Sahle Dengel of Ethiopia
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Sahle Dengel was nəgusä nägäst of Ethiopia intermittently between 1832 and 11 February 1855, towards the end of the Zemene Mesafint ("Era of the Princes"). He was the son of Gebre Mesay, allegedly descendant of a younger son of Emperor Fasilides.
He was largely a figurehead, with real power in the hands of the Enderase or Regent, Ras Ali II a princeling of the Oromo ruling family of the district of Yejju. Eduard Rüppell, who visited the capital of Gondar in 1833, stated that at the time the Emperor "barely had the income of an averagely well-to-do Ethiopian, and the great princes of the Tigrai, Shoa and Amhara were unable to prevent continuous strife and bloodshed."[1]
When Sahle Dengel was set on the throne by Ras Ali, the clergy of Azazo disapproved of his religious beliefs, and convinced Ras Ali to remove him; Sahle Dengel was sent to Zengaj. Ras Ali recalled Gebre Krestos from Mesraha, an island in Lake Tana, and restored him as Emperor. However, Gebre Krestos died after three months, and Sahle Dengel convinced Ras Ali to make him Emperor once again (October, 1832). About that same time, one Egwale Anbesa announced his claim to the throne; Sahle Dengel cut his head off, and set it in a tree at Adababay.[2]
Following the death of Ras Kinfu, the warlords fought for control of his lands in Gojjam. Eventually Mennen Liben Amede gained the upper hand, defeating and capturing Walda Tekle, following which she deposed Sahle Dengel on 29 August 1840 in favor of her husband Yohannes III; Yohannes offended Ras Ali by favoring his rival Wube Haile Maryam, and Ras Ali restored Sahle Dengel in October 1841. Yohannes somehow managed to get himself restored to the throne around 1850, only to be deposed again in 1851. Sahle Dengel was once again restored to the throne, and held it until Tewodros II consolidated Ethiopia under his control and declared himself Emperor. Yohannes III also claimed the Imperial throne at the same time, and different areas recognized one or the other as titular Emperor until Tewodros II ended this situation. Significantly, Yohannes III accepted the accession of Tewodros II.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Edward Ullendorff, The Ethiopians, second edition (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 83.
- ^ E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 482
| Preceded by: Gebre Krestos |
Emperor of Ethiopia | Succeeded by: Tewodros II |
