A B Y 



»ot without the fufpicion of having been poifoncd, and was 

 lucceedod by iiis fon Joas. The -whole e;npire, in this reign, 

 v.-.is divided i;ito two powerful fr.ciions, the cai!:e.i and 

 effefts of which are particuhirly recited by Mr. Bruce, who 

 was witnds cf the confufiou. and tumult which they pro- 

 duced. In the procefs of this contention, Joas was alFaf- 

 fmated ; aiid, ;!t Ins dsath, in 1 769, Ilanncs, brother to the 

 late king Bacuffa, was apponited emperor. Hannes, how- 

 ever, being niaitr.ed by the lofs of his hand, was deemed in- 

 capable of ailuming the fovercignty : he w.-is removed by 

 poifon, and his fon Tecla Haiinanout II. was ad.-anced to 

 the throne. From, and even before the accefiion of Joas, 

 Michael Ras, who had been appointed Ras or Governor of 

 Tigrc, and other provinces, and who was become malter of 

 almoft one half of Abyfliuia, had the principal diredion 

 and inlliiencein the government of the cour.tr)'. His mar- 

 riage with Ozoro EfUier, a very beautiful and accompllflied 

 princefs, and the widow of Mariam Barea, the mod dlftin- 

 guiftied nobleman of the countiy, had very much augmented 

 both his dignity and power. Hannes was eftabliflied on the 

 throne by his authority, and when he found that he was not 

 likely to anfwer his purpose, he is fuppofed to have made 

 way, by poifon, for his fucceffor Tecla Kaimanout. This 

 prince treated him, from the rr.oment of his acceflion, with 

 tlie alfeftion and refpeft of a fon ; and this influence of 

 Michael v.'.is veiy confiderable in pcefervlng the at', ichment 

 and fubmiffion of his fubjefts, as well as in condi:fti:!g the 

 military operations of his reign. Of thefe Mr. Bruce has given 

 a very minute detail, for which we mull refer the reader to 

 the .).th volume of his elaborate and comprehenfive work. 



Abyssinian, in EccLJiaJlieal H'ljlor^, is ufed as the name 

 of a feci in the chrillian church, cltablifhcd in the empire of 

 Abyffinia. 



The Abyflinians are a branch of the Cophts, or Jaco- 

 bites ; with whom they agree in admitting only one na- 

 ture in Jtfns Chrift, and rejedling the council of Chalce- 

 don : whence they are aLo called monophysites, and Eu- 



TYCHIANS. 



Some learned men are of opinion, that the Abyflinians, or 

 Ethiopians, embraced the fentiments of the Monophyfites in 

 the ninth century, in confequence of the evhortations ad- 

 di-elTcd to ti'.em by the doilors of that left who refided in 

 Egypt. But Modicim (Eccl. Hill. v. ii. p. 363, 8vo.) 

 fays, it is certain that the Abyflinians, who were aecuflomed 

 to receive tlieir fpiritual guide from the biinop of Alexan- 

 dria, commenced Monophyfites in the feventh century, if 

 not fooner.. For in that period the Arabians made them- 

 feives mailers of Egypt, oppreffed the Greeks, and granted 

 to the Monophyfites fiich a powerful proteftion, as enabled 

 them to reduce under their jurifdiftion almoll all the churches 

 that had been eftablirned in Egypt. The Abyflinians arc, 

 fl:riftly fpeaking, a diftinft body from the Cophts, who com- 

 prehend tlofe Chrlilians who dwell in Egypt, Nubia, and 

 the adjacent countries, and whofe condition is tuily deplor- 

 able. They furpafs the latter confiderably in numbers, 

 power, and opulence ; nor is this furpriiing, when it is con- 

 fidered that they live under the dominion of a Chrillian 

 emperor. 



The Abyfiinian church is governed by a bilhop, or metro- 

 politan, ftyled ABUNA, and fometimes, though improperly, 

 patriarch, fent theinby the Cophtic patriarch of Alexandria 

 refiding at Cairo, who is the only perfon tha.t ordains 

 priefts. The firll perfon who pofTelTed the epifcopal dig- 

 nity was Frumentius, who converted the Abyflinians to 

 Ghriilianity in the beginning of the fourth centuiy. Some, 

 indeed, have fuppofed, that they were converted by the 

 apoillcs ,; othe^ have afierted, that the Eunuch, baptifed 



A B Y 



by Pliilip, upon his return to Cand.ce, bieainc the apoftie 

 of Abydlnia. But, if the Abyflinians were converted at 

 fo e-.rly a period, it is not I;k«ly that they fluiiiM have con- 

 t'.nued \.'ahout bifliops, and without any kind of cluirch- 

 government for 300 years, and that the y fliould liavc had 

 no intercoiirfe with neijubouring churches during this long 

 period. Befides, we know, in fuft, that the Chrillian 

 rellgioi had not penetrated into the court of Candacc, wliieli 

 was much nearer to Egypt, in the tin:c of Philip, and it 

 therefore co.ild not reach into the more diilant mountair.oui 

 country of Abyfliuia. The Etiiiopi.i, v.here Cai.dacc re-yn- 

 ed, could not have been the fame with AbyJfi.iij ; bccsift-, 

 if this v.ere the cafe, the whole {lory of the queen of 

 Saba mull be rejetled as fabulous, as there inuft iiave beta 

 a woman fitting upon the tlnor.e of thit country for 500 

 years, after flie had been excluded by a fundamental law of 

 the land. But we are adured by credible writers, that this 

 Candace rcigred upon the Nile, in Atbara, much nearer to 

 ^■-eypt' Her capital was taken in the time of Augulliis, as 

 we have alrcpdy nitntiontd under the article AavssisiA, 

 and her fucceflins and kingdom cxilled in the reign of ihu 

 Abyfllnian kings, long after the Mahometan conqucft, and 

 they cxift there to this day. To which we may add, that 

 the Abyflinians are known to have continued Jews and 

 Heathei :S above 300 years afier the time of the apoftlcs. The 

 ground upon which feme ecclefiadlcal writers have attributed 

 the converfion of the Abyflinians to the apolUcs, is a canon 

 of a council, faid to be that of Nice, found, or pretended tej 

 have been found, in Alexandria. This canon is written in 

 Arabic, and is fo unintelligible, fays Mr. Bruce, who had 

 feen it, that it ftfarce conveys any fenfe at all. But this 

 canon regulated the precedency of the Abuna of Ethiopia 

 in all fuceeeding councils, and places him immediately alter 

 the prelate of Seleucia. The Je'uits have availed themfclvcs 

 of this canon, in order to vindicate the honourable antiquity 

 of the church of Ethiopia. The Abyflinian hiilory informs 

 us, that a queen reigned in Abyflinia, when Frumentius 

 came into this country. Mr. Bruce obferves, that though 

 women are excluded from the Abyfllnian throne, there exills 

 a law, or cuflom, that the queen upon whofe head the king 

 fliall have put the crown during his life, is regent cf the 

 kingdom, and guardian of every minor king, as long as Ihe 

 fhall live. If fach a queen (hould have a fon, flie would 

 have the care of the kingdom, and of the king, during his 

 minority : and if her fon fliould die, and a minor, wlio was 

 no relation to her, fliould fucceed, rtie would dill be regent, 

 nor would her office cecSi. till he came of age. This regent, 

 for life, is called Iteghe. Such was probably the cafe at the 

 time of Frumentius's fettlemer.t in Abyflinia. The hiilory 

 of the Abulias is very imperf.iflly known for many years 

 after their appointment. The firll of them, who is particu- 

 larly me tioned, is Abuna Tecla Haimanont, who diilin- 

 guiflied himfelf !y th-.' refloration of the royal family, and 

 by the rcgulatioTis made by him both in church and flate. 

 He eflablilhed the law, that the Abyflinians fliould not have 

 it in their power to chufe one of their own coiintr)- 

 men as Abuna. The Arabic canon, above mentioned, may 

 probably be attributed to this Abuna ; and is a forgery in, 

 or very foon after, his time. Tecl.i Haimanout was a n i- 

 tive of Abyflinia, and therefore the prohibition had not 

 taken place before his time ; but as no Abyflinian was after- 

 v/ards chofen to this oiRce, the canon mull be a work of 

 His time ; for it is impoflible a canon Ihoiild have been made . 

 by the council of Nice, fettling the rank of a bifliop in a 

 nation which, for above 200 years after that general coui.cil, 

 were not Chriftiaiis. As the Abuna felelom inukrflands the 

 language of the country, he has no iharc of the govcriiment. 



lie 



