Emperor Zara Yaqob, the greatest ruler Ethiopia…

Emperor Zara Yaqob, the greatest ruler Ethiopia has seen since Ezana, during the heyday of Aksumite power, founds the city of Debre Birhan in central Ethiopia after witnessing a bright light in the sky (which most historians have identified as Halley's Comet, visible in Ethiopia in 1456).

Believing this is a sign from God approving the death by stoning of a group of heretics thirty-eight days before, the emperor orders a church built on the site, and later is to construct an extensive palace nearby, and a second church, dedicated to Saint Cyriacus.

The site, little more than a large village, is to be his capital for the remainder of his reign.