Amhara (Bete Amhara) is the plateau between the Bashilo and the Wanchet, round Lake Hayq and modern Dese, settled by Semitic-speaking Christian farmers, the Amhara, whose church had spread south into this country and on into Shewa since the late first millennium.
It is under the Zagwe king, through lords whose names are not recorded for 1200. Two generations later the opposition to the Agaw kings gathers here: Taddesse Tamrat shows the initiative passing from Tigray to Amhara, whence Yekuno Amlak overthrows the dynasty in 1270. The monastery of Lake Hayq, famous from the mid-thirteenth century, may already exist (tradition gives it an earlier foundation).
Who he is
- Title
- Governor and local Christian lords of Amhara for the Zagwe king (titles not recorded)
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Taddesse Tamrat 1972, pp. 34-38 and 64 (Christian expansion into Amhara; the shift of anti-Zagwe initiative to Amhara)
Overlord
Lalibela
What it holds
- The plateau round Lake Hayq and modern Dese
- The country south to the Wanchet (Borena, Sayint and Wereilu in later names)
- The Abay gorge on the west
How it was acquired
Part of the Christian kingdom from the time of its southward spread; under the Agaw kings since the twelfth century.
Allies and rivals
Neighbours: Christian north Shewa to the south, the Muslim district of Ifat below the escarpment to the south-east, Gojjam across the Abay.
How things stand that morning
Under the Zagwe king; lords not named.
Wealth
Farming, herds; the route between the northern highlands and Shewa.
Military
Local levies; no figures.
Threats
- Amhara resentment of the Agaw dynasty (visible later)
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1270Yekuno Amlak, of Amhara, overthrows the last Zagwe king.Depends on: Seventy years of Zagwe decline. Stopped by: Far beyond the opening of play.
Places of note
- Lake Hayq: Monastery of St Stephen (existence in 1200 not pinned).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Christian presence is certain; the government of Amhara in 1200 is not documented.
On the map: Rough outline; the foothills below the escarpment (Bati, Kemise) are left to Ifat and the Afar.
Primary sources for Zagwe kingdom
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Glory of the Kings, Yeshaq of Aksum (compiler) (1314 to 1322 in Ge'ez; the colophon claims an Arabic version of 1225). Nothing on events, but the ideology that unmade the Zagwe: the story that Ethiopia's rightful kings descend from Solomon and Menelik, compiled a century after 1200 to justify Yekuno Amlak's seizure of the throne in 1270 and to brand the Zagwe as usurpers. Read online
- History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria, Mawhub ibn Mansur ibn Mufarrij and continuators (Various) (compiled in Arabic 1088 to 1094 from Coptic lives; continued for the patriarchs of 1102 to 1243 and later). The Coptic church's own record. Read online
- The Golden Gospel of Dabra Libanos: Zagwe land grants (the acts were entered on the Gospel's blank leaves from the twelfth century onward; the Zagwe acts date from about 1150 to 1270). The only documents of the Zagwe state: grants of land and rights written into a Gospel book at Dabra Libanos of Ham in Eritrea, in the names of Zagwe kings (Tantawedem, Lalibela with his queen Masqal Kebra, Na'akueto La'ab) and their officers, with lists of estates and titles.
- The History of the Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and some Neighbouring Countries, Abu al-Makarim (formerly attributed to Abu Salih the Armenian) (about 1177 to 1208; the core about 1200). The one Christian text written in Egypt around 1200 that looks south: it describes the kingdom of the Nubians with its king at Dongola, his churches, the eparch of Nobadia, the churches of Qasr Ibrim and the raid of Shams al-Dawla Turanshah in 1173, the kingdom of Alwa (Alodia) with its 400 churches and its capital Soba, and the Abyssinians with their king, their metropolitan sent from Alexandria, the church of Aksum and the Ark, as a Coptic churchman heard of them through the patriarchate. Read online
- The Life of Lalibela (probably the fifteenth century, from earlier material; the date is disputed). The only narrative about the Zagwe king who reigned in 1200: Lalibela's birth at Roha, the persecution by his brother King Harbay (Harbe), his exile and marriage to Masqal Kebra, his vision of Jerusalem, his accession, the building of the rock churches with angelic help, and his abdication in favour of his nephew Na'akueto La'ab. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.