Editing Francisco Álvares (section)

==Álvares' writings==
[[File:Francisco Alvares 'The Prester John of the India' (Ho Preste Joam das Indias) (CBL Rare Books AA602, Title Page).jpg|thumb|''Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias'', 1540]]
In 1540, [[Luís Rodrigues]] published a version of Álvares account in a one volume folio, entitled ''Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias'' ("A True Relation of the Lands of [[Prester John]] of the Indies"). C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford cite evidence, based in part on the earlier work of Professor [[Roberto Almagia]], showing that Rodrigues's publication is only a part of Álvares's entire account. Another version of what Álvares wrote was included in an anthology of travel narratives, ''Navigationi et Viaggi'' (1550) assembled and published by [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ReA9AAAAcAAJ&pg=RA2-PT169] "Navigationi et viaggi"</ref> Almagia also identified three manuscripts in the [[Vatican Library]] which contain versions of excerpts from the original manuscript.

Francisco Álvares' work has been translated into English at least twice. The first time was the work of [[Henry Stanley, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley]], for the [[Hakluyt Society]] in 1881. This translation was revised and augmented with notes by C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford, ''The Prester John of the Indies'' (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961).

The author of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article was critical of Álvares' information, believing it should "be received with caution, as the author is prone to exaggerate, and does not confine himself to what came within his own observation."<ref name="EB1911"/> Beckingham and Huntingford, however, have a higher opinion of Álvares' testimony, stating that not only is it "incomparably more detailed than any earlier account of Ethiopia that has survived; it is also a very important source for Ethiopian history, for it was written just before the country was devastated by the [...] invasions of the second quarter of the sixteenth century." He provides the first recorded and detailed descriptions of [[Axum]] and [[Lalibela]]. They continue:

:"He is sometimes wrong, but very rarely silly or incredible. He made a few mistakes; he may well have made others that we cannot detect because he is our sole authority; when he tried to describe buildings his command of language was usually inadequate; he is often confused and obscure, though this may be as much his printer's fault as his own; his prose is frequently difficult to read and painful to translate; but he seems to us to be free from the dishonesty of the traveller who tries to exaggerate his own knowledge, importance, or courage".<ref>C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford, ''Prester John'', p. 13</ref>