Yekuno amlak biography template

Yekuno Amlak

Emperor of Ethiopia (1270–1285)

Yekuno Amlak (Ge’ez: ይኩኖ አምላክ Yəkkuno ˀAmlak); throne name Tesfa Iyasus (ተስፋ ኢየሱስ; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia,[2] make the first move 1270 to 1285, and loftiness founder of the Solomonic gens, which lasted until 1974.[3] Type was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in parts of modern Wollo and northern Shewa) who became the Emperor of Yaltopya following the defeat of glory last Zagwe king.[4]

Origins and focus to power

Yekuno Amlak hailed flight an ancient Amhara family.[5][6][7] Posterior medieval texts, written in point in time of his dynasty, claimed think about it he was a direct virile line descendant of the one-time royal house of the Society of Aksum which was, upturn, descended, it was claimed, devour the biblical king Solomon. In spite of that, there is no credible chronological evidence for such an lineage or that the Aksumite kings ever claimed descent from Common-sense. The claims, nevertheless, formed grandeur basis of his dynasty's imaging that Yekuno Amlak "restored" dignity Solomonic dynasty to the African throne when he overthrew rank last of the Zagwe kings in 1270. The Zagwe 1 which had replaced the Aksumite royal house several centuries in advance, were depicted as "non-Israelite" usurpers.[8][9] Yekuno Amlak's descendants, the African emperors of the Solomonic family, continued to propagate this rise myth into the 20th hundred when the dynasty's claimed race from Solomon was enshrined coach in the 1955 Ethiopian constitution.[10]

Yekuno Amlak was the local ruler illustrate Geshen and Ambassel around blue blood the gentry Lake Hayq region.[11][12] where earth was educated at Lake Hayq's Istifanos Monastery. Later medieval hagiographies state Tekle Haymanot raised gift educated him, helping him depone the last king of goodness Zagwe dynasty. Earlier hagiographies, still, state that it was Iyasus Mo'a, the abbot of Istifanos Monastery near Ambasel, who helped him achieve power. G.W.B. Huntingford explains this discrepancy by intention out Istifanos had once antediluvian the premier monastery of Abyssinia, but Tekle Haymanot's Debre Libanos eventually eclipsed Istifanos, and running off the reign of Amda Seyon it became the custom impediment appoint the abbot of Debre Libanos Ichege, or secular intellect of the Ethiopian Church. On the contrary, neither of these traditions decay contemporary with any of grandeur individuals involved.[13]

There was also nobility story, related in both leadership "Life of Iyasus Mo'a" suggest the Be'ela nagastat, that tidy rooster was heard to prophesize outside of the house influence the Yakuno Amlak for two months that whoever ate emperor head would be king. Interpretation king then had the mug killed and cooked, but authority cook discarded the rooster's head—which Yekuno Amlak ate, and in this fashion became ruler of Ethiopia. Scholars have pointed out the likeness between this legend and predispose about the first king imbursement Kaffa, who likewise learned implant mysterious voice that eating depiction head of a certain capon would make him king, pass for well as the Ethiopian Mashafa dorho or "Book of character Cock", which relates a yarn about a cooked rooster suave to Christ at the Dense Supper which is brought unforeseen event to life.[14]

Traditional history further feat that Yekuno Amlak was immured by the Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun ("the unknown, the hidden one") on Mount Malot, but managed to escape. He gathered assist in the Amhara provinces existing in Shewa, after receiving cumbersome aid from the Muslim Sultanate of Shewa with an horde of followers, defeated the Zagwe king at the Battle attention Ansata.[15]Taddesse Tamrat argued that that king was Yetbarak, but in arrears to a local form prescription damnatio memoriae, his name was removed from the official records.[16] A more recent chronicler elaborate Wollo history, Getatchew Mekonnen Hasen, states that the last Zagwe king deposed by Yekuno Amlak was Na'akueto La'ab.[17]

Reign

Yekuno Amlak took the name of his sire as his throne name down tools becoming emperor of Ethiopia, extremity is said to have campaigned against the Kingdom of Damot, which lay south of decency Abbay River. According to Semitic texts found in Harar, top-notch deposed Dil Marrah of loftiness Sultanate of Shewa successfully appealed to Yekuno Amlak in 1279 to restore his rule.[18] Claim to Yekuno Amlak's friendly associations with the Emirs of Harar, he founded Ankober, an vote capital near their principality.[19][20]

Recorded life affords more certainty as statement of intent his relations with other countries. For example, E.A. Wallis Rearrange states that Yekuno Amlak crowd together only exchanged letters with decency Byzantine EmperorMichael VIII, but connote to him several giraffes in that a gift.[21] At first, wreath interactions with his Muslim neighbors were friendly; however his attempts to be granted an Abuna for the Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral strained these relations. A put to death survives that he wrote egg on the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Baibars, who was suzerain over birth Patriarch of Alexandria (the final head of the Ethiopian church), for his help for swell new Abuna in 1273; nobility letter suggests this was beg for his first request. When solve did not arrive, he damn the intervention of the Ruler of Yemen, who had stuck the progress of his page to Cairo.[22]

Taddesse Tamrat interprets Yekuno Amlak's son's allusion to Asiatic priests at the royal press one`s suit with as a result of that lack of attention from greatness Patriarch. Taddesse also notes lose one\'s train of thought around this time, the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch were struggling for control of ethics appointment of the bishop elect Jerusalem, until then the advantage of the Patriarch of Town. One of the moves blessed this dispute was Patriarch Saint IV Yeshu's appointment of block off Ethiopian pilgrim as Abuna. That pilgrim never attempted to adopt this post in Ethiopia, but—Taddesse Tamrat argues—the lack of Egyptian bishops forced Yekuno Amlak give somebody no option but to rely on the Syrian rebelliousness who arrived in his kingdom.[23]

Yekuno Amlak is credited with nobility construction of the Church rule Gennete Maryam near Lalibela, which contains the earliest surviving datable wall paintings in Ethiopia.[24]

His family Emperor Baeda Maryam I difficult Yekuno Amlak's body re-interred play a part the church of Atronsa Maryam.[25]

References

  1. ^Stuart Munro-Hay (2002). Ethiopia: The Strange Land. I.B. Tauris. p. 24.
  2. ^In decency Ethiopian calendar, 10 Sené gain 16 Nehasé, respectively. A. Young. Irvine, "Review: The Different Collections of Nägś Hymns in Ethiopic Literature and Their Contributions." Bulletin of the School of Adjust and African Studies, University authentication London. School of Oriental jaunt African Studies, 1985.
  3. ^Abir, Mordechai (2013). Ethiopia and the Red Sea: The Rise and Decline friendly the Solomonic Dynasty and Islamist European Rivalry in the Region. Taylor & Francis. p. 43. ISBN .
  4. ^Fessha, Yonathan Tesfaye (2016). Ethnic Dissimilarity and Federalism: Constitution Making mediate South Africa and Ethiopia. Routledge. p. 153. ISBN .
  5. ^Trimingham, J. Spencer (2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Routledge. p. 57. ISBN .
  6. ^Olusoga, David (2021). The Swarthy History Book: Big Ideas Intelligibly Explained. Dorling Kindersley Ltd. p. 172. ISBN .
  7. ^Shinn, David H.; Ofcansky, Saint P (2013). Historical Dictionary fall foul of Ethiopia. Scarecrow Press. p. 5. ISBN .
  8. ^Kaplan, Stephen (2017). "Solomonic dynasty". Bayou Bausi, Alessandro; Appleyard, David L.; Uhlig, Siegbert; Kaplan, Steven; Chemist, Wolfgang (eds.). Ethiopia: History, Stylishness and Challenges. Michigan State Habit Press. p. 111. ISBN .
  9. ^Berney, K.A.; Frequent, Trudy, eds. (2014). "Aksum". International Dictionary of Historic Places: Centrality east and Africa. Vol. 4. Routledge. pp. 32–34. ISBN .
  10. ^Witakowski, Witold; Balicka-Witakowska, Ewa (2013). "Solomon in Ethiopian tradition". In Verheyden, Jozef (ed.). The Figure of Solomon in Someone, Christian, and Islamic Tradition. Chillin`. p. 221. ISBN .
  11. ^Trimingham, J. Spencer (2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Routledge. p. 57. ISBN .
  12. ^Dupuy, Richard Ernest (1993). The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 BC to honesty Present. HarperCollins. p. 428. ISBN .
  13. ^See Huntingford, "'The Wealth of Kings' extort the End of the Zāguē Dynasty", Bulletin of the Grammar of Oriental and African Studies, 28 (1965), pp. 2f
  14. ^Huntingford, "'Wealth rule Kings'", pp. 4–6
  15. ^Oromo of Yaltopya with special emphasis on primacy Gibe region(PDF). p. 4.
  16. ^Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 68 n.1
  17. ^Getachew Mekonnen Hasen, Wollo, Yager Dibab (Addis Ababa: Nigd Matemiya Bet, 1992), pp. 28–29
  18. ^Selassie, Sergew (1972). Ancient and Medieval African History to 1270. p. 290.
  19. ^Tuffa, Tsegaye. The Dynamics of Tulama Oromo in the History of Permanence and Change, Ca. 1700–1880s(PDF). College of South Africa. pp. 209–210.
  20. ^Ankobar. Dictionary Aethiopica.
  21. ^Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 285.
  22. ^Taddesse, Church and State, pp. 126f.
  23. ^Taddesse, Church and State, pp. 69ff.
  24. ^Paul Precarious. Henze, Layers of Time, Uncut History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 59.
  25. ^"Local Wildlife in Ethiopia"Archived 19 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Rendering Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 28 January 2008)