Yekuno Amlak of Ethiopia
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Emperor Yekuno Amlak (throne name Tasfa Iyasus) was negus negust (1270 - 1285) of Ethiopia and founder of the Solomonid dynasty. He traced his ancestry through his father to Dil Na'ob, the last king of Axum; tradition states that his mother was the slave of an Amhara chieftain in Sagarat (located on the main road between Begemder and Lake Hayq).
According to tradition, Yekuno Amlak was imprisoned by the Zagwe king Za-Ilmaknun ("the unknown, the hidden one") in Malot, but managed to escape. He gathered support in the northern Amhara provinces and in Shewa, and with an army of followers defeated the Zagwe king. (Taddese Tamrat argued that this king was Yetbarak, but due to a local form of damnatio memoriae, his name was removed from the offical records.)1
Yekuno Amlak campaigned against the Kingdom of Damot, which lay south of the Abbay River.
At first, he cultivated friendly relations with his Muslim neighbors. However, his attempts to be granted an abuna for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church strained his relations with these rulers. A letter survives that he wrote to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars, who was ruler over the Patriarch of Alexandria, and ultimate head of the Ethiopian church, for his help for a new abuna in 1273; the letter suggests this was not his first requst. When one did not arrive, he blamed the intervention of the Sultan of Yemen, who had hindered the progress of his messenger to Cairo.
Taddesse Tamrat interprets Yekuno Amlak son's allusion to Syrian priests at the royal court as a result of this lack of attention from the Patriarch. Taddesse also notes that around this time, the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch were fighting for control of the appointment of the bishop of Jerusalem, which had until then been a perogative of the Patriarch of Antioch. One of the moves in this dispute was Ignatius III David's appointment of an Ethiopian pilgrim as abuna. This pilgrim never attempted to assume this post in Ethiopia, but -- Taddesse argues -- the lack of Coptic bishops forced Yekuno Amlak to rely on the Syrian partisans who arrived in his kingdom.2
Yekuno Amlak ordered the construction of the Church of Gennata Maryam near Lalibela, which contains the earliest surviving dateable wall paintings in Ethiopia.3
References
- Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 68n.1
- Taddesse, Church and State, pp. 69ff
- Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 59.
| Preceded by: | Emperor of Ethiopia | Succeeded by: |
| Yetbarak | Yagbe'u Seyon |
