Jacob (Ethiopia)

Jacob or Yaqob ( Ethiop . ያዕቆብ, throne name Malak Sagad II. መልአክ ሰገድ, "before whom the angel bows", † March 10, 1606 , fell) was Negus Negest ( Emperor ) from 1597 to 1603 and again from 1604 to 1606 Ethiopia and a member of the ruling Solomonid dynasty . He was the eldest surviving son of Sarsa Dengel and apparently the lady Harego der Falaschen. Jacob may not have been born until 1590.

The chief wife of his father, the influential Queen Maryam Sena, preferred the young Jacob over his older cousin. Sarsa Dengel actually intended to make his nephew Za Dengel his successor. However, through the influence of his wife Maryam Sena and some of his sons-in-law, he chose Jacob, who ascended the throne at the age of seven. Ras Antenatewos of Amhara became its regent. Za Dengel and the second rival to the throne - Sissinios , the son of Abeto Fasilides - were exiled. Za Dengel fled to the mountains on Lake Tana , while Sissinios found refuge in the south under the Oromo .

After six years, with the entry into adulthood, Jakob got into an argument with Ras Antenatewos and had him replaced by Ras Za Sellase . However, this deposed Jacob, sent him into exile in Ennarea and made his cousin Za Dengel emperor. When Za Dengel turned out to be more of a nuisance than Jakob, Za Sellase brought Jakob back from exile.

A little later, Za Dengel was defeated and killed in a battle. Sissinios led an army of the Oromo to the north and sent a message to Ras Antenatewos in which he proclaimed himself king and demanded support from Antenatewos. Since he could not communicate with Za Sellase, the Ras sent his troops to support Sissinio.

A similar message to Za Sellase also brought him to the scene. He advanced towards Sissinios, who, weakened by a fever, withdrew to the Amharic mountains. After this sign of lack of determination, Ras Antenatewos had his troops withdraw. From then on he supported Jakob together with Ras Za Sellase.

In a surprise attack in Begemder , Sissinios managed to decimate Za Sellase's troops. When he was scorned by the emperor after fleeing to Jacob's camp, Za Sellase ran over to Sissinios. For several days the two armies maneuvered in the mountains of Gojam until they finally met at the Battle of Gol . Jacob and Abuna Petros II fell in battle and his troops were slaughtered.

A few years earlier, Jakob had married a foreigner named Nazarena with whom he had three sons, one of whom had died before the Battle of Gol. This high number of sons from just one marriage suggests that Jacob was born before 1590. Nazarena sent her sons into safe exile: Cosma the elder went south where his trail disappears, the younger, Saga Krestos, found refuge in the Sultanate of Sannar, where he was treated well into old age. When King Rabat offered him his daughter to marry, Saga Krestos refused and was forced to find refuge elsewhere. During his stay in Jerusalem he converted to Catholicism . In 1632 he finally came to Rome and finally to Paris , where Cardinal Richelieu offered him accommodation. Saga Krestos died of pleurisy in 1638 at the age of 38 .

literature

• EA Wallis Budge: A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia , 1928. Anthropological Publications (Oosterhout, The Netherlands 1970). The sections about Jakob and his cousin Za Dengel can be found on pages 375–383.

predecessor	Office	successor
Sarsa Dengel	Emperor of Ethiopia 1597 - 1603	Za Dengel
Za Dengel	Emperor of Ethiopia 1604 - 1606	Sissinios