The life of Lalibela is recorded in his
hagiography,
Gadla Lalibela. According to the source, his parents were Jan Seyoum, the governor of
Bugna in the province of
Lasta, and Kirwerna, a housemaid in Jan Seyoum's service. In 1162 Jan Seyoum was angered when Kirwerna became pregnant by him, and she fled to the town of Roha to give birth. A swarm of bees was said to have surrounded the newborn child, which his mother took as a sign of his future power. Accordingly he was named "Lalibela", meaning "the bees recognise his sovereignty" in
Old Agaw. Later Roha was renamed Lalibela in the king's honor. The prophecy of Lalibela's future greatness aroused the hostility of his uncle
Tatadim and his brother Kedus Harbe, who was rightful sovereign. Forced into exile, Lalibela spent many years in
Jerusalem. He returned to Lasta long enough to marry Meskel Kibra, who fled with him after renewed murderous attempts by Harbe.
Rise to power Lalibela's
Gadla does not explain his eventual rise to power. The event occurred during Harbe's lifetime, leading
Taddesse Tamrat to suspect that Lalibela took the crown by force of arms. A chronicle from
Gojjam says that Harbe's continued persecution of Lalibela precipitated a battle between the two brothers. Lalibela was allied with the
Amhara people, who had been promised key court positions if his cause succeeded, while Harbe retained local support, rallying the seven clans of the
Agaw people behind him. Having won the battle and seized the throne, Lalibela exiled the Agaws from
Lasta and allowed the Amhara to settle in their place. Hence the
Amharic proverb: "Amhara settled, Agaw exiled". Allegedly Amharic was made
Lessana Negus (language of the king), and Amhara nobles received their promised offices at court.
Reign A vision is said to have inspired Lalibela to build a
new Jerusalem as his capital, in response to the
capture of old Jerusalem by Muslim forces led by
Saladin in 1187. As such, many features of the town of Lalibela have
Biblical names, including its watercourse, the
River Jordan (). The city remained the capital of
Ethiopia from the late 12th century into the 13th century. No details survive about the construction of the capital's 11 monolithic churches. The later
Gadla Lalibela states that the king carved these churches out of stone with only the help of
angels. According to the narrative of the Portuguese embassy to Ethiopia in 1520-6, written down by Father
Francisco Álvares and published in 1540, the Lalibelian priests claimed that the churches took 24 years to construct. Lalibela's chief queen was Masqal Kibra, about whom a few traditions have survived. She induced
Abuna Mikael to make her brother
Hirun a bishop, but the two men feuded over authority and Mikael eventually left Ethiopia for
Egypt. Another tradition states that she convinced King Lalibela to abdicate in favor of his nephew
Na'akueto La'ab, who proved a poor ruler; after 18 months Lalibela resumed the throne, again on Masqal Kibra's initiative. Taddesse Tamrat suspects that the end of Lalibela's rule was not actually this amiable, and argues that the tradition masks a brief usurpation of Na'akueto La'ab, whose reign was ended by Lalibela's son,
Yetbarak. Getachew Mekonnen credits Masqal Kibra with having one of the rock-hewn churches, Bet Abba Libanos, built as a memorial for Lalibela after his death. Although little written material survives concerning the other Zagwe kings, Lalibela's reign is covered by an abundance of texts, of which the
Gadla Lalibela is only a part. An embassy from the
Patriarch of Alexandria visited Lalibela's court around 1210, leaving an account of him and of his successors Na'akueto La'ab and Yetbarak. The
Italian scholar
Carlo Conti Rossini has also edited and published the several land grants that survive from his reign. ==References==