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Dawit I

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Dawit I
ዳዊት ቀዳማዊ
Emperor of Ethiopia
Reign1382 – 6 October 1413
PredecessorNewaya Maryam
SuccessorTewodros I
SpouseSeyon Mangasha[1]
'Egzi'e Kebra[1]
IssueTewodros I
Yeshaq I
Takla Maryam
Zara Yaqob
DynastyHouse of Solomon
FatherNewaya Krestos
MotherLazzab Warqa
ReligionEthiopian Orthodox

Dawit I[2](Ge'ez:ዳዊት) wasEmperor of Ethiopiafrom 1382 to 6 October 1413,[3]and a member of theSolomonic dynasty.He was the younger son ofNewaya Krestos.

Reign

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Early in his reign, around 1380, Dawit campaigned againstEgypt,reaching as far north asAswan.He initiated this campaign in an attempt to assist theCoptic ChristiansofUpper Egyptwho he thought were being oppressed under Muslim rule and he felt he had the duty to protect them as he saw himself as the protector ofOrthodox ChristianityinEast Africa.In response, the Emir forced thePatriarch of Alexandria,Matthew I,to send a deputation to Dawit to persuade him to retire back to his kingdom. "There seems to be little or no doubt that, on the eve of the advent of theBurji dynastyofMamluk Egypt,King Dawit had in fact led his troops beyond the northern frontiers of his kingdom, and created much havoc among the Muslim inhabitants of the area who had been within the sphere of influence of Egypt since the thirteenth century. "[4]The Emperor apparently had a much friendlier relationship with the Sultan's successor, for according to the medieval historianal-Maqrizi,Dawit sent 22 camels laden with gifts toBerkuk,the first Sultan of the Burji dynasty.[5]

He confronted the problem of raids from theMuslimkingdoms on his eastern border with numerous counterattacks on those kingdoms. According to al-Maqrizi, in 1403 Emperor Dawit pursued the Sultan ofIfat,Sa'ad ad-Din II,toZeila,where he killed Sa'ad ad-Din and sacked the city. However, another contemporary source dates the death of Sa'ad ad-Din to 1415, and gives the credit to EmperorYeshaq.[6]

Dawit sent an embassy to Europe, which had reached Venice by 23 June 1402, requesting that a number of artisans are sent to his domain.[7]Carlo Conti Rossiniassembled the surviving documents concerning this visit in 1927, which record that five artisans departed with the Ethiopian envoy that August, but not if they arrived in Ethiopia. However, Marilyn E. Heldman found evidence of a "silver-gilt chalice" made in Venice, which, if it was the oneFrancisco Álvaresdescribed as seeing in Ethiopia, did reach Dawit.[8]Another possible sign of their arrival is an itinerary of a journey from Venice by Rhodes, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Cairo andAxumto the court of Preste John inShewa.whichO. G. S. Crawforddates to Dawit's reign. Crawford considers this document the "first unambiguous account of Abyssinian geography which has survived; it certainly refers to the journey of a European, and the route followed can be identified pretty accurately."[9]

A noted horseman, Dawit was killed when he was kicked in the head by one of his horses.[10]His body was interred in themonastery of St. StephenonDaga IslandinLake Tana.[11]

Other events

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The Emperor Dawit was an enthusiastic Christian. He dealt with a revolt of theBeta IsraelinGonder,and encouraged missionary work inGojjam.Early in his reign, he led a campaign againstUpper Egyptafter hearing stories that the native OrthodoxCoptswere being mistreated under Muslim rule. During this campaign, his troops reached as far north asAswanuntil they were forced to retreat back to their kingdom after the Sultan of Egypt made peace with Dawit. According toE. A. Wallis Budge,during Dawit's reign, a piece of theTrue Crossarrived in Ethiopia.[12]He also made endowments to theEthiopian Church:three charters survive of grants he made of lands inWolqayt,Serae,Adiyabo,Shire,Addi Arkay,northernSemien,theGar'alta,Manbarta,andKarnesemwhich lies north of present-dayAsmara.[13]

During Dawit's time atop the throne, two surviving examples of illustrated manuscripts were produced. One is a translation of theMiracles of Mary,which had been written inArabic,done at the command of Emperor Dawit. This is the oldest surviving illustrated book commissioned by an Ethiopian Emperor.[14]The other, described as "one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the period", is a copy of thegospels,which is now preserved at the monastery of Saint Gabriel onKebran Islandin southern Lake Tana.[15]

Notes

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  1. ^abBudge, E. A. Wallis (1928).A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 1).London: Methuen & Co. p. 301.
  2. ^In Ethiopian sources he is referred to as Dawit II (and all subsequent Dawits are numerated accordingly), as Dawit I is used to refer only toKing David of Judah.
  3. ^Kaplan, Stephen (2002)."Notes Towards a History of Aṣe Dawit I (1382-1413)".Aethiopica.5:74.Retrieved29 September2022.
  4. ^Taddesse Tamrat,Church and State in Ethiopia(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 255
  5. ^E. A. Wallis Budge,A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia,1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 301.
  6. ^J. Spencer Trimingham,Islam in Ethiopia(London: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 74 and note explains the discrepancy in the sources; some historians pick one of the two possible dates (e.g. Paul Henze selects 1403 inLayers of Time, A History of Ethiopia[New York: Palgrave, 2000], p. 67) without even mentioning the problem.)
  7. ^Salvadore, Matteo (January 2017)."The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations (Introduction)".{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  8. ^Heldman,"A Chalice from Venice for Emperor Dāwit of Ethiopia",Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies,53(1990), pp. 442-445
  9. ^Crawford,"Some Medieval Theories about the Nile",Geographical Journal,114(1949), p. 8
  10. ^James Bruce,Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773[1805 edition], vol. 2 p. 63
  11. ^So R. E. Cheesman ("Lake Tana and its Islands",Geographical Journal,85 [1935], p. 496), who visited Daga and was shown his casket, and Wallis Budge (History,p. 301). Bruce states Dawit was buried onDek Island(Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile[1805 edition], vol. 3, p. 96); Bruce must have confused the two islands, which is easy to do.
  12. ^Budge,History,p. 300.
  13. ^G.W.B. Huntingford,The Historical Geography of Ethiopia(London: The British Academy, 1989), p. 82
  14. ^Jacques Mercier, "Ethiopian Art History" inEthiopian Art: The Walters Museum(London: Third Millennium, 2001), p. 51.
  15. ^Mercier, "Art History", p. 53.

Further reading

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Regnal titles
Preceded by Emperor of Ethiopia
1382–1413 		Succeeded by
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