Wedem Arad
Wedem Arad was
(
1299 -
1314) of
Ethiopia, and a member of the
Solomonic dynasty. He was the brother of
Yagbe'u Seyon, and seized power from his nephews.
Only one military action is recorded for this ruler. In the first year of his reign, one Sheikh Abu-Abdallah had gathered a large following, and proclaimed a
jihad against Wedem Arad's realm. Wedem Arad sent a number of agents into Abu-Abdallah's camp, who were able to persuade most of his followers to defect; without sufficient manpower, Abu-Abdallah was forced to agree to a treaty with Wedem Arad, in return for providing "them with all their needs until they are completely satisfied".
Taddesse Tamrat suggests that this involved giving them land to settle on, and notes that on the edge of the territory of
Shewa there is a locality known as "Abdalla", which might be that settlement.
1# Taddesse Tamrat,
Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 131.
