_ 381 _ Using gunpower ink, he wrote to me in three languages, namely, Flemish, Latin and French, requesting that I should send him a note and a safe conduct to come. I replied that he should come without delay and that I would be waiting with open arms to receive him. I said many other things to encourage him to come over to us(A). His name was John of Cologne, the son of a very wealthy merchant in Cologne itself. He was mentioned in that same letter of the captain of the said fortress, where he had been a prisoner for ten years. He was now an important manufacturer of gunpowder. When questioned in my letter, he stated that he was a Christian and offered himself with great courage for martyrdom. That is precisely what happened to him in the gazua(B), and he died for the faith of Christ with great devotion. This letter of mine was found during the capture of Bahrain, which the Portuguese reached on 2nd June 1551 (cf Schrhammer, Q 4746). (A) The letters of both John of Cologne and of Barzeu have been lost (cf. doc. 49 b-c). (B) Gazua (gazia, gaziva), i.e and Arab crusade. BLUTEAU says about this word: “Among the Moors it is the same as the Crusades among the Christians. It is a gathering of many warriors, whom the Moorish princes use for defence and for the spread of their false Religion” (Litt. G, 44).
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