The Highlands of Ethiopia

by Sir William Cornwallis Harris

The first flattering ideas regarding the religion of the country being thus found erroneous, the delusion respecting the extent and power of the mighty empire was next to fall to the ground. The Galla were now streaming in hordes from the interior, and Graan, the Mohammadan invader, was carrying fire and sword throughout the country. The dying Coptish patriarch of Abyssinia was prevailed upon to nominate as his successor John Bermudez, a resident Portuguese; and, hurried by the king, this priest proceeded, without loss of time, to seek military assistance from the courts of Rome and Lisbon.

Schemes of ambition flitted over the minds of the first conquerors of India, and an alliance with Ethiopia seemed highly desirable as a handle for further acquisition in the East. But dilatory measures delayed the arrival of the Portuguese fleet until the suing monarch had been gathered to his fathers; and it has already been seen that Christopher, the son of the famous Vasco de Gama, anchored in the harbour of Massowah at a time when the new Emperor Claudius was sorely pressed to sustain himself upon the throne of his ancestors. The opportunity was not neglected by the archbishop to reduce the heretic Church to the fold of the Roman see; and a series of attempts were commenced, equally to be deplored from the mischief which they created, and the unworthy means that were employed during the struggle.

The signal service rendered by the Portuguese troops in the ensuing wars, the total rout of the Galla and the Moslem, with the slaughter of their invading leader in battle, placed Bermudez in a position to demand high terms from the reinstated monarch. The conversion of the emperor to the Roman Catholic faith and the possession of one-third of the kingdom, were imperiously proposed, and scornfully rejected. Excommunication was threatened by the proud prelate of the West, and utterly disregarded by King Claudius, who retorted that the pope himself was a heretic. Open hostilities broke out; and although the superior discipline of the Europeans for a time gave them the advantage, they were at length separated by a wily stratagem, and hurried to different quarters of the kingdom; and Bermudez being then seized, was conveyed in honourable exile to the rugged mountains of Efát.

Although much blood and considerable treasure had been thus fruitlessly expended, the conversion of Ethiopia was far from being forgotten in Europe; and the spark of hope was further kept alive by an Abyssinian priest, who asserted, on his arrival in Rome, that the failure of Bermudez had entirely arisen from his own absurd and brutal conduct, and that the utmost deference would be paid to men of sense and capacity. Ignatius Loyola volunteered to repair in person to re-unite the Ethiopic and Roman Catholic churches; but his talents being required for more important objects, the pope refused the desired permission to the great founder of the society of Jesus, and thirteen missionaries from the new order were chosen instead. Nunez Baretto was elevated to the dignity of patriarch, and André Oviedo appointed provisional successor.

At that period the navigation of the Red Sea was rendered dangerous by numerous Saracen fleets; and the patriarch, deeming it inexpedient to hazard his own valuable person in the perils of the voyage, reposed quietly at Goa, whilst a deputation headed by Gonsalvez Rodrigues, a priest of secondary rank, was despatched in advance, to ascertain the capabilities of the route, and the sentiments of the reigning monarch.

The Emperor Claudius little relished the arrival of these monks, and Rodrigues entirely failed in every attempt at conviction on the points at issue—that the pope, as representative of Christ upon earth, was the true head of all Christians, and that there was no salvation out of the pale of the Catholic church. Dismissed with the reply that the people of Ethiopia would not lightly abandon the faith of their forefathers, the monk retired to work upon the mind of the monarch by the brilliancy of his controversial writing; but a lengthy treatise on the true faith produced no happy result, and the envoy, disgusted with his reception, returned shortly afterwards to Goa.

The spiritual conclave was plunged into consternation by the untoward intelligence; and after much mature deliberation it was resolved, that the dignity of the patriarch, and of the great King of Portugal, could not be exposed to the consequences attending the ill favour of the Emperor of Abyssinia; and that therefore the prelate should still remain the guest of the Bishop of Nicea, whilst the daring and restless Oviedo, with a small train of attendants, attempted the business.

Arriving in safety, the Jesuit experienced a most friendly reception from the Emperor Claudius; and although the letters of recommendation from the pope were received with mistrust and impatience, the habitual mildness of the monarch restrained him from any overt act of oppression. Deceived by this calm behaviour, the bishop, during a second audience, was sufficiently foolhardy to represent, in the most insolent language, the enormous errors under which the Emperor laboured, and to demand imperatively whether or not he intended to submit himself to the authority of the successor of Saint Peter, and thus remove the heavy obligation under which his empire already groaned. King Claudius replied that he was well inclined towards the Portuguese nation—that he would grant lands and settlements in his country—that permission would not be withheld to the private exercise of the religion of the West; but that as the Abyssinian church had been for ages united to the charge of the patriarch of Alexandria, a subject of such serious alteration must be canvassed before a full assembly of divines.

Indignant at what he termed Ethiopian perfidy, but still buoyed up with the faint hope of realising his object, Oviedo changed his mode of attack, and addressed a laboured remonstrance to the monarch, written in the hypocritical tone of false friendship, earnestly entreating him to recall to his remembrance the assistance rendered by Europeans to his afflicted country, and the many promises made by his sire in the day of his urgent distress; imploring him at the same time to preserve a stern vigilance upon the evil influence of the Empress and of the ministers of state; “for in matters of faith the love of kindred must give way to the love of Christ, and in similar situations the nearest relation often proves the bitterest enemy to the salvation of the soul.”

This insidious reasoning was, however, vainly expended upon the intelligent Claudius, and served but to turn his heart further from the Roman and his cause. The offer of a public controversy on points of disputed faith being shortly afterwards accepted, the Emperor entered the lists in presence of the assembled court, and by his clear knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, utterly defeated the subtilties of the Italian priest; and thus, notwithstanding the conviction of the Portuguese missionary that by supernatural aid he had triumphantly refuted all the arguments urged by his illustrious antagonist, it was fully decreed by the Abyssinian conference, that neither king nor people owed any obligation or obedience whatsoever to the church of Rome.