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Zara Yaqob

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

   Zar'a Ya`qob ( Ge'ez ዘርአ:ያዕቆብ zarʿā yāʿiqōb "Seed of Jacob," Amh. zer'a
   yā'iqōb) ( 1399– 1468) was nəgusä nägäst (19 or 20 June 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."

   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. 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."

Zara Yaqob's reign

   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.

   Although he became Emperor in 1434, Zara Yaqob was not crowned until
   1436 at Axum, where he resided for three years. 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 conspiracy 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.

   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.
   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.

   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.

Zara Yaqob and the Ethiopian church

   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).

   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.

   Edward Ullendorff also emphasizes the Emperor's importance in Ethiopian
   literature, mentioning that Zara Yaqob was the author of two important
   theological 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").

Foreign affairs

   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.
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