The history of Ethiopia in the Middle Ages roughly spans the period from the decline of the Kingdom of Aksum in the 7th century to the Gondarine period beginning in the 17th century.Kelly, "Introduction", p. 16 Aksum had been a powerful empire during late antiquity, appearing in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and mentioned by Iranian prophet Mani as one of the "four great kingdoms on earth", along with the Sasanian Empire of Persia, the Roman Empire, and China's Three Kingdoms.Munro-Hay The kingdom was an integral part of the trade route between Rome and the Indian subcontinent, had substantial cultural ties to the Greco-Roman world,Kelly, "Introduction", p. 17 and was a very early adopter of Christianity under Ezana of Aksum in the mid-4th century.Fauvelle, p. 117 The use of "Ethiopia" to refer to the region dates back to the 4th century. At its height, the kingdom spanned what is now Eritrea, northern Ethiopia, eastern Sudan, Yemen and the southern part of what is now Saudi Arabia.Phillipson, p. 48 However, by the 7th century, the kingdom had begun a slow decline, for which several possible political, economic, and ecological reasons have been proposed. This decline, which has been termed the "Post-Aksumite Period", saw extreme loss of territory and lasted until the ascension of the Zagwe dynasty.Derat, p. 33
In the late 10th century, the Kingdom of Aksum fell to a queen known as Gudit. Historians are unsure of her ethnicity and religion, but she is theorized to have been Agaw and likely non-Christian, as she targeted churches in her attacks.Derat, pp. 3637 Confusion surrounds the period directly following her reign, but the dynasty proper is considered to have been founded by Mara Takla Haymanot in 1137.Henze, p. 50 The capital moved southward from Aksum to Lalibela,Derat, p. 49 where many rock-hewn churches were built.Derat, p. 31 Despite the anti-Christian nature of Gudit's takeover, Christianity flourished under Zagwe ruleDerat, p. 39 but its territorial extent was markedly smaller than that of the Aksumites, controlling the area between Lasta and the Red Sea.Derat, pp. 43-44
The Zagwe dynasty was overthrown in 1270 by Yekuno Amlak, whose successors came to be known as the Solomonic dynasty.Ayenachew, "Territorial Expansion", p. 57 The Kebra Nagast, a 14th-century national epic, established the dynasty's claim of direct descent from Solomon, recounting the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, whose child was supposedly Menelik I.Ayenachew, "Territorial Expansion", p. 59 The Semitic Amhara rulers of the Solomonic dynasty therefore represented a restoration of the Israelite lineage of the Aksumites, as opposed to the Cushitic Zagwe rulers, who were viewed in retrospect as illegitimate.Derat, p. 54 In the nearly 150 years between the reigns of Amda Seyon I and Zara Yaqob, the Solomonic emperors made significant territorial expansions into non-Christian lands to the south, west, and east of the highlands, conquering much of the territory that comprises modern-day Ethiopia.Henze, p. 64 Despite enormous expansions and the successful spread of Christianity, Ethiopia was invaded by Adal, supported by the Ottoman Empire, in 1531. It was not until 1540 that Ethiopia began to regain its territory with the support of the Portuguese Empire. Ethiopia's weakened state after the war left it susceptible to the Oromo migrations, in which the Oromo people of southern Ethiopia began to expand northward and established permanent settlements.Chekroun and Hirsch, "The Muslim-Christian Wars", p. 463 This altered political and cultural landscape is seen as the beginning of the modern era in Ethiopia.Chekroun and Hirsch, "The Muslim-Christian Wars", p. 470 From a historiographical perspective, the Middle Ages are a mysterious period of Ethiopian history, as there was comparatively little contact with foreign nations versus the ancient and modern periods.Kelly, "Introduction", p. 4 Political history
Post-Aksumite Period (7th–10th centuries)
As an early Christian nation, the Kingdom of Aksum enjoyed close diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire.Henze, pp. 39-40 Across the Red Sea, the Himyarite Kingdom had become a Jewish state, persecuting Christians under the rule of Dhu Nuwas. Byzantine emperor Justin I called upon Kaleb of Aksum for assistance to the Himyarite Christians, and the Aksumite invasion occurred in 525. The invasion was successful, enlarging the Kingdom of Aksum to its greatest territorial extent. However, Aksumite rule in the region was turbulent, and the territory was lost to the Sasanian Empire in the Aksumite–Persian wars less than 50 years later.Henze, pp. 40-41 With a Persian presence established in South Arabia, Aksum no longer dominated Red Sea trade; this situation only worsened following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century.Derat, p. 34
Archaeological evidence suggests that the population of the city of Aksum began to diminish in the 7th century. Around the same time, the kingdom appears to have ceased the minting of gold coins, indicating a withdrawal from international trade. This has been attributed to the aforementioned Persian and Muslim expansions, though other additional factors have been proposed as well. Historical records regarding the water levels of the Nile in Egypt indicate that the Ethiopian Highlands received less rainfall at the time, Aksum was among the nations affected by the first plague pandemic, and destruction of stelae from this time suggest internal unrest.Poissonnier, p. 78 The final three centuries of the Kingdom of Aksum are considered a dark age by historians, offering little in the way of written and archaeological records.
Zagwe dynasty (10th century–1270)
In the late 10th century, external documents refer to a queen ruling over the land of "al-Ḥabaša" (Abyssinia). The documents state that the queen (referred to in one document as queen of the "Bani al-Hamwiyah") killed the king of Ethiopia, and suggest that she had seized power at least as early as the 960s. No religion or ethnic group has been decisively identified with Bani al-Hamwiyah, but the queen, who is known as Gudit, was certainly non-Christian, as her reign was characterized by the destruction of churches in Ethiopia which is seen as opposition to the spread of Christianity in the region.Selassie, p. 120 The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which was subordinate to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, had not been sent a metropolitan from Alexandria for many years during the 10th century. However, after Gudit's reign had ended, the succeeding Ethiopian king reached out to Pope Philotheos of Alexandria regarding the deteriorated situation, and Philotheos subsequently re-established relations between Egypt and Ethiopia. This set the scene for a Christian renaissance in Ethiopia.
Though the Aksumite era was ended by Gudit, the Zagwe dynasty was not established until 1137 by Mara Takla Haymanot.Lusini, p. 204 The Zagwe kings, who are thought to be Agaw, moved the capital south to Lalibela, which itself is named after the Ethiopian emperor of the same name. Under Lalibela's reign, the construction of eleven rock-hewn churches began. Though Christianity experienced growth in this period, Ethiopia's territory diminished significantly since the fall of the Kingdom of Aksum, centred primarily on the Ethiopian highlands between Lasta and Tigray. The kingdom of Medri Bahri, which controlled the Red Sea coast in modern-day Eritrea, was a client state of Ethiopia.
Early Solomonic dynasty (1270–mid-16th century)
The Zagwe dynasty came to an end in 1270, after Yekuno Amlak overthrew them and established what came to be known as the Solomonic dynasty. The Kebra Nagast, a 14th-century national epic, describes the dynasty's claim to descent from Solomon,Hubbard, pp. 2-3 and was used to justify the takeover from the Zagwe dynasty. The epic states that the Kingdom of Aksum was founded by Menelik I, who was allegedly the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, known as Makeda in Ethiopia. By connecting Yekuno Amlak to this ancestry, it was seen as authority for the dynasty to rule Ethiopia. In contrast, the Cushitic Zagwe kings were not seen as part of this lineage, and were denounced as illegitimate rulers.
One of the defining features of Ethiopia under the Solomonic dynasty was territorial expansion, primarily into Muslim areas. This began during the reign of Yekuno Amlak himself, conquering the Sultanate of Shewa in 1285.Ayenachew, "Territorial Expansion", p. 65 The most significant expansions took place under Amda Seyon I, who conquered the Kingdom of Damot, the Hadiya Sultanate, Gojjam, Fatagar, the Sultanate of Dawaro, the Sultanate of Bale, and the Sultanate of Ifat.Ayenachew, "Territorial Expansion", pp. 65-66 By the early 16th century, the empire's borders reached past Massawa in the north, past the Omo River in the south, to the Adal Sultanate in the east and near the confluence of the Didessa River and the Blue Nile in the west.Ayenachew, "Territorial Expansion", p. 70
Although Adal was a tributary of Ethiopia, the sultanate invaded Ethiopia in 1531 with the support of the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim peoples in the region.Chekroun and Hirsch, "The Muslim-Christian Wars", p. 459 The subsequent war continued until 1543 and it was only with the help of the Portuguese Empire and Cristóvão da Gama that Ethiopia was able to reclaim its lost territory and win the war. However, both the Christian and Muslim regions of Ethiopia were significantly weakened by the war; this has been suggested as a possible factor of the Oromo migrations of the 16th century. From political, religious and cultural perspectives, the mid-16th century signifies the shift from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.
Government and society Medieval Ethiopia is typically described as a feudal society relying on tenant farmers who constituted the peasant class, with landowners, nobility, and royalty above them in the social hierarchy.Crummey, p. 115 However, because of scarcity of information, knowledge on Ethiopian feudalism primarily comes from the Gondarine period.Wion, p. 397
+ Social stratification during the Gondarine periodLevine, pp. 148-156 Emperor (negusa nagast) Nobility (makuannent) Royal family (negusawi betasab) Hereditary nobility (masafent) Clergy (kahenat) Local nobility (balabbat) Gentry (shum) Traders Merchants (naggade) Peasantry Landowning peasants Tenant peasants Weavers, minstrels (azmari), etc. Peddlers (shaqatch) Metalsmiths, potters, tanners, etc. Slaves
Some archaeological evidence and contemporary accounts have allowed for inferences of possible class structure in the Kingdom of Aksum. The kings of Aksum occupied the top of the social hierarchy, and a noble class below them is probable, based on size differences between larger palaces and smaller villas. A middle class may have consisted of merchants, independent farmers, and civil officials. Peasants likely included artisans in the urban centres, and farmers whose work supported Aksumite society. Slaves were the lowest social class; Greek traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes states that slaves in Aksum came primarily from the Sasu (in southern Sudan) and Barbaria (Somalia) regions.
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