Biography

Mathilde Alain specialises in the history of relations between Africa and Europe during the Renaissance and beyond, focusing particularly on Ethiopian-Portuguese relations. She is also interested in the circulation of people, texts, and objects between Ethiopia and Europe. She received her PhD in History and Renaissance Studies from the University of Warwick and the University of Tours in 2025. Her thesis examined Francisco Álvares’ travel account about Ethiopia (1520-1526), and she also studied Antoine d’Abbadie’s notebooks about Ethiopia (1837-1849). Prior to joining I Tatti as a postdoctoral fellow, she has been an assistant researcher at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (2020–21), a fellow at the British School at Rome (2023) and a postdoctoral researcher on the ANR Ethiokongrome project at the University Grenoble Alpes (2025–26).

Project Summary

Ethiopian-Italian relations date back to the early fifteenth century, when Ethiopia was seeking ecclesiastical treasures and relics in Europe, and when Ethiopian pilgrims were present in Rome. Meanwhile, the papacy was interested in uniting the Eastern Christian churches, including Ethiopia. It was only with Portugal’s expansion into Africa that Portuguese rulers became interested in Christian Ethiopia, associated with the myth of ‘Prester John’. In 1454, a first Ethiopian emissary reached Portugal, having been summoned by King João II. Until c.1550, numerous embassies occurred between Ethiopia, Portugal and the papacy, while Portugal had become, at Ethiopia’s request, a military ally against Islam. This project studies diplomatic relations between Ethiopia, Portugal and the papacy during the Renaissance by analysing Ethiopian documentation (diplomatic letters, chronicles) and Italian and Portuguese documentation (papal and royal correspondence, accounts of embassies) between c.1450-1550. While this research acknowledges the importance of Rome and the papacy in these relations, it analyses the way Ethiopian rulers used their connection with the papacy and Portugal to achieve their political and religious agenda, the significance of Ethiopia in Portuguese expansion, how the papacy seized these new networks between Portugal and Ethiopia to pursue its own interests, and the influence of religion in Ethiopian-Portuguese relations. By focusing on the agency of Ethiopian and European elites and ambassadors, and Ethiopian diplomatic practices, this project aims to provide new insights on diplomatic relations between Ethiopia, Portugal and the papacy during the Renaissance.