Jerónimo Lobo
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jerónimo Lobo (1595 – 29 January 1678) was a
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
. He took part in the unsuccessful efforts to convert
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
from the native
Ethiopian church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
to
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
until the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1643. Afterwards he wrote an account of his time in Ethiopia, , which is an important source for the history and culture of that country.


Life

He was born in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
the third of at least five sons and six daughters to Francisco Lobo da Gama, the
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Portuguese Cape Verde Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975. History 15th century The islands of Cape Verde was discovered in 1444 by Dom Prin ...
, and Maria Brandão de Vasconcelos. He entered the Order of Jesus at the age of 14. In 1621 he was ordained a priest and was ordered as a missionary to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and after surviving an attack on the fleet carrying him by
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
and
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
ships off
Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...
a year later, he arrived at
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
in December 1622. With the intention of proceeding to Ethiopia, whose '' Nəgusä nägäst''
Susenyos I Susenyos I ( gez, ሱስንዮስ ; circa 1571-1575 – 17 September 1632), also known as Susenyos the Catholic, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1606 to 1632, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne names were Seltan Sagad and Malak Saga ...
had been converted to
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
by
Pedro Páez Pedro Páez Jaramillo, S.J. ( pt, Pêro Pais; 1564 – 20 May 1622) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary in Ethiopia. Páez is considered by many experts on Ethiopia to be the most effective Catholic missionary in Ethiopia. He is believed to be the ...
, he left India in 1624. He struggled to overcome the difficulty that Ethiopia controlled none of the northern coastline, first disembarking at Pate and attempted to reach his destination along the
Jubba River The Jubba River or Juba River ( so, Wabiga Jubba) is a river in southern Somalia which flows through the autonomous region of Jubaland. It begins at the border with Ethiopia, where the Dawa and Ganale Dorya rivers meet, and flows directly south ...
through country controlled by the Oromo, but was forced to return. Then in 1625 he set out again, accompanied by
Afonso Mendes Father Afonso Mendes (18 June 1579 – 21 June 1659), was a Portuguese Jesuit theologian, and Patriarch of Ethiopia from 1622 to 1634. While E. A. Wallis Budge has expressed the commonly accepted opinion of this man, as being "rigid, uncompromis ...
, the Catholic
Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
of Ethiopia, and eight missionaries, landing at
Beilul Beilul ( gez, በይሉል, Bäylul, ar, بيلول, alternatively, Beylul) is a small cape town in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. Jerónimo Lobo passed Beilul in 1625 and wrote that it was a small port with no more than 50 inhabitan ...
, a port on the coast of the
Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
controlled by the king of the Afars, vassal to the Emperor of Ethiopia. After a month spent crossing the desert into the
Ethiopian highlands The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...
, the party reached Fremona, where Lobo assumed the responsibilities of superintendent of the missions in Tigray. His other activities included recovering the remains of
Cristóvão da Gama Cristóvão da Gama ( 1516 – 29 August 1542), anglicised as Christopher da Gama, was a Portuguese military commander who led a Portuguese army of 400 musketeers on a crusade in Ethiopia (1541–1543) against the Adal Muslim army of Imam A ...
, who had been captured and executed by
Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi ( so, Axmed Ibraahim al-Qaasi or Axmed Gurey, Harari: አሕመድ ኢብራሂም አል-ጋዚ, ar, أحمد بن إبراهيم الغازي ; 1506 – 21 February 1543) was an imam and general of the Adal Sultan ...
in 1542, at the request of his great nephew Francisco da Gama, Conde da Vidigueira and
Governor-general of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
. He also served as a missionary to the southwest of Lake Tana, where he visited the source of the
Blue Nile The Blue Nile (; ) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to ...
in 1629. The abdication of Emperor Susenyos (1632) deprived the Catholics of their protector; his successor,
Fasilides Fasilides ( Ge'ez: ፋሲልደስ; ''Fāsīladas''; 20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides (as in the works of Edward Gibbon), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a m ...
, first confined them once again at Fremona, then in 1634 Lobo and his companions were exiled from Ethiopia, who were exposed to robbery, assaults and other indignities by the local population before reaching the Ottoman Naib at Massawa. He sent them to his superior at
Suakin Suakin or Sawakin ( ar, سواكن, Sawákin, Beja: ''Oosook'') is a port city in northeastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about north. Suakin used to b ...
, where the
Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...
forced the party to pay a ransom before they could proceed to India. Despite settling for a ransom of 4300 patacas (which he borrowed from local
Banyan merchants Banyan merchants is an expression used widely in the Indian Ocean trade to refer to Indian merchants who are clearly distinguished from others, by their clothing, by their religious and cultural dietary choices, and by the manner in which they co ...
), at the last moment the Pasha insisted on keeping Patriarch Mendes and three other senior priests for further money. Once Lobo reached Diu, he left for Goa by canoe, arriving at the provincial capital on 8 December 1634. There he attempted to convince
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
Miguel de Noronha, conde de Linhares to send an armament to the Red Sea to capture Suakin and Massawa, free the patriarch by force, and restore
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
to Ethiopia. Although the Viceroy was willing to make a
punitive expedition A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavio ...
against Suakin to free the Patriarch, he did not want to overextend Portuguese forces and garrison either port. Unwilling to settle for just freeing the patriarch, Lobo embarked for Portugal, and after he had been shipwrecked on the coast of
Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
, then captured by pirates, he arrived at Lisbon. Neither at this city, however, nor at
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
and
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
, was any approval given to Lobo's plan. He accordingly returned to India in 1640, and was elected rector, and afterwards provincial, of the Jesuits at Goa. After some years he returned to his native city, where he died.


Writings

A number of Lobo's writings have survived. He entered into a correspondence with
Henry Oldenburg Henry Oldenburg (also Henry Oldenbourg) FRS (c. 1618 as Heinrich Oldenburg – 5 September 1677), was a German theologian, diplomat, and natural philosopher, known as one of the creators of modern scientific peer review. He was one of the fo ...
of the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
concerning the source of the Nile, which likely led to the publication in London of a little book entitled ''A Short Relation of the River Nile, of its source and current; of its overflowing the campagnia of Ægypt, till it runs into the Mediterranean and of other curiosities: written by an eye-witnesse, who lived many years in the chief kingdoms of the Abyssine Empire. Translated by Sir Peter Wyche''. Gabriel Pereira reported in 1903 that he had found three short works in manuscript by Lobo in the library of the
Duke of Palmela The Duke of Palmela (in Portuguese ''Duque de Palmela'') is a Portuguese title granted by royal decree of Queen Maria II of Portugal, dated from October 18, 1850, to ''Dom'' Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela, Pedro de Sousa Holstein (17 ...
, and in 1966 Fr. Manuel Gonçalves da Costa discovered in the Ajuda library at Lisbon another short work of Lobo, ''Breve Notícia e Relação de Algumas Cousas Certas não vulgares, e dignas de se saberem, escritas e'' ic''instância de Curiosos'', which repeated the topics of ''A Short Relation''. His best known work is his memoirs of the years 1622-1640, which cover his voyage to India, his experiences in Ethiopia, and his journey back to Portugal; his ''Itinerário'', however, was not published during his lifetime. Baltasar Teles made large use of Lobo's writing in his ''História geral da Ethiópia a Alta'' (Coimbra, 1660), often erroneously attributed to Lobo, but incorporated much from
Manuel de Almeida Manuel de Almeida (sometimes Manoel de Almeida, 1580–1646) was a native of Viseu who entered at an early age into the Society of Jesus and went out as a missionary to India. He is noted to have travelled to Ethiopia and Eritrea and Lake Tana ...
's manuscript work. Lobo's own narrative was translated from a copy owned by the
Count of Ericeira {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2012 Count of Ericeira (''Conde da Ericeira'') was a title created by King Philip III of Portugal, through a 1 March 1622 letter in favour of Diogo de Menezes (1553–1625). * Diogo de Menezes (1622–1625); 1st Cou ...
by the Abbé Joachim le Grand into French in 1728, under the title of ''Voyage historique d'Abissinie''. An English abridgement of Le Grand's edition by Dr.
Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709  – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
was published in 1735 (reprinted 1789). Fr. da Costa discovered another manuscript of Lobo's work in the Biblioteca Pública at
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
in 1947. This was not the same manuscript that le Grand translated; both were copies, with variations, of the original autograph left at the Casa de São Roque at the time of Lobo's death. The whole of this manuscript was translated by Donald M. Lockhart, and published with an introduction and notes by C.F. Beckingham by the
Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishing rol ...
in 1984.


References

*


External links

* *
Johnson's Translation of the ''Itinerário''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lobo, Jeronimo 1595 births 1678 deaths Explorers of Africa 17th-century Portuguese Jesuits Jesuit missionaries in India Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries Clergy from Lisbon Portuguese travel writers Jesuit missionaries in Ethiopia Portuguese expatriates in Ethiopia