Menelek II of Ethiopia
Emperor
Menelik II (
Ge'ez ም'ልክ), also known as
Sahle Maryam of Shewa (
August 17,
1844 –
December 12,
1913), was
of
Ethiopia from
1889 to his death.
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Menelek II |
Menelek IIThe son of
Negus Haile Melekot of
Shewa, prince Sahle Maryam was born in
Ankober, Shewa. On the death of his father in
1855 he, just named as his successor as king of Shewa by his father, was taken prisoner by Emperor
Tewodros II, a former minor noble originally named Kassa of
Qwara, who had usurped the Imperial throne from the last Emperor of the elder Gondar branch of the
Solomonic dynasty, Emperor
Yohannes III or from emperor
Sahle Dengel. Young Sahle Maryam of Shewa was imprisoned on Tewodros' mountain stronghold of
Magdala, but was treated well by the Emperor, even marrying Tewodros's daughter Alitash. However, he eventually succeeded at escaping from Magdala and abandoned his wife, returning to Shewa to reclaim his ancestral crown and at once attacked the usurper claiming the Imperial throne for himself as well. These campaigns were unsuccessful, and he turned his arms to the west, east and south, and annexed much territory to his kingdom, still, however, maintaining his claims to the Imperial Crown of Ethiopia in addition to the royal one of Shewa.
In
1883, Negus Sahle Maryam married
Taytu Betul, a noblewoman of Imperial blood, and a member of the leading families of the regions of
Semien,
Gojjam and
Begemder. Her uncle Dejazmatch
Wube Haile Maryam had been the ruler of
Tigray and much of northern Ethiopia. She had been married four times previously and exercised considerable influence. Menelik and Taytu would have no children. Menelik had, previous to this marriage, sired not only
Zauditu (eventually Empress of Ethiopia), but also another daughter, Shoaregga (who married
Ras Mikael of
Wollo), and a son Prince Wossen Seged who died in childhood. Menelek's clemency to Ras Mangasha, whom he compelled to submit and then made hereditary Prince of his native Tigray, was ill repaid by a long series of revolts by that prince.
After the suicide of Tewodros II in
1868 following his defeat at the hands of the British at Magdalla, Sahle Maryam continued to struggle against the various other claimants to the Imperial throne. The eventual successor, the Emperor Yohannes IV was able to better exert his claims with the large number of weapons left to him by the British, whom he had aided against Tewodros. Being again unsuccessful, Menelek resolved to await a more propitious occasion; so, acknowledging the supremacy of Yohannes. In
1886 Menelik married his daughter Zauditu to the Emperor's son, the
Ras Araya Selassie. Ras Araya Selassie died in May
1888 without any issue by Zauditu of Shewa, and the Emperor Yohannis IV was killed in a war against the
dervishes at the
battle of Gallabat (Matemma) on
May 10,
1889. The succession now lay between the late emperor's natural son, Ras
Mengesha, and Sahle Maryam of Shewa, but the latter was able to obtain the allegiance of a large majority of the nobility on
November 4, and consecrated and crowned as Emperor Menelek II shortly afterwards. Menelek argued that while the family of Yohannes IV claimed descent from King
Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba through females of the dynasty, his own claim was based on uninterrupted direct male lineage which made the claims of the House of Shewa equal to those of the elder
Gondar line of the dynasty.
In
1889, at the time when he was claiming the throne against Mengesha, Menelek signed at
Wuchale in Wollo province (Uccialli in Italian), a treaty with
Italy acknowledging the establishment of the new Italian Colony of
Eritrea with its seat at
Asmara. This colony had previously been part of the northern Tigrayan territories from which ras Mangasha had generated support, and the establishment of the Italian colony weakend the Ras. However, it was soon found that the Italian version of one of the articles of the treaty placed the Ethiopian Empire under Italian domination, while the
Amharic version did not. Menelek denounced it, and after negotiations failed, abrogated it, leading Italy to declare war and invade from Eritrea. After defeating the Italians at
Amba Alagi and
Mekele, he inflicted an even greater defeat on them, in the
Battle of Adowa on
March 1,
1896, forcing them to capitulate. A treaty was signed recognizing the absolute independence of Ethiopia.
Menelek II's French sympathies were shown in a reported official offer of treasure towards payment of the indemnity at the close of the
Franco-Prussian War, and in February
1897 he concluded a commercial treaty with
France on very favorable terms. He also gave assistance to French officers who sought to reach the upper
Nile from Ethiopia, there to join forces with the
Marchand Mission; and Ethiopian armies were sent towards the Nile, but withdrew when the
Fashoda Crisis between France and the United Kingdom cooled off. A
British mission under Sir
Rennell Rodd in May 1897, however, was cordially received, and Menelek agreed to a settlement of the
Somali boundaries, to keep open to British commerce the caravan route between
Zaila and
Harrar, and to prevent the transit of munitions of war to the
Mahdists, whom he proclaimed enemies of Ethiopia.
In the following year the
Sudan was reconquered by an Anglo-
Egyptian army and thereafter cordial relations between Menelek and the British authorities were established. In 1889 and subsequent years, Menelek sent forces to co-operate with the British troops engaged against a Somali leader,
Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.
Menelek had in
1898 crushed a rebellion by Ras Mangasha (who died in
1906) and he directed his efforts henceforth to the consolidation of his authority, and in a certain degree, to the opening up of his country to
western civilization. He had granted in
1894 a concession for the building of a
railway to his capital from the French port of
Djibouti, but, alarmed by a claim made by France in
1902 to the control of the line in Ethiopian territory, he stopped for four years the extension of the railway beyond
Dire Dawa. When in 1906 France, the United Kingdom and Italy came to an agreement on the subject, granting control to a joint venture corporation, Menelek officially reiterated his full sovereign rights over the whole of his empire.
In May
1909 the emperor's grandson
Lij Iyasu (later Iyasu V) by his late daughter Shoaregga, then a lad of thirteen, was married to Romanework Mangasha (b.
1902), granddaughter of the Emperor Yohannes IV by his natural son Ras Mangasha, and was also the niece of Empress Taytu. Two days later Iyasu was publicly proclaimed at
Addis Ababa as Menelek's successor. At that time the emperor was seriously ill and as his ill-health continued, a council of regency " from which the empress was excluded " was formed in March
1910. Lij Iyasu's marriage to Romanework Mangasha was dissolved, and he married Seble Wongel Hailu, daughter of
Ras Hailu, and granddaughter of Negus
Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam. Emperor Menelek II died December 12, 1913 of a stroke and is buried at the
Baeta Le Mariam Monastery Church of
Addis Ababa.
It is disputed - but possible - that Menelek II's
Tsehafi Tezaz Gebre Selassie was the Emperor's biological son outside of marriage. Although his inclusion/exclusion in the royal family tree remains controversial, he was given a very preferential treatment by the Emperor. Other rumored natural children of the Emperor include Ras
Birru Wolde Gabriel and Dejazmach
Kebede Tessema. The latter is often in turn rumored to be the natural grandfather of Colonel
Mengistu Haile Mariam, the communist leader of the
Derg who would eventually depose the monarchy and assume power in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. However, the only children that Melelek II aknowledged publicly were Zauditu, Shoaregga and Wossen Seged. Of these three, only Shoaregga has present day decendents.
During the late 1890s Menelek was told of the 'new' method of executing crimnals was using
electric chairs and he ordered 3 for his kingdom. Unfortunately, he did not know that
electricity (which had yet to be introduced to
Ethiopia) was required to kill the criminal. Rather than wasting his investment, Menelik chose to use one of the chairs as his throne, sending another to
Lique Mequas Abate.
*Paul B. Henze. "Yohannes IV and Menelik II: The Empire Restored, Expanded, and Defended" in
Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York: Palgrave, 2000. ISBN 0-312-22719-1
*David Levering Lewis. "Pawns of Pawns" in
The Race to Fashoda. New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987. ISBN 1-55584-058-2
*
*
Imperial Ethiopia Homepages - Emperor Menelik II the Early Years*
Imperial Ethiopia Homepages - Emperor Menelik II the Later Years*
Ethiopian Treasures - Emperor Menelik II
