Fasilides
| Fasilides ፋሲለደስ | |||||||||
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| Negusa Nagast | |||||||||
 Muraldepicting Emperor Fasilides atUra Kidane MehretChurch, Ethiopia | |||||||||
| Emperor of Ethiopia | |||||||||
| Reign | 1632 – 18 October 1667 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Susenyos I | ||||||||
| Successor | Yohannes I | ||||||||
| Born | 20 November 1603 Bulga,Shewa,Ethiopian Empire | ||||||||
| Died | 18 October 1667(aged 63) Azezo,Ethiopian Empire | ||||||||
| Issue | Four sons and one daughter, includingYohannes Iand David[1] | ||||||||
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| Dynasty | House of Solomon | ||||||||
| Father | Susenyos I | ||||||||
| Mother | Sahle Work | ||||||||
| Religion | Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo | ||||||||
Fasilides(Ge'ez:ፋሲለደስ;Fāsīladas;20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known asFasil,[2]Basilide,[3]or Basilides (as in the works ofEdward Gibbon), wasEmperor of Ethiopiafrom 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a member of theSolomonic dynasty.His throne name wasAlam Sagad(Ge'ez: ዓለም ሰገድ).
Renowned as the founder ofGondar,the capital of theEthiopian Empire,Fasilides ushered in theGondarine period.Notably, he confiscated and exiled theJesuits,while also establishing security alliances with neighboring Islamic sultanates. Additionally, he played a crucial role in leading the campaign against theAgawrebels. In 1666, following his son Dawit's rebellion, Fasilides had him imprisoned inWehni.The emperor himself died a year later and was laid to rest in a monastery onDaga IslandinLake Tana.
History[edit]
Being ofAmharadescent,[4]he was the son of EmperorSusenyos Iand Empress Sahle Work (Ge'ez: ሣህለወርቅ) (throne name) ለ (name) of Wagda Katata andMerhabete.Emperor Fasilides was born at Magezez, Bulga in theShewaregion. His paternal grandfather's name was also Fasilides. He was builder of the Fasil palace.
Fasilides was proclaimed emperor in 1630 during a revolt led bySarsa Krestos,but did not reach the throne until his father abdicated in 1632. Once he became emperor, Fasilides immediately restored the official status of the traditionalEthiopian Orthodox Church.He sent for a newabunafrom thepatriarch of Alexandria,restoring the ancient relationship that had been allowed to lapse. He confiscated the lands of theJesuitsat Dankaz and elsewhere in the empire and exiled them toFremona.When he heard that the Portuguese bombardedMombasa,Fasilides assumed thatAfonso Mendes,theRoman Catholicprelate,was behind the act, and banished the remaining Jesuits from his lands. Mendes and most of his followers made their way back toGoa,being robbed or imprisoned several times on the way. In 1665, he ordered the "Books of the Franks" —the remaining religious writings of the Catholics—burnt.
Fasilides is commonly credited with founding the city ofGondarin 1636, establishing it as Ethiopia's capital.[5]Whether or not a community existed here before he made it his capital is unknown. Amongst the buildings he had constructed there are the beginnings of the complex later known asFasil Ghebbi,as well as some of the earliest of Gondar's fabled 44 churches: Adababay Iyasus, Adababay Tekle Haymanot, Atatami Mikael, Gemjabet Mariyam, Fit Mikael, and Qeddus Abbo.[6]He is also credited with building seven stone bridges in Ethiopia, notably theSebara Dildiybridge (11°13′3.64″N37°52′36.41″E/ 11.2176778°N 37.8767806°E); as a result all old bridges in Ethiopia are often commonly believed to be his work.[7]
Emperor Fasilides also built the Cathedral Church ofSt Mary of ZionatAxum.Fasilides' church is known today as the "Old Cathedral" and stands next to a newer cathedral built by EmperorHaile Selassie.
The rebellion of theAgawinLasta,which had begun under his father, continued into his reign and for the rest of his reign he made regular punitive expeditions into Lasta. The first, in 1637, went badly, for at theBattle of Libohis men panicked before the Agaw assault and their leader, Melka Kristos, entered Fasilides' palace and took the throne for himself. Fasilides quickly recovered and sent for help toQegnazmachDimmo, governor ofSemien,and his brother Gelawdewos, governor ofBegemder.These marched on Melka Kristos, who was still at Libo, where he was killed and his men defeated. The next year Fasilides marched into Lasta; according toJames Bruce,the Agaw retreated to their mountain strongholds, and "almost the whole army perished amidst the mountains; great part from famine, but a greater still from cold, a very remarkable circumstance in these latitudes."[8]
Foreign diplomacy[edit]
Soon after he took the throne from his father, Fasilides ended all forms of contact between Ethiopia and Europe, expelling all European Jesuits and their missionaries while forming security pacts with the surrounding Islamic sultanates and initiating diplomatic relations with Islamic kingdoms such as theSafavids,Ottomans,Mughalsand the Imams of Yemen. This isolation of the Ethiopian empire from Europe lasted more than two centuries.[9]
Fasilides tried in 1642–7 to establish diplomatic relations withAl-Mutawakkil Isma'il,the Zaydi Imam of Yemen. WhenMassawawas occupied by theOttoman Empire,the Ethiopian Emperor Fasilides attempted to develop a new trade route viaBeylul.His choice fell on Beylul, because this port was beyond the Ottoman sphere of control and directly opposite the harbor of Mocha in Yemen. In 1642 he sent a message to the Imam of Yemen al-Mu'ayyad Mohammed to gain his support for this project. Since al-Mu'ayyad Mohammed and his sonal-Mutawakkil Isma'ilassumed that Fasilides was interested in a conversion to Islam, a Yemeni embassy was sent toGondarin 1646. However, when the Yemenis understood Fasilides' actual motives, their enthusiasm sank and the project was abandoned.[10]
He also dispatched an envoy toIndiain 1664–5, extending congratulations toAurangzebfor his ascension to theMughal Empirethrone. The delegation reportedly presented several valuable offerings to the Mughal Emperor, such as slaves, ivory, horses, zebras, a set of intricately adorned silver pocket pistols, and various other exotic gifts.[11]
In 1666, after his son Dawit rebelled, Fasilides had him incarcerated atWehni,reviving the ancient practice of confining troublesome members of the Imperial family to a mountaintop, as they had once been confined atAmba Geshen.
Death[edit]
Fasilides died atAzezoin 1667, 8 kilometres (5 miles) south of Gondar, and his body was interred atSt. Stephen's,a monastery onDaga IslandinLake Tana.When Nathaniel T. Kenney was shown Fasilides' remains, he saw a smaller mummy also shared the coffin. A monk told Kenney that it was Fasilides' seven-year-old son Isur, who had been smothered in acrush of people,had come to pay homage to the new king.[12]
Descendants[edit]
Fasilides had three sons (of which two died before coming of age) and three daughters.[13]
- Yohannes Iwas the eldest son and successor.[13]
- His two other sons (Dawit and Isuor) died before Fasilides.[13][14]
- Theoclea was his eldest daughter, she married one of her father's retainer Laeka Krestos, a son of noblemen Malkae Krestos.[13]
- Kedeste Krestos was his second daughter, she married and had issue.[13]
- Sabla Wangel was his third daughter. It's through her line that EmperorTewodrosI claimed Solomonic descent from Fasiliades, almost two centuries later.[13]
References[edit]
- ^Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928).A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 2).London: Methuen & Co. p. 397.
- ^Woredekal, Solomon (1985)."Restoration of historical monuments of Gondar".Annales d'Éthiopie.13:119.doi:10.3406/ethio.1985.926.Retrieved12 July2014.
- ^Wion, Anaïs (2012)."Fasiladas".Dictionary of African Biography.Vol. 2. OUP. pp. 353–54.ISBN9780195382075.
- ^Danver, Steven L (2015).Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues.Routledge. p. 16.ISBN9781317464006.
- ^See the discussion in Solomon Getamun,History of the City of Gondar(Africa World Press, 2005), pp. 1-4
- ^Getamun,City of Gondar,p. 5
- ^There are many lists of these seven bridges; an example can be found in Richard Pankhurst,Economic History of Ethiopia(Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie University Press, 1968), pp. 297f
- ^James Bruce,Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile(1805 edition), vol. 3, pp. 435-437
- ^Feleke, Elehu, and Poluha, Eva.Thinking Outside the Box: Essays on the History and (Under)Development of Ethiopia.United Kingdom, Xlibris US, 2016.
- ^Various,Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History,BRILL, 2016, p. 585,
- ^Bernier,Travels in the Mogul Empire, A.D. 1656-1668,trans. Archibald Constable (Oxford: University Press, 1916), pp. 133-146
- ^Nathaniel T. Kenney, "Ethiopian Adventure",National Geographic,127(1965), p.557.
- ^abcdefMontgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1980). "The Imperial House of Ethiopia".Burke's royal families of the world: 2. vol.London: Burke's Peerage. p. 46.ISBN9780850110296.OCLC1015115240.
- ^Nathaniel T. Kenney, "Ethiopian Adventure",National Geographic,127(1965), p.557.
Further reading[edit]
- Emeri Johannes van Donzel,A Yemenite Embassy to Ethiopia 1647-1649 (Äthiopistische Forschungen Band 21)(Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1986)
External links[edit]
Media related toFasilides of Ethiopiaat Wikimedia Commons
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