Blattengeta Heruy Welde Sellase
Encyclopedia
Blattengeta Heruy Welde Sellase (8 May 1878 – 19 September 1938; ብላቴን፡ጌታ፡ኅሩይ፡ወልደ፡ሥላሴ Blatten-Geta Həruy Wäldä-səllase) was a Foreign Minister of Ethiopia
and a writer in Amharic
. Bahru Zewde observes that his career "stands out as the great success story ... of the early twentieth-century intellectuals," then continues, "His profilic literary record, his influence with Tafari-Hayla-Sellase and his ascent in the bureaucratic hierarchy were all characterized by an unchequered progression. Edward Ullendorff
concurs in this evaluation, describing his oeuvre as "a considerable and distinguished literary output."
John Spencer, who met Heruy in early 1936, described him as "a short, rotund, white-haired man ... with a goatee and a café au lait complexion. His corpulent build and backward-leaning stance suggested a Santa Claus, except for his black cape and the absence of a sparkle in his eyes. He was remarkably ponderous and deliberate (qunin), in his movements, perhaps reflecting the importance which he assigned to his position as foreign minister and to the reputation which he had earned among Ethiopians for his writings on Ethiopian history."
, Heruy received his initial education in the traditional manner at local churches until his father died when he was 13. He found a living working as deacon to a big landlord in return for food and clothing until he achieved an appointment as clerk to Dejazmach Bashah Abboye, the governor of Selale. Continuing in other clerical positions, he eventually came to the notice of the priests of Saint Raguel on Mount Entoto
, who rekindled his desire for learning. He joined the school attached to that church, where he was taught by the Ethiopian Orthodox priest Mamher Walda Giyorgis. According to Bahru Zewde, it was Walda Giyorgis who gave him his name "Heruy" (Amharic
"precious"). Not satisfied with a traditional education, Heruy cast his eyes further afield and learned English at the Swedish mission school in Addis Ababa then picked up some French working with a French veterinary team. Regent Ras Tefari (later Emperor Haile Selassie) appointed Heruy in 1916 to serve as administrator of Addis Ababa
. He was a member of Ethiopia's first delegation to the League of Nations
(7 August 1922) and part of the retinue that accompanied the Regent on his tour of Europe in 1924. By the early 1930s, he was promoted to Foreign Minister, and held that office at the beginning of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
A diplomatic mission to Japan in 1931 left him sufficiently impressed to argue for strengthened ties between the two nations. He hoped that by modeling their military training and modernization on Japan they could remain independent. This hoped proved illusory and the pro-Ethiopian aspect of the Japanese military fully accepted alliance with Italy soon after the war with that country began.
Heruy joined his Emperor in exile, although he had been one of three members of the council who had voted against Haile Selassie leaving Ethiopia to address the League of Nations in Geneva. Heruy died at Fairford
. Haile Selassie, who described Heruy in his autobiography as "brilliant and strong-willed", included the following words in his elegy at Heruy's funeral:
izer" views. The term refers to an Ethiopian school of thought that arose in the early Twentieth Century which compared Ethiopia to Japan, and favored a modernization movement similar to the Meiji Restoration
; other intellectuals included Heruy's friend Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam
. More than most, Heruy saw similarities between Japan and Ethiopia. These included that both had longstanding imperial lines, both had had "roving capitals", and both had resisted the West. He believed that Ethiopia and Japan needed to be more aware of each other as they both resembled each other in his opinion. That being said he recognized Japan was the more prosperous of the two and had more successfully modernized. His 1932 work Mahidere Birhan: Hagre Japan ("The Document of Japan") spelled out this philosophy.
Heruy's only novel, the first written and published since Afawarq Gabra Iyasus's Lebb Wallad Tarik, is Addis Aläm ("The New World"), published in 1932. As Jack Fellman explains, "The plot of the 80-page novel is basically simple, the narrative proceeds quickly and vividly with few complications, and the language is clear and concise. No foreign words are used." It recounts the life of one Awwaqa, who is born in Tegulet, which Heruy describes as a remote and backward village. He desires to be educated and succeeds in going to France by taking service with a visiting Frenchman. While in Paris Awwaqa studies languages and sciences, but after eight years feels homesick and returns to Tagulat. Once he returns, however he finds his family and friends cannot tolerate his new "revolutionary" foreign ideas. The novel continues expands the theme of the conflict between Awwaqa's modern European ideas and Ethiopia's more traditional ones. Addis Alam ends on an optimistic note, "perhaps as befitting a pioneering work" writes Jack Fellman, with a compromise solution proposed by the Ethiopian Church meets and recognizes the benefits of the western world and the need to change at least some aspects of Ethiopia's traditional ways.
His son, Sirak Heruy, who was educated at Victoria College
in Alexandria and Oxford University, translated Samuel Johnson
's Rasselas into Amharic.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and a writer in Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
. Bahru Zewde observes that his career "stands out as the great success story ... of the early twentieth-century intellectuals," then continues, "His profilic literary record, his influence with Tafari-Hayla-Sellase and his ascent in the bureaucratic hierarchy were all characterized by an unchequered progression. Edward Ullendorff
Edward Ullendorff
Edward Ullendorff FBA was a British scholar and historian, especially in Semitic languages and Ethiopia.-Biography:...
concurs in this evaluation, describing his oeuvre as "a considerable and distinguished literary output."
John Spencer, who met Heruy in early 1936, described him as "a short, rotund, white-haired man ... with a goatee and a café au lait complexion. His corpulent build and backward-leaning stance suggested a Santa Claus, except for his black cape and the absence of a sparkle in his eyes. He was remarkably ponderous and deliberate (qunin), in his movements, perhaps reflecting the importance which he assigned to his position as foreign minister and to the reputation which he had earned among Ethiopians for his writings on Ethiopian history."
Career
Born Gebre Masqal in the region of MenzMenz
Menz or Manz is a province of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region...
, Heruy received his initial education in the traditional manner at local churches until his father died when he was 13. He found a living working as deacon to a big landlord in return for food and clothing until he achieved an appointment as clerk to Dejazmach Bashah Abboye, the governor of Selale. Continuing in other clerical positions, he eventually came to the notice of the priests of Saint Raguel on Mount Entoto
Mount Entoto
Mount Entoto is the highest peak overlooking the city of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Mount Entoto is part of the Entoto mountain chain, reaching 3,200 meters above sea level. It is also a historical place where Menelik II resided and built his palace, when he came from Ankober and...
, who rekindled his desire for learning. He joined the school attached to that church, where he was taught by the Ethiopian Orthodox priest Mamher Walda Giyorgis. According to Bahru Zewde, it was Walda Giyorgis who gave him his name "Heruy" (Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
"precious"). Not satisfied with a traditional education, Heruy cast his eyes further afield and learned English at the Swedish mission school in Addis Ababa then picked up some French working with a French veterinary team. Regent Ras Tefari (later Emperor Haile Selassie) appointed Heruy in 1916 to serve as administrator of Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. He was a member of Ethiopia's first delegation to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
(7 August 1922) and part of the retinue that accompanied the Regent on his tour of Europe in 1924. By the early 1930s, he was promoted to Foreign Minister, and held that office at the beginning of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
A diplomatic mission to Japan in 1931 left him sufficiently impressed to argue for strengthened ties between the two nations. He hoped that by modeling their military training and modernization on Japan they could remain independent. This hoped proved illusory and the pro-Ethiopian aspect of the Japanese military fully accepted alliance with Italy soon after the war with that country began.
Heruy joined his Emperor in exile, although he had been one of three members of the council who had voted against Haile Selassie leaving Ethiopia to address the League of Nations in Geneva. Heruy died at Fairford
Fairford
Fairford is a small town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswolds on the River Coln, about east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park.-Schools:...
. Haile Selassie, who described Heruy in his autobiography as "brilliant and strong-willed", included the following words in his elegy at Heruy's funeral:
- My colleague and friend Herui, as you depart after successful completion of your service to your country, if I fail to say 'you are great', your works would give the lie to my words. Although the storm generated by wicked people destabilized the world and buffeted you, it did not defeat you. Yet you had to obey the rule of the Great and Kind Lord. We are all subject to this eventually.
Intellectual importance
He was also known for writing his "JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
izer" views. The term refers to an Ethiopian school of thought that arose in the early Twentieth Century which compared Ethiopia to Japan, and favored a modernization movement similar to the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
; other intellectuals included Heruy's friend Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam
Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam
Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam was an Ethiopian politician and intellectual of russophile. He was the primary author of Ethiopia's July 16, 1931 constitution, which was influenced by the Japanese Meiji Constitution.- Life :Bahru Zewde includes Tekle Hawariat in the first generation of Ethiopians...
. More than most, Heruy saw similarities between Japan and Ethiopia. These included that both had longstanding imperial lines, both had had "roving capitals", and both had resisted the West. He believed that Ethiopia and Japan needed to be more aware of each other as they both resembled each other in his opinion. That being said he recognized Japan was the more prosperous of the two and had more successfully modernized. His 1932 work Mahidere Birhan: Hagre Japan ("The Document of Japan") spelled out this philosophy.
Heruy's only novel, the first written and published since Afawarq Gabra Iyasus's Lebb Wallad Tarik, is Addis Aläm ("The New World"), published in 1932. As Jack Fellman explains, "The plot of the 80-page novel is basically simple, the narrative proceeds quickly and vividly with few complications, and the language is clear and concise. No foreign words are used." It recounts the life of one Awwaqa, who is born in Tegulet, which Heruy describes as a remote and backward village. He desires to be educated and succeeds in going to France by taking service with a visiting Frenchman. While in Paris Awwaqa studies languages and sciences, but after eight years feels homesick and returns to Tagulat. Once he returns, however he finds his family and friends cannot tolerate his new "revolutionary" foreign ideas. The novel continues expands the theme of the conflict between Awwaqa's modern European ideas and Ethiopia's more traditional ones. Addis Alam ends on an optimistic note, "perhaps as befitting a pioneering work" writes Jack Fellman, with a compromise solution proposed by the Ethiopian Church meets and recognizes the benefits of the western world and the need to change at least some aspects of Ethiopia's traditional ways.
His son, Sirak Heruy, who was educated at Victoria College
Victoria College, Alexandria
Victoria College, Alexandria, was founded in 1902 under the impetus of the recently ennobled Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer of the Barings Bank, that was heavily invested in Egyptian stability. For years the British Consul-General was ex officio on the board of Victoria College...
in Alexandria and Oxford University, translated Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
's Rasselas into Amharic.
Writings
Heruy Welde Sellase published 28 books, which include the following:- Yä-həywät tarik (Biographie): bähʷala zämän läminäsu ləǧǧočč mastawäqiya [History of Life (Biography): A Guide for Future Generations] Addis Abeba: E.C.Ethiopian calendarThe Ethiopian calendar , also called the Ge'ez calendar, is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and also serves as the liturgical calendar for Christians in Eritrea belonging to the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church and Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea...
1915 (= AD 1922/1923) - Wädaǧe ləbbe [My Friend, my Heart]. Addis Abeba: Imprimerie Éthiopienne E.C. 1915.
- Goha Ṣäbah. Addis Abeba: Imprimerie du Gouvernement d'Éthiopie E.C. 1919
- Yä-ləbb assab : yä-bərhan-ənna yä-ṣəyon mogäsa gabəčča [Thought of the Heart: Majestic Marriage of Light and Zion]. Addis Abeba: Goha Ṣäbah E.C. 1923
- Addis Aläm [New World]. Addis Abeba: Goha Ṣäbah E.C. 1924 Eth.
- Mahdara berhan hagara Japan [The Source of Light: The Country of Japan]. Addis Ababa: Gobi Sebah Press, 1932. (Translated into Japanese by Oreste Vaccari as Dai Nihon [Great Japan], foreword by Baron Shidehara Kijuro. Tokyo, Eibunpo-Tsuron Shoji, 1933),
- Əne-nna wädaǧočče, mälk gəṭəm bä-səmaččäw [Me and my Friends, Poetry of Appearance through their Names]. Addis Abeba: Goha Ṣäbah E.C. 1927
Further reading
- Thomas L. Kane. Ethiopian Literature in Amharic. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1975. ISBN 3-447-01675-2
- Asfa-Wossen AsserateAsfa-Wossen AsseratePrince Asfa-Wossen Asserate , is a management consultant and an author writing in German, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty, the deposed royal family of Ethiopia...
. Die Geschichte von Šawā (Äthiopien) 1700–1865 nach dem Tārika Nagaśt des Belāttēn Gētā Heruy Walda Śellāsē. Studien zur Kulturkunde 53. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag 1980. ISBN 3-515-02936-2.