Na'akueto La'ab

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Na'akueto La'ab was negus of Ethiopia, and a member of the Zagwe dynasty. According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of Kedus Harbe.[1] Richard Pankhurst credits him with the creation of the church located in a cave a half-day's journey from the town of Lalibela.[2]

Tradition states that queen Masqal Kibra convinced her husband, King Lalibela, to abdicate in favor of Na'akueto La'ab, but 18 months later when the young king's soldiers approriated a poor farmer's only cow for the his dinner table, she convinced Lalibela to resume the throne. Taddesse Tamrat suspects that the end of Lalibela's rule was not in truth this peaceful. He argues that this tradition masks a brief period when Na'akueto La'ab "was no doubt a rallying point for dissafected elements in the country, and although kept under close watch managed to usurp the throne for a brief period until Yetbarak managed to take his father's throne.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 56n.
  2. ^ Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopians: A History (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), p. 53
  3. ^ Taddesse Tamrat, pp. 62ff.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Gebre Mesqel Lalibela		 Emperor of Ethiopia Succeeded by
Yetbarak
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