Yohannes III of Ethiopia
Encyclopedia
Emperor Yohannes III was the last of the elder "Gondar" line of the Solomonic dynasty
Solomonic dynasty
The Solomonic dynasty is the Imperial House of Abyssinia. Its members claim lineal descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the latter of whom tradition asserts gave birth to the first King Menelik I after her Biblically described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem .-Overview:The dynasty, a...

 to reign over 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...

. He was the son of Tekle Giyorgis
Tekle Giyorgis I of Ethiopia
Tekle Giyorgis I was Emperor of Ethiopia intermittently between 20 July 1779 and June 1800, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty...

. He was largely a figurehead, with real power in the hands of the Enderase or Regent, Ras Ali II
Ali II of Yejju
Ali II of Yejju was a Ras of Begemder and Enderase of the Emperor of Ethiopia. He was the son of Alula of Yejju, sometime governor of Damot and then of Gojjam, and Menen Liben Amede, later Empress of Ethiopia, and grandson of Gugsa of Yejju, by his fourth wife, Amata Selassie, daughter of Emperor...

 a princeling of the Oromo
Oromo 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...

 ruling family of the district of Yejju. Ras Ali had compelled Emperor Yohannes to marry Ras Ali's mother, the formidable Empress Menen Liben Amede, who dominated both her second husband and her son.

Life

During the various wars between Ras Ali and his leading rival for power, Dejazmach Wube Haile Maryam of Semien
Semien province
Semien Province was a historical province of northwest Ethiopia, often called Gondar. It was located south and west of the Tekezé River, and north of Lake Tsana. It was south west of Enderta Province, west of Tembien Province, and east of the Sudan. To some extent it covered the territory of the...

, Emperor Yohannes was deposed and restored several times between 30 August 1840 and 1851, alternating with his cousin Sahle Dengel
Sahle Dengel of Ethiopia
Sahle Dengel was of Ethiopia intermittently between 1832 and 11 February 1855, towards the end of the Zemene Mesafint...

. Yohannes was deposed the first time (October 1841) for showing himself a friend to Dejazmach Wube; he was restored briefly in 1845, then restored once again "by some unknown means" in 1850, according to E. A. Wallis Budge.

Budge portrays Yohannes as a contemptible character, "only tolerated because he belonged to the Solomonic line. He was a glutton and a wine bibber, and was usually drunk, and when he was not in his banquet hall he was in his harim
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...

." On the other hand, according to Donald Crummey, he came under the influence of Catholic missionaries working with bishop Justin de Jacobis
Justin de Jacobis
Saint Justin de Jacobis was an Italian Lazarist missionary who became Vicar Apostolic of Abyssinia and titular Bishop of Nilopolis.-Biography:He was born at San Fele, Province of Potenza in southern Italy...

, converting to Roman Catholicism in 1851.

His ultimate fate is unclear—as well as many of the details of his reign. He is said to have been ruling as Emperor 18 June 1847 when Mennen was defeated in combat near the northern shores of Lake Tana
Lake Tana
Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...

 by Kassa of Qwara
Qwara Province
Qwara was a province in Ethiopia, located between Lake Tana and the frontier with Sudan, and stretcing from Agawmeder in the south as far north as Metemma...

 (the future Tewodros II
Tewodros II of Ethiopia
Tewodros II was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death....

), who captured Yohannes and Mennen and traded them to Ras Ali for the title of Dejazmach and the territories of the deceased Ras Kinfu in Gojjam
Gojjam
Gojjam was a kingdom in the north-western part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos. This region is distinctive for lying entirely within the bend of the Abbay River from its outflow from Lake Tana to the Sudan...

. Another source states that when Kassa finally usurped the Imperial throne, Yohannes agreed to step down from the throne on the condition that the new Emperor guarantee that he would not ever be made to reunite with his much hated wife, Empress Mennen.

After this, Yohannes lived as a commoner. In 1856, the Catholics in Ethiopia tried to interest him in returning to the throne, but he was far more interested in undertaking a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, then two years later joined the court of Emperor Tewodros and returned to the Ethiopian Church. He was still part of Tewodros' court in April 1866, when Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam , was a native Assyrian Assyriologist, British diplomat and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest literature...

 mentions "the puppet Emperor, Hatse Yuhannes, who was sick and could come to the assembly". One of his letters survive, written 11 June 1869, in which he asks Napoleon III for financial relief. According to a letter written by his nephew, Tesemma Zerubabel, to Antoine d'Abbadie and dated 25 September 1875, Yohannes died "two years previously", which would be 1873.
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