Harbai was a King (''

negus Negus (Negeuce, Negoose) ( gez, ንጉሥ, ' ; cf. ti, ነጋሲ ' ) is a title in the Ethiopian Semitic languages. It denotes a monarch,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. The Paris Chronicle and a manuscript

Pedro Páez Pedro Páez Jaramillo, S.J. ( pt, Pêro Pais; 1564 – 20 May 1622) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary in Ethiopia. Páez is considered by many experts on Ethiopia to be the most effective Catholic missionary in Ethiopia. He is believed to be the ...

and

Manuel de Almeida Manuel de Almeida (sometimes Manoel de Almeida, 1580–1646) was a native of Viseu who entered at an early age into the Society of Jesus and went out as a missionary to India. He is noted to have travelled to Ethiopia and Eritrea and Lake Tana ...

saw at

Axum Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole region ...

, list him as the last of the

Zagwe dynasty The Zagwe dynasty ( Ge'ez: ዛጔ ሥርወ መንግሥት) was an Agaw medieval dynasty that ruled the northern parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, after the historical name of the Lasta province. Centered at Lalibela, it ruled large parts of the t ...

. He is considered the ancestor of the kings of the Ethiopian province of

Lasta Lasta (Amharic: ላስታ ''lāstā'') is a historic district in northern Ethiopia. It is the district in which Lalibela is situated, the former capital of Ethiopia during the Zagwe dynasty and home to 11 medieval rock-hewn churches. Its original ...

. Little is known about his reign, which E.A. Wallis Budge states lasted 20 years. Budge wrote that Harbai died around 1330; other authorities date his death before 1270, when

Yekuno Amlak Yekuno Amlak ( Ge’ez: ይኩኖ አምላክ); throne name Tasfa Iyasus (ተስፋ ኢየሱስ; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and the founder of the Solomonic dynasty, which lasted until 1974. He was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in ...

became ruler. Huntingford assumes that this ruler is a dublet of

Kedus Harbe Kedus Harbe was King of Zagwe dynasty. According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of Jan Seyum, the brother of Tatadim. Some authorities date his reign to the years 1079–1119. G.W.B. Huntingford does not include him in his list of kings of the ...

, who is mentioned in the ''Gadl Lalibela'', or the

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

of king

Gebre Mesqel Lalibela Lalibela ( gez, ላሊበላ), regnal name Gebre Meskel (Ge'ez: ገብረ መስቀል ; 1162 – 1221), was King of Zagwe dynasty, reigning from 1181 to 1221.Getachew Mekonnen Hasen, ''Wollo, Yager Dibab'' (Addis Ababa: Nigd Matemiya Bet, 1992) ...

, as his brother.Huntingford, "'The Wealth of Kings'", p. 10

Notes

Emperors of Ethiopia Zagwe dynasty {{Ethiopia-royal-stub