Editing Francisco Álvares (section)

== 1515 embassy to Ethiopia ==
Francisco Álvares was a chaplain-priest and almoner to King [[Manuel I of Portugal]]. He was sent in 1515 as part of the Portuguese embassy to the nəgusä nägäst ([[Emperor of Ethiopia]]),<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Alvarez, Francisco|volume=1|page=774}}</ref> accompanied by the [[Mateus (Ethiopia)|Ethiopian ambassador Matheus]]. Their first attempt to reach the port of [[Massawa]] failed due to the actions of [[Lopo Soares de Albergaria]], governor of [[Portuguese India]], which got no closer than the [[Dahlak Archipelago]] and was aborted with the death of the Portuguese ambassador, old [[Duarte Galvão]] at [[Kamaran]]. Álvares and Mattheus were forced to wait until the arrival of Soares' replacement, [[Diogo Lopes de Sequeira]], who successfully sent the embassy on, with  [[Dom Rodrigo de Lima]] replacing Duarte Galvão. The party at last reached Massawa on April 9, 1520, and reached the court of [[Lebna Dengel]] where he befriended several Europeans who had gained the favor of the Emperor, which included [[Pêro da Covilhã]] and [[Brancaleon|Nicolao Branceleon]]. Father Álvares remained six years in Ethiopia, returning to [[Lisbon]] in either 1526 or 1527.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ross |first=E. Denison |date=1922 |title=Early Travellers in Abyssinia: Part I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/715368 |journal=Journal of the Royal African Society |volume=21 |issue=84 |pages=268–278 |jstor=715368 |issn=0368-4016}}</ref>

In 1533 he was allowed to accompany Dom [[Martinho de Portugal]] to [[Rome]] on an embassy to [[Pope Clement VII]], to whom Father Álvares delivered the letter Lebna Dengel had written to the Pope. The precise date of Francisco Álvares death, like that of his birth, is unknown, but according to the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition]], it was later than 1540, in which year an account of his travels were published at Lisbon.<ref name="EB1911"/> In the introduction of their mid 20th century translation of Álvares' work, [[C.F. Beckingham]] and [[G.W.B. Huntingford]] furnish evidence that points to Álvares' death in [[Rome]], and admit that he may have died before his work was published.