Yeshaq's reign was marked by a revolt of the
Beta Israel. In response, the Emperor marched into
Wegera, where he defeated the rebels at Kossoge some north of
Gondar, thereby ending the revolt. He also had the church Debre Yeshaq built there to commemorate his victory. Yeshaq also invaded the
Shanqella region beyond
Agawmeder, and to the southeast he fought against
Mansur ad-Din and
Jamal ad-Din II. Yeshaq, according to the Islamic historian
al-Maqrizi, hired a group of
Mamluks led by al-Tabingha to train his army in gunnery and swordfighting, they also taught him the secrets of
Greek fire. This is the earliest reference to firearms (Arabic
naft) in Ethiopia. About the same time another Egyptian visitor, a
Copt, "reorganized the kingdom," according to al-Maqrizi, "and collected so much wealth for the Hati [the Emperor] that he enjoyed the king's authority." This unnamed Copt also introduced the practice of the Emperor dressing in "splendid" clothes and carrying a cross, which made him stand out from his subjects. Further,
George Wynn Brereton Huntingford suggests that it was during Yeshaq's reign that the rulers of Ethiopia ceased having permanent capitals; instead, their courts were held in their encampments as they progressed around their realm. Yeshaq made the earliest known contact from post-Axumite Ethiopia to a
European ruler. He sent a letter by two dignitaries to
Alfonso V of Aragon, which reached the king in 1428, proposing an alliance against the
Muslims and would be sealed by a dual marriage, that would require
Infante Peter to bring a group of artisans to Ethiopia, where he would marry Yeshaq's daughter. It is not clear how or if Alfonso responded to this letter, although in a letter that reached Yeshaq's successor
Zara Yaqob in 1450, Alfonso wrote that he would be happy to send artisans to Ethiopia if their safe arrival could be guaranteed, for on a previous occasion a party of thirteen of his subjects traveling to Ethiopia had all perished. A notable example of
Ethiopian literature that has survived from this period is a
panegyric addressed to Yeshaq, which
Enrico Cerulli singled out as a gem of Ethiopian poetry. The first mention of the
Yem people is found (under the now pejorative exonym "Jangero") in the victory song of Yishaq I, with them stated as paying tribute in the form of horses to the king. The first mention of the ethnonym "
Somali" dates to the reign of
Emperor Yishaq who had one of his court officials compose a
hymn celebrating a military victory over the
Sultan of Ifat's and his eponymous troops. Along with this, the
Shanqella first appear where they're listed at the very beginning when the regions and tribes of the kingdom are evoked.
E. A. Wallis Budge states that he was assassinated, and "buried in
Tadbaba Maryam", a
convent in
Sayint, while Ethiopian historian
Tadesse Tamrat believes that the primary sources mask Yeshaq's death in battle against the Muslim
Adalites under the Adal Sultan
Jamal ad-Din II. Sultan of Adal
Jamal ad-Din II later undertook a further expedition in which it is recorded that he killed or took prisoners of everyone within twenty-days journey of his frontier. The Emperor's forces countered by attacking three different parts of Adal and threatening its capital where the royal family resided. Jamal ad-Din rushed home covering the distance of what was twenty days of journey in only three days. He met the imperial army at Harjah, where Yeshaq's army, though exhausted, fought well but was eventually defeated. The Emperor Yeshaq according to Maqrizi was killed in this battle. His death like that of Dawit, is not recorded for the same reason that the royal Ethiopian chronicles suppressed the violent deaths of their kings whose reigns they extolled. The principal antagonist of the
Sirat Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan, a 15th century Arabic epic set during the
Axumite conquest of Yemen, is named
Sayf Ar'ed (Sword of terror). Likely inspired by the
Negus due to his wars with neighboring Muslims, this reference to the emperor played a crucial role in dating the medieval work. How the protagonist is built up as a hero propagating Islam was doubtlessly encouraged by the event that triggered the writing of the
Sīrat, which was according to Jean-Claude Garcin the capture of
Zeila in modern-day Somalia by Yeshaq I in 1415 and the
jihād that followed it until 1445 without the Muslims getting the upper hand over the Ethiopian power. As a criticism of contemporary
Mamluk politics the
sīrat could provide comfort to the Egyptians despite their lack of victories. The hero of the plot has the mission to redirect the waters of the Nile, held by the Ethiopians, back towards Egypt. This was doubtlessly inspired to the same threats made by contemporary emperors to the Egyptians. ==References==