Being of
Amhara descent, he was the son of Emperor
Susenyos I and Empress Sahle Work (Ge'ez: ሣህለወርቅ) (throne name) ለ (name) of Wagda Katata and
Merhabete. His mother Sahle Work's family were of
Muslim origin. Emperor Fasilides was born at Magezez, Bulga in the
Shewa region. His paternal grandfather's name was also Fasilides. He was builder of the Fasil palace. Fasilides was proclaimed emperor in 1630 during a revolt led by
Sarsa Krestos, but did not reach the throne until his father abdicated in 1632. Once he became emperor, Fasilides immediately restored the official status of the traditional
Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He sent for a new
abuna from the
patriarch of Alexandria, restoring the ancient relationship that had been allowed to lapse. He confiscated the lands of the
Jesuits at Dankaz and elsewhere in the empire and exiled them to
Fremona. When he heard that the Portuguese bombarded
Mombasa, Fasilides assumed that
Afonso Mendes, the
Roman Catholic prelate, was behind the act, and banished the remaining Jesuits from his lands. Mendes and most of his followers made their way back to
Goa, being robbed or imprisoned several times on the way. In 1665, he ordered the "Books of the Franks"—the remaining religious writings of the Catholics—burnt. (broken bridge in
Amharic) was one of seven stone bridges built over the Blue Nile River during Fasilides reign.Fasilides is commonly credited with founding the city of
Gondar in 1636, establishing it as Ethiopia's capital. Whether or not a community existed here before he made it his capital is unknown. Amongst the buildings he had constructed there are the beginnings of the complex later known as
Fasil Ghebbi, as well as some of the earliest of Gondar's fabled 44 churches: Adababay Iyasus, Adababay Tekle Haymanot, Atatami Mikael, Gemjabet Mariyam, Fit Mikael, and Qeddus Abbo. He is also credited with building seven stone bridges in Ethiopia, notably the
Sebara Dildiy bridge (); as a result all old bridges in Ethiopia are often commonly believed to be his work. Emperor Fasilides also built the Cathedral Church of
St Mary of Zion at
Axum. Fasilides' church is known today as the "Old Cathedral" and stands next to a newer cathedral built by Emperor
Haile Selassie. The rebellion of the
Agaw in
Lasta, which had begun under his father, continued into his reign and for the rest of his reign he made regular punitive expeditions into Lasta. The first, in 1637, went badly, for at the
Battle of Libo his men panicked before the Agaw assault and their leader, Melka Kristos, entered Fasilides' palace and took the throne for himself. Fasilides quickly recovered and sent for help to
Qegnazmach Dimmo, governor of
Semien, and his brother Gelawdewos, governor of
Begemder. These marched on Melka Kristos, who was still at Libo, where he was killed and his men defeated. The next year Fasilides marched into Lasta; according to
James Bruce, the Agaw retreated to their mountain strongholds, and "almost the whole army perished amidst the mountains; great part from famine, but a greater still from cold, a very remarkable circumstance in these latitudes."
Foreign diplomacy Soon after he took the throne from his father, Fasilides ended all forms of contact between Ethiopia and Europe, expelling all European Jesuits and their missionaries while forming security pacts with the surrounding Islamic sultanates and initiating diplomatic relations with Islamic kingdoms such as the
Safavids,
Ottomans,
Mughals and the Imams of Yemen. This isolation of the Ethiopian empire from Europe lasted more than two centuries. Fasilides tried in 1642–7 to establish diplomatic relations with
Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il, the Zaydi Imam of Yemen. When
Massawa was occupied by the
Ottoman Empire, the Ethiopian Emperor Fasilides attempted to develop a new trade route via
Beylul. His choice fell on Beylul, because this port was beyond the Ottoman sphere of control and directly opposite the harbor of Mocha in Yemen. In 1642 he sent a message to the Imam of Yemen al-Mu'ayyad Mohammed to gain his support for this project. Since al-Mu'ayyad Mohammed and his son
al-Mutawakkil Isma'il assumed that Fasilides was interested in a conversion to Islam, a Yemeni embassy was sent to
Gondar in 1646. However, when the Yemenis understood Fasilides' actual motives, their enthusiasm sank and the project was abandoned. He also dispatched an envoy to
India in 1664–5, extending congratulations to
Aurangzeb for his ascension to the
Mughal Empire throne. The delegation reportedly presented several valuable offerings to the Mughal Emperor, such as slaves, ivory, horses, zebras, a set of intricately adorned silver pocket pistols, and various other exotic gifts. In 1666, after his son Dawit rebelled, Fasilides had him incarcerated at
Wehni, reviving the ancient practice of confining troublesome members of the Imperial family to a mountaintop, as they had once been confined at
Amba Geshen.
Death Fasilides died at
Azezo in 1667, south of Gondar, and his body was interred at
St. Stephen's, a monastery on
Daga Island in
Lake Tana. When Nathaniel T. Kenney was shown Fasilides' remains, he saw a smaller mummy also shared the coffin. A monk told Kenney that it was Fasilides' seven-year-old son Isur, who had been smothered in a
crush of people, had come to pay homage to the new king. ==Descendants==