Haile Melekot
Encyclopedia
Haile Malakot was Negus
of Shewa
, a historical region of Ethiopia
, from 12 October 1847 until his death. He was the older son of Negus Sahle Selassie
and his wife Woizero Bezabish
Wolde. Haile Melekot was half-brother to Darge Sahle Selassie
.
origin, others insist that she was among the ladies who were brought from the Imperial court at Gondar
to Ankober
to instruct the royal women of Shewa on court etiquette so that the Shewan branch of the dynasty could adopt the same court practices as the elder Gondar branch. In May 1845 he married his second wife, Woizero Tideneqialesh, who was a former wife of a court official.
Haile Melekot was known as Lij Besha Warad before he became king. It was well known that Sahle Selassie favored his younger son, Seyfe Sahle Selassie, and it was widely rumored that he would make his younger son his heir. However, he publicly announced that Haile Melekot would inherit the kingdom, had Seyfe swear to abide by this decision, and although mortally ill shortly before his death travelled to Debre Berhan
where he asked his vassal Oromo lords to remain loyal to Haile Melekot.
Nonetheless, in Mordechai Abir's words, Sahle Selassie's death "was a signal for a blood bath which surpassed anything that ever occurred in the annals of Showa." The Abichu Oromo rose in open revolt, attempting to recover control of the district of Tegulet and came close to capturing the capital of Ankober
. Only the loyalty of some of the other Oromo chiefs and the Shewan supply of firearms saved the capital. Haile Melekot afterwards managed to persuade the meet with him at Angolalla, where he persuaded them to end their revolt. By the beginning of 1848, he was firmly in control of his kingdom, and even organized a campaign against the Arsi Oromo
, who had been raiding the south-western parts of Shewa for years.
, who was on his way to Jerusalem; the pilgrim also informed the consul that a gift consisting of 26 elephant tusks and 31 rhinoceros horns were en route to the British at Aden
. Although it was agreed that the pilgrim would stop on his return travel to pick up the British response, he was never seen again.
In this letter, Haile Melekot refers to the friendship between the United Kingdom and Shewa, asks why they did not send a servant on his father's death to bring condolences and for 1,500 Thalers
, with a verbal message by the courier asking for skilled workmen. Misunderstanding the intent of this letter (and not for the last time the British government misunderstood Ethiopian customs), Lord Palmerston responded on 4 July 1849 that Shewa lay too far away to send any workmen "and, moreover, the workmen in her dominions are at present much employed." With this letter a chest containing 300 sovereigns was sent; this gift was returned with a second letter containing the accusation that the coins were not made of gold but brass, and concluding, "Even if our friendship is gone, let there not be enmity between us."
Rubenson interprets this communication as evidence of Shewan "aloofness and suspicion" of European attention.He notes that the letter was sent not under the royal name of Haile Melekot, but as "Basad Wirad", the name he used before his coronation, and was most familiar to the Europeans visiting Shewa in his father's time knew him. The ruler, or at least his secretary, was unclear which country Victoria was queen over. As for the return of the coins, Rubenson believes "it is more likely that the King was prevented from accepting the gift by the same anti-European forces that had compelled Krapf and Harris to give up Shewa. Whatever the reason, the incident shows how difficult it was to create confidence and establish anythiing resembling ordinary diplomatic relations."
Inevitably, Haile Melekot's semi-independent kingdom (the Emperor of Ethiopia in Gondar
was still nominally the liege lord of the King of Shewa) came to the attention of Tewodros II
, who was successfully concluding the process of defeating the remaining warlords of Ethiopia and reuniting Ethiopia. Haile Melekot allied himself with the Oromo in the province Wollo
, which lay between him and Tewodros, but as Abir notes, he "was not made of the same stuff his father was, and could not provide the same inspiring leadership which had made Showa strong in the past." The Shewan army failed to provide any effective help to the Oromo leaders in Wollo, and with an army of 50,000 men, Tewodros crushed his divided opposition. After a pause for the rainy season, Tewodros then entered northern Shewa in 1855.
By this point Haile Melekot was discouraged and gravely sick. His brother Seyfe, dissatisfied with his indecision, led the army south from Wollo to Menz
then to Tegulet, abandoning Haile Melekot. The local governors were no match for the Emperor, and either were defeated or (like the governor of Efrata) went over to Tewodros' side. Rebellious Oromo burned Angolalla. The Negus of Shewa was horrified to learn that his mother Bezabish and his grandmother Zenebework
(respectively widow and mother of the late Sahle Selassie) had crossed to the camp of Tewodros II and paid him homage in exchange for a guarantee that their personal lands would not be touched. A despondent Haile Melekot made a few skirmishes against Tewodros' forces, then destroyed his food stores and his capital of Ankober to keep it out of Tewodros' hands. He died of his illness in the town of Atakelt, and was hastily buried at Debre Gage in Tara.
A handful of Shewan nobles fought on, until a final battle in Bulga
, where they were defeated by a detachment of Tewodros' troops under Ras Ingida. Accepting that further resistance was not possible, they delivered Menelik, the son and heir of Haile Melekot, to Tewodros. Emperor Tewodros appointed Haile Melekot's brother Haile Mikael governor, and the independence of Shewa came to an end.
Tewodros then turned his attention to the beautiful widow of Haile Melekot, Tidenekialesh. Recently widowed himself, the Emperor commanded her to accompany him back to Gondar. Tidenekialesh agreed to come, but asked for permission to first visit the Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion at Axum
, which she had never visited, before she arrived at Gondar. Tewodros gave his permission, upon which Tidenekialesh traveled to Axum, prayed at the shrine, then promptly fled to the coast, where after much difficulty, she was able to board a ship bound for the Holy Land
, where she entered the Ethiopian convent in Jerusalem, and died there several years later, as a nun. Upon learning this, Tewodros marveled at the loyalty of the widow of Haile Melekot in contrast to the betrayal of the late king's mother and grandmother.
Negus
Negus is a title in Ge'ez, Tigrinya, Tigre and Amharic, used for a king and at times also a vassal ruler in pre-1974 Ethiopia and pre-1890 Eritrea. It is subsequently used to translate the word "king" in Biblical and other literature...
of Shewa
Shewa
Shewa is a historical region of Ethiopia, formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire...
, a historical region of Ethiopia
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...
, from 12 October 1847 until his death. He was the older son of Negus Sahle Selassie
Sahle Selassie
Sahle Selassie was a Meridazmach of Shewa , an important noble of Ethiopia. He was a younger son of Wossen Seged...
and his wife Woizero Bezabish
Bezabish
Woizero Bezabish Wolde was the wife of Sahle Selassie, Negus of Shewa, mother of King Haile Melekot of Shewa, and grandmother of Emperor Menelik II. She held the districts of Bulga and Yifat as her personal fiefs...
Wolde. Haile Melekot was half-brother to Darge Sahle Selassie
Darge Sahle Selassie
Ras Darge Sahle Selassie was an Ethiopian prince. He was the son of Negus Sahle Selassie of Shewa and half-brother to Negus Haile Melekot, and the much respected and much loved uncle of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia....
.
Rise to power
His first wife was Woizero Ejigayehu (whom he married in 1844 and divorced in 1845); their one child, baptised Sahle Mariam, was renamed Menelik by Negus Sahle Selassie. Her background is disputed; some believe she was of OromoOromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
origin, others insist that she was among the ladies who were brought from the Imperial court at Gondar
Gondar
Gondar or Gonder is a city in Ethiopia, which was once the old imperial capital and capital of the historic Begemder Province. As a result, the old province of Begemder is sometimes referred to as Gondar...
to Ankober
Ankober
Ankober is a town in central Ethiopia and one of the capitals of the former kingdom of Shewa. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, Ankober is perched on the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian Highlands 40 kilometers to the east of Debre Birhan, with a latitude and longitude of ,...
to instruct the royal women of Shewa on court etiquette so that the Shewan branch of the dynasty could adopt the same court practices as the elder Gondar branch. In May 1845 he married his second wife, Woizero Tideneqialesh, who was a former wife of a court official.
Haile Melekot was known as Lij Besha Warad before he became king. It was well known that Sahle Selassie favored his younger son, Seyfe Sahle Selassie, and it was widely rumored that he would make his younger son his heir. However, he publicly announced that Haile Melekot would inherit the kingdom, had Seyfe swear to abide by this decision, and although mortally ill shortly before his death travelled to Debre Berhan
Debre Berhan
Debre Berhan is a city and woreda in central Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, about 120 kilometers north east of Addis Ababa on the paved highway to Dessie, the town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,840 meters...
where he asked his vassal Oromo lords to remain loyal to Haile Melekot.
Nonetheless, in Mordechai Abir's words, Sahle Selassie's death "was a signal for a blood bath which surpassed anything that ever occurred in the annals of Showa." The Abichu Oromo rose in open revolt, attempting to recover control of the district of Tegulet and came close to capturing the capital of Ankober
Ankober
Ankober is a town in central Ethiopia and one of the capitals of the former kingdom of Shewa. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, Ankober is perched on the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian Highlands 40 kilometers to the east of Debre Birhan, with a latitude and longitude of ,...
. Only the loyalty of some of the other Oromo chiefs and the Shewan supply of firearms saved the capital. Haile Melekot afterwards managed to persuade the meet with him at Angolalla, where he persuaded them to end their revolt. By the beginning of 1848, he was firmly in control of his kingdom, and even organized a campaign against the Arsi Oromo
Arsi Oromo
Arsi Oromo is one of the branches of the Oromo people inhabiting the Oromia Region, mainly in the Arsi and Bale Zones, and partly in the Misraq Shewa Zone. They claim to have descended from a single individual called Arse...
, who had been raiding the south-western parts of Shewa for years.
Reign
Harold Marcus notes that "little is known or remembered of the reign of Sahle Selassie's son, except for its end." While he is likely correct in stating that this lack of information "leads one to believe that his reign was undistinguished", one brief letter of Haile Melekot survives, undated but written in the spring of 1849 and addressed to "Victoria, Queen of the Ferangi" – i.e. the Europeans. According to Sven Rubenson, it was delivered by an Ethiopian pilgrim to the British consul at CairoCairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, who was on his way to Jerusalem; the pilgrim also informed the consul that a gift consisting of 26 elephant tusks and 31 rhinoceros horns were en route to the British at Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
. Although it was agreed that the pilgrim would stop on his return travel to pick up the British response, he was never seen again.
In this letter, Haile Melekot refers to the friendship between the United Kingdom and Shewa, asks why they did not send a servant on his father's death to bring condolences and for 1,500 Thalers
Maria Theresa thaler
The Maria Theresa thaler is a silver bullion-coin that has been used in world trade continuously. Maria Theresa Thalers were first minted in 1741, using the then Reichsthaler standard of 9 thalers to the Vienna mark. In 1750 the thaler was debased to 10 thalers to the Vienna Mark...
, with a verbal message by the courier asking for skilled workmen. Misunderstanding the intent of this letter (and not for the last time the British government misunderstood Ethiopian customs), Lord Palmerston responded on 4 July 1849 that Shewa lay too far away to send any workmen "and, moreover, the workmen in her dominions are at present much employed." With this letter a chest containing 300 sovereigns was sent; this gift was returned with a second letter containing the accusation that the coins were not made of gold but brass, and concluding, "Even if our friendship is gone, let there not be enmity between us."
Rubenson interprets this communication as evidence of Shewan "aloofness and suspicion" of European attention.He notes that the letter was sent not under the royal name of Haile Melekot, but as "Basad Wirad", the name he used before his coronation, and was most familiar to the Europeans visiting Shewa in his father's time knew him. The ruler, or at least his secretary, was unclear which country Victoria was queen over. As for the return of the coins, Rubenson believes "it is more likely that the King was prevented from accepting the gift by the same anti-European forces that had compelled Krapf and Harris to give up Shewa. Whatever the reason, the incident shows how difficult it was to create confidence and establish anythiing resembling ordinary diplomatic relations."
Inevitably, Haile Melekot's semi-independent kingdom (the Emperor of Ethiopia in Gondar
Gondar
Gondar or Gonder is a city in Ethiopia, which was once the old imperial capital and capital of the historic Begemder Province. As a result, the old province of Begemder is sometimes referred to as Gondar...
was still nominally the liege lord of the King of Shewa) came to the attention of Tewodros II
Tewodros II of Ethiopia
Tewodros II was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death....
, who was successfully concluding the process of defeating the remaining warlords of Ethiopia and reuniting Ethiopia. Haile Melekot allied himself with the Oromo in the province Wollo
Wollo
Wollo was a historical region and province in the northeastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Dessie. The province was named after the Wollo Oromo, who settled in this part of Ethiopia in the 17th century...
, which lay between him and Tewodros, but as Abir notes, he "was not made of the same stuff his father was, and could not provide the same inspiring leadership which had made Showa strong in the past." The Shewan army failed to provide any effective help to the Oromo leaders in Wollo, and with an army of 50,000 men, Tewodros crushed his divided opposition. After a pause for the rainy season, Tewodros then entered northern Shewa in 1855.
By this point Haile Melekot was discouraged and gravely sick. His brother Seyfe, dissatisfied with his indecision, led the army south from Wollo to Menz
Menz
Menz or Manz is a province of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region...
then to Tegulet, abandoning Haile Melekot. The local governors were no match for the Emperor, and either were defeated or (like the governor of Efrata) went over to Tewodros' side. Rebellious Oromo burned Angolalla. The Negus of Shewa was horrified to learn that his mother Bezabish and his grandmother Zenebework
Zenebework
Woizero Zenebework was the wife of Wossen Seged, Meridazmach of Shewa; the mother of Negus Sahle Selassie, the first Negus of Shewa; the grandmother of Negus Haile Melekot of Shewa; and the great-grandmother of Emperor Menelik II...
(respectively widow and mother of the late Sahle Selassie) had crossed to the camp of Tewodros II and paid him homage in exchange for a guarantee that their personal lands would not be touched. A despondent Haile Melekot made a few skirmishes against Tewodros' forces, then destroyed his food stores and his capital of Ankober to keep it out of Tewodros' hands. He died of his illness in the town of Atakelt, and was hastily buried at Debre Gage in Tara.
A handful of Shewan nobles fought on, until a final battle in Bulga
Bulga
Bulga can refer to:*Bulga Land District, a land district of Western Australia*Bulga Coal, an Australian mining company*Tarra-Bulga National Park, a national park in eastern Victoria, Australia...
, where they were defeated by a detachment of Tewodros' troops under Ras Ingida. Accepting that further resistance was not possible, they delivered Menelik, the son and heir of Haile Melekot, to Tewodros. Emperor Tewodros appointed Haile Melekot's brother Haile Mikael governor, and the independence of Shewa came to an end.
Aftermath
In an interesting postscript, Tewodros II is said to have disbelieved that Haile Melekot was really dead and demanded that his body be disinterred. When he saw the body of the dead king, the Emperor is said to have wept for him, saying it was a shame that illness should deny a brave man such as the King of Shewa, the honor of falling in battle. He ordered that Haile Melekot be re-buried with all the pomp and ceremony due to a king.Tewodros then turned his attention to the beautiful widow of Haile Melekot, Tidenekialesh. Recently widowed himself, the Emperor commanded her to accompany him back to Gondar. Tidenekialesh agreed to come, but asked for permission to first visit the Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion at Axum
Axum
Axum or Aksum is a city in northern Ethiopia which was the original capital of the eponymous kingdom of Axum. Population 56,500 . Axum was a naval and trading power that ruled the region from ca. 400 BC into the 10th century...
, which she had never visited, before she arrived at Gondar. Tewodros gave his permission, upon which Tidenekialesh traveled to Axum, prayed at the shrine, then promptly fled to the coast, where after much difficulty, she was able to board a ship bound for the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
, where she entered the Ethiopian convent in Jerusalem, and died there several years later, as a nun. Upon learning this, Tewodros marveled at the loyalty of the widow of Haile Melekot in contrast to the betrayal of the late king's mother and grandmother.