Dawit II or David II, better known by his throne name Lebna Dengel (1501 - September 2, 1540) was negus negust (1508 - 1540) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. He was the son of Emperor Na'od and Queen Na'od Mogasa. // Events Alexander becomes King of Poland. ... September 2 is the 245th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (246th in leap years). ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ... The Emperor of Ethiopia (Amharic ንጉሠ ነገሥት, niguse negest, King of Kings) was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. ... Events February - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor attacks Venice June 6 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three year truce and cede several territories to Venice December 10 - League of Cambrai formed as an alliance against Venice between... The Solomonid dynasty is the traditional royal house of Ethiopia, claming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is said to have given birth to the traditional first king Menelik I after her Biblically-described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem. ... Naod was negus (1494 - 1508) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ...

Early reign

Although she was well into her seventies, the Queen Mother Eleni stepped in to act as her step-great-grandson's regent until 1516, when he came of age. During this time, she was aware that the neighboring Muslim states were benefitting from the assistance of other, larger Muslim countries like the Ottoman Empire. Eleni sought to neutralize this advantage by dispatching the Armenian Mateus to Portugal to ask for assistance. However, the Portuguese response did not arrive in Ethiopia until much later, when an embassy led by Dom Rodrigo de Lima arrived at Massawa on April 9, 1520. Transversing the Ethiopian highlands, they did not reach Dawit's camp until October 19 of that year. Francisco Alvarez provides us a description of the Emperor: Eleni or Helena (died April, 1522) was the wife of Zara Yaqob, and Queen of Ethiopia. ... // High public office A regent, from the Latin regens who reigns is anyone who acts of head of state, especially if not the Monarch (who has higher titles). ... // Events March - With the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon, his grandson Charles of Ghent becomes King of Spain as Carlos I. July - Selim I of the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Mameluks and invades Syria. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) (sometimes also spelled Moslem) is an adherent of Islam. ... Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Bursa (1335 - 1365), Edirne (1365-1453), Ä°stanbul (Constantinople) (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40... Massawa in the 19th century Massawa or Mitsiwa (15° 36′ 33″ N 39° 26′ 43″ E) is a port on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... mary elline m. ... The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia and Eritrea in northeastern Africa. ... October 19 is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Francisco Alvarez (1465?-1541?) was a Portuguese missionary and explorer. ...

In age, complexion, and staure, he is a young man, not very black. His complexion might be chestnut or bay, not very dark in colour; he is very much a man of breeding, of middling stature; they said that he was twenty-three years of age, and he looks like that, his face is round, the eyes large, the nose high in the middle, and his beard is beginning to grow. In presence and strate he fully looks like the great lord that he is.¹

Dawit had ambushed and killed Emir Mahfuz of Harar in 1517; about the same time a Portuguese fleet attacked Zeila, a Muslim stronghold, and burned it. In 1523, Dawit campaigned amongst the Gurage near Lake Zway. Contemporaries concluded that the Muslim threat to Ethiopia was finally over, so when the diplomatic mission from Portugal arrived at last, Dawit denied that Mateus had the authority to negotiate treaties, ignoring Eleni's counsels. After a stay of six years, the Portuguese at last set sail and left a governing class who thought they were securely in control of the situation. As Paul B. Henze notes, "They were mistaken."² Mahfuz or Mohammed (died July 1517) was Imam of Zeila, and a general of Sultan Muhammad ibn Azhar ad-Din of Adal. ... Harar, sometimes spelled Harrar or Harer, is a city in Ethiopia situated in the eastern extension of the Ethiopian highlands, about five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa. ... Events January 22 - Battle of Ridanieh. ... Saylac (also Seyla`, Seelaac, Zeila, Zeyla, Zeylac, Zayla, Séyla‘, Seylac, 11. ... Events April - Battle of Villalar - Forces loyal to Emperor Charles V defeat the Comuneros, a league of urban bourgeois rebelling against Charles in Spain. ... The Gurage are an ethnic group in Ethiopia. ... Lake Zway is one of the freshwater Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia. ...

The Invasion of Ahmad Gragn

With the death of Sultan Abu Bakr in 1520, a young Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi consolidated his hold on the Sultanate of Adal, and undertook a campaign to extinguish the Empire of Ethiopia. Ahmad attacked in 1528, and inflicted a severe defeat on Lebna Dengel on either March 7 or March 9, 1529 at the Battle of Shimbra Kure; Ahmad attacked again in 1531, and sharply defeated Lebna Dengel at the Battle of Amba Sel, where he was almost captured, a reversal, in the words of R.S. Whiteway, that left Lebna Dengel "never in a position to offer a pitched battle to his enemies."³ In the campaign that followed, Ahmad's followers destroyed churches, monasteries, and converted Christians at the point of spear. In April 1533, Ahmad once again assembled his troops at Dabra Berhan to conquer -- or at least ravage -- the northern regions of Tigray, Begemder, and Gojjam. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad (reigned 1525 - 1526) was a sultan of Adal. ... Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (c. ... This article is about the African sultanate. ... Events June 19 - Battle of Landriano - A French army in Italy under Marshal St. ... March 7 is the 66th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (67th in Leap years). ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... Events April 22 - Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297. ... The Battle of Shimbra Kure was fought in March of 1529 between the forces of Adal led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, and the Ethiopian army. ... Events January 26 - Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake-- thousands die October 1 - Battle of Kappel - The forces of Zürich are defeated by the Catholic cantons. ... The Battle of Amba Sel was fought on October 28, 1531 between the Ethiopians under their Emperor Lebna Dengel, and the forces of Imam Ahmad Gragn. ... This article is about the religous people known as Christians. ... Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ... Debre Berhan is a town in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, about 120 kilometers north east of Addis Ababa, on the paved highway to Dessie. ... Map of Ethiopia highlighting the Tigray region. ... Begemder was a province in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Gondar. ... Gojjam, or Gojam, was a province in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debra Markos. ...

Both Ethiopia and Dawit suffered heavily from these assaults. Dawit's eldest son Fiqtor was killed at Zara in Wag by a lieutenant of Ahmad on April 7, 1537; another son, Menas, was captured on May 19, 1539, and later sent to Yemen. The royal compound at Amba Geshen was captured in January, 1540, the royal prisoners interred there slaughtered with their guards, and the royal treasury looted. Later that same year, Dawit was killed in battle near Debre Damo on September 2. The Ethiopian historian Taddesse Tamrat writes, "The Muslim occupation of the Christian highlands under Ahmad Gragn lasted for little more than ten years, between 1531 and 1543. But the amount of destruction brought about in these years can only be estimated in terms of centuries."⁴ April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... Events January 6 - Alessandro de Medici assassinated August 25 - The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, was formed. ... Menas (throne name Admas Sagad I) was negus (1559 - February 1, 1563) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... Events May 30 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal to find gold. ... Amba Geshen is the name of a mountain in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, northwest of Dessie. ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ... Debre Damo is the name of a mountain and a monastery in northern Ethiopia, lying west of Adigrat in the region of Tigray. ...

References

1. Francisco Alvarez, The Prester John of the Indies translated by C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), p. 304. Alvarez's book is an important account not only of the Portuguese mission to Ethiopia, but for Ethiopia at the time.
2. Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 85.
3. R.S. Whiteway, The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541-1543, 1902 (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint Limited, 1967), p. xxxvi.
4. Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (1270 - 1527) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 301.