Yetbarak

Yetbarak was "IPA|nəgusä nägäst" of Ethiopia, and a member of the Zagwe dynasty. According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of Gebre Mesqel Lalibela. [Taddesse Tamrat, "Church and State in Ethiopia" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 56n.]

Tradition states that he was made king after his father king Lalibela had taken the crown away from his first choice for his successor, Yetbarak's cousin Na'akueto La'ab. Taddesse Tamrat argues that this tradition is based on an official version of events, and theorizes that Na'akueto La'ab had fought with Yetbarak for the throne, and despite initial success Yetbarak became king in the end. [Taddesse Tamrat, pp. 62-4.]

Taddesse Tamrat also suggests that Yetbarak was the same individual known in the "official hagiographical tradition" as Za-Ilmaknun, the king of the Zagwe dynasty whom Yekuno Amlak killed and succeeded. He notes that "Za-Ilmaknun" is translated as "The Unknown, the hidden one", an "esoteric term" that has "become a useful escape mechanism in denying that the king killed by Yikunno-`Amlak had anything to do with Lasta." [Taddesse Tamrat, p. 68 n. 1.]

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