• 06 Nov, 2024

Atsé Tekle Giorgis II (Wagshum Gobezé) Ethiopian Imperial History

Atsé Tekle Giorgis II (Wagshum Gobezé)  Ethiopian Imperial History

Atsé Tekle Giorgis II (Wagshum Gobezé) Ethiopian Imperial History Tekle Giyorgis II, King of Kings of Ethiopia from 1868 to 1872, was born Prince Gobezé Gebremedhin in 1836, the son of Wagshum (King of Wag Province of the Zagwé Dynasty) Gebremedhin and Princess Aychesh Tedla, the daughter of Abéto (Prince) Dejazmach Tedla Haylu, the ruler of Lasta province and Imperial heir of the Gondar

Atsé Tekle Giorgis II (Wagshum Gobezé) 
Ethiopian Imperial History

Tekle Giyorgis II, King of Kings of Ethiopia from 1868 to 1872, was born Prince Gobezé Gebremedhin in 1836, the son of Wagshum (King of Wag Province of the Zagwé Dynasty) Gebremedhin and Princess Aychesh Tedla, the daughter of Abéto (Prince) Dejazmach Tedla Haylu, the ruler of Lasta province and Imperial heir of the Gondar Fasiledes Branch of the Solomonic Dynasty.  During the reign of Emperor Téwodros II, Gobezé was appointed as ruling Prince of Lasta Province with the title of Dejazmach (Earl) after the death of his grandfather Abéto Dejazmach Tedla Haylu, one of twelve Amhara royalty and nobles (Mesafint) who were killed during Téwodros'reign.

Following the execution of his father, Wagshum Gebremedhin, he inherited the title of Wagshum (King of Wag Province) and rebelled. While in rebellion, with the help of his mother, the Princess Aychesh, he assembled and built a  military force of 60,000 men. When marching to the whereabout of the Emperor with his large and powerful army, he faced Tiso Gobezé near Qwiha, a nobleman who had also rebelled against Tewodros. He defeated Tiso Gobezé and turned to Meqdela to face the latter.

In that time, an enormous British force had entered to capture Emperor Tewodros II, and with the help of Dejazmach Kassay Mercha (later Emperor Yohannes IV) had reached Meqdela, for the Emperor, who had imprisoned British citizens due to a feud with Queen Victoria. Emperor Tewodros' forces were dispersed, and he committed suicide on the mountain of Meqdela. The British forces looted the palace, took all the riches and burned all else they found. They rewarded Dejazmach Kassay Mercha (Yohannes IV) with 500,000 pounds worth of modern weaponry and other goods for his assistance and left from the land.

Following the death of Emperor Tewodros II and the withdrawal of the British forces from Meqdela, Wagshum Gobezé was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia and crowned by the Achegé (the head of the Orthodox Church and all monasteries of Ethiopia) on June 11th, 1868, in Debre Zebit, with the throne name of Tekle Giorgis II. He was linked to the last independent Solomonic Emperors of the Gondar branch prior to the devastating century-old Era of the Princes -- known as "Zemene Mesafint", wherein the Emperors had lost their power to regional warlords and Ethiopia had begun to disintegrate -- and based his claim on a double dynastic Imperial lineage: Solomonic through his mother, from the House of Emperor Adyam Seged (Iyasu the Great), the grandson of Emperor Fasiledes, and Zagwé through his father, who was the last ruling Zagwé heir.

His assumption of the Imperial throne thus symbolized a restoration of both Solomonic and Zagwe dynasties on a single  Throne. Tekle Giorgis' ascent to the Imperial throne was also challenged by two other Solomonic princes, Ras Desta Tedla of Gojjam and Menelik of Shewa.  Tekle Giyorgis chose to first march into Gojjam and crush the forces of Desta Tedla. He replaced Ras Desta Tedla as Prince of Gojjam with Lij Adal Tessema (King Tekle Haymanot), another member of Gojjam's branch of the Imperial dynasty, and a cousin of Ras Desta Tedla. In an attempt to appease the other Solomonic princes, Tekle Giorgis negotiated new dynastic marriages with the Houses of Shewa and Gojjam to complement his personal marriage tie to the House of Tigray. His sister Princess Laqech Gebre Medhin married Lij Adal Tessema of Gojjam, to whom Tekle Giorgis granted the title of Ras.

With the House of Shewa, he arranged the marriage of his half-brother (Prince) Dejazmach Hailu, to the daughter of Ras Darge Sahle Selassie (the uncle of Menelik, then King of Shewa), Princess Tisseme Darge. Hailu and Tisseme would birth a son, Prince Kassa Hailu, eventual heir to Ras Darge Sahle Selassie and senior Prince of the Blood during the reign of Haile Sellassie I (known as Leul Ras Kassa Hailu), and father of Leul (Prince) Ras Asrate Kassa. Tekle Giyorgis II's uncles, his mother's brothers, Princes Dejazmach Meshesha Tedla, Dejazmach Serawit Tedla, Dejazmach Yimer Tedla interceded as high Imperial officials in the successes of their nephew, the Emperor. Dejazmach Yimer Tedla birthed Princess Menen Yimer, the maternal ancestress of Lij Tedla Melaku.

Tekle Giyorgis immensely invested his resources on restoring Gondar, the Imperial capital that had been abandoned and destroyed. He rebuilt its Orthodox Churches and renovated its palaces and castles. It is written in his chronicle that after his ancestor, Emperor Fasiledes, the founder of Gondar City and builder of its castle, "there was no one who did for Gondar as did Emperor Tekle Giyorgis II".

With the West and South thus appeased, Tekle Giorgis then turned his attention to the north and marched into Wello. He quickly routed the forces of Ali Faris, imposing his uncontested rule on all of Wello, ending that challenge to his authority. His attention then turned on his brother-in-law, Dejazmatch Kassay Mercha. Kassay Mercha obtained the services of John Kirkham, whose British troops played a major role in training Kassay's army in the load of modern weapons that the British had left him. Kassay also gained access to the Red Sea in 1870. An advantage that none of his rivals had. News had come that Kassay Mercha had entered into negotiations with the Patriarchate in Alexandria for the needed bishop to come, but that it was his intention to have this new bishop crown him instead of Tekle Giorgis. Menelik remained in Shewa having decided his two rivals to fight it out.  It was now imperative that Tekle Giorgis defeat Kassay Mercha.

Tekle Giyorgis stood alone against Kassay Mercha and began to ready his army of 60,000 but with much inferior military equipment, and marched to Tigray for Kassay, crossing the Takkazé river in June of 1871.  It is said that as Tekle Giorgis and his huge army marched through Simén on his way into western Tigray, he decided to encamp at a place called Adi Arkai. Here a hermit monk named Gebre Maryam is said to have walked up to the Emperor's tent and struck it with rocks. Angry soldiers, shocked at this act,  seized the hermit, brought him in front of Tekle Giorgis and demanded an explanation. The hermit gazed at Tekle Giorgis  and said: "What I did with rocks, Kassa will do with bullets." It was a chilling prediction that angered the soldiers further.

When the soldiers were to kill the hermit, Tekle Giorgis II stopped them, sat in silence for a while, and then quietly told them to let the hermit go. Perhaps he decided to let the fates carry on with their course. On June 21st the two armies met at Zulawu and fought a day-long battle. Although Kassay Mercha had the smaller force, they were musket men, whereas Tekle Giyorgis' army was equipped with spears, swords, and matchlock guns. Tekle Giyorgis came off the worse, retreating to the Mareb river, while Kassay Mercha took another route to outflank Tekle Giyorgis and forced him into a cul-de-sac at Adwa. They fought the final battle at Adwa on July 11th. Tekle Giyorgis led a cavalry charge into the midst of Kassay Mercha's force, he was wounded and his mount killed under him. He was then captured by Kassay's army along with his generals, thousands of soldiers and camp followers.

His marriage ties to Kassay Mercha and his superiority in numbers did not have any fortunate outcome. The hermit Gebre Maryam's prophetic prediction had come true. Kassay and his smaller but much better-equipped army defeated Tekle Giorgis II at the Battle of Assam, just outside Adwa, on July 11, 1871, and deposed him.

Kassay was proclaimed Emperor Yohannis IV, and Tekle Giorgis II along with Imperial family members was imprisoned on Amba Abba Gerima near Adwa. He was blinded to prevent him from escaping and reclaiming the throne. His wife, as the sister of the new Emperor, was not imprisoned, but she chose to live at Amba Abba Gerima monastery with her husband until his death. Tekle Giyorgis II  died in his monastery prison in circa 1873 at age 36. The widowed Empress Denqenesh Mercha moved to Meqele and was later re-married to  Dejazmatch Gebre Kidan. She retained the title of Empress for the duration of her life and was close to her brother, Kassay Marcha, crowned Emperor Yohannis IV.

Portrait: Emperor Tekle Giyorgis II, King of Kings of Ethiopia from 1868 to 1872