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Yohannes I

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Yohannes I
ቀዳማዊ ዮሐንስ
Yohannes I as depicted on a French engraving
Emperor of Ethiopia
Reign18 October 1667 – 19 July 1682[1]
PredecessorFasilides
SuccessorIyasu I
Bornc.1640(1640)
Died19 July 1682(1682-07-19)(aged 41–42)
ConsortSabla Wangel[2][3]
Issue5 sons includingIyasu Iand 2 daughters.[4][5]
Regnal name
A'ilaf Sagad
HouseHouse of Solomon
FatherFasilides
ReligionOrthodox Tewahedo

Yohannes I(Ge'ez:ቀዳማዊ ዮሐንስ), also known asYohannes the Righteous(Ge'ez: ጻድቁ ዮሐንስ),throne nameA'ilaf Sagad(Ge'ez: አእላፍ ሰገድ;c.1640 – 19 July 1682) wasEmperor of Ethiopiafrom 1667 to 1682,[6]and a member of theSolomonic dynasty.He was the fourth son ofFasilides.

Yohannes was appointednəgusä nägästby a council of the senior dignitaries of the Empire, at the encouragement of the nobleBlattengetaMalka Krestos. The council then imprisoned the other sons of Fasilides on MountWehni,continuing the practice Fasilides had revived.

Ancestry[edit]

Yohannes was the eldest son of EmperorFasilidesand succeeded him 1662.[7][8]

Reign[edit]

Library and Chancellery of Yohannes I in theFasil Ghebbi,Gondar,Ethiopia.

According toG.W.B. Huntingford,Yohannes spent much of his reign campaigning, stating that 6 of the 11 itineraries he reproduced were military expeditions. Three of these were against theAgawinGojjam,andAgawmeder,one against theOromo,and two punitive expeditions to the area around Mount Ashgwagwa—AngotandLasta—to quash the revolts of Feres (in 1677) and Za Maryam (1679).[9]

On 15 July[note 1]1682, the ailing Emperor Yohannes I madeIyasu Ihis successor in his final proclamation. The dignitaries witnessing this proclamation were theBlattengetaAkala Krestos,DejazmachAnestasyos,Delba Iyasus,FitawrariFesseha Krestos,,AzazzKanafero,BashaLesana Krestos andAzazzZa-Wald among others.[10]

Emperor Yohannes died on 19 July and was buried at Teda.[11]

Religion under Yohannes[edit]

Chancellery of Yohannes I inGondar,Amhara Region.

Due to the violent religious controversy thatCatholicmissionaries had caused in Ethiopia under the reign of his grandfatherSusenyos,Yohannes acted harshly towardsEuropeans.In 1669, he directedGerazmachMikael to expel all of the Catholics still living in Ethiopia; those who did not embrace the beliefs of theEthiopian Churchwere exiled toSennar.SixFranciscanssent byPope Alexander VIIto succeed in converting Ethiopia to Catholicism where theJesuitshad failed 30 years before, were executed during his reign. As a result, he favoredArmenianvisitors, whose beliefs also embracedMiaphysitism,and were in harmony with the Ethiopian Church. These includedKhodja Murad,who undertook a number of diplomatic missions for the Emperor; and in 1679, the Emperor Yohannes received the Armenian bishop Yohannes, bearing a relic ofEwostatewos.

The growing controversy over thenature of Christhad grown severe enough that in the last year of his reign Yohannes called asynodto resolve the dispute. TheEwostathianmonks ofGojjamadvocated the formula "ThroughUnctionChrist the Son wasconsubstantialwith the Father ", by which they came to be known as theQebat( "Unction" ) faction, who were supported by the Emperor's own sonIyasu;they were opposed by the monks ofDebre Libanos,who at that time still advocated traditionalMiaphysitism.The outcome of the synod is in dispute: according to E.A. Wallis-Budge andH. Weld Blundell,Emperor Yohannes was convinced to condemn theQebatdoctrine, which led to Iyasu attempting to flee his father's realm; but according to Crummey, Yohannes favored the Gojjame delegation for political reasons: at the time Gojjam was an important province. These decisions were revisited once Iyasu became Emperor, at a synod he called in 1686.[12]

Family[edit]

Spouse[edit]

Sources mentions onlySabla Wangelas the spouse of Emperor Yohannes I. She married Yohannes in October 1668 and likely gave birth to all (or almost all[note 2]) of his offsprings. The marriage was dissolved in 1678 by the order of theAbunofAlexandria,on the grounds that it wasincestuous.Sabla Wangel's father was Gabra Maskal[note 3],the husband of Yohannes's paternalaunt,and therefore Sabla Wangel was anieceof Yohannes.[3]

Nonetheless, the former empress is remembered as a ‘‘greatpatronessof literature’’ who was knowledgeable abouttheologicalbooks and supported the production ofmanuscripts.Sabla Wangel died on 13 January 1690 and was buried as a queen in the royal cemetery on the island of Mesrasha atLake Tanaalongside Yohannes I.[3][4]

Descendants[edit]

Emperor Yohannes I had 5 sons (four of whom were named in sources), and 2 daughters.[4][5]

  • Yostos was his eldest son. He served as the governor ofSemien.He died on 11 June 1676.[4][13]
  • Iyasu the Greatwas his second son and successor.[4][13]
  • Tewofloswas his third son. Tewoflos reigned as Emperor between 1708 and 1711.[4]
  • Gelawdewos was his fourth son. Gelawdewos died after being struck bylightning,and was buried on the island of Mesrasha onLake Tana.[4]
  • Amlakawit was his eldest daughter. She married Basha Walda Giyorgis, a powerful retainer under Yohannes I. Amlakawit died young in 1669.[4]
  • Eleni his second daughter of Yohannes I; her mother is not named in the sources. She was one of the most influential woman of late 17th century Ethiopia. She died in 1708.[5]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Source say 15th ofHamle[10]which is 15th of July, seeEthiopian calendarfor more information.
  2. ^OnlyEleniis uncertain. Sources mention Eleni as a daughter of Yohannes I, and sister ofIyasu I,but does not mention the mother.[4][5]
  3. ^AbetoGabra Maskal[4]is in various sources also spelled asGabra Masqal[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^Stewart, John (2006).African States and Rulers(third ed.). London: McFarland & Company Inc. p. 93.
  2. ^Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928).A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 2).London: Methuen & Co. p. 406.
  3. ^abcdUhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro; Yimam, Baye (2010).Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: O-X.Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 436.ISBN978-3-447-06246-6.
  4. ^abcdefghijMontgomery-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.
  5. ^abcdUhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro; Yimam, Baye, eds. (2003).Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha.Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. p. 254.ISBN9783447052382.
  6. ^James Brucewrote that Yohannes ruled between 1665–1680, butE. A. Wallis Budgeshowed this was an error by identifying an eclipse seen in Ethiopia during his reign with one calculated to have occurred on 4 November 1668 (E.A. Wallis Budge,A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia,1928 [Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970], p. 408).
  7. ^Levine, Donald Nathan(1972).Wax & gold: tradition and innovation in Ethiopian culture.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 23.ISBN0226475638.OCLC1036909730.
  8. ^Pankhurst, Richard(2001).The Ethiopians: A History.Wiley. pp. 111, 116–118 and 125.ISBN9780631224938.
  9. ^G.W.B. Huntingford,The historical geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704,(Oxford University Press: 1989), pp. 187-200
  10. ^abAlāf Sagad, Zenahu la negus negast (1955).Annales Iohannis I, Iyāsu I, Bakāffā.Louvain L. Durbecq. p. 60.OCLC1244212657.Le 15 de hamlë, le roi se reposa des afflictions de ce monde passager, a la pointe du jour, un dimanche — evangéliste Marc — lian du monde 7:75. Ce meme jour les fonctionnaires qui etaient presents la-bas, a savoir le blattsengeta Akala Krestos, le da-Baz mas Anestasyos, 1 azai Za-Wald, l'azäz Kanäfero, le graz- mag Tequre; le fitawräri Fesseha Krestos (B Giyorgis), le dagazmaäë Dilba Iyasus, le basa Lesäna Krestos, avec les aza et les liq de droite et de gauche, proclamèrent roi son fils Iyäsu, comme porte l'usage des dispositions de la loi du règne.[On the 15th of Hamle, the king rested from the afflictions of this passing world, at daybreak, on a Sunday — Evangelist Mark — lian du monde 7:75. That same day the officials who were present there, namely the blattsengeta Akala Krestos, the da-Baz mas Anestasyos, 1 azai Za-Wald, the azäz Kanäfero, the graz-mag Tequre; the fitawräri Fesseha Krestos (B: Giyorgis), the dagazmaäë Dilba Iyasus, the basa Lesäna Krestos, with the aza and the liq of right and left, proclaimed his son Iyäsu king, as carries the use of the provisions of the law of the reign.]
  11. ^James Bruce,Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile(1805 edition), vol. 3, p. 447
  12. ^Budge, pp. 406f, 410f; H. Weld Blundell,The Royal chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840(Cambridge: University Press, 1922, p. 525; Donald Crummey,Priests and Politicians,1972 (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2007), p. 22.
  13. ^abUhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro, eds. (2003).Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N.Wiesbaden. pp. 249–250.ISBN9783447056076.OCLC921905105.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading[edit]

  • Richard K. P. Pankhurst.The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles.Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, 1967.
Regnal titles
Preceded by Emperor of Ethiopia
1667–1682 		Succeeded by
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