SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS IN ETHIOPIA

On 6 April 1702 Joseph of Jerusalem gave Krump an extended account of the activities of the missionaries in Ethiopia. Francisco da Salemi fell victim to the diseases of the rainy season before reaching Gondar, but the surviving Europeans were well-received at court. The emperor granted them several audiences during August 1701, and arranged for discussion of religious politics among some of the high clergy and secular nobility of the kingdom. On 2 February 1702 he permitted himself to be baptized and brought into the Roman church. The influence of the Europeans at court, however, aroused the resentment of many of the lesser clergy and common people; a patriotic mob gathered in the streets of the capital to prevent, by force if necessary, any betrayal of their national traditions. The Europeans were placed under house arrest for their own protection, and late in February 1702, honorably escorted out of the kingdom. The emperor sent with them several Ethiopian youths to be trained as missionary priests in Rome, and a request to the Pope for the dispatch of more missionaries skilled in medicine, music, painting, writing and mechanics. [p. 349]



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