Although Susneyos failed in his intention to destroy the Jews, they never fully recovered from the persecutions and forced conversions which they endured during his reign. Their autonomous state effectively came to an end, though in Bruce's day they may have been allowed a limited measure of self government, and M. L. Marcus, possibly basing himself on Bruce, wrote in 1829 that the Falashas were still ruled by Jewish kings until 1800.(1) Nevertheless, to all intents and purposes their independence ended with the massacre of 1616.

The arrival of Fasilidas on the throne not only removed the threat of European colonisation but also brought some urgently needed governmental reforms, of which the most important took place in 1636, when the peripatetic form of government was replaced by a permanent capital at Gondar. Although the 'frankish' priests had been expelled and arrangements made with the Turks at Massawa and Suakim to prevent any possibility of their return, Fasilidas was wise enough to allow Portuguese laymen and the Indians they had brought with them to remain in the country. He exploited their skills by employing them in his ambitious construction programme, and it is to his reign that we owe the first of a series of splendid palaces, churches and bridges in and around Gondar which, though today partially in ruins, represent a unique feature of Ethiopian civilisation. The king also recognised the value of his Falasha subjects and, instead of persecuting them, he employed them as craftsmen: on his buildings and encouraged them with the allotment of land to settle in the neighbourhood of his capital. The town grew both in size and in cultural importance, providing a centre in which music and poetry, literature, painting and calligraphy, in addition to architecture, flourished.(2)

The establishment of a central government at Gondar had the disadvantage that it led to the growth of regionalism, to the increase in the power of the feudal nobles and to an opportunity for the Galla tribes to overrun the frontiers and penetrate the social structure of the country. Fasilidas was succeeded by two rulers who maintained reasonably strong governments but thereafter the central authority declined, local chiefs increased their power, and intrigues undermined the stability of the court. This was the situation which Bruce found when he arrived at Gondar in February 1770, and it continued in much the same pattern until

(1) Notice sur l'epoque de I'etablissernent des Juifs clans l' Abyssinie', Nouveau Journal Asiatique, 1829.
(2) Pankhurst, op. cit., p. 86.