Lalibela

King of Ethiopia (r. c. 1181-c. 1221)

• Born: c. mid-twelfth century
• Birthplace: Roha, Lasta (now Lalibela, Ethiopia)
• Died: c. 1221
• Place of death: Roha, Lasta (now Lalibela, Ethiopia)

The most illustrious of the Ethiopian rulers to emerge after the fall of the ancient kingdom of Aksum, Lalibela restored the power of the Ethiopian states, consolidated the Christian sphere of influence, and undertook the construction of the extraordinary rock-hewn churches at Roha.

The young Lalibela is said to have studied in some of the most famous monasteries in Ethiopia, including at Mertula Mariam in Gojam Province. He is said to have been a profound scholar and a devoted Christian at a young age. Although not supported by credible sources, the hagiographic tradition reports that he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he received much of the inspiration for his later achievements. On completing his education, Lalibela was married to Masqal Kebra, who later played a prominent role in the religious life of the country and is one of the few women canonized as a saint by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

On returning to his birthplace in Lasta, Lalibela found himself at odds with his brother Harbe, who by then had taken the Zagwe throne. Fearing for his safety, Lalibela fled to the outlying regions of the empire and began to mobilize support against his brother. He appears to have succeeded in building a broadly based alliance among the discontented elements of the empire. Realizing the futility of further struggle, Harbe is said to have voluntarily abdicated the throne in favor of his brother.

Life’s Work

Lalibela ascended the throne around 1181 and soon emerged as the most legendary of the Ethiopian kings. The Ethiopian state witnessed considerable imperial expansion and remarkable literary and architectural revival under his rule. He carried out successful campaigns designed to consolidate imperial control over northern Ethiopia, including the highlands of what is today Eritrea. He subdued the still predominantly non-Christian regions of the upper Blue Nile in the west and pushed the frontiers of the Christian kingdom as far as the Awash River in the south and to the edge of the Ethiopian Plateau in the east. The military colonies and monasteries established in the outer areas of these newly acquired regions facilitated a rapid process of assimilation. This in turn contributed significantly to the political and cultural homogenization of the Ethiopian state, which already had begun during the Aksumite period in the first millennium c.e.

Early Life

Lalibela (lah-lee-BEHL-ah) was born of a prominent family related to the Zagwe Dynasty

At a period when Muslim forces had defeated the Latin Crusaders in the Middle East and Islam was making formidable strides elsewhere in northeast Africa, Lalibela spearheaded a multifaceted movement that was designed to reinvigorate the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and to enhance its spiritual, literary, and architectural tradition.

Lalibela ended the long period of stagnation that had characterized Ethiopian foreign trade since the rise of Muslim hegemony in the Red Sea region in the eighth century. Although Ethiopia had lost most of its Red Sea coastal outlets, including the ports of Adulis and the Dahlak Islands, Lalibela sought alternative routes to the south. The port of Zeila (now in Somaliland) in the east was conveniently located to service much of the Ethiopian state, whose orientation had decisively shifted southward after the collapse of the Aksumite kingdom. Commercial contacts with Egypt and the Yemen were resumed during this period.

Lalibela also pursued an active foreign policy that was designed to end the country’s isolation, including the development of good relations with Sultan Saladin in order to ensure the continuity of relations between the Ethiopian Church and the Egyptian Coptic Church (from which Ethiopia received its bishops). There is evidence that Lalibela sent at least two missions to Cairo in 1200 and 1209. The cordial relations he established with Saladin appear to have helped in easing the pressure on the Coptic Christians in Egypt and in protecting Ethiopian Christians in Jerusalem. Saladin is said to have given lands in Jerusalem to Ethiopian Christians.

Stories of Lalibela’s accomplishments at home as well as the active foreign policy he pursued seem to have reached Europe to some degree. This vague information may have provided the inspiration for the spread of the myth of the so-called Prester John , the legendary Christian monarch in the east who was believed to be a bulwark against Muslim expansion and was expected to liberate the Holy Land from the hands of the Muslims.

Lalibela is remembered not only for his remarkable achievements as an empire builder but also for building the grand complex of monolithic rock-hewn churches at Roha (renamed Lalibela after his death) in the rugged terrain of Lasta Province. These monuments were said to replicate Jerusalem and the Holy Land that was lost to the Christian world when Saladin recaptured it from the Crusaders in 1187. The eleven edifices attributed to Lalibela are all sculpted inside and out from solid volcanic rock and are interconnected by a maze of long underground tunnels and passages. The eleven churches are called Bete Medhane Alem, Bete Mariam, Bete Michael, Bete Mesqal, Bete Amanuel, Bete Marqorewos, Bete Libanos, Bete Gabriel, Bete Giorgis, Bete Denagil, and Bete Golgotha. Each building is architecturally unique and sumptuously decorated with a variety of paintings. Some of the buildings have immense columns.

The most impressive and the largest of this complex is the Bete Medhane Alem (the Church of Our Savior), which measures 33.5 meters (110 feet) long by 23.5 meters (77 feet) wide and 11 meters (36 feet) high. It has 32 external colonnades on all four sides. The other fascinating structure is the Bete Giorgis (Church of Saint George), which is built in the shape of a cross from a great block of rock and stands in the midst of a trench that is 12 meters (nearly 40 feet) deep.

These architectural wonders have fascinated many visitors throughout the ages. Francisco Alvarez, a Jesuit priest and a member of the Portuguese mission to Ethiopia who visited the site in the 1520’, wrote in his book Verdadeira informação das terras do preste João das Indias (1540; Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia During the Years 1520-1527, 1881; best known as The Prester John of the Indies, 1961) that the likes of such buildings “cannot, as it appears to me, be found in the world.” He further remarked, “I weary of writing more about these buildings, because it seems to me that I shall not be believed if I write more.”

Ethiopian legend claims that Lalibela was miraculously flown to Jerusalem, where Christ appeared to him and instructed him to build a second Jerusalem in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians consider the site as the new Holy Land that was intended to replace as a pilgrimage center the real Jerusalem, which was lost to the Muslims. King Lalibela himself is canonized by the Ethiopian Church. The Gadla Lalibela (the hagiography of Lalibela) claims that visiting these churches is like seeing the face of Christ. Several landmarks in the area are given biblical names. The local stream that flows through the site is named the Jordan River (after the original Jordan River) and the nearby mountain is called Mount Tabor (again, like the original). There is also a place called the Court of Judgment to symbolize the site where the decision to crucify Christ was made. One of the eleven churches that house the tomb of Lalibela is called Golgotha (the Holy Sepulcher).

Lalibela’s monuments have served as a source of inspiration and hope for Ethiopian Christians over the course of the last eight centuries. Thousands of Ethiopians make the pilgrimage to Lalibela every year. After the Church of Saint Mary of Zion in Aksum, which supposedly houses the Ark of the Covenant, Lalibela is regarded as the most sacred site in Ethiopia.

In spite of these accomplishments, Lalibela was unable to overcome the weakness he had inherited from his predecessors. Zagwe hold over the Ethiopian empire had always remained precarious. Zagwe rulers were unable to remove the stigma that they were usurpers who had snatched power from the lawful rulers of the Aksumite line. Although they were the greatest patrons of the Ethiopian Church and produced three kings who were canonized by the Ethiopian Church, the widespread perception that they were illegitimate persisted, especially in northern Ethiopia. This reputation was later skillfully exploited by their rivals. However, the main weakness of this dynasty also lay in its failure to institutionalize a smooth and effective system of succession. The Zagwe rulers seem to have regarded the state as a family property, and the death of a Zagwe king was followed almost invariably by a fierce scramble for power within the royal family.

The problem grew even more intense after the death of Lalibela, when the succession was bitterly contested between his son Yitbarek and his nephew Naՙakuto Laՙab. This internal feud greatly aided the anti-Zagwe movement, centered in the predominantly Amhara region in Shewa and present-day Wello, which was building momentum by the middle of the thirteenth century. In 1270, the last Zagwe ruler, Yitbarek, was overthrown by Yekuno Amlak, a prince from the Amhara area who claimed descent from the old Aksumite line of rulers and established what is known as the Solomonid Dynasty.

Significance

King Lalibela and the other Zagwe rulers came to power at a crucial moment in Ethiopian history, when the Christian state based in the northern part of the country was beleaguered by a rising Islamic power in the Middle East and northeast Africa. By developing a new center of power farther to the south, they were able to ensure the survival of the Ethiopian state after the collapse of the old Aksumite political order. Zagwe rulers adopted the Aksumite political, literary, religious, and architectural traditions and spread them farther to the south, thereby providing a common and enduring framework that bound together the diverse communities constituting the Ethiopian state. Lalibela’s great architectural monuments (included in the United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization’s World Heritage List) and the myth that has developed around them continue to be revered by the followers of the Ethiopian Church.

The Zagwe Dynasty

Reign

• Ruler

c. 1137-1152

• Mara Tekle Haimanot

c. 1152-1181

• Yimrehane-Kristos

c. 1181-1221

• Lalibela

c. 1221-1260

• Naՙakuto Laՙab

c. 1260-1270

• Yitbarek (Yetbarek)

1270

• Solomonid Dynasty begins; reign of Yekuno Amlak

Note: The evidence for the succession of Zagwe rulers is debated by scholars; here, the regnal dates reflect primarily the order of succession and vary widely among sources.

Bibliography

Alvares, Francisco. The Prester John of the Indies. Translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley, revised and edited with additional material by G. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford. Cambridge, England: Hakluyt Society, Cambridge University Press, 1961. An eyewitness account of a sixteenth century Portuguese traveler in Ethiopia.

Connery, William S. “The Second Zion: The Wonder of Ethiopia’s Lalibela.” World and I 16 (August, 2001). A concise article that outlines the historical background to the construction of the Lalibela churches and provides a short description of the monolithic complex.

Gerster, Georg. Churches in Rock: Early Christian Art in Ethiopia. New York: Praeger, 1970. A useful account on the tradition of building rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia. The book contains some of the best pictures of the Lalibela churches ever published.

Heldman, Marilyn. “Legends of Lalibela: The Development of an Ethiopian Pilgrimage Site.” Res 27 (Spring, 1995). A modern art historian’s view of the legends associated with the building of the Lalibela monolithic churches and their place in the Ethiopian national myth.

Munro-Hay, Stuart. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. London: I. B. Tauris, 2002. A well-researched, comprehensive, and up-to-date description of the major historical landmarks in Ethiopia.

Sergew Hable Sellassie. Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Addis Ababa University, 1972. A survey of Ethiopian history from the earliest times to the medieval period based on extensive use of primary sources. Contains excellent reproductions of the architecture and decorations of the Lalibela churches.

Taddesse Tamirat. Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1972. An authoritative work by one of the foremost historians of medieval Ethiopia. It contains useful information on the transition of power from the Zagwe to the new Solomonid Dyanasty.