Gebra Maskal Lalibela

Gebra Maskal Lalibela, Ethiopian Icon IESMus3450, 15th century

Gebra Maskal Lalibela ( Ethiop . ገብረ መስቀል ላሊበላ , also just Lalibela , ላሊበላ , * 1162 in Adefa or Roha) was Negus Negest ( Emperor ) of Ethiopia from around 1189 to 1229 . He is venerated as a saint by the Ethiopian Church .

Life

Gebra Maskal was a member of the Zagwe dynasty . His nickname Lalibela means " the one chosen by the bees " and according to legend he was peacefully swarmed by bees in his cradle, which was interpreted as a sign of his later reign. According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of Jan Seyum and brother of Kedus Harbe . According to tradition, he went into exile because of his enmity with his uncle Tatadim and his brother, King Kedus Harbe. His half-sister is said to have almost killed him with poison. Since Lalibela came to power during his brother's lifetime, Taddesse Tamrat believes that he succeeded in doing so by force of arms.

This emperor is known for the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela , which he supposedly either built himself or commissioned. There are no reports of the construction of his 11 rock-hewn churches in Lalibela today . The later hagiography of the king, Gadla Lalibela , states that he carved these churches out of the stone himself and was only supported by angels .

Much is known about his chief queen, Masqal Kibra. She persuaded Abuna Mikael to appoint her brother Hirun as bishop. A few years later the Abuna left Ethiopia for Egypt and complained that Hirun had illegally obtained his office. According to another tradition, she convinced King Lalibela to cede in favor of his nephew Na'akueto La'ab ; after 18 months of bad rule, however, she asked Lalibela to return to the throne. Taddesse Tamrat suspects that the end of Lalibela's reign was not so friendly in reality. He believes this tradition is supposed to cover up a brief period of time when Na'akueto La'ab usurped power. Lalibela's son Yetbarak ended his reign. The construction of one of the rock-hewn churches, Bet Aba Libanos, was commissioned by Masqal Kibra as a memorial to Lalibela after his death.

In contrast to the other Zagwe kings, a considerable number of documents about his rule have survived, including the Gadla Lalibela . Around 1210 a delegation from the Patriarch of Alexandria visited his court and left a report about him, Na'akueto La'ab and Yetbarak. The Italian scholar Carlo Conti Rossini issued several of the land grants that remained from his reign.

Remarks

1. ^ Stanislaw Chojnacki, Ethiopian Icons: Catalog of the Collection of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (Milan: Skira, 2000), cat. 17th
2. ^ Taddesse Tamrat: Church and State in Ethiopia . Clarendon Press (Oxford 1972), p. 56n.
3. ↑ Getachew Mekonnen Hasen: Wollo, Yager Dibab . Nigd Matemiya Bet (Addis Ababa 1992), p. 22.
4. ↑ Sebastian Kirschner: In the New Jerusalem. Rock churches in Ethiopia. In: G / Geschichte , No. 2/2017, pp. 58–61, here p. 59.
5. ^ Taddesse Tamrat, p. 61.
6. ↑ The section of his Gadla dealing with the construction of these churches was translated into English by KP Pankhurst: The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles . Oxford University Press (Addis Ababa 1967).
7. ↑ Taddesse Tamrat, pp. 59f.
8. ↑ Taddesse Tamrat, pp. 62f.
9. ↑ Getachew Mekonnen, p. 24.
10. ^ Taddesse Tamrat, p. 62.
11. ^ A bibliography can be found in Taddesse Tamrat, p. 59.

literature

• Wilhelm Baum:  Lalibela (Gebre Masqual), Emperor of Ethiopia. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 17, Bautz, Herzberg 2000, ISBN 3-88309-080-8 , Sp. 823-824.
• Manfred Kopp: "Lālibalā." In: LThK ³ vol. 6, sp. 613-614
• Jules François Célestin Perruchon: Vie de Lalibala roi d'Ethiopie: Texts of Ethiopia publié d'après un manuscrit du musée britannique et traduction française avec un résumé de l'histoire des Zagiiés et de description des églises monolithes de Lalibala. Paris: E. Leroux 1892

predecessor	Office	successor
Kedus Harbe	Emperor of Ethiopia 1119–1159	Na'akueto La'ab