Wolde Selassie
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Wolde Selassie (c.1745[1] - May 1816) was a Ras of Ethiopia and warlord of Tigray. He was the son of Dejazmach Kefla Iyasus, and his wives included Mentewab (died 1812 from smallpox), the sister of Emperor Egwale Seyon; and Sahin, the daughter of Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I.[2]
He emerged as the ruler of Tigray after years of fighting about 1790, and although the center of his power was in Enderta, he made his headquarters in Chalacot. He played a role in the politics of the Imperial Throne, in part by providing shelter to Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I in 1799 and 1800, and was visited by the former Emperor Baeda Maryam in 1813.[3] Although at first he cooperated with Ras Aligaz, the Imperial Regent, after his power grew, Wolde Selassie came to challenge Aligaz for that office prior to Aligaz's death in 1803.[4]
According to Paul Henze, Ras Wolde was the first ruler of this period to have close contact with Europeans, hosting three British visitors, George Annesley, Viscount Valentia, his secretary Henry Salt, and Nathaniel Pearce. Pearce's diary of his stay at Ras Wolde's court is not only valuable for the history of this period, but also provides enormous detail about daily life in Ethiopia.[5]
When he died of natural causes in 1816, civil war broke out in his former territories. In the fighting, his nephew Wolde Rufa'el sacked Chalacot.[6]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Henry Salt estimated his age at 64 when he visited him in 1809 (A Voyage to Abyssinia and Travels into the Interior of that Country, 1814 [London: Frank Cass, 1967], p. 325).
- ^ Richard P.K. Pankhurst, History of Ethiopian Towns (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1982), p. 206.
- ^ Pankhurst, pp. 201f.
- ^ Mordechai Abir, Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855) (London: Longmans, 1968), p. 31.
- ^ Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 122.
- ^ Pankhurst, pp. 207f.
