Menelik II

Menelik II (Ge'ez: ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ Dagmawi mənilək; horse name abba dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው abba dañäw); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), christened Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ሣህለ ማርያም ማርያም Sahlä Maryam) was King of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 until his death in 1913. At the height of his internal power and external prestige, the process of expansion territorial and creation of the modern empire-state was completed in 1898.

The Ethiopian Empire was transformed under Emperor Menelik: major milestones of modernization were established, with the help of key ministerial advisers. Externally, Menelik led Ethiopian troops against the Italian invaders in the First Italo-Ethiopian War; following a decisive victory at the Battle of Adwa, recognition of Ethiopia's independence by outside powers was expressed in terms of diplomatic representation at his court and delineation of Ethiopia's borders with adjacent kingdoms. Menelik expanded his kingdom to the south and east, into Oromo, Kaffa, Sidama, Wolayta, and other kingdoms or towns.

Later in his reign, Menelik established the first Cabinet of Ministers to assist in the administration of the Empire, appointing trusted and widely respected nobles and servants to the first Ministries. These ministers would remain in his place long after his death, serving in their posts during the brief reign of Lij Iyasu (whom they helped depose) and during the reign of Empress Zauditu.

Early Years

Menelik was the son of a Shewano Amhara aristocrat, the Negus Haile Melekot, and probably the palace servant Ejigayehu Lemma Adyamo. He was born in Angolalla and was baptized with the name of Sahle Maryam. His father, at the age of 18, before inheriting the throne, impregnated Ejigayehu, then left her; he did not acknowledge that he was born a Sahle Maryam. The boy enjoyed a respected position in the royal house and received a traditional church upbringing.

Before his death in 1855, Negus Haile Melekot appointed Menelik as successor to the throne of Shewa. However, shortly after the death of Haile Melekot, Menelik was taken prisoner by Emperor Theodore II, who conquered Shewa and transferred him to his fortress on the mountain of Magdala. Even so, Theodore treated the young prince well, even offering his daughter Altash Tewodros in marriage, which Menelik accepted.

After Menelik's imprisonment, his uncle, Haile Mikael, was named Shum of Shewa by Emperor Theodore II with the title of Meridazmach. However, Meridazmach Haile Mikael rebelled against Teodoro, causing him to be replaced by the non-royal Ato Bezabeh as Shum. However, Ato Bezabeh, in turn, also rebelled against the Emperor and proclaimed himself the Negus of Shewa. Although the Shewan royals imprisoned in Magdala had been largely accommodating as long as a member of their family ruled Shewa, this usurpation by a commoner was not acceptable to them. They planned Menelik's escape from Magdala; With the help of Mohammed Ali and Queen Worqitu of Wollo, he escaped from Magdala on the night of July 1, 1865, abandoned his wife, and returned to Shewa. Enraged, Emperor Theodore killed 29 Oromo hostages and then had 12 Amhara notables beaten to death with bamboo sticks.

King of Shewa

Bezabeh's attempt to raise an army against Menelik failed; thousands of Shewans joined the banner of the son of the Negus Haile Melekot and even Bezabeh's own soldiers abandoned him for the returning prince. Fir Menelik entered Ankober and proclaimed himself Negus. While Negus Menelik claimed his ancestral Shewan crown, he too claimed the imperial throne, as a direct descendant of Emperor Lebna Dengel. However, he made no overt attempt to assert this claim at this time; Marcus interprets his lack of decisive action not only as Menelik's lack of confidence and experience, but because "he was emotionally incapable of helping to destroy the man who had treated him like his son." Not wishing to participate in the British Abyssinian Expedition of 1867-1868, he allowed his rival Kassai to benefit from gifts of modern weapons and supplies from the British. When Theodore committed suicide, Menelik organized an official celebration of his death even though he was personally saddened by the loss. When asked by a British diplomat why he did this, he replied "to satisfy the passions of the people...as for me, I should have gone into a forest to mourn...his untimely death...I have now lost who educated me and towards whom I had always had a filial and sincere affection». Subsequently other challenges—a revolt among the Wollo in the north, the intrigues of his second wife Befana to replace him with her choice of ruler, military failures against the Arsi Oromo in the southeast—prevented Menelik from directly confronting Kassai until later. His rival had brought an Abuna from Egypt who crowned him Emperor John IV.

Menelik was cunning and strategic in building his power base. He hosted extravagant three-day parties to curry favor with the locals, lavishly built friendships with Muslims (such as Muhammad Ali of Wollo), and established alliances with the French and Italians that could provide firearms and political influence against the Emperor. In 1876, an Italian expedition set out for Ethiopia led by the Marquis Orazio Antinori, who described King Menelik as "very friendly and fanatical about arms, about which mechanism he seems to be the most intelligent". Another Italian wrote about Menelik, “he had the curiosity of a child; the least impressed him... he showed... great intelligence and great mechanical skill ». Menelik spoke with great economy and rapidity. He never gets angry, Chiarini adds, "he listens calmly, judicious [and] sensible... he is a fatalist and a good soldier, he loves weapons above all else." The visitors also confirmed that he was popular with his subjects and made himself available to him. Menelik had great political and military acumen and made key commitments that would later prove essential as he expanded his Empire.

Modernization

On March 10, 1889, Emperor John IV was killed in a war with Mahdist Sudan during the Battle of Gallabat (Metemma). With his dying breath, John declared that his natural son, Dejazemach Mengesha Yohannes, was his heir. On March 25, upon learning of John's death, the Negus Menelik immediately proclaimed himself emperor.

Menelik argued that while John IV's family claimed descent from King Solomon and Queen Sheba through women of the dynasty, his own claim was based on an unbroken direct male lineage that made the House's claims of Shewa were equal to those of the old Gondar line of the dynasty. Menelik, and later his daughter Zauditu, would be the last Ethiopian monarchs who could claim uninterrupted direct male descent from King Solomon and Queen of Sheba (both Lij Iyasu and Emperor Haile Selassie were in the female line, Iyasu through his mother Shewarega Menelik, and Haile Selassie through his paternal grandmother, Tenagnework Sahle Selassie). In the end, Menelik was able to win the loyalty of a large majority of the Ethiopian nobility. On November 3, 1889, the Abuna Mattewos, Bishop of Shewa, consecrated and crowned Menelik as Emperor before a glittering crowd of dignitaries and clergy, at the Church of Mary on Mount Entoto. The newly consecrated and crowned Emperor Menelik II swept across the north in force. He received submission from local officials in Lasta, Yejju, Gojjam, Wollo and Begemder.

Personal life and final stage of his life

Menelik was married three times but did not have a single legitimate child by any of his wives. However, he is reputed to have fathered several children by women other than his wives, and he acknowledged that three of those children were his progeny.

In 1864, Menelik married Woizero Altash Tewodros, whom he divorced in 1865; the marriage produced no children. Altash Tewodros was the daughter of Emperor Tewodros II. She and Menelik were married during the time Menelik was held captive by Tewodros. The marriage ended when Menelik escaped from captivity and abandoned her. She subsequently remarried her to Dejazmatch Bariaw Paulos of Adwa.

In 1865, the same year he divorced his first wife, Menelik married Woizero Befana Wolde Michael, sister of Dejazmatch Tewende Belay Wolde Michael. This couple was also childless, and they were married for seventeen years before divorcing in 1882. Menelik was very fond of his wife, but she apparently did not have sincere affection for him. Woizero Befana had several children from previous marriages and was more interested in ensuring her well-being than the well-being of her current husband. For many years, it was suspected that she was secretly in contact with Emperor Yohannes IV in his ambition to replace her husband on the throne of Shewa with one of her children from a previous marriage. Ultimately, she was implicated in a plot to overthrow Menelik when he was king of Shewa. With the failure of her plan, Woizero Befana parted ways with Menelik, but Menelik was apparently still deeply attached to her. An attempt at reconciliation failed, but when relatives and courtiers would suggest new wives to the king, he would sadly say: "Are you asking me to look at these women with the same eyes that once looked at Befana?", paying tribute to both. the great beauty of her ex-wife and her own and her continued attachment to her.

Finally, Menelik divorced his treacherous wife in 1882 and, in 1883, he married Taytu Betul. Menelik's new wife had been married four times previously, and he became her fifth husband. They were married in a full communion church service, and thus the marriage was fully canonical and indissoluble, which had not been the case with any of Menelik's previous wives. The marriage, which turned out to be childless, would last until his death. Taytu Betul would become empress consort upon the succession of her husband, and she would become the most powerful consort of an Ethiopian monarch since Empress Mentewab. She enjoyed considerable influence on Menelik and his court to the end, something that was aided by her own family background. Empress Taytu Betul was a noblewoman of imperial blood and a member of one of the leading families of the Semien Yejju regions of modern Wollo and Begemder. Her paternal uncle, Dejazmatch Wube Haile Maryam of Semien, had been the ruler of Tigray and much of northern Ethiopia. She and her uncle Ras Wube were two of the most powerful people among the descendants of the great Ras Gugsa Mursa, a ruler of Oromo descent from the house of Sheikh of Wollo. Emperor Yohannes was able to expand his power base in northern Ethiopia through Taytu's family connections in Begemider, Semien, and Yejju; she also served as his close adviser, and went to the battle of Adwa with 5,000 soldiers of her own. From 1906, for all intents and purposes, Taytu Betul ruled in Menelik's place during his illness. Menelik II and Taytu Betul personally owned 70,000 slaves. It is also said that Abba Jifar II had over 10,000 slaves and allowed his armies to enslave the captives during a battle with all of his neighboring clans. This practice was common among various tribes and clans in Ethiopia for thousands of years.

Taytu arranged political marriages between his relatives Yejju and Semien and key Shewan aristocrats such as Ras Woldegyorgis Aboye who was governor of Kaffa, Ras Mekonen who was governor of Harar, and Menelik's eldest daughter Zewditu Menelik who became Nigeste Negestat of the empire after the overthrow of Lij Iyasu. Taytu's stepdaughter Zewditu was married to her nephew Ras Gugsa Welle, who managed Begemider until the 1930s. Before his marriage to Taytu Betul, Menelik had several natural children. Among them, he chose to recognize three specific children (two daughters and one son) as his progeny. These were:

A daughter, Woizero Shoaregga Menelik born in 1867. She would marry twice and become the mother of: A son, Abeto Wossen Seged Wodajo, born from the first marriage; never considered for succession due to dwarfism A daughter, Woizero Zenebework Mikael, who married at twelve and died in childbirth a year later. A son, the emperor intended Iyasu V. Nominally he succeeded upon Menelik's death in 1913, but was never crowned; he was deposed in 1916 by powerful nobles. A daughter, Woizero (later Empress) Zewditu Menelik born 1876, died 1930. [nb 8] She was married four times and had a few children, but none of them survived to adulthood. She was proclaimed empress in her own right in 1916, but she was a figurehead, with ruling power in the hands of the regent Ras Tafari Makonnen who succeeded her in 1930 as Emperor Haile Selassie. A son, Fir Asfa Wossen Menelik born in 1873. He died unmarried and childless when he was about fifteen. Menelik's only recognized son, Fir Asfa Wossen Menelik, died unmarried and childless when he was about fifteen, leaving him with only two daughters. The eldest daughter, Woizero Shoaregga, first married Dejazmatch Wodajo Gobena, the son of Ras Gobena Dachi. They had a son, Abeto Wossen Seged Wodajo, but this grandson of Menelik II was removed from the succession due to dwarfism. In 1892, twenty-five-year-old Woizero Shoaregga married for the second time to forty-two-year-old Ras Mikael de Wollo. They had two children, namely a daughter, Woizero Zenebework Mikael, who would marry at the age of twelve to Gojjam's much older Ras Bezabih Tekle Haymanot, and die in childbirth a year later; and a son, Lij Iyasu who would nominally succeed as emperor after Menelik's death in 1913, but would never be crowned and would be deposed by powerful nobles in favor of Menelik's youngest daughter Zauditu in 1916.

Menelik's youngest daughter, Zewditu Menelik had a long and eventful life. She was married four times and eventually became an Empress in her own right, the first woman to hold that position in Ethiopia since the Queen of Sheba. She was only ten years old when Menelik married her to Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes, the fifteen-year-old son of Emperor John IV, in 1886. In May 1888, Ras Araya Selassie died and Zauditu was widowed at twelve. She was married twice more for short periods to Gwangul Zegeye and Wube Atnaf Seged before marrying Gugsa Welle in 1900 CE. Gugsa Welle was the nephew of Empress Taytu Betul, Menelik's third wife. Zewditu had a few children, but none survived to adulthood. Menelik died in 1913, and his grandson Iyasu claimed the throne on principle of seniority. However, Iyasu was suspected of being a secret convert to Islam, which was the religion of his paternal ancestors, and having a Muslim on the throne would have serious implications for Ethiopia for future generations. Therefore, Iyasu was never crowned; he was deposed by the nobles in 1916, in favor of his aunt, Zauditu. However, Zauditu (40 years old at the time) had no surviving children (all of her children had died young) and the nobles did not want her husband and her family to wield power and ultimately occupy the throne. Therefore, Zewditu's cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen, was made heir to the throne and regent of the empire. Zauditu had ceremonial duties to perform and exercised powers of arbitration and moral influence, but ruling power rested in the hands of the regent Ras Tafari Makonnen, who succeeded her as Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930.

Aside from the three acknowledged natural children, Menelik was rumored to be the father of other children as well. These include Ras Birru Wolde Gabriel and Dejazmach Kebede Tessema. The latter, in turn, was later rumored to be the natural grandfather of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, the communist leader of the Derg, who eventually deposed the monarchy and assumed power in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991.

First Italo-Ethiopian War

The First Italo-Ethiopian War took place in parallel with the creation of the Italian colony of Eritrea between 1885 and 1896. During these ten years, Italy regularly expanded its possessions in Abyssinia. Initially he was opposed by the armies of the Negus Yohannes led in particular by Ras Alula. After Yohannes' death in the battle of Matamma against the Sudanese, March 9, 1889, the new Negusä Nägäst (King of Kings) of Ethiopia took some years for Menelik II of Shewa to consolidate power from him. He is initially supported by France, timidly; and by Italy after the Wëchale Treaty of May 1889, which he denounced in February 1893. This period was used by the Italians to expand their territory. However, from the late 1890s Menelik II asserted his sovereignty on the international scene by means of a "circular letter" to the European powers; In June 1894, he completely dominates Tigray.

Starting in 1893, the elements of a new military confrontation between Italy and Ethiopia arose. The Italians have the upper hand first, but on March 1, 1896, the Ethiopian victory at the Battle of Adoua halted their advance. Ethiopia became the only African to have lasting power contained a European expansion in the late nineteenth century. However, it cannot prevent Italy from retaining Eritrea's coasts and plateaus during subsequent negotiations.

Illness, death and succession

On October 27, 1909, Menelik II suffered a massive stroke and his 'mind and spirit died'. After that, Menelik could no longer reign, and Empress Taytu took over the office. as de facto ruler, until Ras Bitwaddad Tesemma was publicly appointed regent. However, he died within a year and a regency council was formed in March 1910, from which the empress was excluded.

In the early morning hours of December 12, 1913, Emperor Menelik II died. He was promptly buried without announcement or ceremony in the Se'el Bet Kidane Meheret Church, on the grounds of the Imperial Palace. In 1916, Menelik II was reburied in the purpose-built church at Ba'eta Le Mariam Monastery in Addis Ababa.

After the death of Menelik II, the regency council continued to rule Ethiopia. Lij Iyasu was never crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, and Empress Zewditu I eventually succeeded Menelik II on 27 September 1916.