Zara Yaqob
Zar'a Ya`qob (
Ge'ez ዘር":ያዕቆብ
zarʿā yāʿiqōb "Seed of Jacob,"
Amh. zer'a yā'iqōb) (
1399–
1468) was
(19 or
20 June[Getachew Haile, "A Preliminary Investigation of the "Tomara Tesse't" of Emperor Zar'a Ya'eqob of Ethiopia" in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 43, no. 2 (1980), p.210. The beginning of what Getachew Haile believes is the "Ṭomarä Tesbe't" states that he was coronated on 26 Sené (20 June), while a contemporary Stephanite writer ascribes a date of 25 Sené (19 June). According to Getachew Haile, it is possible that the ceremony lasted two days.] 1434–1468) of
Ethiopia (throne name
Kwestantinos I Ge'ez ቈስታንቲኖስ
qʷastāntīnōs or
Constantine I), and a member of the
Solomonic dynasty. Born at
Tilq in the province of
Fatagar (now part of the
Oromia Region, near the
Awash River), Zara Yaqob was the youngest son of
Dawit I and his youngest queen, Igzi Kebra.
The British expert on Ethiopia, Edward Ullendorff, stated that Zara Yaqob "was unquestionably the greatest ruler Ethiopia had seen since
Ezana, during the heyday of
Aksumite power, and none of his successors on the throne – excepted only the emperors
Menelik II and
Haile Selassie – can be compared to him."
[Edward Ullendorff, The Ethiopians: An Introduction to the Country and People, second edition (London: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. 69. ISBN 019285061X.]Paul B. Henze repeats the tradition that the jealousy of his older brother
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
Dabra Abbay.
[Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 68. ISBN 1850655227] While admitting that this tradition "is invaluable as providing a religious background for Zar'a-Ya'iqob'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."
[Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 222 ISBN 0198216718]Upon the death of Emperor Dawit, his older brother
Tewodros ordered Zara Yaqob confined on Amba Geshen. Despite this, Zara Yaqob's supporters was a perennial candidate for Emperor due to the rapid succession of Emperors over the next 20 years, which removed all of his older brothers, leaving only underage sons who could not command the loyalty of the court, and left him as the oldest qualified candidate.
[Taddesse Tamrat, pp. 278-283.]Although he became Emperor in 1434, Zara Yaqob was not crowned until
1436 at
Axum, where he resided for three years.
[Taddesse Tamrat, p. 229.] It was an accepted practice of Ethiopian rulers to postpone their coronation until later in their reigns.
After he became Emperor, Zara Yaqob married princess
Eleni, who had converted from
Islam before their marriage. Eleni was the daughter of the king of
Hadiya, one of the
Sidamo kingdoms south of the
Abbay River. Although she failed to bear him any children, Eleni grew into a powerful political person.When a consipracy involving one of his
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. Unfortunately, this act was not successful.
[Richard K. P. Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles (Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, 1967), p. 32f.]He defeated
Badlay ad-Din, the Sultan of
Adal at the
Battle of Gomit in
1445, which consolidated his hold over the Sidamo kingdoms in the south, as well as the weak Muslim kingdoms beyond the Awash River
[His war against Badlay is described in the Royal Chronicles, Pankhurst pp. 36-38.]. However, his campaigns in the north against the
Agaw and the
Falasha were not as successful.
After witnessing a bright light in the sky (which most historians have identified as
Halley's Comet, visible in Ethiopia in
1456), Zara Yaqob founded
Debre Berhan and made it his capital for the remainer of his reign.
[The founding of Debre Berhan is described in the Royal Chronicles, Pankhurst pp.36-38.]In his later years, Zara Yaqob became more despotic. When Takla Hawariat, abbot of
Dabra Libanos, criticized Yaqob's beatings and murder of men, the emperor had the abbot himself beaten and imprisoned, where he died after few months. Zara Yaqob was convinced of a plot against him in
1453, which led to more brutal actions. He increasingly became convinced that his wives and children were plotting against him, and had several of them beaten. Seyon Morgasa, the mother of the future emperor
Baeda Maryam, died from this mistreatment in
1462, which led to a complete break between son and father. Eventually relations between the two were repaired, and Zara Yaqob publicly designated Baeda Maryam as his successor.
At the time Zara Yaqob assumed the throne, the Ethiopian church had been divided over the issue of the
Sabbath, for roughly a century. One group, loyal to the
Egyptian bishops, believed that the Sabbath should only observed on one day; another group, the followers of
Ewostatewos, believed with their founder that both Saturday and Sunday should be observed.
He was successful in persuading two recently arrived Egyptian
bishops,
Mikael and
Gabriel, to accept a compromise aimed to restore harmony with the House of Ewostatewos, as the followers of Ewostatewos were known. At the same time, he made efforts to placify the House of Ewostatewos. While the Ewostathians were won over to the compromise by 1442, the two Egyptian bishops only agreed to the compromise at the
Council of Debre Mitmaq in
Tegulet (
1450).
[Taddesse Tamrat, p. 230.]Emperor Zara Yaqob also continued as the defender of the
Patriarch of Alexandria. When he heard in
1441 of the destruction of the Egyptian monastery of
Dabra Mitmaq by Sultan
Jaqmaq, he called for a period of mourning, then sent a letter of strong protest to the Sultan. He reminded Jaqmaq that he had
Muslim subjects whom he treated fairly, and warned that he had the power to divert the
Nile, but refrained from doing so for the human suffering it would cause. Jaqmaq responded with gifts to appease Zara Yaqob's anger, but refused to rebuild the
Coptic churches he had destroyed.
[Taddesse Tamrat, pp. 262-3]Edward Ullendorff also emphasizes the Emperor's importance in
Ethiopian literature, mentioning that Zara Yaqob was the author of two important religion-related works. The first was
Mashafa Berha ("The Book of Light"), his exposition of his ecclesiastical reforms and a defense of his religious beliefs; the other is
Mashafa Milad ("The Book of Nativity").
Zara Yaqob sent a
diplomatic mission to
Europe (1450), led by a Sicilian
Pietro Rombulo who had previously been successful in a mission to
India, specifically asking for skilled labor. Rombulo first visited
Pope Nicholas V, but his ultimate goal was the court of
Alfonso V of Aragon, who responded favorably.
[Taddesse Tamrat, p. 264f]*
Biography of Zara Yakub from An African Biographical Dictionary*
The Chronicle of the Emperor Zara Yaqob, translated by Richard Pankhurst
