Ethiopian Cultural Center in Belgium የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ማእከል በቤልጅየም NEWSLETTERS ቁጥር –20 May 23, 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS BRIEF HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA ¨/The Decline of Gondar and Zemene Mesafint PAGE 1-5 አጭር ግጥም ከሎሬት ጸጋዬ ገ/መድህን ገጽ 6 ሳምንታዊ የኮቪድ 19 መረጃ ገጽ 6-7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brief History of Ethiopia Part 10: The Decline of Gondar and The Zemene Mesafint (The Era of the Princes; 1769 – 1855) For about 200 years, Ethiopia passed through turmoil caused by the aggressiveness of the Muslim states, the far-reaching migrations of the Oromo and the disruptive influence of the Portuguese. These episodes left the empire much weakened andfragmented by the mid-seventeenth century. One result was the emergence of regional lords who are essentially independent of the throne, although in principle subject to it. In this issue of the newsletter, we will briefly describe the major events and decisive characters that shaped the course of Ethiopian history until the rise of Tewodros II in 1855. The Gondar period produced a flowering Indian textile and European furniture. of architecture and art that lasted for more Gondar enjoyed the veritable status of a than a century. For the 18 th century fashion capital to the extent that it was Ethiopian royal chroniclers, Gondar, as a described in the 1840s by two French city, was the first among the cities that captains as the “Paris de l’Abyssinie” fulfilled all desires. Imperial Gondar where ladies and gentlemen wore dresses thrived on war chests, trade and revenue of dazzling whiteness, had good taste, from feudal taxation. Local aristocracy polite and distinguished manners. lived the high life and enjoyed luxury Nevertheless, Gondar monarchs never goods in the castle’s enclosure. When the regained full control over the wealth and Yemenite Ambassador visited the castle manpower that the nobility had usurped of Fasilides in 1648 he was impressed by during the long wars against Gragn and “beds glittering with gold and magnificent then the Oromo. But this was hardly the sofas inlaid with pieces of jewelry and problem that started during Gondarine gems”. Travelers of the 18 th century also period. In fact all imperial expansions of described the presence of precious mirrors the Ethiopian state was never from Venice, gilt and ivory decorations in accompanied by the establishment of an 1 age addition to immense quantity of the finest effective administrative structure. Thus P website https://www.ethiopianculturalcenter.be/ Email ;[email protected] facebook: የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ማእከል በቤልጅየም/ Ethiopian Cultural Center in Belgium Ethiopian Cultural Center in Belgium የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ማእከል በቤልጅየም the relation between the monarch and The genesis of the Zemene Mesafint can subjects was at all times loose – which be traced to the reign of Iyasu II (1730– often enabled regional chiefs to challenge 1755; throne name: Berhan Seged; the central authority. This came to head meaning "He to Whom the Light when, from the second quarter of the Bows"). Iyasu II ascended the eighteenth century, the political structure throne as a child, allowing his mother, of the Ethiopian kingdom fractured and Empress Mentewab to play a major role as actual government rested in the hands of his Regent from 1723 to 1730. Mentewab, an array of local warlords and a succession had herself crowned as co-ruler in 1730, of puppet kings. becoming the first woman to be crowned The period known as the Zemene in this manner in Ethiopian history (throne Mesafint was a period in Ethiopian history name: Berhan Mogassa; meaning between the mid-18 th and mid-19 th Glorifier of Light). Thus, as his regent and centuries, which witnessed violent later co-ruler, the new emperor had his struggle for power and influence between shrewd and capable mother, Dowager dominant regional classes. The country Empress Mentewab (queen mother and was divided into several regions with no grandmother, 1730-1769), a second wife effective central authority. It was a period of Bakaffa from Qwara region. Empress in which the Emperors from the Mentewab wielded unprecedented power Solomonic dynasty were reduced to little over government throughout the reign of more than figureheads confined to the her son. However, as a young emperor and capital city of Gondar – a succession of women co-ruler the imperial duo were not about 23 nominal Emperors held the in a position to lead military campaigns in throne during this period. There was no the vast territory left behind by Bakaffa. powerful authority uniting and controlling This probably enabled some regional lords the warring princes and provincial kings to feel independent and be emboldened who continuously fought each other. They enough to influence the center. Soon after competed to extend their own territory at assuming power, the queen made sure that each other’s expense and be seen as the her kinsmen from Qwara were given guardians of whoever was the current important palace positions and named her nominal King of Kings enthroned at brother Wolde Lul as Ras. Mentewab also Gondar. The beginning of this period is used the attempted coup by the traditional commonly set on the date Ras Mikael nobility in 1735-1736 as a pretext to place Sehul deposed Emperor Iyoas I (1769) Qwarans at the high command in the and its end to Kassa’s coronation as army. To obtain Oromo support, she Emperor Tewodros II (1855), after he married Iyasu II to Wubit (Welete militarily defeated all his rival princes. Bersabe), the daughter of an important Full imperial power was once again in the Wello chief, who came to the capital with hands of one leader and the history of many followers. As a result of this official modern Ethiopia began. rapprochement, the Oromo begin to play 2 an ever- increasing role in the affairs of the age P website https://www.ethiopianculturalcenter.be/ Email ;[email protected] facebook: የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ማእከል በቤልጅየም/ Ethiopian Cultural Center in Belgium Ethiopian Cultural Center in Belgium የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ማእከል በቤልጅየም kingdom, especially in the military sense. considerable forces from Yejju. When a In time, Iyasu II relied upon Oromo real conflict and a bloodbath became military units to help counter challenges to imminent, Mentewab summoned Mikael their authority from the traditional nobility Sehul (the powerful governor of Tigray and for purposes of campaigning in far- and, later, her son-in-law) to Gondar in flung Oromo territory. By the late order to save the Solomonic state. Upon eighteenth century, the Oromo were arriving, he was made Ras, promising to playing an important role in political mediate the dispute between the two affairs as well. At times during the first queens and their followers. Mentewab half of the 18 th century, Afaan Oromo had hoped that he would land firmly on was the primary language at court, and her side, but instead Ras Mikael Oromo leaders came to number among the proceeded to destroy the power of both the highest nobility of the kingdom. Qwarans and Yejjus in quick succession. Mentewab’s arrangement of the marriage Mikael Sehul then continued to work of her son to Wubit brought its own behind the scenes to undermine the house serious consequences at a later stage. that Yekuno Amlak had rebuilt in 1270. Because Iyasu II gave precedence to his Emperor Iyoas, alarmed at his growing mother and allowed her every prerogative power, formed a coalition of anti-Tigray as a crowned co-ruler, his wife Wubit forces and ordered Ras Mikael back to his suffered in obscurity. But she waited province. The Ras disobeyed and, in for the accession of her own son to make January 1769, marched against his master, a bid for the power wielded for so long by whom he defeated, deposed and then her mother-in-law and her relatives from assassinated, ushering in almost a century Qwara Province. When Iyoas (Iyasu II’s of feudal anarchy and mayhem, the son; reigned 1755-1769) assumed the Zemene Mesafint, which lasted until throne upon his father’s sudden death, the 1855. aristocrats of Gondar were stunned to find Ras Mikael thus consolidated his position that he more readily spoke in the Oromo as Gondar’s most powerful warlord and a language rather than in Amharic and ruthless puppet master, but the murder of favored his mother’s Yejju relatives over Iyoas sparked the armed reaction from a the Qwarans of his grandmothers family. group of Amhara and Oromo lords. Ras Furthermore, Wubit, who believed that it Mikael’s response was unleashing of a was her turn to serve as regent, thwarted period of terror in Gondar in 1770 when Mentewab’s attempted to continue in her even high churchmen were executed, but role during the reign of her grandson failed to control the countryside. Finally, Iyoas. forces of a coalition of envious Amhara The conflict between these two queens led and Oromo lords, Fasil of Damot, Goshu to Mentewab summoning her Qwaran of Amhara, and Wond Bewossen of relatives and their forces to Gondar for Begemdir, defeated the Ras Mikael Sehul support. Wubit responded by summoning in 1971 at the Three battles of Sarbakusa 3 her own Oromo relatives and their age P website https://www.ethiopianculturalcenter.be/ Email ;[email protected] facebook: የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ማእከል በቤልጅየም/ Ethiopian Cultural Center in Belgium Ethiopian Cultural Center in Belgium የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ማእከል በቤልጅየም and imprisoned him for a year, then sent I, who together with his Wara Sheh family him back to Tigray. members became “Enderases” (Regents) During the Era of the Princes, nobody of the Ethiopian Empire and their power dared take the sacred throne by force or reached its peak with Ras Gugsa Mersu, even to lay claim to it.