Hailu Tekle Haymanot
Hailu Tekle Haymanot (1868 – 1950), also named Hailu II of Gojjam, was an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire. He represented a provincial ruling elite who were often at odds with the Ethiopian central government.[1] Hailu Tekle Haymanot was an independent-minded potentate who, throughout his life, was mistrustful of and mistrusted by the Emperor.[2]
Biography
Leul[nb 1] Hailu Tekle Haymanot was the son of Negus[nb 2] Tekle Haymanot Tessemma of Gojjam Province. Gojjam had long been a vassal kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The title "King of Gojjam" was an honorific title. The last time a King of Gojjam was elevated to Emperor was during the "Era of the Princes" (Zemene Mesafint). Hailu Tekle Haymanot was never elevated to Negus and never became King of Gojjam himself.
Shum of Gojjam
On 10 January 1901, at the death of Negus Tekle Haymanot Tessemma, three of his sons fought over who would succeed him as ruler of his province. However, instead of any of them succeeding him,
Around 1906, Menelik became incapacitated and
In 1916, Iyasu was deposed after forces loyal to him were defeated in the
In his book Ethiopia, Power and Protest: Peasant Revolts in the Twentieth Century, Gebru Tareke described Shum Hailu of Gojjam as "[having] an avaricious taste for power and wealth." Tareke goes on to describe how Ras Hailu "introduced new forms of taxation, auctioned political and church offices, nearly monopolized provincial trade by controlling the export side of it, transacted obligatory labor into monetary rents, and, though little is known about them, enlarged his estates with a manifest arrogant disregard for the customary judicial process of land allocation."[1] These actions earned him the nickname birru (or "dollars") Hailu.[5][6]
Trip to Europe
In the spring of 1924, Ras Hailu accompanied Ras
Among several
In the same year as the trip with Tafari Makonnen, Hailu was awarded an honorary
On 27 October 1928, Tafari Makonnen was proclaimed Negus by Nigiste Negest Zewditu. Tafari Makonnen became the only Negus in the entire Ethiopian Empire. Even after he was later proclaimed Nəgusä Nägäst, Tafari Makonnen never elevated others, like Hailu, to the position of Negus.[9]
Downfall
Sometime in 1929, Ras Hailu was approached by Ras
With the accession of Haile Selassie, Hailu's avarice led to his own downfall. According to Harold Marcus, while the other great lords of Ethiopia like Ras
Plot to free Lij Iyasu and imprisonment
In May 1932, Ras Hailu involved himself in a plot to free his son-in-law, the deposed Lij Iyasu. Iyasu had been under
Hailu during and after the occupation
On 2 May 1936, at the very end of the
During the occupation, Hailu was treated with respect and given honors few other Ethiopian nobles received from the Italians. He retained his pre-occupation titles of Leul and Ras, and the Italian government awarded him the
In July 1936, a number of surviving Ethiopian soldiers staged an unsuccessful attack on Addis Ababa to wrest control of the capital from the
By 27 September 1939, during the
In 1941, after Emperor Haile Selassie returned to power in Ethiopia, Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot again switched sides and handed Gojjam over to the Emperor. However, he first made sure that Italian forces had safely evacuated Gojjam. Hailu returned to Addis Ababa with Haile Selassie. He was forbidden from leaving Addis Ababa, but was accorded all the dignities of a senior prince of the Imperial dynasty and head of the House of Gojjam. In the words of Gebru Tareke, he "languished in well-merited obscurity until his death in 1950," which "put the final nail in the coffin of the provincial ruling elite, who had been grudgingly yielding ground to the centralists since the closing decade of the nineteenth century."[1]
His funeral was attended by the Emperor and his family and he was accorded a state funeral.
Family
The continued incapacitation of Nəgusä Nägäst Menelik allowed Hailu to better his position by marrying Woizero[nb 14] Assalafetch Wolde Hanna in 1909. Assalafetch Wolde Hanna was a cousin of Itege Taytu Betul and, on 12 April, Assalafetch and Hailu were wed. It was her third marriage and his second. They had no children together and the marriage ended in divorce.
Hailu Tekle Haymanot had eight (non-simultaneous) wives and numerous children. His sons included Mammo Hailu and Alam Seged Hailu, and his daughters included Sabla Wangel Hailu.
See also
- Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles
- List of field marshals
- List of honorary British Knights
- Ethiopian coup d'état of 1928
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ Roughly equivalent to Prince.
- ^ Roughly equivalent to King.
- ^ Usually translated as King of Kings or Emperor.
- Empress Consort.
- ^ Equivalent to Governor.
- ^ Roughly equivalent to Child.
- ^ Roughly equivalent to Princess.
- Empress Regnant.
- ^ Roughly equivalent to Duke.
- ^ Equivalent to Regent.
- ^ Roughly equivalent to Lord of the Pages or Chief Administrator of the Palace.[7]
- ^ A chitet is the traditional mustering of the provincial levies.[10]
- ^ Mockler indicates that Ras Hailu had been deceived into helping the Italians in these killings.[19]
- ^ Usually translated as Dame.
Citations
- ^ a b c Gebru Tareke, Ethiopia, Power and Protest, p. 164
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. xxi
- ^ Tareke, Ethiopia, Power and Protest: Peasant Revolts in the Twentieth Century, p. 163
- ^ Marcus, The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913, p. 217
- ^ Gebru Tareke, Ethiopia, Power and Protest, p. 165
- ^ Fage, pp. 723-724
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. xxiii.
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. 3
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. 9
- ^ Nicholle. The Italian Invasion of Abyssinia 1935-1936, p. 13
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. 11
- ^ Marcus, Haile Selassie I: The Formative Years, 1892-1936, p. 119f
- ^ a b Marcus, A History of Ethiopia, p. 136
- ^ Haile Selassie, Volume II, p. 147
- ^ Marcus, Haile Selassie I, p. 122f
- ^ Barker, Rape of Ethiopia, p. 127
- ^ Alberto Sbacchi, "Italy and the Treatment of the Ethiopian Aristocracy, 1937-1940", International Journal of African Historical Studies, 10 (1977), pp. 232ff
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. 171.
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. 414f.
- ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. xxxiv
References
- Barker, A.J. (1971). Rape of Ethiopia, 1936. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-02462-6.
- Fage, J. D., Roberts, A. D., and Oliver, Roland Anthony (1994). The Cambridge History of Africa: From 1905 to 1940, Volume 7. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-22505-1.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - Haile Selassie I, Edited by Harold Marcus with others and Translated by Ezekiel Gebions with others (1999). My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie I, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Volume II. Chicago: Research Associates School Times Publications. p. 190. )
- Marcus, Harold G. (1994). A History of Ethiopia. London: University of California Press. pp. 316. ISBN 0-520-22479-5.
- Marcus, Harold G. (1996). Haile Selassie I: The Formative Years, 1892–1936. Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press.
- Marcus, Harold G. (1995). The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844–1913. Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press. ISBN 1-56902-010-8.
- Mockler, Anthony (2002). Haile Sellassie's War. New York: Olive Branch Press. ISBN 978-1-56656-473-1.
- Tareke, Gebru (1996). Ethiopia, Power and Protest: Peasant Revolts in the Twentieth Century. Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press.