ATSE TEWODROS II
TEWODROS II,
EMPEROR TEWODROS II,
TEWODROS, KING OF KINGS OF ETHIOPIA,
TEWODROS THE PHROPHET KING,
TEWODROS THE UNIFIER
Emperor Tewodros II was born Kassa
Haile Giorgis, (often referred to as Kassa Hailu), the son of a minor nobleman
of Qwara district of Dembia, a region of western Beghemider province bordering
on the Sudan. His actual place of birth was in the small villiage of Dawa,
located about 12 kilometers from the city of Gondar, in 1818. His father, Haile
Giorgis Wolde Giorgis would die long before Kassa could possibly have
remembered him. Kassa's paternal grandfather was Dejazmatch Wolde Giorgis, a
prominent nobleman of his time. Kassa's mother was named Woizero Attitegeb
Wondbewossen, and her paternal grandfather was Ras Wodajo, another powerful and
prominent nobleman. Woizer Attitegeb's mother, Woizero Tishal, was also of
noble birth, Although Emperor Tewodros II is often refered to as a non-royal usurper,
he did claim that father was descended from Emperor Fasiledes through a
daughter. Many of his contemporaries however did not believe that he was of
Imperial blood. Indeed even today, he captures the imagination of his admirers
more as a self-made man rather than the scion of an ancient lineage of
monarchs. It was however difficult in those days to rule the Empire without
establishing some connection to the dynasty, so his claims may have been his
attempt at legitimation. While Kassa was still very young, his parents
divorced, and his mother took her son from Kwara to her native Gondar. Not long
afterwards, his father died, and his paternal relatives, eager to divide up the
property among themselves, left Kassa without a share of his father's property.
Kassa's mother apparently supported herself and her son by selling Kosso. Kosso
is a powerful drug used to expel intestinal parasites such as tapeworms, which
Ethiopians were prone to get due to their high consumption of raw meat. Kassa's
detractors would often refer to him as "the Kosso sellers’ son", an
insult he seldom forgave.
At a young age, Kassa was sent to study at a monastery as
most other young boys of his era. The monastery where he was studying was
pillaged and burned as a result of the endless wars of the Zemene Mesafin. The
particular battle involved was probably the oddest battle of the entire era. In
a bitter contest for power, Dejazmatch Wube Haile Mariam had decided to
challenge the Yejju dynasty of Ras Ali II, the Enderase and Re-ese Mekwanint of
the Empire. Although through his control of the puppet Solomonic Emperor, Ras
Ali was the de-jure ruler of Ethiopia, much of the Empire was ruled by regional
princelings and warlords. Dejazmatch Wube was among the more powerful of these
warlords as he ruled not only Simien, Tsegede and Wolkait, but all of Tigrai
which he had snatched from the sons of Dejazmatch Sabagadis, the Shum Agame,
and all of Hamasein, Serai, Akale Guzai, as well as parts of northern Wollo. He
was ruler of most of northern Ethiopia, and in fact liked to occasionally call
himself "Ye Abesha Nigus" or "King of Abyssinia", an
illigitimate claim that irritated Ras Ali, the Emperor Yohannis III and the
King of Shewa as well. Dejazmatch Wube had just arranged for the appointment of
a new Archbishop from Alexandria. He had paid for the vast expenses involved in
bringing the new bishop to Ethiopia, and pay the traditional payment for the
appointment to the Turkish authorities in Egypt as well as to the Coptic
Patriarch of Alexandria. The new Archbishop, Abune Sellama II arrived in
Ethiopia and went directly to Simien where Dejazmatch Wube convinced him that
Ras Ali and his Yejju dynasty were really muslims and not Orthodox Christians.
Although they were practicing Christians, the Re-ese Mekwanint and his family
had clung to the Muslim names of their ancestors. However, this was apparently
enough evidence for Abune Sellama to exhort the public to rise up against Ras
Ali. Hearing of Dejazmatch Wube's intentions of removing Ras Ali from the
Enderaseship, the puppet Emperor Yohannis III (who had been forced to marry
Ali's mother and crown her Empress Menen) had secretly escaped and joined Wube
in Simien in early 1841. In reply, the ex-Emperor Sahle Dingel was briefly
restored to the throne by Ras Ali. In February of that year, Dejazmatch Wube
attacked Ras Ali's seat of government at Debre Tabor. What followed is probably
the oddest battle in Ethiopian (indeed African) history. During the course of
the battle, Ras Ali ordered a cavalry charge. As he watched from a hill top, he
saw many of his cavalry fall before the guns of Dejazmatch Wube's army. Seeing
so many of his horsemen die, Ras Ali is said to have commented that all was
lost, and he took flight to evade capture. Ironically, Dejazmatch Wube had also
been viewing the charge, and seeing many of his men fall under the cavalry
attack, he also decided that all was lost, and he also fled the battle field.
The fact that both commanders of both armies had fled before the end of the
battle would be the source of endless jokes for years. However, messengers were
able to catch up with the fleeing Dejazmatch Wube to tell him that Ras Ali had
fled. The prince of Simien returned in pompous triumph and entered Debre Tabor
in victory, entering the great hall of Ras Ali to celebrate his victory.
However, yet another odd twist was to take place. An officer of Ras Ali's army
named Aligaz with a small band of men, entered Debre Tabor which was quite
chaotic at the time, and siezed the great hall, taking Dejazmatch Wube prisoner
and quickly ending the victory celebration he was holding. Aligaz then sent
messengers after the fleeing Ras Ali to notify him that victory was now his.
The Ras however was so fearful, he had taken refuge at the Wadla monastery, and
no one could find him. After hours of searching far and wide, and largely by
the use of spies and informants, Aligaz was finally able to locate the Re-ese
Mekwanint of Ethiopia and give him the good news. Ras Ali emerged from hiding
to claim victory and returned to power. However, after some negotioations,
Dejazmatch Wube was restored to his domains with the agreement that he would
continue to pay his tribute to Ras Ali. Emperor Yohannis III was restored to
his powerless throne. All in all, the situation was restored to exactly what it
had been before the war, and the battle had been nothing more than a farcical
waste of time, resources and lives. It was during this epic battle, that
soldiers from the Moslem Raya and Azebo tribes of Wollo who were loyal to the
Yejju dynasty of Ras Ali had torched the monastery where Kassa was studying.
Witnessing the horrors of the distruction of his place of education had a deep
impact on young Kassa and probably had a big effect on the course that his life
took.
The news of his mother's defeat alarmed Ras Ali emensely.
He promptly ordered Kassa's one time patron, Dejazmatch Goshu Zewde, Prince of
Gojjam, to march north and end the challenge of Kassa. The two armies met at
Gur Amba on November 27, 1852, and Dejazmatch Goshu was killed, his army
distroyed. Promptly, Kassa began to wear a coronet (Ras werq) without Imperial
sanction, and sent the Re-ese Mekwanent Ras Ali II, and Dejazmatch Wube Haile
Mariam of Simien and Tigre, ruler of the north, into a panic. The fall of a
major princely ruler such as Dejazmatch Goshu was an emense shock to the noble
families and warlords that ruled their fiefdoms and districts with such
autonomy durign the Zemene Mesafint period. Ras Ali and Dejazmatch Wube were
life long enemies. Dejazmatch Wube was of Imperial blood, being decended from
Empreror Susneyos, and he ruled much of northern Ethiopia, including Simien,
Wolkait, Tsegede, Tigre, most of Tigrai, Hamasein, and Serai. The only thing
that had prevented him from seizing the Imperial throne was the power of Ras
Ali's Yejju dynasty and their existence of the puppet Emperor Yohannis III. Ali
was married to Wube's daughter, and this had helped to maintain a grudging
peace. Now however, both men were being faced with a powerful challenge from a
man of lesser birth. After quickly negotiating a response to the defeat and
death of Goshu, they formed a formidible army, led by five Dejazmatches. These
new forces were considered unbeatable, and Ras Ali along with Dejazmatch Wube
sent them off to crush this rude upstart who was married to the daughter of Ali
and granddaughter of Wube. The battle occured south west of Gondar, and the
four Dejazmatches and their armies were routed again. Two of the Dejazmatches
were killed, and it seemed that nothing stood in the way of Kassa entering the
capital. Emperor Yohannis III fled the city for the camp of Dejazmatch Wube,
who promptly confined him under close guard. Abune Sellama, a long time friend
of Dejazmatch Wube also arrived in Simien and joined his cause. Dejazmatch
Kassa entered Gondar, the capital of the Ethiopian Empire and announced that
Yohannis III was deposed. The proud city of the heir of the House of Solomon
was now ruled by the heir of a minor noble of remote Kwara. The news sent shock
waves through Gojjam, Tigre, Shewa and Yejju, and Debre Tabor, the official
seat of Ras Ali's government was now in total panic. Ras Ali, by now
desperately clutching to hold on to power, and alarmed at news that Dejazmatch
Wube would probably abandon their alliance and proclaim himself Emperor, marched
at the head of his own army and met Kassa at the battle of Ayshal on the 29th
of June, 1853. He was soundly defeated, and fled the scene of the battle. Ras
Ali II, Re-ese Mekwanint and Enderase was thus deposed as the titular leader
and kingmaker of the Empire. He fled to Wollo, where he met with the King of
Shewa, Haile Melekot, who was now also in a panic over the success of the
upstart from Kwara. Haile Melekot returned to Shewa to prepare for what he
recognized as the inevitable invasion of his Kingdom by Kassa, and Ras Ali went
on to Yejju. Yejju was the home of the dynasty of Oromo lords who had been the
true power behind the throne since the reign of Emperor Tekle Giorgis II, and
was now his place of hiding. Part of his time there was spent hiding in a cave.
Meanwhile, Kassa entered Debre Tabor in triumph and crushed what little
resistance was left. He began to appoint his loyalists to positions of
responsibility, and instituted his absolute control over all affairs of state.
He began to consolidate his gains and refreshed his forces for the battles to
come against his remaining foe in the north, Dejazmatch Wube Haile Mariam.
Dejazmatch Wube was also busy preparing. He had welcomed into Simien, his dear
friend, the Coptic Archbishop, Abune Sellama II, whose appointment and travel
had been paid for by Wube years earlier, and who was always so sympathetic to
him. Wube also had also had a new Church of the Virgin Mary built at his seat
at Dirasge, and had robes and a crown made. Clearly, he saw the recent events
as his long desired opportunity as a Solomonic prince, to assume the Imperial
Throne. When this news reached him, Kassa promptly marched into the heart of
Simien after Dejazmatch Wube, a man for whom he fealt nothing but loathing. The
two men and their armies met at Dirasge on February 8th, 1855, and after a
bitter and bloody battle, Wube's men broke and fled the scene. The Dejazmatch
and his family were chained and imprisoned, and the Egyptian Bishop was brought
before Kassa. Kassa told Abune Sellama II that his consorting with the enemy
would be forgiven if he agreed to crown Kassa as Emperor of Ethiopia. For
centuries the crown had never left the House of Solomon, and even when the
Yejju dynasty grabbed power, they always saw to it that a Solomonic Emperor was
the actual crowned monarch in whose name they ruled. Yohannis III had also been
captured and was only too glad to have his life spared, and did not raise a
fuss when Kassa claimed the right to be crowned Emperor. Yohannis III's immediate
priority it seems was to make sure that it was clear he had no intention of
resuming married life with Empress Menen. For this aquiesence, Tewodros treated
the deposed monarch with deference and respect, allowing him to return to
Gondar and take up residence in a modest house outside the Palace compound.
Regardless of the ex-Emperor's acceptance of this situation, the Archbishop was
clearly reluctant to crown a non-dynastic warlord as Emperor over a land that
he himself had not long before been annointed bishop. Kassa decided to use the
carrot and stick approach. In using a stick, Kassa casually remarked that an
Armenian Bishop was traveling through the Empire, and as he was of the same
religion as Ethiopia and the Copts, Kassa could simply remove Sellama and
replace him with the Armenian. As a carrot, Kassa promised to stamp out all of
the various heretical sects that had proliferated in the Orthodox Church since
the time of the conflict with the Catholics during the post-Gragn years, namely
the Sost Lidet, Tsega, and Qibat doctrines. Sellama decided to agree to Kassa's
terms, so on February 9th, 1855, Kassa of Kwara was crowned Emperor Tewodros II
of Ethiopia at the Church of the Virgin Mary at Dirasge. His wife became
Empress Tewabech. He took the name Tewodros II(Theodore) because of a widely
believed profecy that a King named Tewodros would bring greatness and peace to
Ethiopia that would last for 1000 years. He proclaimed that he was the
fulfillment of this prediction.
The Wollo Campaign
The Reincorporation of the Kingdom of Shewa
Tewodros II, King of Kings of Ethiopia then marched south
to force the submission of the kingdom of Shewa. The Shewans had lived in
relative independence throughout the Zemene Mesafint, only nominaly recognizing
the Emperor in Gondar, but being ruled by their own branch of the Solomonic
Dynasty the head of which bore the title of Merid Azmatch. Then, Sahle Selassie
had proclaimed himself King of Shewa, and while still nominally recognizing the
Emperor in Gondar, he ruled Shewa with no interference from the capital. Upon
his death he was succeeded as King of Shewa by his son Haile Melekot, who now
was gearing up to resist Tewodros. The Shewans gathered to support their king
against the usurper, but much to their alarm, they found that Haile Melekot was
gravely ill. Even as he made preparations to fight Tewodros, his illness grew
graver, and as Tewodros marched accross the northern border of Wollo and Shewa
into the district of Menz, King Haile Melekot died of his illness. Upon news of
the death of the king, the Shewan forces rapidly began to disintegrate. Two of
the dowager queens of Shewa, Zenebework and Bezabish, the grandmother and
mother of Haile Melekot respectively, rushed forward to meet the Emperor and
pay homage to him in order to keep their offices and estates. They were quickly
followed by a half-brother of the king, Abeto Haile Michael who also submitted
to Tewodros. Debre Birhan quickly fell to the Emperor as did several other
major Shewan towns. Angered by the betrayal of their queens, a group of Shewan
nobles led by Ato Bezabih grabed the 9 year old Prince Menelik (known then by
his baptismal name Sahle Mariam) and tried to resist the Emperor under
Menelik's banner. It was a futile attempt though, and Haile Melekot's son
Menelik was captured, as was Haile Melekot's widow Tidenekialesh and his
half-brother Darge. A full brother of the late king, Abeto Seyfu, escaped and
would lead a guerrilla force for many years resisting the Emperor in Shewa.
Upon hearing that Haile Melekot was dead, Tewodros refused to believe it. How
could the King of Shewa, much admired for his bravery and prowess in battle
simply die of illness? He marched into Ankober and demanded that the hastily
buried king be dug up from his grave so that Tewodros could acertain his death.
Haile Melekot's body was indeed exhumed in the presence of Emperor Tewodros.
Upon seeing the dead king's face, Tewodros was so moved that it is said he wept
sadly for the king who had been denied the glory of falling in battle in
defence of his crown. Tewodros then authorized a full royal funeral and burial
for Haile Melekot. He then took the most of the captured Shewan royals, and
thier considerable treasure and carried them off to the citadel of Magdalla and
imprisoned them there. He recognized however that it would be dificult to rule
Shewa without it's royal family, so he appointed one of the princes, Haile
Michael, son of Sahle Selassie and brother of Haile Melekot, as Merid Azmatch
of Shewa and left him in charge. By puting a member of the royal family in
charge of Shewa, he hoped to cut into the support that might go to Abeto Seyfu
Sahle Selassie who remained a fugitive. He also aquiced to the constant nagging
on the part of the two dowager queens, Zenebework and Bezabish, and allowed
them to keep their extensive estates and fiefdoms. Shewa was now re-integrated
into the direct rule of the Ethiopian Empire. The other dowager queen, the
recently widowed Tidenekialish had caught Tewodros II's eye with her considerable
beauty, but unlike her mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law, this queen had
decided she had little use for the trappings of royalty any longer. She escaped
the Emperor and made her way to Massawa and after considerable difficulty,
managed to secure passage to the Holy Land as a pilgrim. There she entered the
Ethiopian Convent at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and lived
out her life as a simple nun. Few people outside the small Ethiopian Community
in Jerusalem probably realized that this prayerful nun had once been a queen in
the heart of Africa.
Tewodros the Progressive
Tewodros embarked on an ambitious plan to bring his
people out of the middle ages. He decided against establishing a permanent
capital, choosing to travel around the Empire, collecting his tributes, putting
down rebellions and directly administering law and justice as he went. He would
however periodically return to Debre Tabor, Gondar and Magdalla. He imprissoned
many of his more prominent opponents, nobility and possible claimants to the
throne at Magdalla, including the young Imam, Amede Bashir of the Mammadoch of
Wollo, and Menelik of Shewa and other assorted royals and aristocrats of Shewa,
Gojjam, Wollo, Lasta, Tigrai and Gondar. Tewodros was not all about control
however. He built roads and tried to administer fair justice to his people,
although sometimes he could be brutal (increasingly so as his reign lengthend).
He established a large workshop at Gaffat, south of Gondar, where he had
Europeans attempt to make fire arms for his army. He tried to build a boat on
lake Tana that was propelled by a pedaling system, and dreamed of establishing
European modernism in is country. Tewodros tried to establish a more fair system
of taxation, trying to lessen the burden on the peasantry. He tried to ensure
that regional govenors ruled their provinces in a fair and equitable way. He
himself shunned pomp and circumstance, and was exceedingly simple in his manner
and his dress. However, there was no mistaking him for anything but Emperor of
Ethiopia. He demanded the same respect that was once due to his predicessors.
He had ambitions of building a network of roads to make communications in his
mountainous Empire easier and quicker. He befriended two Englishmen, Walter
Plowden and John Bell, who encouraged him in his zeal for progress, and told
him of the greatness of Britain and assured him that Victoria's England would
be a good ally for him to cultivate. Plowden was functioning as British Consul
in Ethiopia when Tewodros came to power, and John Bell became a close friend
and confidant to the Emperor. When the Emperor's own relatives, led by his
rebellious nephew Garrad, ambushed and killed both Bell and Plowden, the
Emperor's vengance was cruel and fast, and he ruthlessly and bloodily avenged
them against his own relations, laying waste to much of Kwara in the process.
Plowden was replaced by the much less successful Consul Cameron, who arrived
with a letter of thanks, a silver platter and two pistols from Queen Victoria.
Tewodros, amazed and sceptical that a huge Empire such as the British Empire
could be ruled by a woman, was nevertheless very pleased by this gesture. He
sent a letter to Queen Victoria asking for artisans and gunsmiths. The letter
was forwarded to London, and was deposited in a file in the Foreign Office, not
shown to the Queen, and quickly forgotten. It would be a critical mistake on
the part of the Foreign Office.
Tewodros and the Church
Among Tewodros' goals was the ending of division in the
Orthodox church as well as in the Empire. Since the 1500's and 1600's, various
doctrines had appeared within the Orthodox church that were in direct conflict
with the teachings of the faith as understood by the Patriarchate of
Alexandria. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church upheld the Tewahido doctrine
as did the Coptic Church of Egypt. The Tewahido translates to
"United" or "Unionite" refering to the nature of Christ.
After the Council of Chalcedon in the 4th Century A.D., the Oriental Orthodox
Churches had broken with the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches who said
Christ had two distinct natures, one Human and one Divine. The
"Tewahido" (known to their opponents as monophosytes) maintained that
Christ had only one nature which was a complete union of the Human and the
Divine, and which could not be divided or separated. He did everything as both
Man and God, in the Oriental Orthodox version, while the others said that some
things he did as a Man, while others he did as God. Now, in Ethiopia, the
Tewahido was being challenged by subtle interpretations that had been
influenced by Catholic missions during the Gragn wars and after. One group, the
Qibat (Unctionists) believed that Christ recieved his Divinity from his unction
or anointing by the Holy Spirit at his Baptism. Another variation with a subtle
yet significant difference was the Tsega (Grace) doctrine whose believers
maintained that he became Devine by adoption when God the Father proclaimed him
"MY SON" through grace, at the baptisim also. A third doctrine was
the Sost Lidet (three births) that maintained that Christ (God the Son) had
three births, the first from God the Father at the Creation, the second from
the Holy Virgin at the Nativity, and the third from the Holy Spirit at the
Baptism. This implied that he did not become completely Divine until after the
baptism, and that the Trinity were not complete until after the baptism of
Christ. The Tewahido maintained that the Trinity was complete always, that
Christ was Divine from the womb of the Virgin and that his nature was
indivisible and inseperably one at all times. This doctrine was endorsed by the
Patriarch of Alexandira and the official church hierarchy in Ethiopia. Various
Emperors had however leaned from time to time towards the Qibat doctrine, and
the Qibat was particularly strong in Gojjam. The Sost Lidet was strongest in
Shewa, and Sahle Selassie proclaimed it the official doctrine of his kingdom in
1841, earning him a threat of excommunication from the Archbishop in Gondar.
Now however, these doctrines were all regarded as heretical by the Patriarch in
Alexandira, and the Bishop, Abune Sellama II was determined to stamp them out.
Tewodros was eager to help in uniformizing the doctrine of the church as it
would help in uniting the country under central authority. Abune Sellama had
accompanied Tewodros to Shewa, so one of his first acts there was to order the
suppression of the Sost Lidet. The Qibat were also suppressed in Gojjam, and
the Tsega stamped out wherever they were found. In Shewa particularly however,
the Sost Lidet doctrine was identified with defiance of the Emperor, and was
adopted by the supporters of the Shewan royal house, and Abeto Seyfu in
particular.
The Coptic Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Chruch, Abune Sellama II
The heirarchs were very pleased with Tewodros II's
doctrinal stance, and the initial relationship between church and state in
Tewodros' reign were warm. Things would rapidly change however. One of Tewodros
II's grievances was the huge number of clergy in the country. The land was
teaming with priests who did not pay taxes, and who controlled the huge land
holdings of the Church which was exempt from all taxes. He demanded that each
church reduce the number of priest to two, and the number of deacons to four,
and send the rest packing. He angrily complained that half the land is Seeso,
and half Gedam (catagories of church land), and how was he expected to pay and
feed his troops he wanted to know. The priests were lazy men who lived off the
people, and who joined the clergy in order to avoid both work and military
service he said. This was a patently unfair characterization as the vast
majority of monks and priest were actually quite hard working farmers and
teachers. He decided however to seize all the land that he needed from the
church, leaving it what he thought would be adequate, and give the rest to tax
paying peasants. This caused a huge uproar among the Ethiopian clergy and
angered the Archbishop. Moreover, he noted that clergy men always removed their
turbans when they entered the Holy of Holies in the chuches, but kept them on
when they appeared before him. He demanded that they remove their turbans
before him, which they steadfastly refused to do as it had never been so in the
past with any previous Emperor. These things helped to fray the already
strained personal relations between the Emperor and the Archbishop. When the
Patriarch of Alexandria, Pope Kyrilos (Cyril), decided to visit (the first time
ever that a Patriarch actually visited the country), he hoped he could mediate
an agreement between the Archbishop and the Emperor. However, when he judged
the Archbishop to be right, and said that the Emperor should return the siezed
church property, Tewodros had both the Patriarch and the Archbishop
imprissoned. Both the Patriarch and the Archbishop further compromised
themselves by writing a letter to the Khedive of Egypt asking for a military
regiment be sent to Ethiopia to help in training the Emperor's army. They did
this without consulting the Emperor, who was immediately suspicious that they
were trying to establish an Egyptian foothold in his Empire. Tewodros declaired
that they were both spies in the pay of the Turks and their Egyptian vassal
state. These accusations and the imprisonment of the Coptic Pope caused such a
reaction of horror accross the Empire, that Tewodros was eventually prevailed
upon to release them both, and he allowed the Patriarch to leave for Egypt. The
Patriarch departed convinced that Ethiopia was ruled by a mad man. Abune
Sellama however continued to angrily denounce the Emperor to all who would
listen, even to the Emperors face. Foreign observers have even left accounts of
the two men hurling insults at each other in public. The Archbishop calling
Tewodros a mad man and an apostate, while the Emperor called the Archbishop an
Arab and a Moslem. Finally, both men had enough and Tewodros ordered the
Archbishop imprissoned on Magdalla, and the Archbishop in turn called on the
people of the land to refuse to be ruled by Tewodros and resist his authority
anathemizing those who didn't. This encouraged many disgruntled nobles and
rebles to rise up against Tewodros, and the later part of his reign was rife
with rebellion and revolt from one end of the Empire to the other. His own
brutality and ruthlessness did not help Tewodros in this either. When Abune
Sellama II eventually died at Magdalla, a messenger came to Tewodros at Debre
Tabor, knelt before him and said "His Eminence has died your Majesty, may
God console you!" The Emperor is said to have replied "Console me!
You should be congradulating me on my happiness!" Even with these
considerable problems with the hierarchs of his church, Tewodros II was a
devotee of the Orthodox faith. He forbade entrance to the Catholics, and only
grudgingly allowed Protestants into his Christian Empire. His resentment and
suspicion of clergymen extended to foriegn missionaries as well as native
priests. When a group of German missionaries arrived at his court to pay their
respects, he asked them if they knew how to make firearms. When they replied
that they did not, and that they were men of God come to preach the Gospel, he
angrily replied that Ethiopia already had the Gospel and already had more than
enough priests. He didn't need more priests from Europe, what he needed was men
who made fire arms he said. He ended up forcing many of these missionaries to
join his workshops at Gaffat and attempt to make firearms. They succeeded in
casting a huge canon which they named Sabastopol, and in gratitude he permited
them to preach to the nearby Falasha Jews. However, even with his deep
resentment of men of the cloth, Tewodros was still a deeply religious man, and
his greatest and often mentioned dream and desire was to drive the Turks out of
Jerusalem. He refered to himself as "Husband of Ethiopia, Fiance of
Jerusalem."
Tewodros II's personal life was as tumult filled as his public life. Following the death of his much loved first wife, Empress Tewabech Ali, Tewodros mourned deeply and bitterly. However, he recognized his need to provide his country with an heir. He had poor relations with his son Meshesha, and unstable relations with his other illigitmate children. He also recognized that his eventual heir should have undisputed Solomonic blood in order to be truely accepted as Emperor. Therefore, he decided to re-marry. It is said that one of his senior officers was attending church in Gondar one Sunday, when he noticed a particularly lovely woman. He noticed her ardent piety in her worship, and at the same time was struck by her queenly deportment and her regal manners. The officer is said to have hurried to the Emperor and said to him, "Sire, today I have seen a woman who was clearly created for my king." Tewodros was curioius and asked after the woman whom his officer had seen at church. The woman was none other than the daughter of the man whom he considered his most hated enemy. That enemy was Dejazmatch Wube of Simien, and the daughter was Tiruwork Wube. When first approached with the news that the Emperor had decided that she should be his new wife, Tiruwork resisted fiercely. Her feelings for a man she regarded as a usurper and a parvenue, not to mention the man who kept ther father and male relatives in chains can be imagined. However, her relatives prevailed upon her to accept the proposal as it might mean freedom for Dejazmatch Wube and his family. She reluctantly agreed to marry Tewodros, but was swiftly disappointed when neither her father nor her other relations were freed. The conditions of their imprisonment were vastly improved, but they remained prisoners. Empress Tiruwork may have been the younger aunt of his first wife Empress Tewabech, but she had nothing of Tewabech's temperment or her affection for Tewodros. Empress Tiruwork was every inch a Solomonic Princess, haughty and proud, decendant of Emperors and Queens, a true daughter of Solomon. That she was forced to marry what she regarded as the son of a kosso seller, a minor noble who had usurped the throne, and who kept her father prisoner and her brothers fugitives, galled her to no end. She found Tewodros to be coarse and common, and he found her cold and unfeeling. The marriage was tempestuous and unhappy, but they did manage to bear a son, Dejazmatch Alemayehu Tewodros, whom the Emperor loved very deeply, and whom he recognized as his heir. For affection, Tewodros turned increasingly to other women, even refering to a certain Woizero Yetemegnu as "Itege" (Empress)Yetemegnu, although she was never his wife, and the church never recognized her as Empress. She was simply a favorite mistress ("Iqubat" as she was refered to). Empress Tiruwork bore the humiliation with her characteristic haughty and cold demeanor, and although they often quarelled and separated, they were always eventually reconciled and settled down into a tense truce. Due to his now being his father-in-law, Tewodros eased the conditions of Wube's imprisonment. During the long campaigns that Tewodros led across the land to put down the now frequent rebellions and govern far flung provinces, he insisted that Empress Tiruwork accompany him. This seems to have affected her health which was frail to begin with. During these constant campaigns accross the Empire, he forbade the mourning of those who were bereaved in his huge traveling court and army as it was not practical in his eyes to do this while on the move. However, upon the death of his father-in-law and enemy, Dejazmatch Wube, he allowed the Empress to sit in mourning and for all to join her in weeping. It is said that everyone then sat and wept for those whom they had lost over the years and been forbidden to mourn. The dirge singers are said to have thanked Dejazmatch Wube "Dejazmatch Wube always kind always giving, Thank you for giving us the opportunity to grieve".
Towards the end of his reign, Emperor Tewodros became
increasingly unpredictable and brutal in his behavior. It is said with his
unhappy marriage had come increasing consumption of alchohol. Constant
rebellions also took their toll on his patience. In pursuit of a band of
rebelious nobles, Tewodros entered the city of Gondar on one occasion and as
was customary, the women of the city came out to ulultate and clap in greeting
as he rode into the capital. However, Tewodros became enraged, accusing the
women of ulultating loudly to alert the rebles of his approach so that they
could make their escape. He thus accused the women of cooperating with his
enemies and had dozens of them slain right there. When Merid Azmatch Haile
Michael rebeled against him in Shewa, Tewodros was very angry. Abeto Seyfu had
continued in rebellion for years, and Tewodros suspected that Merid Azmatch
Haile Michael had purposly neglected crushing the rebellion of his brother.
When Seyfu died, his cause was continued by his son Meshesha Seyfu. Merid
Azmatch Haile Michael was after all a Shewan member of the House of Solomon,
and he was unlikely to agressively hunt down his brother or his nephew for the
sake of a man that he must have secretly regarded as a userper and an upstart.
The rebellion of the Merid Azmatch confirmed all of Tewodros's suspicions. The
Emperor replaced the Prince by a commoner, Ato Bezabih, as the governor of
Shewa. Bezabih had been among the Shewans that had tried to resist Tewodros'
take over of Shewa under the banner of the young Prince Menelik. Tewodros had
admired Bezabih a great deal commenting that except for the crown of Ethiopia,
Bezabih was Tewodros' equal in bravery. When this news reached Magdalla, the
Shewan royal prisoners there were deeply upset. They had remained at Magdalla
quietly, on fairly freindly terms with the Emperor in the thought that one of
their own still held Shewa. Darge Sahle Sellassie had become a favorite of the
Emperor, who admired his bravery and his forthrightness. Young Menelik had in
fact married Tewodros's daughter Alitash Tewodros. Although many believed that
Menelik was the rightful ruler of Shewa, they could live with his uncle ruling
Shewa for the time being. Now however, the royal house was being replaced by a
commoner, an event that they couldn't stand for. While they were angrily
contemplating this, further news arrived from Shewa. The new governor, Bezabih
had also rebeled, and proclaimed himself "king" of Shewa. Tewodros
was enraged, but because of the deteriorating situation in Beghemidir and
Wollo, he was not in the position to act. It was the last straw for the royal
Shewans at Magdalla. After careful planning with the cooperation of Menelik's
good freind Meshesha Tewodros, the elder son of the Emperor himself, the Shewans
threw a huge banquet for all the nobles at Magdalla and for their guards. A
large amount of alchohol was consumed. Soon the guards and the other guests
began to pass out from over indulgence in food and drink. At midnight,
Dejazmatch Meshesha Tewodros made sure that the gates to the citadel were
unlocked, and Menelik of Shewa, his mother Ijigayehu, and most of the Shewan
nobles stole down the side of the mountain, and entered the nearby camp of the
Wollo queen Werqitu, an avowed enemy of the Emperor. They left behind Darge
Sahle Selassie, Menelik's much loved uncle, who they believed would not arouse
the vengence of the Emperor, as Tewodros had great affection for him. In the
morning the Emperor awoke to find most of the Shewan prisoners gone, and his
daughter Alitash, abandoned by her husband, in tears. In a rage, he mounted a
watch tower and through field glasses, was able to ascertain that the Shewans
were in the camp of the Wollo queen. He deduced that the Wollo camp and the
Shewans must have been in previous contact, his rage turned on the Wolloye
prisoners in Magdalla. Several years earlier, Tewodros had seized Werqitu's
son, Imam Amede, one of the two young claimants to the leadership of the
Mammadoch clan of Wollo (the other being the son of the rival queen Mestawat).
The young Imam had been imprisoned at Magdalla, and forced to be baptized into
Christianity (Tewodros stood as his godfather), with several of his nobles.
Werqitu had tried in vain to engineer the rescue of her son from Magdalla, and
had camped with a large force nearby in hopes of being there when it happened.
When Menelik entered her camp, the queen shrewdly realized she had a bargaining
chip, and sent emissaries up Magdalla to offer the Emperor a bargain, the
return of the Shewan Prince and his followers in exchange for the freedom of
her son and his nobles. Her emissaries were too slow. The Emperor was in an
uncontrolled rage directed at the Wollo queen. Tewodros committed an act which
is regarded as one of the most cruel and heartless acts of his entire reign. He
had the young 12 year old Imam and his nobles brought before him, and ordered
that their hands and feet be cut off. He then ordered that the Imam and his
nobles be dragged to the edge of the Magdalla plateau, and thrown over the
escarpment into the plain far below. None of the Shewans who had remained
behind were molested in any way. When the news of the brutal murder of the
little Imam spread, the population recoiled in horror. The murder of a young
boy and his retinue was something that few in the empire could accept as
justified. When the emissaries that had come to betray Menelik realized what
had happened, they rushed back to their camp to tell their queen that her cause
was lost. Werquitu was beside herself with grief. With the death of her son,
his rival, Abba Wattew, son of Queen Mestawat was now most likely to be
universally recognized as Imam and leader of the Mammadoch. Her world had
shattered, and her son was dead. Contemplating the betrayal that she had been
about to commit against the Prince of Shewa, she is said to have said of
Menelik. "Allah must love Menelik very much." Menelik mourned the
Wollo nobles with her, and then proceeded to Shewa, where he recieved a
tumultuous welcome from the population. He deposed the usurper Bezabih, and was
crowned king of Shewa at Ankober. In a more sober mood, Tewodros II, who had
always loved Menelik as a son, was heard to comment that he himself would
probably have escaped to claim his patrimony in the same circumstances, and didn't
blame Menelik at all for that. What he could not forgive was the abandonment of
his daughter Alitash. Why couldn't the Shewans have taken her with them he
asked. Deep down, Tewodros suspected that the Shewan royals had never
considered the daughter of a usurper, and the granddaughter of a kosso seller,
to be good enough for their Solomonic king. The insult was deeply felt. What is
inexplicable is why the brunt of his rage fell on the unfortunate Wollo prince
who was his godson, rather than the remaining Shewans at Magdalla. These acts
helped to make Tewodros less and less popular and more and more feared. He was
deeply resented in Shewa and Wello as an opressor, and even his native Dembia
and Kwara smarted with his angry vengance. He had sacked the city of Gondar in
a fit of anger, and the Tigreans maintained a smoldering rebellion that would
wax and wane, but never disappeared. The clergy was united in it's resentment
of him, and the aristocracy hated him. Across the Empire which he had re-united
after an era of upheaval and disintigration, he was regarded as a cruel tyrant.
The ground was ripe for a strong external enemy to come in and distroy
Tewodros, and that enemy came. Interestingly enough, the one district that
consistantly remained loyal to Tewodros was Hamasien, the heart of modern day
Eritrea.
As stated earlier, Emperor Tewodros II had sent a letter
to Queen Victoria requesting amaments and artisans and military advisors. The
officials at the foriegn office had rather contemptuously tossed the letter
aside without ever showing it to the queen as some African monarch, in their
view, could hardly be taken seriously. Tewodros II however was eagerly awaiting
her reply. When the British Consul, Captain Cameron traveled to Massawa, and
returned without a reply, the Emperor was furious. He was also deeply
suspicious because the Consul had arrived back in the Empire via Mettema, and
so had traveled through Turkish held territory. Tewodros was suspicious that
the English were consorting with his Turkish enemies. He was deeply insulted
the the British queen had not deigned to reply to him, so he siezed Consul
Cameron and imprissoned him. He declaired that the Consul would not be freed
until he recieved an answer to his letter. To emphasize his seriousness,
Tewodros arrested all the Europeans in Ethiopia at the time and held them
hostage demanding a response from Queen Victoria. They included besides Captain
Cameron, and Italian named Pietro, the Englishman Dr. Henry Blanc who would
write a facinating book on his travails in Ethiopia, the German missionary
Henry Stern, who had angered the Emperor with his gossip about the Emperor's
ancestry, the Frenchman Prideaux, the Swiss born Kerans, and Mr. and Mrs.
Rosenthal with their baby son, who were also German Protestant missionaries, as
well as a few others. When news of these happenings reached Whithall, a hurried
search was conducted for the letter which was located with some difficulty.
Queen Victoria was made to pen a quick response, which failed to satisfy
Tewodros. In 1864, the British sent Hormuzd Rassam to negotiate freedom for the
European prisoners. Unsatisfied with what Rassam had to say, Tewodros arrested
him also and imprisoned him with the rest of the European prisoners. London had
had enough. After a lengthy parliamentary debate, it was decided that something
forcefull had to be done to rectify this insult against Queen and realm, so an
expiditionary force was authorized to crush Tewodros and free the hostages.
General Sir Robert Napier led 32,000 British and Indian troops and landed at
Zula on the Red Sea coast, and marched into the Ethiopian highlands. They built
a rail line to help them carry supplies inland as they marched, and sent
messages to the nobles of the land saying that they were friends, that they did
not come to conquer Ethiopia but to free their compatriots and crush the
oppressor. Ethiopians had a reputation of dropping their disputes and uniting
to fight invading outsiders, and the British wanted to assure that this did not
happen. Wagshum Gobeze Gebre Medhin and Menelik of Shewa sent cautious messages
of support, but they were suspicious of long term British intentions, and did
not commit to any concrete assistance. Dejazmatch Kassa Mercha of Tembien and Enderta
did not have any such qualms. He met with Sir Robert in an elaborate ceremony,
and provided provisions and guides to the British expedition. Napier had
impressed the Ethiopian Prince by appearing at the meeting place, riding an
elephant, and having his multitude of cannon fired in salute. Dejazmatch Kassa
was confident that Emperor Tewodros, weakened and unpopular as he was, didn't
have a chance against this huge well equiped and determined force. He was
determined to make the British his allies. The Emperor in the mean time, had
taken his captives to Magdalla, and fortified the citadel and awaited Napier
and his forces. He had his huge canon, Sebastopol dragged up the escarpment to
his fortress town and prepared to fight the forces of the English Queen. On
April 10th, 1868, the British forces battled Tewodros II's army, led by his
beloved childhood friend and general, Fitawrari Gebriye at the Battle of Aroge.
The Ethiopian army was beaten badly, and Gebriye was killed. Tewodros realized,
after watching the battle from the heights of Magdalla, that he was out gunned
and didn't have a chance against Napier. Even though he had been urged by some
to massacre the Europeans, and thwart the enemy, the weary Emperor took a
different course this time. He sent General Napier a letter the next day, along
with a gift of cattle to celebrate easter, and also, all the hostages. He wrote
a sad letter in which he discribed to Napier his lost dreams of improving his
country and liberating the Holy Land from the Turks, how he had been defeated
because of the insubordination of his own people, and how Napier was victorious
because he led a force from a land where "the people were in a state of
disipline and order". He even admitted that "thinking myself to be a
great lord, I gave you battle, but..." his great canon that he had hoped
would rain death on his enemies had exploded and cracked on it's first firing,
and was useless. Tewodros realized that his cause was lost, and that his doom
was close. On Easter Monday, 1868, the British assaulted the mountain fortress
of Magdalla and stormed the citadel. The Ethiopian forces fought valiantly but
in vain, they were soon overwhelmed. The British began to sweep through the
citadel and the Emperor's residence on Magdalla looking for Tewodros. What they
found would stun them. Seeing that all was lost, and that he was about to face
the humiliation of captivity, Tewodros II, King of Kings and Emperor of
Ethiopia had picked up the pistol sent to him years earlier by Queen Victoria,
placed the barrel in his mouth and had shot himself. The English soldiers who
found his body at first began to rip his clothing for souveniers, horiffying
the Ethiopian captives as barbaric and un-Christian. Napier arrived on the
scene and angrily ordered the soldiers to halt the desicration of the Emperor's
body. He ordered a guard of honor to guard the body, and ordered another guard
of honor to stand attendance on the widowed Empress Tiruwork and her little son
Alemayehu Tewodros. All remaining prisoners at Magdalla were freed, and order
restored. Napier than earned the respect of the Ethiopians by ordering a full
military funeral for Emperor Tewodros at the Church of Medhane Alem (Savior of
the World), complete with canon being fired and soldiers saluting the body as
it passed. The Empress and the Emperor's relatives were kept away from the
funeral, because of the British fear that Tewodros's enemies, prevented by his
death of exacting revenge upon him, might attack his family. Tewodros's
houshold and followers wailed and wept for "the Lion of Magdalla" and
the dirge singers praised him for choosing a proud death over the humiliation
of captivity. News of the death of the Emperor spread quickly. In Shewa where
Tewodros was widely hated as an opressor, there was said to be much rejoicing.
The Shewan King however, in spite of his message of support to the British, is
said to have shut himself away in his rooms and wept for three days.
Politically, Menelik was Tewodros's avowed enemy. Personally however, Tewodros
had practically raised Menelik from childhood, and had shown Menelik deep
affection. Menelik wept for Tewodros as if it was his own father who had died.
Over the years, the harsh reality of Tewodros II's rule over the empire would
fade, and instead, his role in re-uniting a fragmenting country, his dreams of
modernization and progress, and his valiant last stand would replace any other
negative image of him. Above all, his choice of death over humiliation seemed
to epitomize the attitude of Ethiopians and their pride. He became the symbol
of national pride by his act of suicide, and to this day, he is regarded as a
national hero and a great Emperor. He had left a big mark on his country, and
changed it for the better.
The aftermath of the death of Emperor Tewodros was chaos.
After the Emperor was buried, the young heir, Dejazmatch Alemayehu, his mother
Empress Tiruwork, her mother Woizero Lakiyaye (widow of Dejazmatch Wube), and
other members of the Imperial household were removed from Magdalla and taken to
General Napier's camp "for their safety". Promptly the British
soldiers engaged in an act of barbarous distruction unequalled in Ethiopia
since the time of Gragn. They totally pillaged all the homes in Magdalla
including the Emperor's. They looted even the Churches, and act of desecration
that was truely horrifying. Tewodros had brought all the great treasures from
the churches and palaces in Gondar and Debre Tabor, from Shewa and Tigre and
horded them at Magdalla. Great processional crosses of silver and gold,
chalices, vestments, prayer staffs all glittering with precious metals and
jewels, priceless parchment manuscripts from various centuries, Tewodros's three
crowns and the great Kurate Re'esu Icon ( depicting Christ wearing the Crown of
Thorns) which had been carried into battle by all the Emperors of Ethiopia, and
before which people swore alliegance to the crown, were all looted. This act of
theivery was carried out by the regular troops, but after they had carried
their loot from the mountain top town, they were paid small amounts for the
items by the regiment, which organized a huge auction on the plain below.
Agents bid for various private and institutional collectors in Europe,
including the German Kaiser, and the British Museum. Ethiopia's patrimony was
thus carried off in a scandalous manner. Napier then ordered the citadel and
town of Magdalla to be torched. Although he specified that the churches were to
be left alone (even though they had been emptied by the looters of even their
relics and arcs), they also caught fire, and Magdalla was erased from the map.
With the Church of the Savior burned to the ground, the Emperor's remains were
later disentered and moved to Dembia where he was re-buried at the Mahidere
Mariam monastery. The British then began their return trip to the coast. It was
decided that a large amount of weaponry would be handed over to Dejazmatch
Kassa Mercha as a reward for his help. This aid would help him in his bid to
eventually seize the throne as Emperor Yohannis IV. In the mean time, Wagshum
Gobeze had proclaimed himself Emperor Tekle Giorgis III, and Menelik of Shewa
had laid claim to the throne as well. The British showed little interest in
what happened in Ethiopia after they had accomplished their goal of crushing
Tewodros and freeing the captives. As far as they were concerned, rival
claimants and threats of civil war were not their business. Discrete letters
were sent to the nephews of the late Dejazmatch Wube asking what they prefered
for their cousins, Empress Tiruwork and her son. Their callous response was
"Do what you like with her." They had come to regard her as the wife
of their enemy rather than their kinswoman, and did not care what happened.
When asked, the Empress had expressed her desire that her son be allowed to go
to Britain and be educated in modern methods. The British decided that they
would take the young heir of Tewodros, Alemayehu, and the widowed Empress
initially wanted to retire with her mother to Simien or Tigrai. However, as the
days passed, the thought of being seperated from her little boy was too much
for her, and she decided to accompany her son to England. Empress Tiruwork, had
not had an easy marriage to Tewodros. His cruelty to her father and family, his
many women and his temper had clashed with her pride and haughtiness. In spite
of everything though, she had stood at his side loyaly at the end, and his
death had devastated her. Years of being dragged around the Empire in her
husbands traveling court had taken it's toll on her health, used to the life of
a pampered noblewoman, rather than the rough life of a soldiers wife that
Tewodros provided. Being Empress had not provided Tiruwork Wube with comfort
and ease. Now, as the British took her and her son off to life in a strange and
distant land, she took ill and weakened further. During her illness, she was
harrassed by Captain Speedy about the future of her son and who should be his
guardian if she were unable to care for him. The question angered and disturbed
the Empress greatly. Speedy had a long history in Ethiopia, and the Empress
knew that Emperor Tewodros had once had a very deep dislike of Captain Speedy.
Speedy was so persistant and unrelenting, that the Empress summoned General
Napier and begged him to keep Speedy away from her. Although the doctors of the
British army made every effort, they were unable to save her, and Tiruwork
Wube, Empress of Ethiopia died on the road to Zula. The English, always
respectful of royalty, beleived she was entitled to great deference. Napier
authorized that from among the things looted from Magdalla, the richest and
most magnificently embroydered cloth be chosen to cover her coffin as a pall. A
large piece of velvet cloth that was heavily embroydered in gold was taken from
the loot and placed on the coffin. Then a huge crowd of Ethiopians assembled to
carry their queen to her final rest. Amid a throng of weeping and wailing
people, priests carrying processional crosses and great embroydered umbrellas,
with trumpets being sounded and drums beaten, the British and little Dejazmatch
Alemayehu watched as the body of Empress Tiruwork, followed by her mother,
Woizero Lakiyaye and various other relatives, was carried off. Empress
Tiruwork's body was carried to the Monastery of The Holy Trinity (Selassie) at
Cheleqot in Tigrai, where she was buried next to her great-grandfather, Ras
Welde Selassie of Simein. The magnificent pall that had covered her coffin remains
at the monastery to this day. It was the first item looted from Magdalla to be
returned. The tragedy of Tewodros's family was not over however. Little
Alemayehu Tewodros was now an orphan. What his feelings were as he watched his
mothers coffin carried away escored by his grandmother and other relatives that
he would never see again can only be imagined. Within the span of weeks, this
little prince had not only lost the possibility of one day becoming Emperor,
but also both parents and almost every familiar face from his entire life. The
English were determined that he go to England, and there was no possibility
that they would allow him to remain in Ethiopia with his relatives. He was
accompanied by a small Ethiopian entourage led by a priest, Aleka Zenebe who
had been Tewodros' chronicler. Empress Tiruwork's mother had accompanied her
daughters body to Cheleqot for the burial. Before she had left her grandson for
the last time, she wrote a pitifully heart breaking letter to Queen Victoria
entrusting Alemayehu to her care. It translates in part "May this reach
Victoria, Queen of the English. The Lord magnify your kingdom and distroy your
enemies. I am Woizero Lakiyaye, mother of Empress Tiruwork. I have lost my
three Dejazmatches (her husband Wube and her two sons) and the Empress.
Dejazmatch Alemayehu is all that I have left. As I will no longer be able to
see him, I too should be counted among the dead. I ask you to care for him in
my stead, as he will call you mother now, as I am lost to him." Queen
Victoria recieved this letter, and apparently was very touched and took it to
heart. Although Captain Speedy would claim to be the boy's legal guardian and
responsible for his upkeep, the queen and the government forcefully argued that
he had been entrusted in her personal care by his next of kin. Captain Speedy
however had assumed the care of the Ethiopian Prince, and was acting as
Alemayehu's guardian, and even took him to India briefly (where he very well
may have contracted the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him). However,
it was the Queen who would pay for the Prince's upkeep and education at Rugby
School, from her private funds. Unfortunately, Alemayehu would not live very
long. During his voyage from Ethiopia, the priest Aleka Zenebe and the rest of
the Ethiopians that accompanied him had disappeared from his entourage. Speedy
charged that Alemayehu was afraid of Aleka Zenebe who he believed had the evil
eye. Speedy arranged for the Ethiopians to be put off the ship in Egypt from
where they made their way back to their homeland. It is entirely likely that
the British and Captain Speedy in particular found the cleric to be an obstacle
to their efforts to turn the Prince into a little Englishman. Alemayehu would
grow increasingly lonely as the years went by, and his compromised health made
things even harder. He developed a very strong attachment to Captain Speedy and
his wife. A few years later, he would recieve a letter from his grandmother
asking him when he would return, and stating "your country awaits
you". However, Woizero Lakiyaye would never see her grandson again.
Dejazmatch Alemayehu Tewodros died in England at the age of 19 of
"consumption". Richard Pankhurst in his article "Ethiopia's
Image Abroad, Ethiopian Place Names and Statues in Britain, Rasselas and
Aida" quotes the entry made by Queen Victoria in her diary, the day of
Dejazmatch Alemayehu's death. The Queen of Great Britain wrote " ...very
grieved and shocked... to hear that good Alamayou had passed away... It is too
sad. All alone in a strange country, without seeing a relative..., so young and
so good". The queen went on to write "...his was no happy life, full
of difficulties of every kind, and he was so sensitive, thinking that people
stared at him because of his colour, that I fear he would never have been
happy." The son of Tewodros II had left a warm impression on Queen
Victoria who seems to have been truely saddened at his untimely death. He was
buried at St. George's chapel at Windsor Castle, among British royalty. Emperor
Haile Selassie commisioned a plaque in St. George Chapel at Windsor in his
memory, and it can be seen there today. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi laid a
wreath at the chapel plaque upon his visit to Britain in 2002. Proffesor
Pankhurst states that Queen Victoria had a bust of Alemayehu made, and that
this bust is currently kept at Sadringham, the British Royal family's country
home in Norfolk.
The several children and relatives of Tewodros lived
quietly through the brief reign of Tekle Giorgis III and the longer reign of
Yohannis IV, neither of whom were kindly disposed towards them (particularly
Tekle Giorgis who was the son of Wagshum Gebre Medhin whom Tewodros had ordered
hung from a tree). Emperor Menelik II however had warmer personal feelings
towards Tewodros and his family, and granted the title of Ras to his good
friend Meshesha Tewodros, as well as the territory of Dembia as his fief.
Emperor Tewodros II's elder son would serve Emperor Menelik loyally, and was
counted among the Emperor's good friends. As for Menelik's first wife, Alitash
Tewodros, whom he had abandoned, she had beem re-married to Dejazmatch Bariaw
Paulos of North western Tigrai. However, stories persist that shortly after
Menelik had been proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia while in Wello, Woizero Alitash
had arrived to pay homage and pledge her alliegance as was required of the
nobility. It is said that the Emperor asked her to stay and dine with him, and
that she spent the night with him. It is said that his ex-wife soon found out
that she was pregnant by him, and that shortly thereafter, she died under
mysterious circumstances. Whispered rumors stated that Empress Taitu had
arranged for the poisoning of this woman from her husband's past who threatened
her position, as she herself was unable to bear children. These stories have
never been proven, nor are they likely to be. The family of Emperor Tewodros
were regarded as members of the upper aristocracy of Beghemidir from that time,
till the fall of the monarchy in 1974. General Sir Robert Napier retured to
Britain in triumph and lionized as a great hero. He was elevated to the rank of
Field Marshal, and the hereditary noble title of "Lord Napier of
Magdalla" was granted to him by the Queen. His decendants continue to bear
this title. A statue of Lord Napier of Magdalla stands in Prince's Gate London,
only steps from the Ethiopian Embassy today. He would carry on a friendly
correspondence with Dejazmatch Kassa Mercha, who eventually became Emperor
Yohannis IV, for many years. In 1923, when the then Prince-Regent and Heir to
the throne, Ras Taffari Makonnen visited Britain, the British government
arranged to return one of the three looted crowns of the Emperor Tewodros II to
Empress Zewditu in honor of the visit of her heir to the Court of St. James.
The crown returned in 1923 was of silver plated with gold, and was later looted
again by the Italians in 1936. Later, in the 1960's, during the state visit of
Queen Elizabeth II to Ethiopia, she returned another crown (actually a cap
richly embroydered in gold and jewels). The most valuable of Tewodros's crowns,
one made of solid high karat gold remains in the Victoria and Albert Museum in
London on display. It is misidentified as the crown of the Archbishop Abune
Selamma II. Many other items looted from Magdalla remain at the Victoria and
Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Royal Library at Windsor, and in many
other public and private collections across Europe and elsewhere to this day.
The most lasting legacy of the reign of Tewodros II however was the fact that
the Empire of Ethiopia which had once been headed to disintigration was firmly
reunitied under a rejuvinated and strengthened monarchy. No longer was the old
structure of a powerless monarch who was dominated by a series of powerful
warlords tolerated. Thanks to him, Tewodros II's successors ruled in the manner
that the pre-Zemene Mesafint Emperors had, over a nation that recognized them
as the source of power and legitimacy. This would protect Ethiopia from the coming
scramble for Africa by the powers of Europe, and the specter of colonialism by
providing the necissary unity to withstand it. Tewodros had done his country a
huge service.
amazing, you put in the way everyone likes.
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