Hi, specialist in Ethiopian art history with a focus on the 16th and 17th century Christian art and architecture.

The court of the Christian Ethiopian kingdom was peripatetic (traveling) between the early 1400s and 1630s; it was based on a system of hierarchically arranged tents with the king's arranged at the center. The camp (a katama) moved according to the season, or according to the necessities of war or politics. Certain places were favored and returned to periodically. Permanently cited built palaces only occurred occasionally, such as the Emperor Sarsa Dengel's palace at Guzara, built circa 1560. In simplified terms, land in the Christian kingdom was distributed to individuals or to the Ethiopian Orthodox via a system called gult. It was essentially a land grant system; the emperor and certain nobles (mainly regional viceroys) received crops, and other tribute from those who owned or worked the land. Starting in the early 1600s, palaces were built more frequently.

What we know today as Ethiopia is among the oldest Christian regions in the world; the area converted around 330 AD (even before Rome officially did!) The medieval/early modern political system was tied completely to the Ethiopian Orthodox church (and stayed this way until 1974). The best known churches of the medieval period were carved from solid rock in the 12th or 13th century at Lalibela; later, most churches were simple round structures with straw roofs. Nonetheless, they were handsomely painted inside, and wellendowed with gifts of Turkish rugs, panel paintings, and metal religious objects; most of these were given by the elites.

The Christian kingdom had a series of elite titles, the highest of which was negus or ase (roughly translating to king or emperor). Women also held noble titles, such as oizaro. Life for the elite was good: reports written by Ethiopian chroniclers and some outsider European and Arab eyewitness report elaborate banquets with meat, beer, and honey-wine (the same tejj that is still drunk there today).

Rulers were dressed extremely well. Metalworking was a local speciality. Silver was rare at this time, so most royal ornaments were made of gold. Crowns, necklaces, and clothing ornaments were very common; shields and horse trappings were also decorated. Elites often wore imported clothing from India or Turkey. The "Chronicle of Susenyos" (Emperor Susenyos, r. 1607-32) even indicated that the ruler slept on a Chinese bed. Jesuit sources indicate that he also had lavish textiles, and even a carved ring with a crowned lion on it from India. Trade routes within and outside of Ethiopia clearly flourished. While there’s often a myth that Ethiopia was isolated, this is far from the truth. The Ethiopian Christian kingdom sent and received embassies with Europe starting in the 1400s, and also maintained contact with Egypt, India, and other places in the Indian Ocean region. Some foreigners lived and worked at the court.

In contrast to the luxurious life of the rulers, life for the poor was very hard. Because of the land grant system, they did not have their own land, and worked for others in what essentially amounted to a serf system. Plagues, drought, and famine were common; while these also affected the elite, they were devastating to the poor.

This should give you a basic sense of what it was like then—happy to have a go at questions!

TLDR: Ethiopian Christian nobles had a complex, global court in the medieval and early modern period; they lived well.

If I may, I'd like to add the follow-up question that I would be curious about how life was for anybody in that region in medieval and ancient times. I've always found ancient Ethiopia to be fascinating, as it was a well-developed and organized trading and religious culture that's just outside of the scope of the West. I really have no picture of what life was like there.

Edit: judging from the comments, we'd appreciate a scholar of Ethiopian history tell us anything about Ethiopian history.

I would love for someone to talk about Ethiopian Jews during this period. I find it fascinating that there was a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia and it is rarely talked about in any depth.