Strengthened by this signal victory, other points of the Alexandrian
creed were attacked in succession; and the time of the Jesuits was fully
occupied in the translation into Ethiopic of sundry dogmatical treatises
on subjects of disputed faith. But the barbarism of the language was
despised by most--the Latin interpolation abhorred as magic by all--and
a furious paper controversy raged for a time; until the Abyssinians
becoming scurrilous, the wrath of the monarch was again roused, and he
issued a severe edict, wherein the people were forbidden from
celebrating the Jewish Sabbath, which from time immemorial had hitherto
been sacred.
The inhabitants of Begemeder flew to arms; and people from all parts of
the country, groaning under the yoke of foreign oppression, poured in to
join the standard of rebellion which Joanel had reared on the plains of
his government. A horde of Galla, delighting in the confusion, offered
their assistance, and the most haughty conditions were speedily conveyed
to court from a large assembly in arms.
Again the most earnest entreaties were employed to induce the emperor to
compromise; but influenced by the words of the Jesuits, he called
together his principal chieftains, monks, and learned men, and in their
presence solemnly declared that he would defend the Catholic religion to
the last drop of his blood; adding, that it was the first duty of his
subjects to obey their legitimate monarch. Energetic measures were
forthwith agreed upon, and, at the head of a large array, the king
proceeded in person to the war. Joanel, finding himself too weak to
contend in the plains, withdrew to the inaccessible mountains, where a
blockade by the royal troops soon caused a scarcity of provisions. His
forces gradually deserted, and he himself escaping to the Galla, was
pursued, betrayed, and put to death.
This reverse sustained by the defenders of the old cause did not,
however, intimidate the inhabitants of Damot, a province situated on the
borders of the Nile; for scarcely had the emperor reached his capital,
when the population rose _en masse_, with the determination of
dethroning a monarch who so basely truckled to a foreign yoke, and of
driving from the land the authors of its distraction. An army of
fourteen thousand warriors was speedily organised; and monks and
hermits, burning with zeal in the cause, emerged from the cave and from
the wilderness to join the fast-swelling ranks.
Ras Sela Christos marched against the rebels, but desertion considerably
thinned his troops; and he confronted the enemy with barely one-half the
numerical strength of their formidable array. Governor of the province,
and greatly beloved by the people, a proposal was tendered to him, that
if he would only lend his assistance in burning the monkish books and
hanging the worthy fathers themselves upon tall trees, he might be
seated upon the imperial throne of his ancestors. But the general,
despising the offer, and resting confident in the firelocks of the
Portuguese, rushed to the attack. The combat raged fiercely for a time.
Four hundred monks, devoting themselves to death, carried destruction
through the royal host; but the tide of victory set at length in his
favour, and after a fearful carnage on either side, he found himself
master of the field.
Great rejoicings at court followed the news of this success. Peter
declared that Heaven, by the extermination of his enemies, had given the
desired sign that the Roman Catholic should be the religion of the land;
and the emperor, who, partly from fear of his subjects, and partly from
dislike to relinquish his supernumerary wives and concubines, had not as
yet publicly professed the Latin religion, now openly embraced the
faith, and confessed his sins to the triumphant Jesuit.
A letter containing the royal sentiments was published for the benefit
of the nation:--"The king henceforth obeys the pope of Rome, the
successor of Peter, chief of the apostles, who could neither err in
doctrine nor in conduct; and all subjects are hereby advised to adopt
the same creed." And the missionary, who now reasonably imagined that
the work was satisfactorily concluded, wrote to the courts of Rome and
Lisbon, requesting that a patriarch and twenty ecclesiastics might be
immediately sent to the vineyard; adding, that "although the harvest was
plentiful, the labourers were but few."
These happy and unlooked-for tidings were received by Philip the Fourth
of Spain. Mutio Vitelesi, the general of the Jesuits, offered to
proceed in person, but the pope refused permission, as he had done in
the case of his predecessor Loyola; and Alphonso Mendez, a learned
doctor of the society of Jesus, was inaugurated at Lisbon with all the
customary solemnities.
After suffering much difficulty and delay in his passage, the Portuguese
patriarch at length arrived on the Danakil coast with a large train of
priests, servants, masons, and musicians. The same greediness and
cupidity were experienced amongst the savage Adaiel that the traveller
finds at the present day--baseness and avarice having stamped their
character for generations; but the troubles of a weary march were soon
forgotten in the cordial reception which awaited the party at the royal
camp; and the day was finally fixed when the homage of the king and of
the country should be rendered to the Pope of Rome.
On the 11th of February, 1626, the court and the nobles of the land were
assembled in the open air. Two rich thrones were occupied by the
monarch and his distinguished guest, and a surrounding multitude gazed
upon the imposing ceremony in silence. "The hour is come," exclaimed
Mendez, "when the king shall satisfy the debt of his ancestors, and
submit himself and his people to the only true head of the church." A
copy of the Gospel was produced, and the monarch, falling upon his
knees, took the oath of homage. "We, King of the kings of Ethiopia,
believe and confess that the Pope of Rome is the true successor of the
Apostle Saint Peter, and that he holds the same power, dignity, and
dominion, over the whole Christian church. Therefore we promise, offer,
and swear sincere obedience to the holy father Urban, by God's grace
Pope and our Lord, and throw humbly at his feet our person and our
kingdom."
As the emperor rose from his position, Ras Sela Christos, suddenly
drawing his sword, shouted aloud, "What is now done is done for ever;
and whoso in future disclaims the act, shall taste the sharp edge of
this trusty weapon. I do homage only to true Catholic kings." The
monks, clergy, and noblemen followed the example of their superiors; and
the assembly was closed by a public edict, proclaimed through the royal
herald, that all Abyssinians should, under pain of death, forthwith
embrace the Roman religion.
Palaces and revenues were set apart for the ministers of the new faith;
seminaries for youth were established throughout the country, and
baptism and ordination went on in peace. The success of the Jesuits
increased rapidly, and many thousand souls were enrolled, who had been
converted from the delusions of the Alexandrian creed.
The trial of two years failed, however, to convince the nation of the
benefits of the new religion; and the emperor and patriarchs could not
deceive themselves in the fact, that the cause advanced rather in
appearance than in reality. Missionaries who entered the native
churches were found murdered in their beds; the most disparaging stories
were everywhere circulated regarding the holy fathers, and more
particularly on the representation of scriptural performances at the
Paschal feast, when demons being introduced by the Romans upon the
stage, the spectators rushed simultaneously from the theatre,
exclaiming, "Alas! they have brought with them devils from the infernal
regions," and the tale spread like wildfire through the land.
Nothing daunted by the unfortunate fate of Aelius and Joanel, Tekla
Georgis, another son-in-law of the emperor, with a large body of the
discontented, rose to defend the religion of their forefathers. Burning
the crosses and rosaries, together with a Jesuit priest who fell into
their hands, the party rapidly increased, and the emperor was compelled
to march an army to quell the insurrection. The rebels were completely
routed by Rebaxus, the viceroy of Tigre, and all who fell into his
hands, men, women, and children, were barbarously massacred. Georgis
and his sister Adera concealed themselves in a cave during three days,
but were at length discovered and brought before the irritated emperor.
Condemned by the advice of the Jesuits to be burned to death as a
heretic, Georgis was allowed by the monarch publicly to solicit the
patriarch to be admitted into the Roman church; but it being afterwards
considered politic to imagine that his intentions were insincere, the
unfortunate prince was hung in front of the palace in presence of the
whole court; and his devoted sister, fifteen days afterwards, suffered
the same fate upon the same tree, notwithstanding that the most
strenuous efforts were made to save her life by the queen and by all
classes of society.
To increase the dread effects of his tyranny, the emperor now issued a
manifesto, that even as he had punished with death the obstinacy of his
own son-in-law, so would he of a surety not spare any who in future
committed a like transgression. The remarks of the worthy missionary
Antoine, regarding this execution, will show the spirit which animated
the fathers in their course of persecution, so novel in the annals of
Abyssinia, and so contrary to the mildness of the Christian faith. "He
who reads with attention the history of Ethiopia, will observe, that at
no previous period was such ardent zeal displayed for the honour of
religion, and a direct miracle, indeed, must have induced the emperor to
hang his own son-in-law in the blessed cause."
Dazzled by the success that had hitherto attended their measures, the
patriarch and his colleagues now plunged headlong into proceedings which
eventually proved disastrous to their cause. Excommunications were
lightly launched in civil disputes, and the soul of every counsellor of
the state was committed to the devil if he dared to question the
authority of the foreign priest. Conspiracies were hatched against the
imperial person; and the body of a distinguished non-conforming
ecclesiastic, which had been interred within the walls of the church,
was exhumed by order of the Portuguese prelate, and thrown to the wild
beasts--an action which raised the indignation of the ethiopians to the
highest pitch against a set of men "who had ever the words of religion
in the mouth, but who, after persecuting the living, denied even to the
dead that repose which neither Pagan nor Mohammadan ever disturbed."
The detestation of the fathers and their religion daily waxed stronger
in the hearts of all. Their great patron, Ras Sela Christos, was
deprived of power and property for seditious attempts; and the bold
mountaineers of Begemeder at length seized their long spears to uphold
the faith of their ancestors. The viceroy was driven from the province,
and Meleaxus, a youth of royal blood, appointed defender of the ancient
religion, and leader of the armed host of peasants who flocked to his
standard from all parts of the country, but especially from Lasta, the
seat of the bravest warriors of the land.
To quell this insurrection, the Emperor assembled in Gojam an army of
twenty-five thousand men, and attacked the insurgents among their
strongholds. His troops were, however, repulsed at all points with the
loss of many officers and men, and he was reluctantly obliged to retreat
to the plains. Deputies followed from the victorious camp, to
supplicate him to take pity upon his subjects, and to dismiss those
evil-minded strangers who had so long oppressed Abyssinia. The royal
army was in no heart or condition to renew hostilities. Rumours went
through the land that angels sent from heaven had proclaimed the
restoration of the ancient religion; and in the general excitement the
king perceived that his own authority would be fatally compromised
unless some concessions were made.
The patriarch was nevertheless inflexible; and letters were at the same
time received from Rome, instigating the emperor to combat stoutly with
his rebellious subjects, and extending to Ethiopia the general
absolution of the great year of Jubilee. But the unhappy inhabitants
laughed the offer of this indulgence to scorn, and were utterly unable
to comprehend by what authority the pope held in his possession the keys
of the kingdom of heaven.
Volume 3, Chapter XV.