The Embassy of the great Emperor of the Indians, Prester John, to Manuel, King of Portugal
Legatio magni Indorum imperatoris Presbyteri Ioannis ad Emanuelem Lusitaniae regem, anno Domini M.D.XIII (1532)
Damião de Góis' treatise was thought to be one of the earliest European treatments of Ethiopian Christianity. A Latin translation of a work originally written in his native Portuguese (and subsequently banned by the Portuguese Inquisition), the Legatio was then quickly translated into English by fellow Erasmian John More as The Christian Empire of Prester John.
Damião's account includes a description of the Ethiopian embassy to Portugal in 1513 as well as the version of the Letter of Prester John attributed to Ethiopian Queen Eleni (1509).
The Legatio was published in 1532 on the heels of the recent Portuguese embassy to Abyssinia (1520-1526) (led by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira and recorded by Francisco Álvares).
As Blackburn (p. 40) details:
As Silverberg (p. 299) points out, Góis's text, which only covered Matthew's journey to Portgual, should have been obselete now that Álvares had returned to Portgual from Ethiopia, but the account of Álvares's journey would not be published for another eight years.Goes begins the story of Prester John with an important historical document, the so-called "letter of Prester John", which is really the letter of Queen Helena, regent for the twelve-year-old Lebna Dengel, Dawitt II (David II), who became the Prester John of Ethiopia in 1508.
Góis, ultimately aware of the limitations of his translated text, sought the counsel of Saga za Ab, another Ethiopian ambassador, now stranded in Portugal. Unlike Matthew, who was a non-native Ethiopian layman, Saga za Ab was both a native Ethiopian and a theologian, and ultimately helped Góis correct some of the factual errors of the Legatio. Góis ultimately translated Saga's account into a text published in 1540 and known as the Faith, Religion, and Manners of the Ethiopians.
