Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia

Zara Yaqob
Emperor of Ethiopia
Reign	1434–1468
Coronation	1436
Predecessor	Amda Iyasus
Successor	Baeda Maryam I
Born	1399 Telq
Died	1468
Consort	Eleni
House	House of Solomon
Religion	Ethiopian Christian

Zar'a Ya`qob or Zera Yacob (Ge'ez ዘርአ:ያዕቆብ zar'ā yāʿiqōb) (1399 – 26 August 1468) was nəgusä nägäst of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez ቈስታንቲኖስ qʷastāntīnōs) or Constantine I. Born at Telq in the province of Fatajar (now part of the Oromia Region, near the Awash River), Zara Yaqob was the youngest son of Dawit I and his youngest queen, Igzi Kebra.

The British expert on Ethiopia, Edward Ullendorff, stated that Zara Yaqob "was unquestionably the greatest ruler Ethiopia had seen since Ezana, during the heyday of Aksumite power, and none of his successors on the throne – excepted only the emperors Menelik II and Haile Selassie – can be compared to him."

Paul B. Henze repeats the tradition that the jealousy of his older brother Tewodros I forced the courtiers to take Zara Yaqob to Tigray where he was brought up in secret, and educated in Axum and at the monastery of Debre Abbay. While admitting that this tradition "is invaluable as providing a religious background for Zar'a-Ya'iqob's career", Taddesse Tamrat dismisses this story as "very improbable in its details." The professor notes that Zara Yaqob wrote in his Mashafa Berhan that "he was brought down from the royal prison of Mount Gishan only on the eve of his accession to the throne."

Upon the death of Emperor Dawit, his older brother Tewodros ordered Zara Yaqob confined on Amba Geshen (around 1414). Despite this, Zara Yaqob's supporters kept him a perennial candidate for Emperor, helped by the rapid succession of his older brothers to the throne over the next 20 years, and left him as the oldest qualified candidate. David Buxton points out the effect that his forced seclusion had on his personality, "deprived of all contact with ordinary people or ordinary life." Thrust into a position of leadership "with no experience of the affairs of state, he [Zara Yaqob] was faced by a kingdom seething with plots and rebellions, a Church riven with heresies, and outside enemies constantly threatening invasion." Buxton continues,

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