The extremely romantic and improbable story of this _soi disant_ prince
is derived from the highly interesting work of De Rocoles; but
unsupported, as would appear to be the case, by any evidence beyond the
verbal testimony of the claimant himself, it may be safely regarded as
purely fictitious. Nevertheless, the fact that his pretensions to
royalty were, to some extent, recognized in various parts of Europe,
entitles him to a place here.
According to De Rocoles, and the monks who favoured the pretender's
story, his father Jacob had reigned peaceably over Abyssinia for seven
years, when, having allowed it to transpire that he proposed
extirpating the Roman Catholics, Susneos, a cousin of his, who had
leagued himself with that body, availed himself of the pretext to
commence a civil war; and the result of it, in 1608, was the defeat and
death of Jacob, and the usurpation of the crown by the victor. The
deceased monarch left two sons--Cosme, aged eighteen; and Zaga Christ,
or _The Treasure of Christ_, aged sixteen.
At the time of their father's death the two princes were at Aich, in
the Isle of Merse, where they resided for educational purposes. The
new Emperor, beginning his reign by putting several of his
predecessor's adherents to death, caused Jacob's widow to fear for the
safety of her sons; she therefore sent trusty messengers to them with a
quantity of gold and precious stones, and bid them quit the country for
a more secure asylum until their friends had rallied sufficiently to
recover them their patrimony. Acting on this advice, the two princes
forsook Aich; Cosme going in a southerly direction, by which route, it
is asserted, he ultimately reached the Cape of Good Hope; and Zaga
Christ going northwards.
Traversing the kingdom of Senaar, which was alleged to have been
tributary to his father, Zaga continued his journey to Tungi, where
Orbat, a pagan monarch, reigned. This king, who also was a vassal of
the Abyssinian ruler, received the fugitive prince with great honours,
and for some months entertained him magnificently, having conceived the
design of giving him his daughter in marriage, and assisting him to
regain his father's dominions. The claimant, according to his own
account, declined the proffered honour because the princess was an
idolater. This rare example of royal abstinence naturally enraged
Orbat, who threw his guest into prison, and sent to inform the usurper
that Zaga was a captive in his hands.
As soon as he received this intelligence, Susneos sent a company of
guards to Orbat's capital to take possession of his young relative.
Zaga, however, being warned by a friendly Venetian, who was serving
under the usurper, managed, or was permitted, to elude his captors,
and, accompanied by a large body of followers, after a series of
dangerous adventures contrived to reach a portion of the Turkish
domain. Desirous of traversing Arabia Deserta, with a view of reaching
Egypt, the young wanderer now dismissed all his followers with the
exception of fifty, who elected to share his dangers. A few days after
this little band had penetrated into the desert, the greater portion of
its baggage was stolen by a native chieftain; and some days later, in
seeking for water, fifteen out of the fifty men were lost through the
giving way of the cistern walls. After a tedious and trying passage,
however, the devoted band succeeded in reaching a small town on the
Egyptian frontiers.
After a rest of three months, the young pretender pursued his journey
to Cairo, where a large body of his countrymen and co-religionists
resided. Zaga was enthusiastically received by his compatriots, whilst
the Turkish pacha, or governor of the city, treated him with every
respect, and for several days even lodged him in his own palace. After
a short stay at Cairo, the young prince started for Jerusalem, taking
with him only fifteen servitors, the remainder electing to stay with
their brethren in Egypt. A large number of pilgrims also accompanied
the caravan, which reached the Holy City safely about Lent, 1632.
The _soi disant_ prince, followed by all his adherents, took up his
abode with the Abyssinian priests then resident in Jerusalem. His
servants, who appeared to treat him with immense deference, are
described at this stage of his adventures. They are represented as
great black men, attired in blue cotton shirts, wound round with yellow
_bouracan_, six or eight yards long by one wide, and with turbans of
check silk. Attended by these men, Zaga called on the pacha of
Jerusalem to pay his respects, and in the same style honoured with his
presence, during Holy Week, the ceremonies performed at the Holy
Sepulchre by the Christians. After having spent some time in
Jerusalem, he began to imbibe conscientious scruples as to the
Abyssinian forms of Christianity, and at last requested the chief Roman
Catholic priest in the city to receive him into the communion of that
Church. This, however, was refused, the Catholics fearing that the
pacha might take umbrage at so important a conversion, and make use of
it to instigate a persecution against them. Nevertheless, desirous of
not losing so exalted a convert, the priests persuaded Zaga Christ to
quit the Holy City secretly, and, accompanied by some other pilgrims
and the two or three servants who still followed his fortunes, to
repair to Nazareth, where he would have perfect liberty to make his
profession, the place being under the domination of Emir Fechraddin, an
independent chief.
On the second Thursday after Easter, 1632, the _soi disant_ prince
arrived in Nazareth, and resided there until September of the same
year; during which time he learnt to read, write, and speak a little
French and Italian. It is stated that after Zaga had spent a few days
at the Convent of Nazareth, the said religious house was visited by an
Armenian bishop and his train, who were returning from solemnizing
Easter at Jerusalem. The prince, meeting the ecclesiastic in the
church, reproached him bitterly for teaching his countrymen such
manifold lies and errors, such as that the sacred fire at the Holy City
was sent from heaven instead of being merely ignited with a common
flint, and so forth. The priest left Zaga without being able to make
any reply; but in revenge for the affront he had received, he went to
the prince's few remaining followers, informed them that their master
had determined to pass into Europe and become a Roman Catholic, and
warned them against accompanying the heretic; as Europe was, he told
them, a country of perpetual frost and snow, where natives of warmer
climes would speedily die, even if they escaped being captured by the
corsairs, and sold as galley-slaves, whilst on the journey. Moreover,
he threatened them with excommunication if they continued to associate
with such a renegade to the true and pure faith.
Thus frightened, the poor Abyssinians went to their master, and
represented to him that they should have to quit him if he determined
to leave for Europe, as they neither wished to be frozen to death nor
made galley-slaves of. Their master wept at this discourse, and
reproached them for their idea of abandoning him after having so long
shared his fortunes; they, the only three left out of all those who had
left Abyssinia with him. He pointed out to them that if they went with
him they would only have the same risks he would have himself of dying
through cold, or of being sold into slavery; and that it would be far
better for them to live amongst fellow-Christians than with
Mohammedans, who might any day massacre them all. They were much
afflicted at their master's grief, but the persuasions of the cunning
Armenian were too much for them; they abandoned their master to his
fate, and followed the priest to Aleppo, where two of them died, and
the third returned to Jerusalem.
Thus left alone, Zaga took up his abode in the convent, where he
finally abjured the heresies of the Abyssinian Church, and, on St.
Peter's Day, 1632, received communion and absolution in the Catholic
faith. During the five months that the prince was residing at Nazareth
he was the subject of ceaseless plots and schemes, in which the
Abyssinians at Jerusalem took the chief part. They tried, under
various pretexts, to persuade the pacha of that city to obtain
possession of Zaga; but as the convent was under the protection of a
friendly chief, the Emir Fechraddin, he would not undertake or permit
the expedition; and at last the prince, in obedience to an invitation
from the Pope, crossed over to Italy, and was received at Rome with
great magnificence, the head of the Church placing a palace at his
disposal.
For two years the supposed prince was hospitably entertained in the
Eternal City, and at the end of that time he accepted the invitation of
the Duke de Cregui, the French ambassador, to visit France. Zaga made
the journey, and for three more years resided in Paris, caressed and
supported by the French. Going to Ruel, a village near the capital, to
pay his court to Cardinal Richelieu, he was attacked by pleurisy, and
died there in 1638, at the age of about twenty-eight years. He had
been supported royally during his residence in France, and now, at his
death, was interred by the side of a prince of Portugal, and a monument
erected over his remains. The epitaph, however, placed upon the tomb
of our _soi disant_ prince, expressed public opinion faithfully by
doubting the justness of his claims to royal lineage.