Sahle Selassie
Encyclopedia
Sahle Selassie was a Meridazmach (and later Negus
) of Shewa
(1813–1847), an important noble of Ethiopia
. He was a younger son of Wossen Seged
. Sahle Selassie was the father of Haile Melekot
, Seyfe Sahle Selassie, and Darge Sahle Selassie
rebels in Marra Biete
kept Sahle Selassie's older brother Bakure from promptly marching to their father's capital at Qundi to claim the succession. Although still a teenager, Sahle Selassie seized this chance at rule by rushing from the monastery at Sela Dingay
where he was a student "and probably with the support of his mother Zenebework
's Menz
ian kinsmen was proclaimed the Ras and Meridazmach of Shewa." Bakure belatedly arrived at Qundi only to be imprisoned in the state prison at Gonchu with his other brothers and some of his supporters.
Once securely in control, Sahle Selassie turned his attention to the rebels, both Amhara
and Oromo. He used diplomacy to win over the Abichu Oromo, who badly needed his help against their neighbors the Tulama Oromo, whom he defeated in the early 1820s. He followed this victory by rebuilding Debre Berhan
, which had been burned in an Oromo raid, as well as a number of other towns and consolidated his hold by founding a number of fortified villages, like Angolalla, in the Abichu territory. He extended the frontier of Shewa into Bulga
and Karayu, to the southeast into Arsi, and as far south as the territories of the Gurage
.
On the other hand, he continued the policy of his ancestor Amha Iyasus
in maintaining a buffer region to his north, created from the Yejju
and Wollo Oromo rulers in the area. This helped keep Shewa out of the reach of the northern warlords like Ras Ali II of Yejju
, who continued their own civil wars.
After a few years, Sahle Selassie felt his position secure enough that he proclaimed himself Negus, or king, of Shewa, Yifat
, the Oromo and the Gurage peoples, without the authority of the Emperor of Ethiopia in Gondar, but with his apparent acquiescence. However, in 1829 Shewa suffered a famine, then for two years, starting in 1830, was striken by a cholera
epidemic, where two thirds of the sick at Sahle Selassie's palace died. Then one of Sahle Selassie's generals, Medoko, rebelled and convinced a number of the elite Shewan matchlock
men to desert with him to join the Oromos. Together these adversaries threatened the existence of Shewa, and burned Angolalla. About the time Sahle Selassie put down this rebellion in 1834 or 1835, a drought afflicted Shewa for two years, killing most of the domestic animals and bringing famine to his people. Pankhurst also documents records of a second cholera epidemic in 1834, which spread south from Welo causing a great mortality. Sahle Selassie responded to the famine by opening the royal storehouses to the needy, endearing himself to his people. The famine came to an end in time for Medoko to rise again in rebellion, and although the general was quickly crushed, Sahle Selassie was then confronted by a crisis in the local church.
During the ongoing dispute over Christology
that had split the Ethiopian Church into a number of hostile factions, Shewa had embraced the doctrine of the Sost Lidet in opposition to the theory of Wold Qib, which was embraced in the north. The Sost Lidet was also embraced by the influential monastery of Debre Libanos
, located in Shewa. When Sahle Selassie sought to strengthen his power over the Shewan church by appointing men loyal to himself as trusties of the local monasteries—an act that brought the opposition not only of the monks themselves, but also of the Ichege, the abbot of the monastery of Debre Libanos and the second most powerful churchman in Ethiopia. Facing the threat of excommunication
, Sahle Selassie relented and on 24 November 1841 dismissed his appointees—only to find himself under attack by Shewan supporters of the Wold Qib in Menz
, Marra Biete, and other districts. At the moment the monarch managed to quiet this controversy, the arrival of a new Abuna
, Salama III
reawoke the resistance of the followers of the Wold Qib, and the new Abuna excommunicated Sahle Selassie in 1845. Despite the intervention of Imperial Regent, Ras Ali II
, Abuna Salama refused to lift the interdict, and Ras Ali finally arrested the Abuna in 1846 and banished him from Gondar
.
By this time, Sahle Selassie's health had begun to fail, and he was unable to pursue his intentions on the Imperial throne. Only the intervention of his close friends and advisers kept the Negus from abdicating the throne in favor of his son, and the final years of his reign are otherwise unremarkable.
Despite his many reverses against his political rivals inside Shewa and out, considered against any other period of history, Negus Sahle Selassie was a progressive and benevolent ruler. A contemporary British visitor, Charles Johnston, commented that the
Abir provides several examples of Sahle Selassie's interest in the well-being of his subjects:
Further examples of Sahle Selassie's skill in administration is his reform of the laws of his domain. Courts during the reign of his predecessors Asfa Wossen
and Wossen Seged followed both the Fetha Negest
, the traditional Ethiopian legal code, as well as customary practices, which Abir states "was extremely cruel. Death sentences, severance of limbs and branding with hot iron were very common." The Negus limited executions to extreme cases of treason, sacrilege and murder, and even then required approval from the Negus. Whenever possible, Sahle Selassie reduced a death sentence to life imprisonment or forfeiture of property; in the case of a murder conviction, where the traditional Ethiopian penalty was to hand the murderer over to the relatives of the victim, who would then exact their own punishment, the Negus worked to convince the relatives to accept blood money instead of killing the convicted man.
His reforms extended beyond criminal law and included administrative reforms. He developed a new structure of taxation that was not only fairer to his subjects, but brought in a more substantial and reliable revenue; it is estimated that around 1840 his revenue in cash alone was between 80,000 and 300,000 Maria Theresa Thaler
s. Legends circulated in Shewa about the storehouses of gold, silver, and ivory the Negus had not only in his palaces in Doqaqit, Har Ambit and Ankober
, but also hidden in mountain caves. "All in all," concludes Abir, "Showa can be considered, in a way, an archaic example of a welfare state
."
Sahle Selassie also worked to modernize his country, and like his contemporaries Goshu of Gojjam
and Wube Haile Maryam of Tigray
, he made contacts with European countries like France and Great Britain in hope of gaining craftsmen, educators, and above all firearms. Like his contemporaries, he understood the value of firearms, and increased the number in his armories from a few score when he took office to 500 in 1840, and doubled that number again by 1842. He signed treaties of friendship with both France (16 November 1841) and Great Britain (7 June 1841). The Negus also encouraged foreigners to settle in Shewa, and offered considerable incentives to them, such as the revenue from a large village he granted a Greek mason by the name of Demetrios. As a result, at one point a number of foreigners were present in Shewa, who included a number of Greeks, at least one Armenian, and several traders from Eastern lands.
"Despite his understanding of the value of foreign technology and the need for craftsmen from abroad Sahla Sellase had no desire for foreign missionaries," Pankhurst notes, and although the arrival of two Protestant missionaries in 1837 led to a diplomatic mission from Britain by William Cornwallis Harris
, both men were gently but firmly expelled in 1842.
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...
(1813–1847), an important noble 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...
. He was a younger son of Wossen Seged
Wossen Seged
Wossen Seged was a Meridazmach of Shewa, an important Prince of Ethiopia. He was the elder son of Asfa Wossen, by a woman of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the first ruler of Shewa to claim a higher title than Meridazmach, calling himself Ras.It is during the reign of Wossen Seged that the...
. Sahle Selassie was the father of Haile Melekot
Haile Melekot
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...
, Seyfe Sahle Selassie, and 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....
His life
When their father had been murdered, 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...
rebels in Marra Biete
Marra Biete
Marra Biete is a former province of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, north of Shewa Meda....
kept Sahle Selassie's older brother Bakure from promptly marching to their father's capital at Qundi to claim the succession. Although still a teenager, Sahle Selassie seized this chance at rule by rushing from the monastery at Sela Dingay
Sela Dingay
Sela Dingay is a town in central Ethiopia. According to Johann Ludwig Krapf, the name means "the jumping stone", named for a rock which rolled over the edge of the southern rim of the gorge of the Mofar River, and killed a group of people sitting on it...
where he was a student "and probably with the support of his mother 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...
's Menz
Menz
Menz or Manz is a province of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region...
ian kinsmen was proclaimed the Ras and Meridazmach of Shewa." Bakure belatedly arrived at Qundi only to be imprisoned in the state prison at Gonchu with his other brothers and some of his supporters.
Once securely in control, Sahle Selassie turned his attention to the rebels, both Amhara
Amhara people
Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...
and Oromo. He used diplomacy to win over the Abichu Oromo, who badly needed his help against their neighbors the Tulama Oromo, whom he defeated in the early 1820s. He followed this victory by rebuilding 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...
, which had been burned in an Oromo raid, as well as a number of other towns and consolidated his hold by founding a number of fortified villages, like Angolalla, in the Abichu territory. He extended the frontier of Shewa into 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...
and Karayu, to the southeast into Arsi, and as far south as the territories of the Gurage
Gurage
Gurage is an ethnic group in Ethiopia. According to the 2007 national census, its population is 1,867,377 people , of whom 792,659 are urban dwellers. This is 2.53% of the total population of Ethiopia, or 7.52% of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region...
.
On the other hand, he continued the policy of his ancestor Amha Iyasus
Amha Iyasus
Amha Iyasus, better known as Ammehayes , was a Meridazmach of Shewa, an important Amhara noble of Ethiopia...
in maintaining a buffer region to his north, created from the Yejju
Yejju Oromo
Yejju Oromo is a tribe of the Barentu branch of Oromo people. They are one of the northernmost tribes of the Oromo people, which is the second largest ethnicity in Ethiopia....
and Wollo Oromo rulers in the area. This helped keep Shewa out of the reach of the northern warlords like Ras Ali II of Yejju
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...
, who continued their own civil wars.
Yifat
Yifat is a kibbutz in Galilee, northern Israel. Located adjacent to the town Migdal HaEmek and short distances from the cities of Afula and Nazareth. It falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council...
, the Oromo and the Gurage peoples, without the authority of the Emperor of Ethiopia in Gondar, but with his apparent acquiescence. However, in 1829 Shewa suffered a famine, then for two years, starting in 1830, was striken by a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic, where two thirds of the sick at Sahle Selassie's palace died. Then one of Sahle Selassie's generals, Medoko, rebelled and convinced a number of the elite Shewan matchlock
Matchlock
The matchlock was the first mechanism, or "lock" invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. This design removed the need to lower by hand a lit match into the weapon's flash pan and made it possible to have both hands free to keep a firm grip on the weapon at the moment of firing,...
men to desert with him to join the Oromos. Together these adversaries threatened the existence of Shewa, and burned Angolalla. About the time Sahle Selassie put down this rebellion in 1834 or 1835, a drought afflicted Shewa for two years, killing most of the domestic animals and bringing famine to his people. Pankhurst also documents records of a second cholera epidemic in 1834, which spread south from Welo causing a great mortality. Sahle Selassie responded to the famine by opening the royal storehouses to the needy, endearing himself to his people. The famine came to an end in time for Medoko to rise again in rebellion, and although the general was quickly crushed, Sahle Selassie was then confronted by a crisis in the local church.
During the ongoing dispute over Christology
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
that had split the Ethiopian Church into a number of hostile factions, Shewa had embraced the doctrine of the Sost Lidet in opposition to the theory of Wold Qib, which was embraced in the north. The Sost Lidet was also embraced by the influential monastery of Debre Libanos
Debre Libanos
Debre Libanos is a monastery in Ethiopia, lying northwest of Addis Ababa in the Oromia Region. Founded in the thirteenth century by Saint Tekle Haymanot, the monastery's chief abbot, called the Ichege, was the second most powerful official in the Ethiopian Church after the Abuna.The monastery...
, located in Shewa. When Sahle Selassie sought to strengthen his power over the Shewan church by appointing men loyal to himself as trusties of the local monasteries—an act that brought the opposition not only of the monks themselves, but also of the Ichege, the abbot of the monastery of Debre Libanos and the second most powerful churchman in Ethiopia. Facing the threat of excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
, Sahle Selassie relented and on 24 November 1841 dismissed his appointees—only to find himself under attack by Shewan supporters of the Wold Qib in Menz
Menz
Menz or Manz is a province of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region...
, Marra Biete, and other districts. At the moment the monarch managed to quiet this controversy, the arrival of a new Abuna
Abuna
Also see Leaders of ChristianityAbun is the honorific title used for any bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as well as of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church...
, Salama III
Abuna Salama III
Salama III was Abuna, or head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church . Originally brought to Ethiopia by Dejazmach Wube Haile Maryam, he afterwards attached himself to the party of Emperor Tewodros II for his help to settle the theological disputes and to gain control over the fractured church...
reawoke the resistance of the followers of the Wold Qib, and the new Abuna excommunicated Sahle Selassie in 1845. Despite the intervention of Imperial 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...
, Abuna Salama refused to lift the interdict, and Ras Ali finally arrested the Abuna in 1846 and banished him from 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...
.
By this time, Sahle Selassie's health had begun to fail, and he was unable to pursue his intentions on the Imperial throne. Only the intervention of his close friends and advisers kept the Negus from abdicating the throne in favor of his son, and the final years of his reign are otherwise unremarkable.
Achievements as ruler of Shewa
- contemplation of such a prince in his own land is worth the trouble and the risk of visiting it ... his character for justice and probity has spread far and wide, and the supremacy of political excellence is without hesitation given to the Negoos [Negus] of Shoa throughout the length and breadth of the ancient empire of Ethiopia. To be feared by every prince around, and loved by every subject at home, is the boast of the first government of civilized Europe, and strangely enough this excellence of social condition is paralleled in the heart of Africa, where we find practically carried out the most advantageous policy of a social community that one of the wisest of sages could conceive -- that of arbitrary power placed in the hands of a really good man.
Abir provides several examples of Sahle Selassie's interest in the well-being of his subjects:
- In time of famine he opened the royal granaries to the population. When a plague carried off most of the work-animals of the farmers, he distributed oxen and mules. He kept enormous stores of salt so that his people would not lack this important commodity should the roads to the coast be cut.
Further examples of Sahle Selassie's skill in administration is his reform of the laws of his domain. Courts during the reign of his predecessors Asfa Wossen
Asfa Wossen
Asfa Wossen was a Meridazmach of Shewa, an important noble office of Ethiopia...
and Wossen Seged followed both the Fetha Negest
Fetha Negest
The Fetha Negest is a legal code compiled around 1240 by the Coptic Egyptian Christian writer, 'Abul Fada'il Ibn al-'Assal, in Arabic that was later translated into Ge'ez in Ethiopia and expanded upon with numerous local laws...
, the traditional Ethiopian legal code, as well as customary practices, which Abir states "was extremely cruel. Death sentences, severance of limbs and branding with hot iron were very common." The Negus limited executions to extreme cases of treason, sacrilege and murder, and even then required approval from the Negus. Whenever possible, Sahle Selassie reduced a death sentence to life imprisonment or forfeiture of property; in the case of a murder conviction, where the traditional Ethiopian penalty was to hand the murderer over to the relatives of the victim, who would then exact their own punishment, the Negus worked to convince the relatives to accept blood money instead of killing the convicted man.
His reforms extended beyond criminal law and included administrative reforms. He developed a new structure of taxation that was not only fairer to his subjects, but brought in a more substantial and reliable revenue; it is estimated that around 1840 his revenue in cash alone was between 80,000 and 300,000 Maria Theresa Thaler
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...
s. Legends circulated in Shewa about the storehouses of gold, silver, and ivory the Negus had not only in his palaces in Doqaqit, Har Ambit and 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 ,...
, but also hidden in mountain caves. "All in all," concludes Abir, "Showa can be considered, in a way, an archaic example of a welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
."
Sahle Selassie also worked to modernize his country, and like his contemporaries Goshu of 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...
and Wube Haile Maryam of Tigray
Tigray Province
Tigray was a province of Ethiopia. The Tigray Region superseded the province with the adoption of the new constitution in 1995. The province of Tigre merged with its neighboring provinces, including Semien, Tembien, Agame and the prominent Enderta province and towards the end of 19th century it...
, he made contacts with European countries like France and Great Britain in hope of gaining craftsmen, educators, and above all firearms. Like his contemporaries, he understood the value of firearms, and increased the number in his armories from a few score when he took office to 500 in 1840, and doubled that number again by 1842. He signed treaties of friendship with both France (16 November 1841) and Great Britain (7 June 1841). The Negus also encouraged foreigners to settle in Shewa, and offered considerable incentives to them, such as the revenue from a large village he granted a Greek mason by the name of Demetrios. As a result, at one point a number of foreigners were present in Shewa, who included a number of Greeks, at least one Armenian, and several traders from Eastern lands.
"Despite his understanding of the value of foreign technology and the need for craftsmen from abroad Sahla Sellase had no desire for foreign missionaries," Pankhurst notes, and although the arrival of two Protestant missionaries in 1837 led to a diplomatic mission from Britain by William Cornwallis Harris
William Cornwallis Harris
Major Sir William Cornwallis Harris was an English military engineer, artist and hunter.-Life and career:...
, both men were gently but firmly expelled in 1842.