They Aided
And Encouraged Mahfuz To Continue His Depredations, Whilst The Sherif Of
Meccah Gave Him Command Of Zayla, The Key Of The Upper Country, And
Presented Him With The Green Banner Of A Crusader.
On the other hand, the great Albuquerque at the same time (A.D. 1508-1515)
was viceroy of India, and to him the Iteghe Helena applied for aid.
Her
ambassador arrived at Goa, "bearing a fragment of wood belonging to the
true cross on which Christ died," which relic had been sent as a token of
friendship to her brother Emanuel by the empress of AEthiopia. The overture
was followed by the arrival at Masawwah of an embassy from the king of
Portugal. Too proud, however, to await foreign aid, David at the age of
sixteen took the field in person against the Moslems.
During the battle that ensued, Mahfuz, the Goliath of the Unbelievers, was
slain in single combat by Gabriel Andreas, a soldier of tried valour, who
had assumed the monastic life in consequence of having lost the tip of his
tongue for treasonable freedom of speech: the green standard was captured,
and 12,000 Moslems fell. David followed up his success by invading the
lowlands, and, in defiance, struck his spear through the door of the king
of Adel.
Harar was a mere mass of Bedouin villages during the reign of Mohammed
Gragne, the "left-handed" Attila of Adel. [13] Supplied with Arab
mercenaries from Mocha, and by the Turks of Yemen with a body of
Janissaries and a train of artillery, he burst into Efat and Fatigar. In
A.D. 1528 he took possession of Shoa, overran Amhara, burned the churches
and carried away an immense booty. The next campaign enabled him to winter
at Begmeder: in the following year he hunted the Emperor David through
Tigre to the borders of Senaar, gave battle to the Christians on the banks
of the Nile, and with his own hand killed the monk Gabriel, then an old
man. Reinforced by Gideon and Judith, king and queen of the Samen Jews,
and aided by a violent famine which prostrated what had escaped the spear,
he perpetrated every manner of atrocity, captured and burned Axum,
destroyed the princes of the royal blood on the mountain of Amba Geshe
[14], and slew in A.D. 1540, David, third of his name and last emperor of
AEthiopia who displayed the magnificence of "King of Kings."
Claudius, the successor to the tottering throne, sent as his ambassador to
Europe, one John Bermudez, a Portuguese, who had been detained in
Abyssinia, and promised, it is said, submission to the Pontiff of Rome,
and the cession of the third of his dominions in return for
reinforcements. By order of John III., Don Stephen and Don Christopher,
sons of Don Vasco de Gama, cruised up the Red Sea with a powerful
flotilla, and the younger brother, landing at Masawwah with 400
musqueteers, slew Nur the governor and sent his head to Gondar, where the
Iteghe Sabel Wenghel received it as an omen of good fortune. Thence the
Portuguese general imprudently marched in the monsoon season, and was soon
confronted upon the plain of Ballut by Mohammed Gragne at the head of
10,000 spearmen and a host of cavalry. On the other side stood a rabble
rout of Abyssinians, and a little band of 350 Portuguese heroes headed by
the most chivalrous soldier of a chivalrous age.
According to Father Jerome Lobo [15], who heard the events from an eye-
witness, a conference took place between the two captains. Mohammed,
encamped in a commanding position, sent a message to Don Christopher
informing him that the treacherous Abyssinians had imposed upon the king
of Portugal, and that in compassion of his opponent's youth, he would give
him and his men free passage and supplies to their own country. The
Christian presented the Moslem ambassador with a rich robe, and returned
this gallant answer, that "he and his fellow-soldiers were come with an
intention to drive Mohammed out of these countries which he had wrongfully
usurped; that his present design was, instead of returning back the way he
came, as Mohammed advised, to open himself a passage through the country
of his enemies; that Mohammed should rather think of determining whether
he would fight or yield up his ill-gotten territories than of prescribing
measures to him; that he put his whole confidence in the omnipotence of
God, and the justice of his cause; and that to show how full a sense he
had of Mohammed's kindness, he took the liberty of presenting him with a
looking-glass and a pair of pincers."
The answer and the present so provoked the Adel Monarch that he arose from
table to attack the little troop of Portuguese, posted upon the declivity
of a hill near a wood. Above them stood the Abyssinians, who resolved to
remain quiet spectators of the battle, and to declare themselves on the
side favoured by victory.
Mohammed began the assault with only ten horsemen, against whom an equal
number of Portuguese were detached: these fired with so much exactness
that nine of the Moors fell and the king was wounded in the leg by Peter
de Sa. In the melee which ensued, the Moslems, dismayed by their first
failure, were soon broken by the Portuguese muskets and artillery.
Mohammed preserved his life with difficulty, he however rallied his men,
and entrenched himself at a strong place called Membret (Mamrat),
intending to winter there and await succour.
The Portuguese, more desirous of glory than wealth, pursued their enemies,
hoping to cut them entirely off: finding, however, the camp impregnable,
they entrenched themselves on a hill over against it. Their little host
diminished day by day, their friends at Masawwah could not reinforce them,
they knew not how to procure provisions, and could not depend upon their
Abyssinian allies. Yet memorious of their countrymen's great deeds, and
depending upon divine protection, they made no doubt of surmounting all
difficulties.
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