Chronicle of Zarʾa Yāʿqob

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one glorious and royal Trinity. I begin to write and to compile all the ordinances of our Lord and our Anointed One, Zarʾa Yāʿqob, who is named Qwesṭanṭinos, son of Mary, glorious, and may Jesus Christ grant him his righteousness and his kingdom, so that it may be inherited according to his will. And he desires and yearns and also seeks the double portion of his grace upon his son, our heart, the virgin, the new one, who has received great honor and favor, as the double portion of the spirit of Elijah was transferred upon Elisha, his companion, when he ascended upon the chariot of the spirit. And may his days be until the passing of heaven and earth. Amen. And in the days of our king Zarʾa Yāʿqob, there was great fear and trembling upon all the people of Ethiopia because of his judgment and his power. And he was zealous concerning those who say, "We have bowed to the demon and to the devil," and he convicted many of the chosen ones by their false words and their slander. The king heard this matter and judged them, those accusers, by the hearing of them, and he was merciful in the name of God, while saying, "Their blood will be upon you." This is what he did.

King Qweniyo, by the grace of God, until his children, and all of them who are named, their names: Galawdewos and ʿAmda Māryām, Zarʾa Abrahām and Batra Ṣiyon, and his children whom they call Del Semrā, Rom Gannayā, and ʾAdel Mangaśā; and also many whom I do not know, but I believe in them, those who died, and among them those who lived, for all their brothers died. And at that time, when the judges were speaking in the assembly, saying, "O people of Christians, how does Satan act when we have abandoned all people from the worship of idols and from prostration to Däsk and Dino?" Then he came into our house and corrupted our children, and their punishment was many punishments. And he showed all the armies their wounds, their beatings, and their torments. And because of this, all the people wept when they told them and showed them all this, and commanded them to make a covenant and to write in their completion, saying, "By the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," and with their right hands, saying, "I renounce the devil by Christ the Lord," and with their left hands, "I renounce the accursed Däsk. I am a servant of Mary, the mother of the Creator of all the world." And this one who does this, his house will be destroyed and his body will be judged, saying, "The king commanded throughout all the world.

For Zarʾa Ṣiyon, who is called Zarʾa Sayṭān (Seed of Satan) by false rumor, who killed many monks and deacons and all the men and women, when God revealed to him his many iniquities, they imprisoned him and confined him in a lake. And in those times there was a guard of the hour, Amḥā Ṣiyon, whom the king loved greatly. And when he would go out and enter his house, there was none among the people who saw him. And to his residence also, none would approach except for two or three children, and he would lock his residence with the king's key. And when a matter found him, he would summon one of his believing monks and send him to whomever he wished, near or far. All this was for the honor of the kingdom, for he himself approached the king at all times. And likewise, all those within the palaces did not associate with people, and their houses had none, and they dwelt continually within. And when they would go out to the open country with the governor, they would go out and enter, those little ones. And they did not know women, and they did not cut the hair of their heads except by the king's command, and they did not wear linen. And when they arrived at a place of refuge for eating and drinking and conversation, they would judge them and kill those who had brought them.

In secret and in the right hand and the left hand there is no truth in him. In those days, only the king’s two daughters remained, one on the right hand, Madḥan Zamaddā, and one on the left hand, Berhān Zamaddā. After they imprisoned him and confined him, the Pillar of the Cross, which was called after that the Pillar of Satan, when the king heard against him many words of iniquity and words of punishment which he had done and which he had imagined in his heart without his knowledge—for the heart of a human being is like that of the evil demon, who imagines what is not true—and because of this, God cast him down from his throne and confined him in fetters. Likewise, that same Pillar of Satan, the God of Israel cast him down. And another sin he committed: he violated a certain woman while she was a widow, an Israelite woman, and he gave her to Amḥā ʾIyāsus Ṣāṣarǧe to violate. And the woman, Berhān Zamaddā, Berhān Zamaddā, told her father the king. And when he was asked about this matter, he confessed that he had indeed committed this sin. And because of this, the king gathered a great assembly of troops and revealed all his sins before them. And then he ordered that a death sentence be pronounced against him, as he deserved. And by this sentence, they stoned the ground and stoned him to death. And also Amḥā ʾIyāsus Ṣāṣarǧe, and Nobiḥ, the abbot of Dabra Dāmo, and his monastery Dabra Bakur, who was involved with them, they named him “Kabaro Sayṭān” (Drum of Satan), and they stoned him together.

For ʿAmda Ṣayṭān, they made him governor of the land of Amḥara, and I do not know who else. A place without the king, only for Amḥa. And Jesus and Lenob, whom they call the drum of Ṣayṭān, made them governors of the land. And for Wäläsä Yäs, secret and beloved from the time of ʿAmda Ṣayṭān, while our king was in the land of Amḥara, which is called Qəṣat. I heard with my ear, and I saw with my eye, and I did not sit. I took hold of him there, and they threw him upon his neck. A great shame of deceit, and they made him governor because of his wickedness, and they removed him from the place, and I do not know. After ʿAmda Ṣayṭān, who was called secret and beloved, I found nothing except these two. One, while she was weeping, who dwelt in the house of secret and beloved, and likewise for all her sisters, the king, their father, named them throughout all the land of Ethiopia. Under him, in Təgray, Dəl Ṣamra, and in Angot, Baḥr Mängəśa, and in Gədəm, Sofya, and in Fäṭ, Amät Giyorgis, and in Šäwa, Rom Gännäyäla, and in Dämot, Mädḥən Zämäddā, and in Bägemdər, ʿAbalä Maryam, in Gänn, the borders bowed down. Wälättä ʾəḫətu, she is the sister of the king. And in the second region, I do not know the names of those who were named.

And after them, the king took all the provinces of Ethiopia into his hand and appointed governorships in the districts, saying: "In Šawā, Rāq Māserē; and in Faṭāgar, Azāžu." And they appointed ʿAmda Mikāʾēl as governor of all the land of Faṭāgar. And to a certain province they gave him: Färägälä, Admenet in Dawāro, Awrāri in Bäǧr, and in the land of Gəbrə, Ḥegeño; and in Wäǧə, Ḥegeño; in Dāmot, ʿƎrāq Māserē; in Goǧǧām, Rāq Māserē; in Bägemdər, Rāq Māserē; in Təgray, Rāq Māserē; in Qädda, Rāq Māserē; in Angot, Rāq Māserē. And in Amḥara they call them Ṣəḥfälam, in Gänn and in Gədəm and in ʿƎfāt they call them Rāq Māserā. And the whole people feared the majesty of his kingdom and the greatness of his power. And when the Ḥadyā Garād, when they said to him the word of the king, saying: "Come into Däde, your sword, the kingdom," he said: "He is the Ḥadyā Garād whose name is Māḥiko, the son of Garād Məḥmäd, and the brother of ʿƎtē Zān, Zela, the queen in the right, in Altihat, who will not come to you to Däde, and will not go out of my land," saying thus to him: "He also and I, we despise the word of the king.

And he heard how ʿAlawa came. One man came from the Šum of Ḥadyā, whom they call Gäneyčo Gärād, to the king, while he was traveling, and he told the king all the greatness of Ḥadyā Gärād. And he said: “He has established an ordinance of war, many, and he comes to the border as if to attack and pursue him, to destroy the land of Dawaro and Bāli.” And the king said to the Gädayto Gärād: “Who is with him? Are all the men of Ḥadyā with him? And what is the counsel of their leaders? How does the counsel seem to you for what we should do?” And he said: “Those who are with him are: Gudoła Gärād, and Dihō Gärād, and Ḥadäbō Gärād, and Gänäzo Gärād, and Sägga Gärād, and Gäb Gärād, and Qäbʿen Gärād, and Gogälä Gärād, and Haläb Gärād. These are all who are with him. And his counsel seems to me, my lord, that they will bring to Gärād the poison of the brothers of his father from Dägen, and they will anoint him with it, so that his counsel and his strength will be scattered, in order to overcome Gärād of Ḥadyā.

And at that time, when he heard the counsel of Gäneyčo Gärād, our king Zarʾa Yāʿqob commanded that they bring the Gärād of Bamo from the land of Dägen, where he was dwelling, and they brought him quickly, and they appointed him as Gärād of Ḥadyā while they were at Däbrä Bərhan, and they gave him many garments of silk, to him and to Gäneyčo, and they sent them with a large army, who are called the Ṣotäl of the spear, from the city of Damot. And all the people of Dawaro and Bali were commanded, and they said to them: “Go quickly, do not tarry, and do not go to the land of ʿAdäl.” And after this, they proclaimed a fast, and many monks and priests assembled, and they commanded them to perform a prayer of supplication in their respective churches, with the offering of much incense and with the giving of garments to the poor and needy. And on that day, after the conclusion of the incense, I saw a vision, while our king Zarʾa Yāʿqob was speaking, and he told the saints: “Bring to me that noble one, bound with a strong rope, and strip him before me, for thus the Lady Mary appeared to me this night in my dream, that this vision of mine might be fulfilled for me. Pray and beseech the Lord my God.

Now this Ḥadya Gärād Bamo went and arrived in his country with all the free men whom the king had given him. And at that time all the nobles who had previously lived received him and submitted into his hands. And when Māḥiko heard this matter, together with his companions, while he intended to go toward Adälfa, they pursued him, Dāmo the guard, until they arrived at the land of Səgga. And there they found him at Bəwiʿa Amba. Now he had thrown much property along their path, namely, garments, swords, and shields, so that they might not catch him by means of the property. But they did not covet his property; rather, they hid it securely and entered where he had entered his Amba and killed him. And they cut off his hands and his feet again. And this news quickly reached the king, and he rejoiced because of it. And the king also celebrated and made a feast like the week of Easter with much psalmody and song. And they gave thanks to God and to all the saints because he had heard their prayer and the prayer of the elect of Zarʾa Yāʿqob and had quickly cast down his enemy without delay.

And after that, this Ḥadya Gärād and these Dāmot Ḥadari came, having cut off the head of that noble who had been cut with his hands and feet. And they stood before the king and told everything as it had happened. Then the king blessed Ḥadya Gärād and Gädayəčo Gärād and Dāmot Ḥadari. And he gave them food and drink according to their rank. As for that criminal, they hung his head and his hands and his feet at the right gate, the left gate, and the middle gate. And at his death, the elders and the young men rejoiced. And thus was fulfilled the vision of our king Zarʾa Yāʿqob, which our Lady, the Holy Virgin Mary, had shown him before all this happened. And after a few days, he sent them all to their respective countries, giving them garments and cloth according to their rank. As for Gädayəčo Gärād, they commanded him that he should serve Ḥadya Gärād until his children’s children. And for the one who had killed the governor of Ḥadya Gärād with a sword, they gave him a fief in his country. Praise be to the Lord who helped our king Zarʾa Yāʿqob until his swift death at the hand of his servant. And may He help our king, the Virgin’s beloved son, and may He destroy his enemies from the face of the earth, while they pray for his kingdom and are confounded in his presence, and may death overtake them where they have gone and dwelt. Amen.

And after that, King Zarʾa Yāʿqob commanded at Dabra Berhān that the jägwol be made strong, and its tower likewise be made strong, each ten [cubits?] and likewise its pillars be white and of hewn stone. And they commanded the hewers that if they hewed, they should set the right and left mäsarot far apart, and they should not wear their qämäys until that work of the jägwol is finished. And the mäsare likewise, they should not wear [them] those who work on the jägwol and the tower. And they commanded the great men that they should work at their houses. The lion gate of the pillar they set at the entrance and exit of the king when he mounts his horse. And at the šəlləmat gate, a new tower, and at the mäbəʿə gate likewise, and at the ṣärwajät gate there is no tower, and there is no one who enters into it except the guard of the hour and the children and the eunuch. Secondly, if one approaches, they strike him with a lance. And the king commanded that the palace be built strongly and its walls be made high. And they made a cross of gold above it. And from that time, the making of the cross in the palace was established, for previously they did not make [it]. And under the palace, they planted three däbäna. And the middle däbäna they call Dulat Bet, and the right one they call Bāʿala Gəmǧa Däbäna, and the left one they call Aqet Däbäna. And a ḥaṭurä gäṣṣ is on the right and left, thick from the däbäna to the jägwol and the pillar, and it is very strong, and it is joined with the jägwol.

And for one piece of hewn stone, and for the jägwol, they would make it, two men, or three, from the weight of the stone, and its size, while they brought it from the land of Zäga. And within that hewn stone, they would not leave any flaw, so that it would not be seen by any human eye. And they would join those stones tightly between them, and their mortar also would be placed over those stones, so that they would become as smooth as ice. And the stone’s size: some say it was twenty cubits, and some say fifteen cubits; I myself measured it with my hand. And again, they made a second hewn stone passage, which leads and goes from the king’s house to the gate of the church of Dabra Berhān, on the right and on the left. That passage was made so that the king would not be seen when he entered and exited, and no one would walk on that path except the king alone, and except the guard of the hour, and the young pages within. And at the time of the Eucharist, when our king enters, no one enters from the däbtära except the cantors and the monks and the teachers of Dabra Libānos and Dabra Māryām and of Bäzän and of Dabra Gälila of Haholē and of Qayäṭa and of Mälägo and of Däraba ʿAbbāy and of Ṣäʿada ʿAmbā and of Wāldäba of Dabra Māryām Gärʿalta and of Ḥənṭa Māryām. And others whose names I do not know, who do not eat meat and do not drink mead.

And he would summon them on feast days for the debterā of all the places of Däbrä Berhān and of Däbrä Nägwdgwad and Yäläbaš and of Gärmā, and also of Qwäsus Däbtärā and of Gǝmǧā Bet Māryām and of Mäsqäl. And they would bring them into the sanctuary. And when the time of the Eucharist arrived, they would send them to their respective places, as I said before. And no one may enter the presence of the good workman without the guard of the hour. And two deacons, whose names are Gäbrä Alfa and Täklä Maryam, and the head of the debterā, Gäbrä Qwäsus, and one poor man named Yǝsḥāq. And these five do not serve without the king entering the Eucharist. And when he leaves the Eucharist, he summons those debterā who have entered the chant and brings them into the treasury of the king's house. And three dabannā over them, one of whom is their middle, passing over them. And they would call that upper place "Fǝt." And for the lower, dabannā of the standing of the guard of the house, they call it "Lower Fǝt." And in that upper Fǝt, they would feed those debterā whom they summoned, food from his own provision according to their portions, and drink likewise. Cooked meat and roasted meat they give them in abundance. And what remains of bread and mead, they fast and go to their dwellings. And that table of bread and mead comes from the baker's house and from the house of grā without fail from the house of the right and left labor. Those tables come. And there is no one who can count all the order of the table without the king.

And for the first, his name is Ṣǝruy; and for the second, his name is ʿƎtārfǝd; and for the third, his name is Ṣalā Ḥaṣē; and for that Ṣalā Ḥaṣē, they would give to the people without the king's command which he had ordered. And for the Ṣāǧ, they would call him Ṣāǧ Abāzā; and for all of them, they would go out in procession with drum, cloud, and with spear; and for those who wished, they would make them eat from that table which had been prepared.