Zara Yaqob

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Zara Yaqob
ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ
Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Zara Yaqob (

Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ;[a] 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for the Ge'ez literature that flourished during his reign, the handling of both internal Christian affairs and external wars with Muslims, along with the founding of Debre Birhan as his capital. He reigned for 34 years and 2 months.[3]

The British historian,

Aksumite power, and none of his successors on the throne – excepted only the emperors Menelik II and Haile Selassie – can be compared to him."[4]

Early life

Born at Telq in the province of

Virgin Mary to keep her new child alive. Her prayers were answered and she gave birth to Zara Yaqob, who had this miracle recorded in the Ta'ammara Maryam, one of Zara Yaqob's chronicles written in Amharic.[5][6]

Paul B. Henze repeats the tradition that the jealousy of his older brother Emperor Tewodros I forced the courtiers to take Zara Yaqob to Tigray where he was brought up in secret, and educated in Axum and at the monastery of Debre Abbay.[7] While admitting that this tradition "is invaluable as providing a religious background for Zara Yaqob's career", Taddesse Tamrat dismisses this story as "very improbable in its details". The professor notes that Zara Yaqob wrote in his Mashafa Berhan that "he was brought down from the royal prison of Mount Gishan only on the eve of his accession to the throne."[8]

Upon the death of Emperor Dawit, his older brother Tewodros ordered Zara Yaqob confined on Amba Geshen (around 1414). Despite this, Zara Yaqob's supporters kept him a perennial candidate for Emperor, helped by the rapid succession of his older brothers to the throne over the next 20 years, which left him as the oldest qualified candidate.[9] David Buxton points out the effect that his forced seclusion had on his personality, "deprived of all contact with ordinary people or ordinary life." Thrust into a position of leadership "with no experience of the affairs of state, he [Zara Yaqob] was faced by a kingdom seething with plots and rebellions, a Church riven with heresies, and outside enemies constantly threatening invasion." Buxton continues,

In the circumstances it was hardly possible for the new king to show adaptability or tolerance or diplomatic skill, which are the fruit of long experience in human relationships. Confronted with a desperate and chaotic situation he met it instead with grim determination and implacable ferocity. Towards the end of his life, forfeiting the affection and loyalty even of his courtiers and family he became a lonely figure, isolated by suspicion and mistrust. But, in spite of all, the name of this great defender of the faith is one of the most memorable in Ethiopian history.[10]

Reign

Although he became Emperor in 1434, Zara Yaqob was not crowned until 1436 at Axum, where he resided for three years.[11] During his first years on the throne, Zara Yaqob launched a strong campaign against survivals of pagan worship and "un-Christian practices" within the church. According to a manuscript written in 1784, he appointed spies to search and "smell out" heretics who admitted to worshipping pagan gods such as Dasek, Dail, Guidale, Tafanat, Dino and Makuawze.[2] These heretics were decapitated in public.[2] The spies also revealed that his sons Galawdewos, Amda Maryam, Zar'a Abraham and Batra Seyon, and his daughters Del Samera, Rom Ganayala and Adal Mangesha were heretics and thus they were all executed as a result.[2] He then issued a royal edit ordering every Christian to bear on his forehead a fillet inscribed "Belonging to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." And fillets had to be worn on the arms, that on the right being inscribed "I deny the Devil in [the name of] Christ God," and that on the left, "I deny the Devil, the accursed. I am the servant of Mary, the mother of the Creator of all the world." Any man who disobeyed the edict had his property looted and was either beaten or executed.[12]

The

Great Sabbath. Another group, the followers of Ewostatewos, believed with its founder that both the original seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday, or Lesser Sabbath) and Sunday should be observed. Zara Yaqob was successful in persuading two recently-arrived Egyptian Abuna, Mikael and Gabriel, into accepting a compromise aimed at restoring harmony with the House of Ewostatewos, as the followers of Ewostatewos were known. At the same time, he made efforts to pacify the House of Ewostatewos. While the Ewostathians were won over to the compromise by 1442, the two Abuns agreed to the compromise only at the Council of Debre Mitmaq in Tegulet (1450).[13]

Bitwodeds came to light, Zara Yaqob reacted by appointing his two daughters, Medhan Zamada and Berhan Zamada, to these two offices. According to the Chronicle of his reign, the Emperor also appointed his daughters and nieces as governors over eight of his provinces. These appointments were not successful.[17]

After hearing about the demolition of the Egyptian Debre Mitmaq monastery, he ordered a period of national mourning and built a church of the same name in

Bahr Negash, first appears in records and according to Richard Pankhurst the office was likely introduced by Zara Yaqob.[20]

After observing a bright light in the sky (which most historians have identified as

In his later years, Zara Yaqob became more despotic. When Takla Hawariat, abbot of

Dahlak archipelago were pillaged by emperor Zara Yaqob, and the Sultanate of Dahlak was forced to pay tribute to the Ethiopian Empire.[22]

According to

Richard Pankhurst, Zara Yaqob was also "reputedly an author of renown", having contributed to Ethiopian literature as many as three important theological works. One was Mahsafa Berha "The Book of Light", an exposition of his ecclesiastical reforms and a defence of his religious beliefs; the others were Mahsafa Milad "The Book of Nativity" and Mahsafa Selassie "The Book of the Trinity".[23] Edward Ullendorff, however, attributes to him only the Mahsafa Berha and Mahsafa Milad.[4]

In the sixteenth century Adal leader

Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi ordered the destruction of his former palace in Debre Birhan.[24]

Foreign affairs

Zara Yaqob's letter written in the Geʽez script at the Vatican Library

Zara Yaqob sent delegates to the Council of Florence in 1441, and established ties with the Holy See and Western Christianity.[25] They were confused when council prelates insisted on calling their monarch Prester John. They tried to explain that nowhere in Zara Yaqob's list of regnal names did that title occur. However, the delegates' admonitions did little to stop Europeans from referring to the monarch as their mythical Christian king, Prester John.[26]

He also sent a

Vatican library
, referring to "the kings Ethiopia."

Notes

  1. ^ Translates to "Seed of Jacob"
  2. ^ His war against Badlay is described in the Royal Chronicles (Pankhurst 1967, pp. 36–38).
  3. ^ The founding of Debre Berhan is described in the Royal Chronicles (Pankhurst 1967, pp. 36–38).

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928). A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 1). London: Methuen & Co. p. 307.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928). A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 1). London: Methuen & Co. p. 305.
  3. ^ a b Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928). A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 1). London: Methuen & Co. p. 304.
  4. ^ a b Ullendorff 1960, p. 69.
  5. from the original on 8 March 2023.
  6. from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  7. ^ Henze 2000, p. 68.
  8. ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 222.
  9. ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, pp. 278–283.
  10. ^ Buxon 1970, pp. 48ff.
  11. ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 229.
  12. ^ A. Wallace Budge, E. (1828). History Of Ethiopia Nubia And Abyssinia. Vol. 1. Methuen & co. p. 300.
  13. ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 230.
  14. ^ Pankhurst, Ethiopian Borderlands, pp. 143f
  15. ^ Hassen 1983, p. 22.
  16. from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  17. ^ Pankhurst 1967, p. 32.
  18. ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, pp. 262–3.
  19. ^ Henze 2000, p. 67.
  20. ^ Pankhurst 1967, p. 101.
  21. ^ A. Wallace Budge, E. (1828). History Of Ethiopia Nubia And Abyssinia. Vol. 1. Methuen & co. p. 300.
  22. ^ Connel & Killion 2011, p. 160.
  23. ^ Pankhurst 2001, p. 85.
  24. ^ Dabra Birhan. Encyclopedia Aethiopica. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  25. ^ Selassie 1977.
  26. ^ Silverberg 1996, p. 189.
  27. ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 264ff.

Sources

Further reading

External links

Regnal titles
Preceded by Emperor of Ethiopia
1434–1468
Succeeded by