Zemene Mesafint

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Zemene Mesafint period
c. 1769–1855 AC
Ethiopian warriors during the Zemene Mesafint

The Zemene Mesafint (

Ge'ez: ዘመነ መሳፍንት, variously translated "Era of Judges", "Era of the Princes", etc.; taken from the biblical Book of Judges) was a period in Ethiopian history between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries when the country was ruled by a class of Oromo elite noblemen who replaced Habesha nobility in their courts, making the emperor merely a figurehead.[1] For the most part, the regional lords were tightly related by marriage and constituted a stable ruling elite that prevailed until the mid-20th century. In short, during the Zemene Mesafint, the Emperors from the Solomonic dynasty were reduced to little more than figureheads confined to the capital city of Gondar
.

The most powerful lords during the Zemene Mesafint were from the

Wube Haile Mariam of Simien, and provincial king Sahle Selassie of Shewa.[2]

The lords fought against each other for the expansion of their territory and to become the guardians of the kings of kings in Gondar, the capital of the empire at the time. The monarchy continued only in name because of its sacred character. This nominal but divinely ordained monarchy preserved the dynasty from actual extinction.[2]

The Zemene Mesafint period came to an end when a local outlaw, Kassa Hailu, would challenge the supremacy of the Oromo princes over the Abyssinian kingdom. Hailu gained support from the locals and defeated Oromo lords and princes and would throne himself as Tewodros II, attempting to fulfill a prophecy that a man named Tewodros would restore the Ethiopian Empire to greatness and rule for 40 years.[3][4]

History

Early history, Solomonic succession conflicts (1700s–1730)

Traditionally, the beginning of this period is set on the date Ras Mikael Sehul deposed Emperor Iyoas I (7 May 1769), and its end to Kassa's coronation as Emperor Tewodros II (11 February 1855), having defeated in battle all of his rivals. Some historians date the death of Iyasu I (Iyasu the Great) (13 October 1706), and the resultant decline in the prestige of the dynasty, as the beginning of this period. Others date it to the beginning of Iyoas's reign (26 June 1755).

During the Zemene Mesafint, various lords occasionally took advantage of their positions by making Emperors and encroaching upon the succession of the dynasty, by candidates among the nobility itself: for example, on the death of Emperor

Ge'ez
: ንጉሠ ነገሥት, romanized: nəgusä nägäst). However, the tenure of Yostos from 1711 to 1716 was brief and the throne returned to the Solomonic dynasty.

Solomonic succession conflicts (1730–1769)

Reign of Iyasu II (1730–1755)

The reign of

Agaw, Amharics, Tigrayans and the Oromo
.

Reign of Iyoas (1755–1769)

Iyoas (r. 1755–1769) brought her into conflict with Wubit (Welete Bersabe), Iyasu's widow, who believed that it was her turn to serve as regent. When Iyoas assumed the throne upon his father's sudden death, the aristocrats of Gondar were stunned to find that he preferred to speak in the Oromo language rather than in Amharic, and favored his mother's Yejju relatives over the Qwarans of his grandmothers family. Iyoas further increased the favour given to the Oromo. On the death of the Ras of Amhara, he attempted to promote his uncle Lubo governor of that province, but the outcry led his adviser Wolde Leul
to convince him to change his mind.

The conflict between these two queens led to Mentewab summoning her relatives with their armed supporters from

Qwara to Gondar to support her. Wubit responded by summoning her own Oromo relatives and their considerable forces from Wollo. Fearing that the power struggle between the Qwarans and the Wolloyes led by the Emperor's mother Wubit would erupt into an armed conflict, the nobility summoned the powerful Ras Mikael Sehul
to mediate between the two camps. He arrived and shrewdly maneuvered to sideline the two queens and their supporters making a bid for power for himself.

Iyaos' reign becomes a narrative of the struggle between the powerful Ras Mikael Sehul and the Oromo relatives of Iyoas. Iyoas effectively had little say, as he inherited an empty Imperial treasury and depended heavily on his Oromo relations. As he increasingly favored Oromo leaders like Fasil, his relations with Mikael Sehul deteriorated. Eventually Mikael Sehul deposed the Emperor Iyoas (7 May 1769). One week later, Mikael Sehul had him killed; although the details of his death are contradictory, the result was clear: for the first time an Emperor had lost his throne in a means other than his own natural death, death in battle or voluntary abdication. From this point forward the Empire devolved ever more openly in the hands of the great nobles and military commanders; because of its effects, Iyoas' assassination is usually regarded as the start of the Era of the Princes.

Solomonic succession conflicts (1769–1784)

An aged and infirm imperial uncle prince was enthroned as Emperor

Tekle Giyorgis
is famous for having been elevated to the throne altogether six times and also deposed six times.

Meanwhile,

Meridazmach of Shewa (1744–1775), wisely kept out of this endless fighting, devoting his energies to consolidating his kingdom and founding Ankober
. This was a practice that his successors followed to the end of the kingdom.

The years from 1771 to 1784 constituted a sort of interregnum or a transition age between two eras – the era of the absolute monarchy and the era of rule by the Were Sheikh rulers of Yeju.

Enderases
(Regents) of the Ethiopian Empire.

Until the emergence of

Warra Seh (Sheikh) rulers (Yejju) (1784–1855)

Abyssinian cavalry c. 1770 from German version Zu den Quellen des Blauen Nils of Bruce original work

Crummey, Rubenson, Abir and Shiferaw Bekele agree that despite the weakness of the Emperor, the Yejju lords constituted a stable ruling elite of a multiethnic background that ruled the country in the name of the Solomonic dynasty.[7] That being said, the term that perhaps needs to be precisely defined has to do with the appellation of the Yejju. Very often it is called the Yejju dynasty. There is no problem with this name except that at times it created confusion with the Yejju region of Wollo. It is preferable to call them by the name that they themselves preferred and by what others called them: Warra Sheh or Werre Sheikh (sons of the Sheikh) a name which reflects their Muslim background. This appellation clearly refers to the family rather than to the province, and to their Islamic and Oromo roots. [8]

Tewodros II, who brought an end to the Zemene Mesafint

Scholars now agree that of the Warra Sheh rulers,

Wag and the like – was rather restricted to the power of making them pay regular tributes, be in attendance in their court for a given period of the year, participate in their wars and exercise right of appeal in matters of justice.[7] They also had the right of confirmation in their offices when new lords came to power in one way or another. At times, they even went to the extent of chaining some of their recalcitrant lords.[7]

End of the Zemene Mesafint

The time period had a lasting demographic impact on

Dembea, then following a series of battles beginning with Gur Amba (1852) and ending with Battle of Derasge (1855), came to control all of northern Ethiopia. More importantly, with his triumph over Ras Ali II at the Battle of Ayshal, Kassa Hailu ended the Were Seh dynasty, and with imperial power once again in the hands of a single man, the Zemene Mesafint is considered to have ended and the history of Modern Ethiopia to have begun.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ Abba Bahrey’s Zenahu Legalla: Towards an Ethiopian critical theory - JSTOR. (n.d.-a). https://www.jstor.org/stable/41756933
  2. ^ a b Shiferaw Bekele, The State in the Zamana Masafent (1786-1853), p. 25
  3. .
  4. .
  5. ^ Shiferaw Bekele, Reflections On the Power Elite of the Wara Seh Masfenate (1786–1853), p. 159–160
  6. ^ Molla Tikuye, The Rise and Fall of The Yajju Dynasty (1784–1980), p. 199
  7. ^ a b c Shiferaw Bekele, Reflections On the Power Elite of the Wara Seh Masfenate (1786–1853), p. 158
  8. ^ Shiferaw Bekele, The State in the Zamana Masafent (1786–1853), p. 29
  9. ^ .
  10. ^ .
  11. ^ Shiferaw Bekele, The State in the Zamana Masafent (1786-1853), p. 33
  12. ^ A Historical Overview of Islam in Eritrea - Jonathan Miran, 2005, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1571280?seq=9
  13. ^ The blin between periphery and international politics in the 19th century, https://journals.openedition.org/cy/1373#ftn14

Further reading

  • Mordechai Abir, The Era of the Princes: the Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian empire, 1769-1855. London: Longmans, 1968.