CLAUDIUS (Ethiopian Galavdēvovs). – Sovereign of Ethiopia. He succeeded his father Lebna Denghel (David II), at the age of 18, in September 1540. Very little of Christian Ethiopia remained at that time, as it had been invaded and occupied for the most part by the Muslims led by the “Left-handed,” Imam Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm. Claudius wrote to Pope Paul III requesting aid against the Muslims. A Portuguese expedition, under the command of Cristóvão da Gama, landed at Massawa in 1541 to assist the negus. In 1543, the Ethiopians and the Portuguese defeated the “Left-handed,” who died in the battle. Another appeal to the Pope, conveyed through Abbot Paulo, head of the Ethiopian community in Jerusalem, received a response in Pope Paul III’s letter to Claudius dated 23 May 1545. These contacts gave rise to the hope of a reunion of the Ethiopian Church with the See of Rome, despite the fact that Claudius had requested and obtained from the Patriarch of Alexandria a new metropolitan (Monophysite), Abūna Yosēf.
In such difficult circumstances, it was decided to entrust the newly established Catholic mission in Ethiopia to the Society of Jesus. Thus, on 17 May 1555, Fr. Gonzalo Rodríguez arrived at Claudius’s court and began his work, as he deemed necessary, with great caution. Two years later, Fr. André de Oviedo, a Spaniard, appointed coadjutor to the titular Patriarch of Ethiopia, Nunhes Barreto (who never reached his see), likewise arrived at the court of Claudius and carried out active work to organize the mission and establish good relations with the sovereign. Discussions took place with the ecclesiastics of the court, and the sovereign himself took part personally.
It was during this period that the *Confessio Claudii* was composed, in which Claudius set forth the dogmas of the Ethiopian Church, carefully avoiding the christological questions that were then fundamental to the controversy, while instead dwelling at length on the accusations made against the Ethiopians of having adopted Jewish practices. Claudius, moreover, pursued a policy of solidarity with the Ethiopian Church and maintained close ties with Ewostatewos, the head of the monks most opposed to union with Rome.
Claudius died in 1559 in battle against the Muslims, on Good Friday, and is regarded by the Ethiopians as one of their greatest sovereigns and martyrs.