John Jeremy Hespeler-Boultbee - A Story in Stones: Portugals Influence on Culture and Architecture in the Highlands of Ethiopia 1493-1634

A Story in Stones

Portugals influence on culture and
architecture in the Highlands of Ethiopia
1493-1634

by J.J. Hespeler-Boultbee

Foreword by
Richard Pankhurst

CCB Publishing
British Columbia, Canada

A Story in Stones: Portugal's influence on culture and architecture in the Highlands of Ethiopia 1493-1634

Copyright 2011 by J.J. Hespeler-Boultbee
ISBN-13 978-1-926585-99-4
Second Edition

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Hespeler-Boultbee, J. J. (John Jeremy), 1935
A story in stones [electronic resource] : Portugal's influence on culture and architecture in the highlands of
Ethiopia, 1493-1634 / by J. J. Hespeler-Boultbee ; foreword by Richard Pankhurst. 2nd ed.

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic monograph in PDF format.

ISBN 978-1-926585-99-4
Also available in print format.

1. Architecture--Ethiopia--Portuguese influences.

2. Ethiopia-- Civilization--Portuguese influences.

3. Ethiopia--History--1490-1889.

4. Portugal--Civilization--16th century.

5. Portugal--Civilization-- 17th century. I. Title.

DT384.H48 2011a 963'.00469 C2011-900643-X

Extreme care has been taken to ensure that all information presented in this book is accurate and up to date at the time of publishing. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Additionally, neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express written permission of the publisher.

Photo credits: All photos contained herein are copyright J.J. Hespeler-Boultbee except:

Photos of Selassie Gemb (Washa) courtesy of Tim and Kim Otte de Hoop
Archival photos used in Kwerata reesu section
Illustration credits: All illustrations contained herein are copyright J.J. Hespeler-Boultbee except:

Illustration of landscape at Abbay Gish Fasil courtesy of Anne Marsh Evans

Dedication

This edition of A Story in Stones is affectionately dedicated to my Lake Tana family

St. George, the patron saint of Ethiopia

By ways untrod I walked with God, by parched and bitter path;
In deserts dim I talked with Him, and learned to know His Wrath.

- Robert Service

Monarchs During
Portuguese-Ethiopian Contact, 1493-1634

Note: See full chronology.

Contents

by Richard Pankhurst

by Dr. Tsehai Jemberu

by Richard Pankhurst

Ethiopia, known to medieval Europe as the Kingdom of Prester John, was at the time of its first contacts with Portugal in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a Christian kingdom situated in Africa between the Red Sea and the Blue Nile. The realm traced its origins to the ancient Axumite Empire, which had risen to prominence further north, near the Red Sea, around the time of the birth of Christ. A great commercial kingdom, it had produced its own currency and had adopted Christianity as its state religion as early as about 330 AD. This conversion had been occasioned through contacts with Christians from Syria. The result of this was that the Ethiopians and their religious establishment became linked with Alexandria, the see of St. Mark and the Eastern Orthodox family of churches rather than, as in the case of the Portuguese, with Rome, the see of St. Peter and the western, Roman Catholic Church.

Ethiopia, at the time of its historic contacts with Portugal, may be likened in many ways to a European feudal monarchy. It was ruled, except in times of rebellion or civil war, by powerful emperors. They exercised considerable control over both the nobles and the peasantry, and claimed descent, through King Solomon of Jerusalem and the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba, from the Biblical Kings of Israel. The countrys Metropolitan, or head of its church, known as the Abun, was invariably a Copt, chosen from among the monks of Egypt.

Despite these and other differences, Ethiopia and Portugal, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, developed important though, in the final analysis, impermanent diplomatic, military, religious and cultural ties.

A Portuguese diplomatic embassy, led first by Duarte Galvo (who died en route to Ethiopia) and later by Rodrigo de Lima, visited the country in the 1520s. The missions chaplain, Francisco lvares, wrote the first and one of the most detailed accounts of Ethiopia ever penned. It is well worthy of study, even after almost half a millennium.

Immediately after the departure of the Portuguese embassy, the Ethiopian Christian state was overrun, and threatened with extinction, by its Muslim neighbours. The Christian kingdom was, however, duly saved through the intervention of a Portuguese expeditionary force led by Cristvo da Gama, son of the famous Vasco. The Muslim leader, Imam Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim, known as Gragn the Left-Handed, was killed in battle in 1543, after which the Christian state was speedily restored.

Memories of this momentous Portuguese involvement in Ethiopia inspired Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, to take a keen interest in the country, and in its conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. A first Jesuit mission, composed largely of Portuguese, arrived in the country in 1557, and other missionaries followed in subsequent decades. One of their leaders, Pro Pez, himself a Spaniard, was so successful that he converted two successive emperors, Za Dengal (ruled 1603-1604) and Sussenyos (ruled 1607-1632). The latters attempts to convert his subjects to Roman Catholicism were, however, deeply resented, both by the Orthodox priesthood, and by the nobles and populace at large. Many rebellions followed. Sussenyos found himself obliged to restore the traditional Ethiopian faith after which he abdicated, in 1632, in favour of his son, Fasiladas. The new emperor proceeded to banish the Jesuits and other Roman Catholics from his empire, and it rapidly reverted to the old Orthodox faith.