Dawit III

Dawit III (Ge'ez: ዳዊት), throne name Adbar Sagad (Ge’ez: አድባር ሰገድ), also known as Dawit the Singer was Emperor of Ethiopia from 8 February 1716 to 18 May 1721, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Iyasu I and his concubine Kedeste Krestos. Reign Three important religious events happened during Dawit III's reign. The first was the death of Abuna Marqos – Dawit sent to the Patriarch of Alexandria for a new candidate for the office, and Krestodolos arrived a few years later. The second was when three Capuchin missionaries entered Ethiopia without imperial permission, were tried by an ecclesiastical council, found to be heretics, and together with a child who accompanied them were stoned to death at Mount Abbo, just east of Gondar. The third was a synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, presided over by Dawit, concerning Christology disputed between the monks of the House of Ewostatewos in Gojjam and the monks of Debre Libanos, and where the Emperor sided with the Ewostathians. The monks of Debre Libanos then demonstrated against the results of the council, irritating Emperor Dawit to the point he sent a party of pagan Oromo from his Guard to slaughter them.