Yemrehana Krestos
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Yemrehana Krestos (called "Abraham" by Francisco Álvares) was negus of Ethiopia, and a member of the Zagwe dynasty. According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of Germa Seyum, the brother of Tatadim; however the Italian scholar Carlo Conti Rossini published in 1902 a document that stated Yemrehana Krestos was the successor of Na'akueto La'ab, and succeeded by Yetbarak.[1]
Taddesse Tamrat describes him as the king of Ethiopia closest to a priest, noting that he insisted on ruling Ethiopia according to Apostolic canons.[2]
Yemrehana Krestos built the first stone-hewn church in Ethiopia, which is named for him and is located 12 miles northeast from Lalibela. Alvarez left a description of what the church looked like in the early 16th century, in his Prester John of the Indies.[3] Taddesse suggests that construction of this church is related to the record of an Ethiopian delegation that came to Caliph Saladin in 1173, and is recorded as presenting a letter and many gifts to the Caliph; in the Gadla Yemrehana Krestos, there is a passage that relates how he obtained the door from the Caliph's palace to use in his church.[4] Paul B. Henze provides a list of several other rock-hewn churches attributed to this king.[5]
Alvarez also recorded the tradition that Yemrehana Krestos began the tradition of confining rival heirs to the Imperial throne at Amba Geshen.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Quoted in E.A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 277.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 61n.3.
- ^ Francisco Alvarez, The Prester John of the Indies translated by C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), chapter 53.
- ^ Taddesse Tamrat, p. 58.
- ^ Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 51.
- ^ Alvarez, chapter 59.
| Preceded by Germa Seyum |
Emperor of Ethiopia | Succeeded by Kedus Harbe |
