Cover von Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe

Kleines Vademecum zum christlich-äthiopischen Mittelalter

Die Historikerin Verena Krebs, Juniorprofessorin an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, die im Frühjahr ihr viel gerühmtes Buch Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe veröffentlichte, hat im April auf dem Twitter Account Twittistorian ein sehr hilfreiche Liste zur Forschung über das christliche äthiopische Mittelalter zusammengestellt, die für alle an dieser Epoche Interessierten spannende Literaturhinweise enthält.

Mit ihrer Erlaubnis stellen wir ihre Liste auf unserem Blog vor.


I’ve been tweeting about Solomonic Christian #Ethiopia, kingship, royal churches, & embassies to Latin Europe based on my new book last week.

The most important reference work for the field is the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, 5 volumes (2003-2014). It’s an invaluable resource that’s got basically EVERYTHING on anything in the region, Christian, Muslim, local religions throughout time alike.

An EXCELLENT, brand-new overview and introduction to Ethiopia between ca. 700-1550 is A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea (ed. Samantha Kelly). It’s pricey, but really good. Suggest it to your local library, perhaps?

One of the classics on medieval Christian Ethiopia that’s withstood the test of time is Taddesse Tamrat’s Church and State in Ethiopia 1270 – 1527. There’s a new & comparatively affordable paperback reprint, now.

In general, a few names of the GREATS of Ethiopian Studies who worked on the history, art & culture of the medieval Christian Ethiopian kingdom would be: Taddesse Tamrat, Merid Wolde Aregay, Sergew Hable Selassie, Getatchew Haile, Donald Crummey, …

There’s a shared Zotero library that’ll have thousands of references at your fingertips!

The Journal of Ethiopian Studies was *the* journal of the field for decades, all of it is digitised and freely available here. The same goes for the Annales d’Éthiopie, the Rassegna di Studi Etiopici and Aethiopica. There’s also now this new platform for Journals published in Ethiopia!

Marie-Laure Derat’s research has fundamentally transformed our understanding of medieval Ethiopian history between the 10th-16th ct. Her first book is fully open access (free) here, and many of her articles can be found here.

Researchers currently contributing much to our understanding of the Solomonic kingdom between 1100-1700: ‌

Last but not least, some fabulous researchers to follow on this platform: 

  • Solomon Gebreyes, whose FANTASTIC new edition & translation PhD of the Chronicle of Gälawdewos is both published in the prestigious CSCO & online
  • Sophia-Dege Müller, who works on Beta Israel history
  • David Spielman, whose near-completed PhD on the Fətḥa Nägäśt (Law of Kings) will transform our understanding of Ethiopian legal history
  • Jacopo Gnisci, whose research on Ethiopian illuminations of the 14-16th ct is reshaping everything we thought we knew of Ethiopian medieval art
    Early Career Researchers working on 500-1500 Ethiopian Christian history & art …
  • Stanislau Paulau, OPEN ACCESS book Das andere Christentum is winning all the prizes
  • Matteo Salvadore, who has really great research on 16th/17th century Ethiopian travelers-intellectuals

Of course  Samantha Kelly, who traces Ethiopian lives in 16th ct Rome & Michael Gervers, a medievalist who started working on & teaching medieval Ethiopian history alongside European history long before I was born.

Also look out for (who’re not on this platform & in the process of starting their careers) Felege-Selam Yirga (UT Knoxville), Meseret Oldjira (Princeton/Bern), Yonatan Binyam (Penn State University) & very many more. 

That’s it for now, hope this is useful!

(Verena Krebs)