Yohannes I

Yohannes I (Ge'ez: ቀዳማዊ ዮሐንስ), also known as Yohannes the Righteous (Ge'ez: ጻድቁ ዮሐንስ), throne name A'ilaf Sagad (Ge'ez: አእላፍ ሰገድ; c. 1640 – 19 July 1682) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1667 to 1682,[5] and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the fourth son of Fasilides.

Yohannes I
Yohannes I as depicted on a French engraving
Emperor of Ethiopia
Reign1667–1682
PredecessorFasilides
SuccessorIyasu I
Bornc. 1640 (1640)
Died19 July 1682(1682-07-19) (aged 41–42)
ConsortSabla Wangel[1][2]
Issue5 sons including Iyasu I and 2 daughters.[3][4]
Regnal name
A'ilaf Sagad
HouseHouse of Solomon
FatherFasilides
ReligionOrthodox Tewahedo

Yohannes was appointed nəgusä nägäst by a council of the senior dignitaries of the Empire, at the encouragement of the noble Blattengeta Malka Krestos. The council then imprisoned the other sons of Fasilides on Mount Wehni, continuing the practice Fasilides had revived.

Ancestry

Of Amhara descent, Yohannes was the eldest son of Emperor Fasilides and succeeded him 1662.[6][7]

Reign
Library and Chancellery of Yohannes I in the Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar, Ethiopia.

According to G.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 the Agaw in Gojjam, and Agawmeder, one against the Oromo, and two punitive expeditions to the area around Mount Ashgwagwa—Angot and Lasta—to quash the revolts of Feres (in 1677) and Za Maryam (1679).[8]

On 15th of July[note 1] 1682, the ailing Emperor Yohannes I made Iyasu I his successor in his final proclamation. The dignitaries witnessing this proclamation were the Blattengeta Akala Krestos, Dejazmach Anestasyos, Delba Iyasus, Fitawrari Fesseha Krestos,, Azazz Kanafero, Basha Lesana Krestos and Azazz Za-Wald among others.[9]

Emperor Yohannes died on 19 July and was buried at Teda.[10]

Religion under Yohannes
Chancellery of Yohannes I in Gondar, Amhara Region.

Due to the violent religious controversy that Catholic missionaries had caused in Ethiopia under the reign of his grandfather Susenyos, Yohannes acted harshly towards Europeans. In 1669, he directed Gerazmach Mikael to expel all of the Catholics still living in Ethiopia; those who did not embrace the beliefs of the Ethiopian Church were exiled to Sennar. Six Franciscans sent by Pope Alexander VII to succeed in converting Ethiopia to Catholicism where the Jesuits had failed 30 years before, were executed during his reign. As a result, he favored Armenian visitors, whose beliefs also embraced Miaphysitism, and were in harmony with the Ethiopian Church. These included Khodja 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 of Ewostatewos.

The growing controversy over the nature of Christ had grown severe enough that in the last year of his reign Yohannes called a synod to resolve the dispute. The Ewostathian monks of Gojjam advocated the formula "Through Unction Christ the Son was consubstantial with the Father", by which they came to be known as the Qebat ("Unction") faction, who were supported by the Emperor's own son Iyasu; they were opposed by the monks of Debre Libanos, who at that time still advocated traditional Miaphysitism. The outcome of the synod is in dispute: according to E.A. Wallis-Budge and H. Weld Blundell, Emperor Yohannes was convinced to condemn the Qebat doctrine, 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.[11]

Family

Spouse

Sources mentions only Sabla Wangel as 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 the Abun of Alexandria, on the grounds that it was incestuous. Sabla Wangel's father was Gabra Maskal[note 3], the husband of Yohannes's paternal aunt, and therefore Sabla Wangel was a niece of Yohannes.[2]

Nonetheless, the former empress is remembered as a ‘‘great patroness of literature’’ who was knowledgeable about theological books and supported the production of manuscripts. Sabla Wangel died on 13 January 1690 and was buried as a queen in the royal cemetery on the island of Mesrasha at Lake Tana alongside Yohannes I.[2][3]

Descendants

Emperor Yohannes I had 5 sons (four of whom were named in sources), and 2 daughters.[3][4]

  • Yostos was his eldest son. He served as the governor of Semien. He died on 11 June 1676.[3][12]
  • Iyasu the Great was his second son and successor.[3][12]
  • Tewoflos was his third son. Tewoflos reigned as Emperor between 1708 and 1711.[3]
  • Gelawdewos was his fourth son. Gelawdewos died after being struck by lightning, and was buried on the island of Mesrasha on Lake Tana.[3]
  • Amlakawit was his eldest daughter. She married Basha Walda Giyorgis, a powerful retainer under Yohannes I. Amlakawit died young in 1669.[3]
  • 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.[4]

Notes
  1. Source say 15th of Hamle[9] which is 15th of July, see Ethiopian calendar for more information.
  2. Only Eleni is uncertain. Sources mention Eleni as a daughter of Yohannes I, and sister of Iyasu I, but does not mention the mother.[3][4]
  3. Abeto Gabra Maskal[3] is in various sources also spelled as Gabra Masqal[2]

References
  1. Budge, E. A. Wallis (1928). A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume 2). London: Methuen & Co. p. 406.
  2. Uhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro; Yimam, Baye (2010). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: O-X. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 436. ISBN 978-3-447-06246-6.
  3. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1980). "The Imperial House of Ethiopia". Burke's royal families of the world : 2. vol. London: Burke's Peerage. p. 46. ISBN 9780850110296. OCLC 1015115240.
  4. Uhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro; Yimam, Baye, eds. (2003). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. p. 254. ISBN 9783447052382.
  5. James Bruce wrote that Yohannes ruled between 1665–1680, but E. A. Wallis Budge showed 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).
  6. Levine, Donald Nathan (1972). Wax & gold: tradition and innovation in Ethiopian culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 23. ISBN 0226475638. OCLC 1036909730.
  7. Pankhurst, Richard (2001). The Ethiopians: A History. Wiley. pp. 111, 116-118 and 125. ISBN 9780631224938.
  8. G.W.B. Huntingford, The historical geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704, (Oxford University Press: 1989), pp. 187-200
  9. Alāf Sagad, Zenahu la negus negast (1955). Annales Iohannis I, Iyāsu I, Bakāffā. Louvain L. Durbecq. p. 60. OCLC 1244212657. 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.]
  10. James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1805 edition), vol. 3, p. 447
  11. 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.
  12. Uhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro, eds. (2003). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N. Wiesbaden. pp. 249–250. ISBN 9783447056076. OCLC 921905105.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading
  • Richard K. P. Pankhurst. The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles. Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, 1967.
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