[3] He is best known as the author of Church and State in Ethiopia 1270–1520 (1972, Oxford University Press ISBN 0198216718), a book which has dominated the field of Ethiopian studies.

[4] Taddesse Tamrat was born in Addis Ababa from a family belonged to Ethiopian Orthodox Church clerks.

As a student there, he presented a seminar paper of some notes on the fifteenth century Stefanite heresy in the Ethiopian Church, which on the advice of his mentors Roland Oliver and Edward Ullendorf was submitted to and published in Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, his first article published outside of Ethiopia.

It demonstrated his rich grounding in traditional Ethiopian Orthodox sources and his interaction with the broader academic world.

[6] He received the Medal of Honor at the Colège de France and was named an Honorary Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies.