Zara Yaqob
Zara Yaqob ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ | |
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Ethiopian Orthodox Church |
Zara Yaqob (
The British historian,
Early life
Born at Telq in the province of
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
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
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
According to
In the sixteenth century Adal leader
Foreign affairs
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
Notes
- ^ Translates to "Seed of Jacob"
- ^ His war against Badlay is described in the Royal Chronicles (Pankhurst 1967, pp. 36–38).
- ^ The founding of Debre Berhan is described in the Royal Chronicles (Pankhurst 1967, pp. 36–38).
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928). A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 1). London: Methuen & Co. p. 307.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928). A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 1). London: Methuen & Co. p. 304.
- ^ a b Ullendorff 1960, p. 69.
- ISBN 9783447052382. Archivedfrom the original on 8 March 2023.
- ISBN 9781317464006. Archivedfrom the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ Henze 2000, p. 68.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 222.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, pp. 278–283.
- ^ Buxon 1970, pp. 48ff.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 229.
- ^ A. Wallace Budge, E. (1828). History Of Ethiopia Nubia And Abyssinia. Vol. 1. Methuen & co. p. 300.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 230.
- ^ Pankhurst, Ethiopian Borderlands, pp. 143f
- ^ Hassen 1983, p. 22.
- from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- ^ Pankhurst 1967, p. 32.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, pp. 262–3.
- ^ Henze 2000, p. 67.
- ^ Pankhurst 1967, p. 101.
- ^ A. Wallace Budge, E. (1828). History Of Ethiopia Nubia And Abyssinia. Vol. 1. Methuen & co. p. 300.
- ^ Connel & Killion 2011, p. 160.
- ^ Pankhurst 2001, p. 85.
- ^ Dabra Birhan. Encyclopedia Aethiopica. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ Selassie 1977.
- ^ Silverberg 1996, p. 189.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 264ff.
Sources
- Buxon, David (1970). The Abyssinians. New York: Praeger. pp. 48ff.
- Connel, Dan; Killion, Tom (2011). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. The Scarecrow. ISBN 978-081085952-4.
- Hassen, Mohammed (1983). The Oromo of Ethiopia, 1500–1850: with special emphasis on the Gibe region (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). University of London. p. 22. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- Henze, Paul B. (2000). Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia. New York: Palgrave. p. 68. ISBN 1-85065-522-7.
- Pankhurst, Richard (2001). The Ethiopians: A History. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 85.
- Pankhurst, Richard K. P. (1967). The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles. Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press. p. 32.
- Selassie, Tsehai Berhane (1977). "Zare'a Ya'eqob, c. 1399 to 1468, Orthodox, Ethiopia". In Ofosu-Appiah, L. H. (ed.). The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography. New York: Reference Publications. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016 – via Dictionary of African Christian Biography.
- ISBN 1-84212-409-9.
- Tamrat, Taddesse (1972). Church and State in Ethiopia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 222. ISBN 0-19-821671-8.
- ISBN 0-19-285061-X.
Further reading
- Krebs, Verena (2019). "Crusading threats? Ethiopian-Egyptian relations in the 1440s". Croisades en Afriqe. Presses universitaires du Midi. pp. 245–274. ISBN 978-281070557-3. Archivedfrom the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
External links
- The Chronicle of the Emperor Zara Yaqob, translated by Richard Pankhurst[dead link] Archive.org mirror