Fremona
Encyclopedia
Fremona was a town in northern Ethiopia
, located in the modern Tigray Region
. The town was about a mile in circumference and was flanked with towers. It served as the base of the Roman Catholic missionaries to Ethiopia during the 16th and 17th centuries. Bernhard Lindahl identifies Fremona with the modern settlement of Endiet Nebersh, located 10 kilometers from Adwa
.
Menas
renamed it after Saint Frumentius, who had converted the Axumite kings to Christianity. It was there that bishop André de Oviedo died and was buried in 1577, and his tomb became a shrine to the local Catholics.
When the Jesuit Manuel de Almeida
visited Fremona in 1624, he found that it had been improved with "seven or eight bastions with high curtain walls, two courtyards, one of which adjoins the houses, where a good stone tank has been made, and another were a beautiful church was now being built of stone and lime." He adds that due to the rarity of firearms in Ethiopia at the time, "with twenty or thirty muskets, a small cannon and the sons of the Portuguese manning them, [it] was held in Ethiopia to be a unique and impregnable place."
It was here that the Catholic priests, patriarch and bishop were exiled, after Emperor Fasilides
condemned Catholicism and restored to official status the traditional beliefs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in 1634. At the time, Jerónimo Lobo
states that the town had 400 inhabitants.
After the Catholic missionaries were banished from Ethiopia, Fremona was eventually abandoned; the details are unknown. The Ethiopian historian Richard Pankhurst
cites a taxation report from 1697 that mentions Fremona under its old name Maigoga. Yet when Henry Salt
travelled through the area in the 1800s, he reported that he was unable to find anyone who recognized the name.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, located in the modern Tigray Region
Tigray Region
Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia containing the homeland of the Tigray people. It was formerly known as Region 1...
. The town was about a mile in circumference and was flanked with towers. It served as the base of the Roman Catholic missionaries to Ethiopia during the 16th and 17th centuries. Bernhard Lindahl identifies Fremona with the modern settlement of Endiet Nebersh, located 10 kilometers from Adwa
Adwa
Adwa is a market town in northern Ethiopia, and best known as the community closest to the decisive Battle of Adowa fought in 1896 with Italian troops. Notably, Ethiopian soldiers won the battle, thus being the only African nation to thwart European colonialism...
.
History
Originally called "Maigoga" (mai, Tigrinya "water," and guagua, "noisy") because of the two rocky streams that run through the community, the Jesuit missionaries who were sent to live there by EmperorEmperor of Ethiopia
The Emperor of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1974. The Emperor was the head of state and head of government, with ultimate executive, judicial and legislative power in that country...
Menas
Menas of Ethiopia
Menas , throne name Admas Sagad I was of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty...
renamed it after Saint Frumentius, who had converted the Axumite kings to Christianity. It was there that bishop André de Oviedo died and was buried in 1577, and his tomb became a shrine to the local Catholics.
When the Jesuit Manuel de Almeida
Manuel de Almeida
Manuel de Almeida was a native of Viseu, who entered at an early age into the Society of Jesus, and went out as a missionary to India...
visited Fremona in 1624, he found that it had been improved with "seven or eight bastions with high curtain walls, two courtyards, one of which adjoins the houses, where a good stone tank has been made, and another were a beautiful church was now being built of stone and lime." He adds that due to the rarity of firearms in Ethiopia at the time, "with twenty or thirty muskets, a small cannon and the sons of the Portuguese manning them, [it] was held in Ethiopia to be a unique and impregnable place."
It was here that the Catholic priests, patriarch and bishop were exiled, after Emperor Fasilides
Fasilides of Ethiopia
Fasilides was of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty...
condemned Catholicism and restored to official status the traditional beliefs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in 1634. At the time, Jerónimo Lobo
Jerónimo Lobo
Jerónimo Lobo was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary.He was born in Lisbon the third of at least five sons and six daughters to Francisco Lobo da Gama, the Governor of Cape Verde, and Dona Maria Brandão de Vasconcelos. He entered the Order of Jesus at the age of 14...
states that the town had 400 inhabitants.
After the Catholic missionaries were banished from Ethiopia, Fremona was eventually abandoned; the details are unknown. The Ethiopian historian Richard Pankhurst
Richard Pankhurst (academic)
Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst OBE is a British academic with expertise in the study of Ethiopia.-Early life and education:...
cites a taxation report from 1697 that mentions Fremona under its old name Maigoga. Yet when Henry Salt
Henry Salt (Egyptologist)
Henry Salt was an English artist, traveller, diplomat, and Egyptologist.-Biography:Salt, the son of a physician, was born in Lichfield. He trained as a portrait painter, first in Lichfield and then in London under Joseph Farington and John Hoppner. In 1802 he was appointed secretary and...
travelled through the area in the 1800s, he reported that he was unable to find anyone who recognized the name.