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. Although originally written in his native Portuguese (and subsequently banned by the Portuguese Inquisition) this work was quickly translated into Latin by fellow Erasmian John More as The Christian Empire of Prester John.
The work builds on the Relatio of Francisco Álvares, who narrated the first Portuguese Embassy to Ethiopia (1520-1526). 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).
As Blackburn (p. 40) details:
Goes begins the story of Prester John with an important historical document, the so-called "letter of Prester John", which is really the letter of Queen Helena, regent for the twelve-year-old Lebna Dengel, Dawitt II (David II), who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.
