Debre Libanos (Ham)

Who holds it

Name

Abbot Tesfa Hiywet (Zena Yohannes), the earliest known abbot, dated about 1209: whether he already rules it in 1200 is not pinned

Title

Monastery under the Zagwe king's protection

Since

Not pinned

Confidence

low

Lord in 1200

The abbot and monks; the land is held by grant of the Zagwe king.

How things stand that morning

A royal foundation's lands in peace.

Charter

None (no charters in this world).

Council

Not recorded.

Communities

Monks and their dependent farmers.

Fairs and markets

Not recorded.

Militia

None recorded.

Walls and castle

None recorded.

Trade and crafts

Church lands and their tribute.

Where the sources disagree

• The coordinates of Ham are approximate (near Senafe and the Tsorona front); the Wikipedia article says only that it is near the Ethiopian border.
• Whether Lalibela's grant was made before or after 1 January 1200 is not known.

Evidence: The charter and the gospel book survive; the date of the grant within Lalibela's reign is not pinned.

On the map: A point.

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