Yekuno Amlak
Yekuno Amlak seized the Ethiopian throne in 1270 and founded the Solomonic dynasty, which ruled until 1974. He came from the region of Amhara, and claimed descent from the Aksumite kings through Dil Na'od, the last of them, whom the Zagwe were said to have displaced. The claim was the basis of his legitimacy and it was worked into a national epic. The Kebra Nagast, the Glory of Kings, compiled in this period, tells how the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon in Jerusalem and bore him a son, Menelik, who returned to Ethiopia with the Ark of the Covenant. The Solomonic line therefore held not merely a throne but a divine mandate and the physical presence of the Ark, and the Zagwe were cast as usurpers. Every emperor down to Haile Selassie rested on this genealogy, and the 1955 constitution still asserted it. He had the support of important churchmen, particularly the monastic leader Tekle Haymanot in tradition, and is said to have promised the church a third of the land in exchange — a story that probably reflects later monastic land claims rather than an actual grant. He defeated and killed the last Zagwe king around 1270. He sought recognition abroad, corresponding with the Mamluk sultan Baibars and with the patriarch of Alexandria to secure the appointment of an abun, the Egyptian bishop who headed the Ethiopian church, and there is evidence of contact with Yemen and with European rulers. He moved the political centre south into Amhara, away from the Zagwe heartland, and died around 1285.
- Lived: 1225 CE – 1285 CE
- Nationality: Ethiopian
- Roles: emperor
