Tewodros II
Tewodros II ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ | |
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Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo |
Styles of Tewodros II of Ethiopia | |
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Amharic : ጌቶቹ; getochu |
Tewodros II (
Although Tewodros II's origins were in the Era of the Princes, his ambitions were not those of the regional nobility. He sought to re-establish a cohesive Ethiopian state and to reform its administration and church.
Tewodros II's first task after having reunited the other provinces was to bring
In the first six years of his reign, the new ruler managed to put down these rebellions, and the empire was relatively peaceful from about 1861 to 1863, but the energy, wealth, and manpower necessary to deal with regional opposition limited the scope of Tewodros's other activities. Tewodros II never realized his dream of restoring a strong monarchy, although he took many important initial steps. He sought to establish the principle that governors and judges must be salaried appointees. He also established a professional standing army, rather than depending on local lords to provide soldiers for his expeditions. He introduced the collection of books in the form of a library, tax codes, as well as a centralized political system with respective administrative districts.[4] He also intended to reform the church but he was confronted by strong opposition when he tried to impose a tax on church lands to help finance government activities. His confiscation of these lands gained him enemies in the church and little support elsewhere. Essentially, Tewodros was a talented military campaigner.[5][6]
Description
The British Consul Walter Plowden knew well the political events of Ethiopia during the 1850s and had foretold the rising star of Kassa the freelance warrior from Qwara.
When being crowned as King, Plowden described him as such:
The King Theodorus is young in years, vigorous in all manly exercises, of a striking countenance, peculiarly polite and engaging when pleased, and mostly displaying great tact and delicacy. He is persuaded that he is destined to restore the glories of the Ethiopian Empire and to achieve great conquests: of untiring energy, both mental and bodily, his personal and moral daring is boundless... When aroused his wrath is terrible, and all tremble; but at all moments he possesses a perfect self-control. Indefatigable in business, he takes little repose night or day: his ideas and language are clear and precise; hesitation is not known to him; and has no counsellors or go-between. He is fond of splendour, and received in state even on a campaign. He is unsparing in punishment – necessary in a wilderness as Abyssinia (at that time). He salutes his meanest (poor) subjects with courtesy, is sincerely though often mistakenly religious, and will acknowledge a fault committed to his poorest follower in a moment of compassion with sincerity and grace. He is generous to excess, and free from all cupidity, regarding nothing with pleasure or desire but munitions of war for his soldiers. He has exercised the utmost clemency towards the vanquished, treating them more like friends than enemies. His faith is signal: without Christ I am nothing.
The French explorer, geographer, ethnologist, linguist and astronomer Antoine Thomson D'Abbadie describes him during his stay in Ethiopia:[7]
Kassa passed for being twenty-eight. His face was more black than red. Like almost all Ethiopians, he had a slender body and seemed to owe his great agility less to his muscles than to his powerful will. His forehead is high and almost domed; his slightly aquiline nose is a common trait among Thoroughbred Amharas. His beard is very light and his lip thin.
Georg Wilhelm Schimper the German botanist had mentioned the following about Tewodros:
Theodore, the new King of Kings of Ethiopia, was certainly the most remarkable man that has appeared in Africa for some centuries. At the date of his assumption of the regal title, Theodore was thirty-seven years of age, of medium stature but possessing a well-knit muscular frame capable of ensuring any amount of fatigue – a noble bearing and a majestic walk – and he was the best shot, the best spearmen, the best runner, and the best horseman in Abyssinia.
Early life
Kassa Hailu was born in
According to the Ethiopian chronicles, Kassa's mother, Woizero Atitegeb Wondbewossen, was from Gondar and belonged to a noble family. However, According to Hormuzd Rassam, she was originally from Amhara Sayint.[9] Her mother, Woizero Tishal, was a member of a noble family of Begemder, while her paternal grandfather, Ras Wodajo, was a powerful and highly influential figure. It is thought that Tewodros II's paternal side of the family carried with it a slim margin of Solomonic pedigree, however insignificant it proved when compared to the more prominently illustrious ancestries of some of his highborn rivals. Tewodros, in his reign, indeed claimed that his father was descended from Emperor Fasilides by way of a daughter.
When Kassa was very young, his parents divorced and Woizero Atitegeb moved back to Gondar taking her son with her. Not long after their departure, however, news reached them that Kassa's father had died. Popular legend states that Kassa's paternal relatives split up the entire paternal inheritance, leaving young Kassa and his mother with nothing and in very dire circumstances financially. In hard times, his enemies came up with a rumour that she was reduced to selling
Kassa was sent to school at the convent of Tekla Haymanot, between Gondar and Lake Tana. He took refuge when it was sacked by a defeated Dejazmatch Wube, who by burning and dismembering the children, took vengeance on their victorious parents. Kassa escaped and fled to the protection of his kinsman, Dejazmach Kenfu Hailu, probably his uncle, but believed to be his half-brother. He continued his formal education and became familiar with the Bible and Ethiopian literature. He also received instruction on the techniques of Ethiopian warfare from Kenfu. When Kenfu died, and his two sons were defeated by another dajazmach (earl), Dajazmach Goshu of Damot and Gojjam, Kassa was forced to make another start in life, and offered his services to Goshu.[16]
Rise to power
Kassa Hailu was born into a country rife with civil war, and he defeated many regional noblemen and princes before becoming emperor during time known as the Zemene Mesafint or "Age of the Princes". During this era, regional princes, and noble lords of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds vied with each other for power and control of the Gondarine Emperor. A puppet Emperor of the Solomonic dynasty was enthroned in Gondar by one nobleman, only to be dethroned and replaced by another member of the Imperial dynasty when a different regional prince was able to seize Gondar and the reins of power. Regions such as Gojjam and Shewa were ruled by their own branches of the Imperial dynasty and, in Shewa, the local prince went as far as assuming the title of King.[2][3] In Wollo, competing royal powerful Oromo and Muslim dynasties also vied for power. Nevertheless, a semblance of order and unity was maintained in northern Ethiopia during the era of the Princes by the powerful Rases of the Were Sheik dynasty of Wollo such as Ras Ali the Great and Ras Gugsa who controlled Gondar and the Emperor.
Kassa began his career in this era as a shifta (outlaw), but after amassing a sizable force of followers, was able to not only restore himself to his father's previous fiefdom of Qwara but was able to control all of Dembiya. Moreover, he gained popular support by his benevolent treatment of the inhabitants in the areas he controlled: according to Sven Rubenson, Kassa "shared out captured grain and money to the peasants in Qwara and told them to buy hoes and plant."[17] This garnered notice of the nobleman in control of Gondar, Ras Ali II of Yejju of Wollo. Empress Menen Liben Amede, wife of Emperor Yohannes III, and the mother of Ras Ali, arranged for Kassa to marry her granddaughter, Tewabech Ali. She awarded him all of Ye Meru Qemas in the hopes of binding him firmly to her son and herself.[18]
Although all sources and authorities believe that Kassa truly loved and respected his wife, his relationship with his new in-laws deteriorated largely because of the disdainful treatment he repeatedly received from the Empress Menen. By 1852, he rebelled against Ras Ali and, in a series of victories –
Military skills
Tewodros II's military career started when he served in his relative, Kenfu Haile Giorgis', army. In 1837, he led a successful
Kassa was very close to Tawabach and devoted to his marriage but his submission to Empress Menen was short-lived. In October 1846, he attacked and plundered Dembea, a city located due south of Gondar, and in January 1847 he went on to occupy Gondar. When Kassa unoccupied Gondar later that year, Empress Menen sent an army after him into north of Lake Tana. Kassa easily defeated the army and took the Empress as prisoner.
In 1842 Tewodros invaded Egyptian-controlled Sudan from western Ethiopia, successfully capturing Metemma. However, he suffered a major defeat in March 1848 at the Battle of Dabarki, effectively ending his invasion. The defeat at Dabarki led to Tewodros taking efforts to modernize his military, incorporating firearm drills and more modern artillery.[21][23]
Reign
Tewodros sought to unify and modernise Ethiopia. However, since he was nearly always away on campaign during his tenure as emperor, disloyal leaders frequently tried to dislodge him while he was away fighting. Within a few years, he had forcibly brought back under direct Imperial rule the Kingdom of Shewa and the province of Gojjam. He crushed the many lords and princes of Wollo and Tigray and brought recalcitrant regions of Begemder and Simien under his direct rule.[15][14]
He moved the capital city of the Empire from
The death of his beloved wife, Empress Tewabech, marked the start of a deterioration in Tewodros II's behavior. Increasingly erratic and vengeful, he gave full rein to some of his more brutal tendencies now that the calming influence of his wife was absent.[24] For instance, after the murder of the English traveller, John Bell, who had become the emperor's close friend and confidante, the emperor, in revenge, had 500 prisoners beheaded in Debarek.[25] Then, in February 1863, after defeating the rebel, Tedla Gwalu, Tewodros ordered the killing of the 7,000 prisoners he had taken.[26][27]
Tewodros II remarried, this time to the daughter of his imprisoned enemy
By October 1862, Emperor Tewodros' position as ruler had become precarious, much of Ethiopia was in revolt against him, except for a small area stretching from
On Cameron's return, the Emperor became enraged when he found out that Cameron had not taken the letter to London personally, had not brought a response from the Queen, and most of all, had spent time traveling through enemy Egyptian and Turkish territories. Cameron tried to appease the Emperor saying that a reply to the letter would arrive shortly. The Foreign Office in London did not pass the letter to Queen Victoria, but simply filed it under Pending. There the letter stayed for a year. Then the Foreign Office sent the letter to India, because Abyssinia came under the Raj's remit. It is alleged that when the letter arrived in India, officials filed it under Not Even Pending.[2][3]
Britain had several reasons for ignoring the letter. The British Empire's interests in Northeast Africa were quite different from those of Tewodros. The British did not want to conduct a Christian "crusade" against Islam but instead to cooperate politically, strategically and commercially with the Ottoman Empire, Egypt and the Sudan. This was not only to protect the route to India but also to ensure that the Ottoman Empire continued to act as a buffer against Russia's plans for expansion into Central Asia. More so, as a result of the American Civil War, deliveries of cotton from the American South to the British textile industry were cut off entirely, making the British increasingly dependent on Egyptian-Sudanese cotton. The British did not wish to see a conflagration in the region which would upset the status quo.[29]
After two years had passed and Tewodros had not received a reply, he imprisoned Cameron, together with all the British subjects in Ethiopia and various other Europeans, in an attempt to get the queen's attention. His prisoners included an Anglican missionary named Henry A. Stern, who had previously published a book in Europe describing Tewodros as a barbaric, cruel, unstable usurper. When Tewodros saw this book, he became violently angry, pulled a gun on Stern, and had to be restrained from killing the missionary. He then beat to death the two servants Stern had brought with him. Tewodros also received reports from abroad that foreign papers had quoted these European residents of Ethiopia as having said many negative things about him and his reign.[5][6][30]
Conflict with Great Britain
The British sent a mission under an
The British force defeated the Abyssinian army at
On 15 April 1868, as the British troops stormed the citadel of Magdala, Emperor Tewodros committed suicide rather than surrender.
A modern commentator states "When Tewodros preferred self-inflicted death to captivity, he deprived the British of this ultimate satisfaction and laid the foundation for his own resurrection as a symbol of the defiant independence of the Ethiopian." He has been said to have used a pistol which he had used during fighting for unification during the era, though in reality he used a duelling pistol gifted to him by Queen Victoria and presented by Consul Cameron.[34][35] Tewodros II was buried by the British troops at Magdala's Medhane Alem (Savior of the World) Orthodox Church under the name of Theodore II.[36] In 2019 the National Army Museum announced the return to Ethiopia of a lock of Tewodros' hair, taken after his death in battle.[37][38]
Magdala was in the territory of the Muslim
Climbing a narrow rock stairway, we advanced quickly toward a second gate, through which we passed without meeting resistance. About a hundred paces beyond it lay the half-naked body of the Emperor himself, who had taken his own life with a pistol shot. A strange smile was on the remarkably young and attractive-looking face, and I was struck particularly by the finely drawn, boldly aquiline nose.
After Tewodros has been buried, Napier allowed his troops to loot the citadel as a punitive measure; according to historian
On a curious side note, many of the hostages were unhappy with Napier's demand that they leave the country. Several hostages argued that they had long since become alienated from their old homeland in Europe and would no longer have any chance of building a new life for their families there. The German observer Josef Bechtinger, who accompanied the expedition, wrote:
Most of them, instead of thanking Providence for their final rescue – were not all happy with the new turn of events. They were indignant, upset, at having to leave Abyssinia. "What" they said, "are we supposed to do in Europe now, what are we supposed to do now with our wives and children back in our homeland – which has become alien to us? How are we supposed to live now among people who have [become] alien to us and whom we no longer like? What are we supposed to live on?
Bechtinger reported that many of them eventually returned to their adopted country from Suez by way of Massawa.[42]
Following some short squabbles for the throne after his death, Tewodros II was eventually succeeded by Yohannes IV as the next Emperor of Ethiopia.[43]
Heirs
The widowed Empress Tiruwork and the young heir of Tewodros,
Tewodros II's much loved daughter, Woizero Alitash Tewodros, was the first wife of Menelik of Shewa who eventually became Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. Woizero Alitash was abandoned by her husband when Menelik escaped from Magdala to return and reclaim his Shewan throne. She was subsequently remarried to Dejazmatch Bariaw Paulos of Adwa. When Menelik II was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia at Were Illu in Wollo shortly after the death of Yohannes IV, Woizero Alitash was among the first of the nobility to travel to Were Illu to pay homage to her former husband as the new Emperor. Rumors persist that Alitash and Emperor Menelik may have rekindled their relationship and that Alitash found that she was pregnant by the Emperor in the following months. The rumors continue that upon hearing about this pregnancy of the Emperor's first wife, the childless and barren Empress Taytu Bitul had Alitash poisoned. Yet a different version of these rumors state that she gave birth to a boy and handed him over to a friend to be raised as a common farmer in Shewa. The eldest descendant of this line now resides in Kenya married to the daughter of a Jegna, some Ethiopians believe them to be the only legitimate heirs to the line of Tewedros II and Menelik II. Regardless of the veracity of these rumors, Woizero Alitash Tewodros, daughter of Tewodros II, died within the first few months of the reign of her ex-husband Menelik II.[15]
Honours
- Ascanian duchies: Grand Cross of Albert the Bear, 15 March 1863[44]
In popular culture
- Emperor Tewodros has come to occupy a high regard amongst many Ethiopians. Examples of his influence are seen in plays, literature, folklore, songs and art works (such as a 1974 book by Sahle Sellassie). Emperor Tewodros has come to symbolise Ethiopian unity and identity.[2]Tsegaye Gebre-Medhinwrote his play 'Tewodros' in 1963. Chronicles of his life have been seen to be significant in the formation of Amharic and Ethiopian literature in English.
- Tewodros, under the name Theodore, appears in George MacDonald Fraser's fictionalised account of the 1868 conflict, Flashman on the March, where he is portrayed as a volatile, bloodthirsty madman.
- Karen Mercury's historical fiction The Four Quarters of the World (Medallion Press, 2006) depicts the rise and fall of Tewodros as seen through the eyes of his European captives, using primary sources from eyewitnesses to create an unbiased portrait of the Emperor.
- When the Emperor Dies by Mason McCann Smith is another work of historical fiction based around the rise, reign and fall of Emperor Tewodros.[2]
- Philip Marsden's The Barefoot Emperor chronicles the life and times of Emperor Tewodros's quest for power and his reign. Marsden remarks that Tewodros's violence makes him ambiguous to be a true hero worthy of a bronze statue like Napier in London.[45]
- Tewodros features prominently in Alan Moorehead's historical survey The Blue Nile.
- John Pridham composed and published a piano solo piece, "Abyssinian Expedition", commemorating the Battle of Magdala. The digitized (scanned) sheet music can be found at the National Library of Australia's website.[46]
- Emperor Tewodros appears as the leader of the Ethiopians in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition – The African Royals.
- Emperor Tewodros appears as the leader of the Ethiopians in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition – The African Royals.
References
- ^ Authorities who put the end of the Zemene Mesafint include Bahru Zewde (A History of Modern Ethiopia, 2nd edition [Oxford: James Curry, 2001], p. 30), Paul B. Henze (Layers of Time [New York: Palgrave, 2000], p. 135), and Richard Pankhurst (The Ethiopians, A History [Oxford: Blackwell, 2001], pp. 142ff).
- ^ a b c d e f g "Tewodros II - emperor of Ethiopia". Archived from the original on 2017-01-07.
- ^ a b c "The Great Unifier: Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2007-06-22.
- ^ Ghelawdewos Araia (2006). The Great Unifier: Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia. Archived 2007-07-04 at the Wayback Machine Institute of Development and Education for Africa (IDEA), Inc. 1–8. PDF.
- ^ a b c d e f g Teklehaimanot, Teum. "Ethiopian Treasures - Emperor Tewodros II, Battle of Meqdala - Ethiopia". www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-12-31.
- ^ S2CID 145000065.
- ^ d'Abbadie, Antoine (1868). L'Abyssinie et le roi Théodore. p. 26.
- ISBN 978-0798303446.
- ^ a b c Hormuzd Rassam. Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore of Abyssinia (London, 1869), vol. 1, p. 279.
- ^ OCLC 70782212.
- ISBN 978-0798303446.
- ISBN 9780226229676.
- ISBN 978-1-108-05350-1.
- ^ a b c "Emperor Tewodros II – Imperial Ethiopia". www.haileselassie.net. Archived from the original on 2017-01-07.
- ^ S2CID 162788005.
- ^ Marcus, Harold (1975). The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844–1913. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 13.
- ^ Rubenson, Sven (1966). King of Kings: Tewodros of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University. p. 36.
- ^ Rubenson. King of Kings, pp. 36–39.
- ^ (2019). Module for history of Ethiopia and the horn for HLIS. Department of Science and Higher Education – Ethiopia. Addis Ababa
- ^ Abir, M. "The Origins of the Ethiopian-Egyptian Border Problem in the Nineteenth Century." The Journal of African History 8, no. 3 (1967): pp. 443–461. jstor.org.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-22479-7.
- ^ Marcus 2002, p. 60.
- ^ El Amin, Abdel Karim, Ahmed, Abdel Karim (2009). An Historical Study of the Shawan – Amhara Conquest of the Oromo and Sidama Regions of Southern Ethiopia 1865–1900. http://khartoumspace.uofk.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789
- ^ Ten Years in Abyssinia and Sixteen Years in Syria being the Autobiography of Theophilus Waldmeier, p. 79. Waldmeier describes the Empress and John Bell as being Tewodros' "two angels". Following their deaths "even the moderate use of drink seemed to inflame his naturally excitable disposition, and caused him to be guilty of injustice and iniquity."
- ^ Marsden, Philip (2007). The Barefoot Emperor: An Ethiopian Tragedy. London: Harper Collins. pp. 75–76.
- ^ Marsden, Philip (2007). The Barefoot Emperor: An Ethiopian Tragedy. London: Harper Collins. pp. 84–85.
- ^ Rassam, Hormuzd (1869). Narrative of the Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia. pp. 238–240 vol i.
- ISBN 978-3830921240.
- ^ a b Matthies, Volker (2010). The Siege of Magdala: The British Empire Against the Emperor of Ethiopia. Princeton, New Jersey: Markus Weiner Publishers.[ISBN missing][page needed]
- ^ Arnold, Percy (1991). Prelude to Magdala: Emperor Theodore of Ethiopia and British Diplomacy. London: Bellew Publishing. pp. 80–81.
- ^ Blanc, Henry (1868). A Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia. London. pp. 388–390.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Henty, G. A. (1868). The March to Magdala. London. p. 389.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Rubenson, Sven (1966). King of Kings Tewodros of Ethiopia. p. 268.
- ^ Myatt, Frederick (1970). The March to Magdala: The Abyssinian War of 1868. London: Leo Cooper. p. 164.
- ^ Stanley, Henry M. (1874). Coomassie and Magdala. London: Sampson Low. p. 449.
- ^ "Tewodros II". Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
- ^ "Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros II's stolen hair to be returned by UK". BBC News. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban (4 March 2019). "UK museum to return lock of hair of Ethiopia's Emperor Tewodros II". Africanews. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ a b Matthies 2012.
- JSTOR 24351450.
- ^ "AFRICAN KINGS AND QUEENS | Legends of African History | Askia | Sunni Ali Ber| Malcolm X | Nzinga | Garvey". www.africanholocaust.net. Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
- ^ Bechtinger 1870.
- OCLC 17674937.
- ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt (1867) "Herzoglicher Haus-orden Albrecht des Bären" p. 18
- ^ "'Mad king Tewodros' of Abyssinia". 2007-12-14. Archived from the original on 2016-10-08. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
- ^ "Music – National Library of Australia". www.nla.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2014-02-11.
Bibliography
- d'Abbadie d'Arrast, Antoine (1868). L'Abyssinie et le roi Théodore, Ch. Douniol, Paris.
- Bates, Darrell (1979). The Abyssinian Difficulty: The Emperor Theodorus and the Magdala Campaign, 1867–68, Oxford University Press
- Bechtinger, Jos (1870). Ost-Afrika: Erinnerungen Und Miscellen Aus Dem Abessinischen Feldzuge. Vienna: C. Gerold's sohn.
- Bekele, Shiferaw (2007). L'Éthiopie contemporaine (sous la direction de Gérard Prunier), Karthala, 440 pages, (ISBN 978-2-84586-736-9); chap. III ("La restauration de l'État éthiopien dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle"), partie I ("L'ascension de Tewodros II et la restauration de la monarchie (1855–1868)"), pp. 92–97
- Henze, Paul B. (2000). "The Empire from Atrophy to Revival: The Era of the Princes and Tewodros II". IN: Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York: Palgrave. ISBN 0-312-22719-1
- Matthies, Volker (2012). The Siege of Magdala: The British Empire Against the Emperor of Ethiopia. Markus Wiener. ISBN 978-1-55876-552-8.
- Rubenson, Sven (1966). King of Kings: Tewodros of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Haile Selassie I University
- Zewde, Bahru; James Currey, A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1991, London, 2002, pp. 64–111 (ISBN 0-8214-1440-2); partie II ("Unification and Independence – 1855–1896"), chap. I ("The first response: Kasa – Tewodros"), pp. 27–42.
- (Amharic letter) Lettre du Negussa Negest Téwodros II à un destinataire inconnu, sur le site des archives nationales d'Addis Abeba በኢንተርኔት[dead link]
Further reading
- Anderson, Ruth (1967). "A study of the career of Theodore II, Emperor of Ethiopia, 1855–1868." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University
- Blanc, Henry (1868). A Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia; With Some Account of the Late Emperor Theodore, His Country and People, available at Project Gutenberg
- Jesman, Czeslaw (April 1972). "Theodore II of Ethiopia" History Today, pp. 255–264
- Markham, C. R. (1869). History of the Abyssinian Expedition
- Myatt, Frederick (1970). The March to Mandala[ISBN missing]