03983nam 22006975 450 991048351910332120251023123010.09783030649333 (eBook)978303064934010.1007/978-3-030-64934-0(CKB)4100000011801737(MiAaPQ)EBC6522083(Au-PeEL)EBL6522083(OCoLC)1243546338(DE-He213)978-3-030-64934-0(EXLCZ)99410000001180173720210317d2021 u| 0engurcnu||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierMedieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe /by Verena Krebs1st ed. 2021.Springer International Publishing2021Cham :Springer International Publishing :Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan,2021.1 online resource (319 pages) illustrations9783030649364 (Paperback) 9783030649340 3030649342 9783030649333 3030649334 Includes bibliographical references and index.1. Introduction -- 2. All the King's Treasures -- 3. The Sons of Dawit -- 4. The Rule of the Regents -- 5. King Solomon's Heirs -- 6. Conclusion.This book explores why Ethiopian kings pursued long-distance diplomatic contacts with Latin Europe in the late Middle Ages. It traces the history of more than a dozen embassies dispatched to the Latin West by the kings of Solomonic Ethiopia, a powerful Christian kingdom in the medieval Horn of Africa. Drawing on sources from Europe, Ethiopia, and Egypt, it examines the Ethiopian kings' motivations for sending out their missions in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries - and argues that a desire to acquire religious treasures and foreign artisans drove this early intercontinental diplomacy. Moreover, the Ethiopian initiation of contacts with the distant Christian sphere of Latin Europe appears to have been intimately connected to a local political agenda of building monumental ecclesiastical architecture in the North-East African highlands, and asserted the Ethiopian rulers' claim of universal kingship and rightful descent from the biblical king Solomon. Shedding new light on theself-identity of a late medieval African dynasty at the height of its power, this book challenges conventional narratives of African-European encounters on the eve of the so-called 'Age of Exploration'. Verena Krebs is Professor for Medieval Cultural Realms and their Entanglements at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, where she also co-directs the Bochum Centre for Mediterranean Studies. She holds a bi-national PhD from the universities of Konstanz, Germany, and Mekelle, Ethiopia; her primary research focus is on the late medieval Solomonic Kingdom of Ethiopia and its connections to the wider Mediterranean region.CivilizationHistoryEuropeHistory476-1492Africa, NorthHistoryWorld historyCultural HistoryHistory of Medieval EuropeHistory of North AfricaWorld History, Global and Transnational HistoryCivilizationHistory.EuropeHistory476-1492.Africa, NorthHistory.World history.Cultural History.History of Medieval Europe.History of North Africa.World History, Global and Transnational History.327.6304327.6304Krebs Verena853492MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910483519103321Medieval Ethiopian kingship, craft, and diplomacy with Latin Europe1905779UNINA