Mara Takla Haymanot was King and the founder of

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 ...

. Some

king list A regnal list or king list is, at its simplest, a list of successive monarchs. Some regnal lists may give the relationship between successive monarchs (e.g., son, brother), the length of reign of each monarch or annotations on important reigns. T ...

s give his name simply as "Mararah", and other King Lists as "Takla Haymanot".

Regnal controversy

According to one tradition, Mara was born in the 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 ...

, which was his power base. Originally a general of

Dil Na'od Dil Na'od was the last King of Aksum before the Zagwe dynasty. He lived in either the 9th or 10th century. Dil Na'od was the younger son of Ged'a Jan (or Degna Djan), and succeeded his older brother 'Anbasa Wedem as ''negus''. According to E. A ...

, whose daughter ''Masoba Warq'' became his wife, Mara overthrew his father-in-law to found the new dynasty.

Taddesse Tamrat Taddesse Tamrat ( am, ታደሰ ታምራት; 4 August 1935 – 23 May 2013) was an Ethiopian historian and scholar of Ethiopian studies. He is best known as the author of ''Church and State in Ethiopia 1270–1520'' (1972, Oxford University Pre ...

. "The Legacy of Aksum and Adafa" in ''Church and State in Ethiopia''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972, pp. 53–64.

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Eur ...

, on the other hand, presents another tradition that Dil Na'od was overthrown by

Gudit Gudit ( gez, ጉዲት) is the Classical Ethiopic name for a personage also known as Yodit in Tigray, and Amharic, but also Isato in Amharic and Ga'wa in Ţilţal. The personage behind these various alternative names is portrayed as a power ...

, and that Mara Takla Haymanot (whom Bruce calls "Takla Haymanot") was a cousin of Gudit who succeeded her after several of her own family. There is some disagreement over the exact time when he came to the throne: there are two different traditions for how long the Zagwe dynasty ruled: the more common tradition states that it was for 333 years, while a less common one gives the time as 133 years. The

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

scholar

Carlo Conti Rossini Carlo Conti Rossini (1872–1949) was an Italian orientalist. He was director of the State Treasury from 1917 to 1925, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei in 1921 and Royal Academy of Italy from 1939. He wrote various works on the historical g ...

accepted the shorter period, and working back from the accepted date of 1270 for the end of the Zagwe dynasty, claims that this dynasty started around 1137. He supported this theory with the recorded exchange between

Patriarch John V of Alexandria John the Merciful ( gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Ἐλεήμων, Iōannēs ho Eleēmōn), also known as St John the Almsgiver, John the Almoner, John V of Alexandria, John Eleymon, and Johannes Eleemon, was the Chalcedonian Patriarch of Alexandria in ...

and an unnamed king of Ethiopia, who asked for a new ''

abuna Abuna (or Abune, which is the Construct state, status constructus form used when a name follows: Ge'ez alphabet, Ge'ez አቡነ ''abuna''/''abune'', 'our father'; Amharic language, Amharic and Tigrinya language, Tigrinya) is the honorific titl ...

'' because the current one was too old; Conti Rossini argued that the actual reason was that the ''abuna'' refused to condone the coup which resulted in Mara Takla Haymanot gaining the throne. The extent of his kingdom was much smaller than the later

Solomonic dynasty The Solomonic dynasty, also known as the House of Solomon, was the ruling dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire formed in the thirteenth century. Its members claim lineal descent from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Tradition asserts ...

came to rule, embracing parts of Lasta, Wag, Tigray, and perhaps northern

Begemder Begemder ( amh, በጌምድር; also known as Gondar or Gonder, alternative name borrowed from its 20th century capital Gondar) was a province in northwest Ethiopia. Etymology A plausible source for the name ''Bega'' is that the word means " ...

Family

According to a manuscript from

Dabra Libanos Debre Libanos ( Amharic: ደብረ ሊባኖስ, om, Dabra libanose) is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo monastery, lying northwest of Addis Ababa in the North Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region. It was founded in 1284 by Saint Tekle Haymanot as ...

, quoted by

, Mara Takla Haymanot had four children: #

Jan Seyum Jan Seyum was King of Zagwe dynasty. Taddesse Tamrat states that he was a son of Mara Takla Haymanot, a younger brother of King Tatadim, and the father of Yemrehana Krestos Yemrehana Krestos (Yəmrəḥannä Krəstos, often referred to as "Yəm ...

(son) #

Germa Seyum Germa Seyum was King of Zagwe dynasty. Taddesse Tamrat states that he was a son of Mara Takla Haymanot, the younger brother of King Tatadim, and the father of Pentewudem, Kedus Harbe and Gebre Mesqel Lalibela Lalibela ( gez, ላሊበላ), r ...

(son) # Gempawedamo (son) # Terde'ana Gabaz (daughter) The same manuscript states that the next three rulers of Ethiopia after Mara Takla Haymanot were his three sons. However, according to Taddesse Tamrat, Mara Takla Haymanot's oldest son was

Tatadim Tatadim was King of Zagwe dynasty. According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was a son of Mara Takla Haymanot. Reign Tatadim's name appears in second place in the long lists of the Zagwe kings. Taddesse Tamrat states that he was the oldest known son of Ma ...

, who is not named as a son in the above manuscript. A manuscript held in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

names

and

as the next three rulers and does not name Gempawedamo. This line of succession is generally more accepted by historians as being the correct order of the Zagwe kings.

References

{{s-end 10th-century monarchs in Africa Emperors of Ethiopia Zagwe dynasty