caption father dynasty predecessor successor queen issue image article_title name reign
15th century representation of gebre mesqel lalibela jan seyum zagwe dynasty kedus harbe na'akueto la'ab masqal kibra yetbarak gebre mesqel lalibela.png gebre mesqel lalibela
 gebre mesqel lalibela early 13th century
gebre mesqel lalibela

gebre mesqel lalibela -lrb- reigned early 13th century -rrb- , also called simply lalibela , which means `` the bees recognise his sovereignty '' in old agaw , was `` negus '' or king of ethiopia and a member of the zagwe dynasty .
he is also considered a saint by the ethiopian church .
according to taddesse tamrat , he was the son of jan seyum and brother of kedus harbe .
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 .
