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HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA &

THE HORN, HiSt. 1012
 CHAPTER FOUR

4. Politics, Economy & Society late 13th to 16th C

4.1. ‘Restoration’ of the ‘Solomonic’ Dynasty
 The so called ‘Solomonic’ dynasty was founded by King

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Yekuno Amlak (r.1270-85) took power.
 The rulers of the “Solomonic” Dynasty claimed that they
were descendants of the last king of Aksum & hence, they
were legitimate to take over state power from the
“illegitimate” usurpers rulers of the Zagwe dynasty. As the
claim has no historical evidence, the name “Restoration” is
put in quotation mark. Similarly, the name “Solomonic” is
placed in quotation marks because the claim of descent from
king Solomon of Israel is legendary. The claim has been
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elaborated in the Kibre Negest (“Glory of Kings”) that
associated Ethiopia with the Judeo-Christian tradition.
 Kibre Negest claims that Ethiopian ruling class descended
from the line of Menilek I, son of the Queen of Sheba &
king Solomon of Israel. Monarchs from king Yekuno
Amlak to emperor Haile-Silassie I claimed descent from

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Menilek I.
 But, claim has no proper historical evidence; the claim is
legendary. Thus, name ‘Restoration’ & ‘Solomonic’ are
often put in quotation mark.
4.2. Power struggle, Consolidation, Territorial expansion
& Religious processes
4.2.1. Succession Problem & the Establishment of a ‘Royal Prison’ of Amba Gishen

 Following the end of the reign of Yekuno Amlak in

1285, a political instability caused by constant power 2
struggles of his sons & grandsons for succession
occurred.
• A letter written by Yegba-Tsion (r.1285-94) to the Sultan of
Egypt & the Patriarch of Alexandria in 1290 reflected the
existence of those struggles.
• Power struggle intensified at the reigns of Yegba-Tsion’s, five
sons who reigned from 1294 to 1299.

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 The succession problem seems to have been partly resolved
in 1300 during the reign of Widim-Ra’ad(r.1299-1314)
following the establishment of a 'royal prison' at Amba-
Gishen located in present day southern Wollo where all
male members of the royal family were confined until one
among them was installed in power.
 When the monarch died, court dignitaries would send an
army to the royal prison to escort the designated successor &
put him on the throne. This practice continued until Amba-
3
Gishen was destroyed by Imam Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Ghazi's
force in 1540.
 4.2.2. Consolidation & Territorial expansion of Christian Kingdom
 Territorial expansion was one of unique features of ‘Solomonic’
state.
 From 1270 until the establishment of Gondar in 1636, the
medieval monarchs had no permanent capital.

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 They used mobile courts to control rebellions & solve
problems of fire wood.
 Initially, center of the “restored” dynasty was in medieval
Amhara (south Wollo) around lake Hayq.
However, it gradually shifted southward to the districts of
Menz, Tegulet, Bulga & Yerer, Entoto, Menagesha,
Wachacha, Furi & Zekualla mountains.
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 Territorial expansion was started by Yekuno Amlak &
refashioned by king Amde-Tsiyon (r. 1314-1344).
 Amde-Tsion: was the first "Solomonic"king, who
embarked on a policy of a wider & rapid territorial

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expansion. It is expansionist king. His main motives of
expansion were economic & political i.e. to control the
trade routes & seize territories.
He campaigned (run) into:
 Bizamo & Damot in 1316/7.
 Agaw (Awi) of Gojjam around 1323/4.
 Bete-Israel (B/n Dambiya & Tekeze River)
 He gave Enderta (NE Tigray) to his wife Bilen-Saba.
• Bahr-Sagad, the son of Amde-Tsion, became governor of Tigray. 5
 Amde-Tsion faced stiff resistance from Ifat & Shewa.
 Amde-Tsion campaigned as far as Red sea coast.
He appointed a governor with a title of Ma'ekale-Bahir,

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later on changed to Bahire-Negash (lord of the sea).
Amde-Tsion was in full control of all the trade routes &
sources of trade of the Ethiopian region in the early 1330s.
In the southeast, Muslim sultanates paid tributes to the
Christian kingdom.
In the south, Gurage speaking areas & a few of the Omotic
kingdoms like Wolayta & Gamo were brought under the
influence of the Christian state. 6
4.2.3. Evangelization, Religious movements & reforms
I. Evangelization: It got new momentum.
Christianity had a long history of expansion. Churches & their believers had
been in existence long before expansion of the Christian kingdom in various
parts of the Horn of Africa.
 For instance, in Shewa there were early Christians who maintained contacts with
their distant relatives in Northern part of Ethiopia. Those early Christians played
an important role in the spread of Christianity in several areas .
 In the 13thC, Eyesus-Mo'a opened new opportunities of learning for
Christians.
 He evangelized the newly incorporated areas.
 Christianity spread from parts of Shewa to different areas of Kil'at,
Tsilalish, Merhabite, Wereb, Moret & Wegda, & Fatagar, Damot,
Waj & Enarya.
 Abune Tekle-Haymanot (13thC) played a key role in reviving
Christianity in Shewa, which was followed by the evangelization 7
of areas in southern Ethiopia including medieval Damot. He
baptized & converted Motalami to Christianity.
 II. Religious Movements:
 Monasticism became a dominant practice in Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the
mid-13thcentury.
 The period observed development of monasticism & religious movements of
which the major one was the Ewostatewos movement.

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A. The Ewostatewos Movement: founder Abba Ewostatewos. Ewostatewos
established his own monastic community in Sara'e (in present day Eritrea). Later,
was joined by many students & taught until about 1337.
 Taught the strict observance of the Sabbath.
 Spread to areas like Enfranz, Tigray & Hamessen.
 The king & the Abun opposed the movement.
Hence, the anti-Ewostatewos group led by the Abbot of the Hayq monastery
called Aqabe-Se’at Sereqe-Birhan was supported by the Abun & the
monarch. King feared that dispute in church could divide kingdom.
Therefore, he imprisoned some of the Ewostatians. The clergy also expelled
Ewostatians from church services.
 Some of the Ewostatians were forced to withdraw & settle in peripheral
areas while some of them sustained their movement in monasteries like
Debre-Bizen, Debre-San, etc.
B. Deqiqe Estifanos (Estifanosites)(15th -16th C)
The Estifanosites were a movement within Ethiopian
monasticism, called so after their founder & spiritual leader
Abba Estifanos.
 The head of the movement, Abba Estifanos, was born in

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Agame at the end of the 14thcentury. He established a
rigid monastic organization which emphasized:
 Poverty, absolute self-subsistence, equality.
 Rejected royal supremacy & authority in spiritual
matters.
 Refused to participate in court judiciary procedures.
 Zara-Yacob (r.1434-68) took very harsh measures
against Estifanosites for their opposition of veneration
(worship) of St. Mary.
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 Estifanosites formally reconciled with the main body of
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the16th century.
III. Emperor Zara-Yaqob introduced religious reform:
Emperor Zara-Yaqob (r.1434-68) took several measures to stabilize &
consolidate the Orthodox Church. First, he settled the conflict among the
Ethiopian clergy in order to create an amicable church-state relationship.
In this regard,
 He took several measures to stabilize Orthodox Church.
 He settled the conflict among clergy.
 Made peace with the House of Ewostatewos.
 Urged the clergy to Preach Christianity in remote areas.
 He ordered to observe fasting on Wednesday & Fridays.
 King encouraged the establishment of a library.
 There was revival of religious literature.
 He wrote some books like Metsafe-Birhan, Metsafe-Me’lad,
Metsafe- Sillasie, Metsafe-te'aqebo Mister, etc. 10
 Te’amre-Maryam were translated from Arabic to Geez.
4.3. Political, Socio-Economic Dynamics in Muslim
sultanates
A number of strong sultanates had emerged since the 14th
century.
Trade was:

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One of the major factors that resulted in the rise &
development of those sates.
Served not only as a major source of livelihood but also acted
as a major agent that resulted in the formation of Muslim
sultanates.
A major source of conflict between the Christian kingdom &
Muslim sultanates.
• One of the strong Muslim sultanates that emerged along trade
routes & became a center of resistance against the Christian 12
kingdom until the second half of the 16thcentury was the
sultanate of Adal.
[Link] Rise of Adal:
• After its establishment, Ifat conducted a series of campaigns
against its neighboring sultanates thereby extending its hegemony
over these areas.
• It also resisted the expansion the Christian kingdom.

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• However, one branch of the Walasma family, which realized that
Ifat was becoming an easy target to the Christian kingdom due to
its location, moved further to the southeastern lowlands &
established new & vigorous Muslim sultanate of Adal in the
highland districts around Harar in 1367.
• The first center Walasma Dynasty was at a place called Dakar, a
place located to the southeast of Harar. The Walasma family
consolidated its power in the new center, & began another phase of
military campaigns against the frontiers of the Christian kingdom.
• The center of Adal in 1520 changed to the city of Harar & after
the defeat of Imam Ahmed; a growing threat from a new force-the 13
Oromo forced the sultanate to change its capital to Ausa in
1576/7, to the present Afar region.
4.3.2. Trade & the Expansion of Islam
o Islam spread into the Central & Southwestern parts
through Muslim merchants & preachers.
o Trade led to the expansion of Islam; formation of
different towns & trade centers.
♥ The old city-states of Mogadishu, Brava & Merca

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were used as ports for their hinterland for the trade in
the Northeast, Massawa served as an outlet.
The market towns that served the Zeila route include:
 Weez-Gebeya in Shewa
 Fatagar-Dawaro-Harar,
 Suq-Wayzaro in old Damot.
 Suq-Amaja & the very famous market center
Gandabalo on the Ifat-Awsa route.
 Gandabalo was largely inhabited by Muslim &
Christian merchants serving the kings & sultans as 12
agents.
 Other big market towns include the ones that linked
medieval Amhara with Awsa, called Wasel near what is
today Ware-Illu, Qorqora (Qoreta) (north of Waldiya) &
Mandalay in southern Tigray.

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 The towns of Dabarwa, the seat of the Bahre-Negash (lord
of the sea) & Asmara was the two important entrepots of
caravans in the hinterland of Massawa.
 Muslim states had control over trade routes of Zeila due to
their geographical proximity but contested by “Solomonic”
kingdom especially after its revival & consolidation.

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4.4. Rivalry of Christian kingdom & Muslim sultanates

Zeila: was the main outlet to the sea & source of income.
Cause: The ambition to control Zeila trade route &
commodities that passed through Zeila led to rivalry between
the “Solomonic” rulers & the sultanate of Ifat.
 The immediate cause of conflict was that the sultan of
Ifat, Haqaddin I stopped merchants of Christian kingdom.
 Amde-Tsion defeated Haqaddin I replaced him by his
brother Sabradin.
 Both Ifat & Fatagar came under Sabradin.
 The Hadiya & Dawaro made an alliance with Sabradin.
 Sabradin was defeated, as a result, Ifat, Fatagar &
Dawaro were incorporated. 14
 Amde-Tsion made them to annual tributes.
After Ifat, other Muslim sultanates like Sharkha, Harar,
Bali, Dara & Arbabani were also seriously weakened.

Conflicts b/n Adal & Christian kingdom:

 Neway-Maryam (1371-80), the son of Amde-Tsion vs
Haqadin II in 1376.
 The successor of Haqadin II, Sa’d ad-Din II vs king Dawit
I, Sa’d ad-Din II defeated.
 Sa’d ad-Din II killed by king Yishaq.
 Muslim sultanates power declined in power.
In15thC, Emperor Zara Yaqob defeated Sultan Ahmed Badlay at
the battle of Yeguba.
 After Mohammed, Adal was still strong. Ba’ede-
Mariam campaigned against Adal. 15

 The successors of Ba'ede-Mariam proved weak.

In 1517 Emir Mahfuz died fighting against Emperor Lebne-
Dengel's (r. 1508-40) force & his son-in-law, Imam Ahmed ibn
Ibrahim al-Ghazi, popularly known as Ahmed Gragn or the“
left-handed“ took over the [Link] were socio-
economic & cultural interactions between Christian kingdom

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& Muslim principalities.
• Trade was the channel of social integration. It had long been
source of friendship, interaction, interdependence, & conflict
among the states of the region.
• Long distance trade & local markets served as core areas of
social ties. The difference in ecology of the Muslim sultanates
& Christian kingdom created economic interdependence,
which in due course strengthened socio-economic bondage.
•Merchants of two regions often moved from the highlands to
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the coast & vice versa.
•It was through such caravan merchants that the social
links were strengthened & religions spread.
•These interactions & interdependence in economic,
social, cultural & political spheres lay the foundation

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for modern Ethiopia. The period also witnessed the
flourishing of Geez literature.
e.g. Abba Giorgis Ze-Gasicha & philosophies epitomized by Zara-
Ya'iqob.
•On the Muslim side, literature had developed including the
works of Arab writers such as Ibn Fadil al Umari, Ibn
Khaldun & others.

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 4.5. External Relations
I. Relations with Egypt:
 From the late 13thC on wards, the Christian kingdom continued to
maintain relations with Egypt, which was mainly religious in character.
 In 1272, Yekuno-Amlak sent an emissary to Egypt’s Sultan, Baybars,
requesting an Abun from the Coptic Church.
Furthermore, both Egypt & Ethiopia continued to act as protectors of religious
minorities in their respective domain. Egypt also wanted to ensure secure flow
of the Nile (the Abay River) that originated from Ethiopia.
In the14thC, Mohammed Ibn Qala’un persecuted the Copts & destroyed their
churches in Cairo. In response, Amde-Tsion too demanded the restoration of the
churches & warned that the failure to do so would result in the diversion of the
Nile waters.
 Patriarch Marqos (1348- 63) sent a message to Sayfa-Arad (r.1344-71) 18
revealing his imprisonment by Egyptian Sultan.
 Sayfa-Arad is said to have mobilized a huge army against
Egypt after which the Sultan released the patriarch & sent a
delegation to the king. Besides, Patriarch Matewos (1328-
1408) delegated by the Sultan, established harmonious

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relations between king Dawit & Egypt. The Sultan is said to
have sent a piece of the "True Cross"& in return, Dawit is
said to have given a number of religious paintings to the
Sultan.
• Zara-Yaqob wrote a friendly letter to Sultan Barsbay
requesting the protection of Christians in Egypt.
• Zara-Yaqob sent an envoy to Sultan Jaqmaq (1438-53) with
a strongly worded letter. Jaqmaq sent an envoy to Ethiopia,
with complimentary gifts to the king but rejected the
reconstruction of the church.
II. Relations with Christian Europe:
 Christian kingdom maintained relations with Christian
Europe, contacts influenced by the legend of “Prester
John.”

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 For examples, Ethiopian delegation attended Gian Galeazzo
Visconti’s coronation in Milan in 1395. Message from an
Ethiopian monarch, Amde-Tsion was presented to king
Phillip of France in 1332.
 In 1418, three Ethiopians attended the Council of Constance.
The earliest known message to Ethiopia from a European
monarch is the letter of King Henry IV of England dated 1400
A.D. & addressed to “Prester John” the purported (supposed)
king of the Christian kingdom.
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•In 1450 king Zara-Yaqob sent delegates (mission) led by a
Silican Pietro Rombulo & Fikre-Mariam & others to
Alphonso to get political, military & technical assistance.
•Venetian Gregorio or Hieronion Bicini visited Ethiopia.
•Pedros da Covilhao/Peter de Covilham arrived at the court
of Eskindir (1478-1494) in 1493.
• The rivalry between the Christian kingdom & Muslim
sultanates in 15thC strengthened the relation between the
Christian kingdom & Christian Europe.
• Queen Elleni (the daughter of Hadiya Garad & married to
king Zara Yaqob) played an important role in the
strengthening of these relations. She consolidated relations
with Portugal against Turkey which showed a clear interest
to support sultanates activities.
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Portugal sent a person to act as an ambassador to Christian
Ethiopia.

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1512 Queen Elleni, the mother & regent of Lebne-Dengel
sent an Armenian called Mathew to Portugal.
Portuguese Embassy led by Rodrigo di Lima, Duwarto
Galliba & Francisco Alvarez reached Ethiopia in 1520 &
remained for six years.
The objective was to establish a naval port against Turkish
power in Red sea area. The mission was not successful.

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 07/03/2024
!!
Galatoomaa!
Galatoomaa!
!