as an insult two lame horses and an army led by the Nail Weld Ageeb from Atbara, to pillage the border areas. The hostilities between the two kingdoms increased when the governor of the Mazaga, Aleko, who was a servant of Emperor Susenyos, fled to Sennar with a number of the Emperor's horses and kettledrums. Susenyos complained of this to Badi, who refused to reply; further insulting him. In 1615, Susenyos, this time allied with the Nail Weld Ageeb, re-conquered and annexed the Kingdom of Fazughli into the Ethiopian Empire, on the Sennar Sultanate borderlands. The emperor sent priests to renew the Orthodox Christianity of the province, though the missionaries seem to have become mired in doctrinal disputes, and their accomplishments were limited. In 1618–1619, the war continued, this time the Emperor sent three of his vassals to campaign against Sennar. Welde Hawaryat, Melca Chrestos and the governor of Tigray, Ras Tekle Giyorgis, led a three-pronged assault on the border from their respective provinces. Welde Hawaryat finally conquered and sacked the town of Atbara on the Nile after a 19-day march. Susenyos finally sent Bahir Negash Gebre Mariam to attack Mandara, whose queen controlled a strategic caravan road from Suakin. Bahir Negash was successful in capturing Queen Fatima, who was brought back to Susenyos palace in Danqaz, and renewed submission to the Empire. According to his Royal Chronicle, Susenyos hence made his power felt along his western frontier from Fazogli, north to Suakin. Susenyos and Catholicism Susenyos' reign is perhaps best known as the brief period in Ethiopian history when Catholic Christianity became the official religion. The Emperor became interested in Catholicism, in part due to Pedro Páez's persuasion, but also hoping for military help from Portugal and Spain (in union at the time of Susenyos' reign). Some decades earlier, in 1541, Cristóvão da Gama had led a military expedition to save the Ethiopian emperor Gelawdewos from the onslaught of Ahmed Gragn, a Muslim Imam who almost destroyed the existence of the Ethiopian state. Susenyos hoped to receive a new contingent of well-armed European soldiers, this time against the Oromo, who were ravaging his kingdom, and to help with the constant rebellions. Two letters of this diplomatic effort survive, which he entrusted to Páez to send to Europe: the one to the King of Portugal is dated 10 December 1607, while the other is to the Pope and dated 14