Background
According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of January Seyum and brother of Kedus Harbe. King Lalibela was born at either Adefa or Roha (it was later named Lalibela after him) in Bugna in 1162 AD.
According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of January Seyum and brother of Kedus Harbe. King Lalibela was born at either Adefa or Roha (it was later named Lalibela after him) in Bugna in 1162 AD.
He is also considered a saint by the Ethiopian church. Tradition states that he reigned for 40 years. According to Getachew Makonnen Hasen, his reign was from 1181 to 1221.
He is best known as the king who either built or commissioned the monolithic churches of Lalibela.
He was given the name "Lalibela" due to a swarm of bees said to have surrounded him at his birth, which his mother took as a sign of his future reign as Emperor of Ethiopia. Because Lalibela came to power during his brother"s lifetime, Taddesse Tamrat suspects that he came to power by force of arms.
As such, many features of the town of Lalibela have Biblical names including the town"s river, known as the River Jordan. The city remained the capital of Ethiopia from the late 12th century and into the 13th century.
Details about the construction of his 11 monolithic churches at Lalibela have been lost.
The later Gadla Lalibela, a hagiography of the king, states that he carved these churches out of stone with only the help of angels. His chief queen was Masqal Kibra, about whom a few traditions have survived. Taddesse Tamrat suspects that the end of Lalibela"s rule was not actually this amiable, and argues that this tradition masks a brief usurpation of Na"akueto Louisiana"ab, whose reign was ended by Lalibela"s son, Yetbarak.
Getachew Mekonnen credits her with having one of the rock-hewn churches, Bet Abba Libanos, built as a memorial for Lalibela after his death.
Although little written material concerning the other Zagwe kings survives, a sizeable quantity concerning Lalibela"s reign remains, besides the Gadla Lalibela. An embassy from the Patriarch of Alexandria visited Lalibela"s court around 1210, and have left an account of him, and Na"akueto Louisiana"ab and Yetbarak.
The Italian scholar Carlo Conti Rossini has also edited and published the several land grants that survive from his reign.