to the utmost extent the King and his Brothers together with a great many of the Nobility some sincerely some feignedly favouring the Jesuits For the Latin Worship was with great diligence impos'd and exercis'd all over several Provinces of the Kingdom Many of the Habessine Priests were Ordain'd by the Patriarch and great diligence was us'd for the building of Churches and Colleges Already besides the Patriarch they had increas'd their Number to One and twenty Companions that is to say Nineteen Fathers and Two Brothers of the Society distributed into Thirteen Residencies Nor could the Fathers but be well pleas'd with so many Thousands of Baptized and Converted People for certainly the gaining of so many lost Souls by Baptism was not to be despised When on a suddain behold a suddain Change upon which the Banishment of the Fathers and the Subversion of the Roman Religion ensu'd For the Fathers believing that the opportunity of the time was not to be neglected made it their Business to abrogate all the Alexandrian Rites even those which were formerly tolerated under the Roman Bishops on the other side the Common People Wedded to their Old Customs but more especially the Monks and Clergy the chief Supporters of the old Religion most stoutly oppos'd their Proceedings Besides them several of the Nobility either out of Hatred of the Romans or out of Ambition frequently revolted and through the strength of their unaccessible Rocks easily eluded the King 's more mighty Power A most remarkable Lesson to teach us That that sort of Worship to which the People are averse is not easily to be introduc'd by the Prince and that it is no piece of Prudence or Policy to attempt the Liberty of those who are well defended by the Situation of their Country Therefore the King tho otherwise most addicted to the Fathers wearied with so many Exclamations of his own People growing in years utterly disliking the present posture of Affairs and fearful of what might ensue tormented with the continual Importunities of his Friends his Jealousie of his Brother the Contumacy of the Lasteneers the Diminution of his Prerogative and the dread of losing his Kingdom at length began to think of abrogating the Roman and restoring the ancient Alexandrian Worship And which was more to be admir'd a prosperous Fight with the Lasteneers was that which settled his wavering Thoughts For making a fourth Expedition against them he came upon them so unlook'd for that he gave them a Total tout Killing eight Thousand upon the place with several of the Leaders of the Faction and chief Deserters of their King and Country The Portugueses rejoyc'd at the News believing the Rebellion quietted by this Victory and that for the future nothing would presume so much as to hiss against the Roman Religion But it fell out quite otherwise For they who favour'd the the Alexandrian Religion the next day carry'd the King to view the Field of the Battel and shewing him the multitude of the Slain thus bespake him Neither Ethnics nor Mahumetans were these in whose Slaughter we might have some reason to rejoyce No Sir they were Christians once your Subjects and our dear Countrymen and partly to your self partly to us related in Blood How much more laudable would it have bin for these couragious Breasts to have bin oppos'd against the most deadly of your Enemies This is no Victory because obtain'd against your own Subjects With the same Sword wherewith you Slaughter them you Stab your own Bowels Certainly they bare no hatred to us whom we make War upon so cruelly Only they are a verse to that Worship to which you would compel them How many have we already kill'd upon this Change of Ceremonies How many remain behind reserv'd for the same Slaughter When will these Bloody Conflicts end Forbear we beseech your Majesty to constrain them to Novelties and Innovations lest they renounce their Allegiance otherwise we shall never behold the Face of Peace again We are hated even by the Gallans and Ethnicks for abandoning our ancient Ceremonies and are therefore by them call'd Apostates For it seems that the King of Adel having apprehended and put to Death two of the Fathers travelling into Habessinia thorow his Country in the accompt which he
reason by Argument you can never subdue the Will Eighthly That the Devil had put it into the Heads of several Catholicks to make a corresponding Agreement between the Catholick and the Alexandrinian Religion asserting all to be Christians as well Alexandrians as Romans That all believe in Christ That Christ saves all That there is little Difference between both Religions That both have Conveniencies and Inconveniencies their Truths and their Errors but that the Wheat was to be separated from the Cockle Ninthly That the Ecclesiastical Censures seem'd very heavy to the Habessines especially when they heard the Patriarch name Dathan and Abiram in the Excommunication CHAP. XIII Of the Expulsion of the Patriarch and the Exilement of the Fathers of the Society The Alexandrians quarrel with the Fathers who are accurs'd Their Churches taken from them Susneus Dyes Ras-Seelax renouncing the Alexandrian Religion is Overthrown and Banish'd Others put to Death The Fathers Dispossessed of their Goods Sent to Fremona The Patriarch by Letters Demands of the King the Causes of his Banishment and a New Dispute The King's Answer The Fathers depart for Fremona Afterwards quite thrown out of the Kingdom AFter the Publication of the King's Edict the Alexandrians being now absolute Victors endeavour'd with all their industry to be quit with the Fathers and expel them quite out of Habessinia To which purpose they omitted no occasion of daily quarrel and contention First accusing the Patriarch for endeavouring by Seditious Sermons to stir up the People to Sedition and to turn them from the Alexandrian Religion for that he had openly exhorted his Hearers to Constancy But understanding that Basilides was displeas'd and gave out threatning words they thought it requisite to act more moderately Soon after the Fathers Churches were taken from them believing that would be a means to put a stop to the Roman Worship And first they were constrain'd to quit their Cathedral at Gorgora a stately Structure after the European manner At their departure they carry'd with them all their Sacred Furniture brake all the Sculpture and spoil'd the Pictures that they might not leave them to be the sport of their Adversaries doing that themselves which they thought the Habessines would do And this Example they follow'd in all other places from whence they were expell'd In the mid'st of these Transactions Susnèus's Distemper increasing and more and more augmented by his continual anguish of Mind he ended this Life the 16th day of Decemb. 1632. The King being Dead the Fathers Adversaries set upon Ras-Seelax in the first place as the Principal Favourer and Protector of the Roman Religion and first of all they promise him all his former Dignities all his Possessions and Goods upon Condition he would return to the Alexandrian Religion Upon his refusal they bring him bound in Chains before the King and pronounce him guilty of Death But the King declaring that he would not pollute his hands with the Blood of his Uncle commanded him to be carry'd to a certain remote Place near to Samenar and sequester'd his Goods And as he was great so was he attended in his fall by several others as Atzai-Tino Secretary of State and the King's Historiographer Walata Georgissa the Queens Cousin In short whoever had favour'd the Fathers were all sent into Exile and some put to Death perhaps because they had bin more bitter in their Expressions than others against the Alexandrian Religion For some had call'd it a Religion for Dogs After all this the Enemies of the Fathers still insisted That nothing was yet done so long as the Patriarch and the Fathers were suffer'd to abide within the Confines of the Kingdom Neither would the Lastaneers be quiet till they heard the Fathers were all thrown out of Ethiopia but would look upon all things transacted for the re-establishment of the Alexandrian Religion as fictitious Stories There needed not many words to press him that was already willing First of all therefore their Goods and Possessions were taken from them then all their Arms especially their Musquets and Fire-Arms But before that they were sent to Fremona where as we have already declar'd Oviedo the Patriarch resided for some time But before their Departure the Patriarch wrote a certain Letter to the King to this Effect I did not adventure to come into Habessinia with my Companions of my own accord but by the Command of the Roman Pontiff and the King of Portugal at the request of your Father where having taken the King's Oath of Obedience I officiated the Office of Patriarch in the Name of the Roman Pontiff and the King of Portugal Now because you Command me to depart my humble request is that your Majesty would set down the Causes of my Exilement in Writing subscrib'd with your own and the hands of some of your Counsellors and Peers that all the World may know whether I am compell'd to suffer for my Life and Conversation or for the sake of my Doctrine I granted the Ceremonies desired by your Father except the Communion under both Kinds which only the Pope himself can dispute with The same also I again offer so that you and your Subjects will yield Obedience to the Church of Rome as the head of all other Churches My last request is That as the Matter was Debated at first so it may be referr'd to another Dispute by which means the Truth of the whole affair will more manifestly appear To this Writing the King thus reply'd Whatever was done by me before was done by the Command of my Father whom I was in Duty bound to Obey so that I was forc'd to wage War under his Conduct both with Kindred and Subjects But after the last Battel of Wainadega the Learned and Unlearned Clergy and Layety Civil and Military young and old all sorts of Persons made their Addresses to my Father Crying out How long shall we be perplexed and wearied with unprofitable things How long shall we encounter Brethren and Kindred cutting off the right hand with the left How long shall we thrust our Swords into our own Bowels Especially since we learn nothing from the Roman Religion but what we knew before For what the Romans call the two Natures in Christ his Divinity and his Humanity that we knew from the beginning to this time For we all believe that our Lord Christ is perfect God and perfect Man perfect God in his Divinity and perfect Man in his Humanity But in regard those Natures are not separated nor divided for neither of them subsist of its self but both of them conjoyn'd the one with the other therefore we do not say that they are two things For one is made two yet so as the Natures are not mix'd in their Subsistence This Controversie therefore among us is of little moment neither was it for this that there has bin so much Bloodshed among us but chiefly because the Blood was deny'd to the Layety whereas Christ has said in his Gospel Unless
beginning of the Christian Religion and its Advance in those Countries their Differences with the Greek and Latin Church And Lastly in the Fourth Book Of their Domestick Concerns and Private Oeconomy An ETHIOPIC ALPHABET Divided into seven Orders according to the seven sounds of their vowells Hoi ha hu hi ha he hε ho  Lawi la lu li la le lε lo  Haut ha hu hi ha he hε ho  Mai ma mu mi ma me mε mo  Saut sa su si sa se sε so  Rεεs ra ru ri ra re rε ro  Sat sa su si sa se sε so  Kaf ka ku ki ka ke kε ko K. Eth. Bet ba bu bi ba be bε bo  Tawi ta tu ti ta te tε to  Harm ha hu hi ha he hε ho  Nahas na nu ni na ne nε no  Alph a u i a e ε o  Qaf qa qu qi qa qe qε qo  Wawe wa wu wi wa we wε wo  Ain a u i a e ε o  Zai za zu zi za ze zε zo Z. French Jaman ja ju ji ja je jε jo Y. French Dent da du di da de dε do English Geml ga gu ghi ga ghe ghε go  Tait ta tu ti ta te tε to T. Eth. Pait ê‘a ê‘u ê‘i ê‘a ê‘e ê‘ε ê‘o P. Eth. Zadai tza tzu tzi tza tze tzε tzo Tz. Eth. Zappa tza tzu tzi tza tze tzε tzo tz Eth. Af fa fu fi fa fe fε fo  Psa pa pu pi pa pe pε po  A Specimen of such of their diphthongs that could be gotten kua kua kue kuε  hua hue huε qua qua  quε gua gua gue guε A Specimen of their numbers or numerall figures taken from the Greek 1 3 4 8. 10 60 100 c.  A Specimen of the Amharie Letters Sh Engl. sha shu  sha she shε  Tj Hung. tja     tjε  nÌ„ Spanish      njε  Ch Germ. hha   haa   hho s French ja  ji ja   jo D Bohem dja     djε  Cia Ital tjha tjhu tjhi tjha tjhe tjhε  OF THE Nature of the Countrey AND THE INHABITANTS BOOK I. CHAP. I. Of the Various Names of the Abessines and Original of the Nation The Original of the Name of the Abassines is Arabian But they rather chose to be called Ethiopians more particularly Agazjan i. e. Free as the Germans call'd themselves Franks They transported themselves out of Arabia-Felix into Africa for they derive their Original from the Sabeans or Homerites Their Language agrees with the Arabian The Grecians call them Axumitae others Indians hence confusion of Story Erroneously called Caldeans The Name of Abassia or Ethiopia to be retained IT behoves us to begin with the Name of the Nation They are now generally called Habessines by others Abessines or Abassenes the Name being given them by the Arabians in whose Language Habesh (a) For Habesha speaking of a multitude of People is no more than Convenit or the multitude gathered together in the Second Conjugation Habesha congregavit or Congregated together From whence the words Habesh c. signifie a multitude of men gathered together from several Tribes of People So that the Abessines may not be improperly called by one Latin word Convenae or such as come together signifies a (b) The Germans sound it Shabash or Hhabash the Italians Habascia the French Habech the Portugueses Abex pronounced after the same manner with variety of Letters in regard of the Arabick Habesh which is the Original of all these words Ill written Chabatti for Chabassi in the Prolegoniena of Walton's Poly-Glotton Cap. 15. Pag. 98. Confusion or mixture of People which Appellation as being somewhat ignominious they for a long time despised neither do they yet acknowledge it in their Writings For they rather choose to call their Kingdom Manghesta Itjopia the Kingdom of Ethiopia and themselves Itjopiawjan Ethiopians assuming the Name from the Greeks tho it be too general and were formerly common as well to all tho swarthy Complexion'd People in Asia as to the Blacks of Ethiopia (c) Hence Ethiopia was by the Ancients divided into Oriental and Occidental into African and Asiatick Of which those Places of Scripture that speak of the Cushites are to be understood Now adays Ethiopia is only Attributed to Africa But if you require a special Name from them then they call their Kingdom Geez also the Countrey of Ag-azi or the Land of the Ag-azjan or (d) For which Gregory is my Author in a Letter to my self Freemen either from the Liberty they enjoy or their transporting themselves from one place to another for that the radical Word Geeza admits of both significations Perchance (e) See my Ethiopick Lexicon Col. 405. because that in ancient times translating themselves out of Arabia and Africa in search of other Habitations they assumed that Name in sign of Liberty as of old the Germans passing the Rhine gave themselves the Name of Franks (f) Which I believe as Agreeing with those Authors cited by Pontanus concerning the Original of the Franks For they are not Natives of the Land but came out of that Part of Arabia which is called The Happy which adjoyns to the Red Sea and from whence there is an easie Passage into Africa For the Abassenos formerly inhabited Arabia and were reckon'd (g) For the Sabeans and Homerites are the same from the Region of the Axumites the Red Sea lying between as saith Procop. Gazeus upon the Tenth Chapter of the Third Book of Kings Ver. 1. upon the words Queen of Sheba into the number of the Sabeans or Homerites as the ancient Geographers testifie (h) Stephanus in his Book concerning Cities upon the word Abasseni writes Abasseni a Nation of Arabia and relates out of the Arabicks of Uranius that they bordered upon the Sabeans and many other Convincing Arguments sufficiently prove For their Ancient Language which we call the Ethiopick is very near a kin to the Arabick They have also many Customs as Circumcision which are common with the Arabians Their Genius and the shape of their Bodies and the Lineaments of their Countenances resemble the Arabians much more than the African Ethiopians Besides that Severus the Emperor among the Vanquished People of Arabia caused the Name of the Abessines to be (i) Scaliger in Comput Eccles Ethiop de Emendat temp Lib. 7. Engraven on his Coyn. The Habessines themselves also while they claim the Queen of Sheba for their Princess betray their Original For the Arabians unanimously confess That she was descended from the Lineage of the Homerites The Grecian Writers ignorant of the proper Name from the Royal City Axuma called them Axumites (k) Stephanus makes mention of these