254 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



During the reign of Saif-Araad (of the line of 

 Solomon), from 1342 to 1370, the Soudan of Egypt 

 had imprisoned Mark, the Patriarch of the Copts, 

 and as soon as Saif-Araad heard of it, he ordered all 

 the Egyptian merchants to be arrested, and sent 

 bodies of cavalry beyond the frontier to stop the 

 caravans. The Soudan soon released the Patriarch, 

 the only condition he stipulated being that he should 

 make peace between him and the Abyssinian king, 

 which he soon did. 



Zara Jacob, fourth son of David II., succeeded his 

 nephew and occupied the throne for thirty-four years 

 (1434 68) under the name of Constantine, and he 

 was regarded in Abyssinia as a second Solomon. The 

 Abyssinians had a long time before this founded at 

 Jerusalem a monastery, to which Zara Jacob made 

 several donations, and he obtained permission from 

 the Pope to found a second one at Eome. Nicodemus, 

 then superior of the monastery at Jerusalem, sent 

 priests in his name to the Council at Florence, and 

 these priests concurred in the views of the Eastern 

 Church as to the procession of the Holy Ghost, which 

 was the cause of the schism between the Greeks and 

 the Latins. The Abyssinian embassy was deemed of 

 sufficient importance for the recollection of its visit to 

 have been preserved in a picture which is still in the 

 Vatican. 



