Early in his reign, around 1380, Dawit campaigned against
Egypt. He initiated this campaign in an attempt to assist the
Coptic Christians of
Upper Egypt who he thought were being oppressed under Muslim rule and he felt he had the duty to protect them as he saw himself as the protector of
Orthodox Christianity in
East Africa. In response, the Emir forced the
Patriarch of Alexandria,
Matthew I, to send a deputation to Dawit to persuade him to retire back to his kingdom. "There seems to be little or no doubt that, on the eve of the advent of the
Burji dynasty of
Mamluk Egypt, King Dawit had in fact led his troops beyond the northern frontiers of his kingdom, and created much havoc among the Muslim inhabitants of the area who had been within the sphere of influence of Egypt since the thirteenth century." The Emperor apparently had a much friendlier relationship with the Sultan's successor, for according to the medieval historian
al-Maqrizi, Dawit sent 22 camels laden with gifts to
Berkuk, the first Sultan of the Burji dynasty. He confronted the problem of raids from the
Muslim kingdoms on his eastern border with numerous counterattacks on those kingdoms. According to al-Maqrizi, in 1403 Emperor Dawit pursued the Sultan of
Ifat,
Sa'ad ad-Din II, to
Zeila, where he killed Sa'ad ad-Din and sacked the city. However, no other contemporary source corroborates the invasion of Zeila, and it is thought that an
Amhara incursion into Zeila was unlikely to have occurred. Another contemporary source dates the death of Sa'ad ad-Din to 1415, and gives the credit to Emperor
Yeshaq. Dawit sent an embassy to Europe, which had reached Venice by 23 June 1402, requesting that a number of artisans are sent to his domain.
Carlo Conti Rossini assembled the surviving documents concerning this visit in 1927, which record that five artisans departed with the Ethiopian envoy that August, but not if they arrived in Ethiopia. However, Marilyn E. Heldman found evidence of a "silver-gilt chalice" made in Venice, which, if it was the one
Francisco Álvares described as seeing in Ethiopia, did reach Dawit. Another possible sign of their arrival is an itinerary of a journey from Venice by Rhodes, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Cairo and
Axum to the court of Preste John in
Shewa. which
O. G. S. Crawford dates to Dawit's reign. Crawford considers this document the "first unambiguous account of Abyssinian geography which has survived; it certainly refers to the journey of a European, and the route followed can be identified pretty accurately." A notable horseman, Dawit was killed when his horse lashed out and kicked him in the head. Scottish traveller
James Bruce stated that the mark of the horse's hit was still visible on the emperor's skull by the time he visited it. However
Al-Maqrizi stated in the reign of
Mansur ad-Din. Mansur launched an expedition against Dawit I and drove him to
Yedaya which was described as his royal seat. After destroying the Solomonic army, Mansur captured Dawit and killed him.
Richard Pankhurst noted that his death however, like that of many other Solomonic kings, although presumed to be an event of major importance, is not recorded by the Ethiopian Chronicles. The Ethiopian historian
Taddesse Tamrat argues it's because the Ethiopian royal chronicles often deliberately attempted to suppress the violent deaths of the kings whose reigns they extol. ==Other events==