Kedus Harbe

Who he is

Name

Kedus Harbe (Harbay; Gebre Maryam in some lists)

Title

Former king (negus), deposed

Since

Deposed by Lalibela before 1200 on every reckoning that makes Lalibela king by then

Born

Not known

Family

Son of Jan Seyum; brother of Lalibela; probably father of Na'akueto La'ab (Taddesse Tamrat)

Confidence

low

Taddesse Tamrat 1972, pp. 55n, 61-62; Wikipedia 'Kedus Harbe'

Overlord

Lalibela

What it holds

• No land known

How it was acquired

King before Lalibela; deposed.

Allies and rivals

His son Na'akueto La'ab, around whom the disaffected later rally (Taddesse Tamrat); his rival, Lalibela.

How things stand that morning

Not pinned: alive or dead is not recorded; if alive, deposed and without known holdings.

Wealth

Not recorded.

Military

None recorded.

Where the sources disagree

• Reign dates in the lists range from about 1061-1101 (Rüppell) to about 1141-1181 (Budge); the reckoning that makes Lalibela king from 1181 ends Harbe's reign then.
• Derat (2020, as summarised) places a king Harbay, with Anbasa Wedem, in the twelfth century, dated by the metropolitan Mika'el I (in office between the patriarchates of Macarius, 1103-1131, and John V, 1146-1167); whether that Harbay is Lalibela's brother is not settled, and the short king list puts a Harbay last of the dynasty.
• The request for seven bishops: Pankhurst puts it under Harbe; the History of the Patriarchs records a like request under Patriarch Gabriel II (1131-1145), which would place it before Harbe's reign on most reckonings.

Evidence: Hagiography and king lists only.

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