ALVAREZ, FRANCISCO (c. 1465-1541?), Portuguese missionary
and explorer, was born at Coimbra. He was a chaplain-priest and almoner to Dom Manuel, king of Portugal, and
was sent in 1515 as secretary to Duarte Galvao and Rodrigo
da Lima on an embassy to the negus of Abyssinia (Lebna
Dengel Dawit (David) II.). The expedition having been
delayed by the way, it was not until 152O that he reached
Abyssinia, where he remained six years, returning to Lisbon in
1526-1527. In 1533 he was sent to Rome on an embassy to
Pope Clement VII. The precise date of his death, like that
of his birth, is unknown, but it must have been later than
1540, in which year he published at Lisbon under the king's
patronage an account of his travels in one volume folio,
entitled
Yerdadera Informacam das terras do Preste
Joam. This curious work was translated into Italian (G.
B. Ramusio,
Navagationi, vol. i., Venice, 1550); into
Spanish (
Historia de las Cosas de Etiopia, by Fray Thomas de
Padilla, Antwerp, 1557); into French (
Historiale Description
de l'Ethiopie, Christ. Plantin, Antwerp, 1558); into German
(Wahrhaftiger Bericht von ...
Ethiopien, Eisieben, 1566);
into English (Sam. Purchas,
Pilgrimes, part ii., London,
1625). The information it contains must, however, be received
with caution, as the author is prone to exaggerate, and does
not confine himself to what came within his own observation.
This article is from the 1911 edition of an
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public domain and you may copy, download, print and distribute this work
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Every effort has been made to present this text accurately and
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