Dawit II or David II, better known by his throne name Lebna Dengel (1501 - September 2, 1540) was negus (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 (246th in leap years). ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ... Negus is the Amharic word for king. The term negus negust means king of kings, or Emperor. ... 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 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, and sought to neutralize this advantage by dispatching the Armenian Mateus to Portugal to ask for assistance. However, the Portugese 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: 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 is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto El Muzaffer Daima The Ever Victorious (as written in tugra) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul (Constantinople/Asitane/Konstantiniyye ) Sovereigns Sultans of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 6. ... Massawa is both an island in the Red Sea, and a major city of Eritrea. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... Events January 18 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde. ... October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd 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 fuly 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 Portugese 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 the king of Adal. ... Harar, also spelled Harrar sometime harer, is a city in Ethiopia, situated in the eastern extension of the Ethiopian highlands, about five hundred km from Addis Ababa. ... Events January 22 - Battle of Ridanieh. ... Saylac (also Seyla`, Seelaac, Zeila, Zeyla, Zeylac, Zayla, Séyla‘, Seylac, 11. ... Events April - Battle of Villalors - 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 who are uniquely known for their work ethic and skill as traders. ... 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 at the Battle of Shimbra Kure; Ahmad attacked again in 1531, in a campaign that destroyed churches, monasteries, and converted Christians at the point of spear. Ahmad assembled his troops in Dabra Berhan in April 1533 to conquer -- or at least ravage -- the northern regions of Tigray, Begemder, and Gojjam. 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. ... 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. ... Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ... Tigray is the northern-most of the nine ethnic divisions (kililoch) of Ethiopia. ... 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. The royal compound at Amba Geshen was captured and looted in January, 1540, the royal prisoners interred there slaughtered with their guards. Later that same year, Dawit was killed in battle 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."³ 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. ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ...

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. Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (1270 - 1527) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 301.