Mesfin
Mesfin ( äthiop. መስፍን , "prince", plural mesafint ) was the title in imperial Ethiopia for the princes from the imperial family and the highest dignitaries outside the imperial family.
Especially in the period from around 1750 to after 1850, the Mesafint had great political importance. This period in the history of Ethiopia, which was marked by the collapse of the imperial central power, is also called the period of princes . As large landowners and secular dignitaries, the Mesafint played an essential political and economic role. Formally subordinate to the emperor, they ruled the areas under their control practically independently and played a decisive role in the establishment of the powerless puppet emperors, who they put on the throne according to their own interests and then overthrew or had them killed.
With the restoration of the imperial central power in the second half of the 19th century, the influence of the Mesafint declined. The title Mesfin was reserved for members of the ruling imperial family.
literature
- Andrzej Bartnicki, Joanna Mantel-Niecko: History of Ethiopia. From the beginning to the present . Edited by Renate Richter. 2 parts. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1978.