Sissinios

Sissinios ( Ethiop . ሱስንዮስ Susenyos , other spellings Sissionos and Socinius , official throne name Malak Sagad III. መልአክ ሰገድ; * 1572 ; † September 17, 1632 ) was emperor ( Negus Negesti) of Ethiopia since 1606 .

He was the son of Abeto Fasilidos, a descendant of Lebna Dengel, who carried the ruler's name Dawid II . Many authors refer to him as a member of the Solomonids dynasty, while some consider him the founder of the Gondar dynasty. See also the list of emperors of Ethiopia .

Historical background

During this time, the region inhabited by Coptic Christians was fiercely contested.

In the 7th century, the Arabs had conquered Egypt and thus spread Islam in Africa. After the failure of the Crusades in 1250, this also expanded to the surrounding areas, isolating Ethiopia from the rest of the Christian world and forming a Christian enclave in a predominantly Muslim environment, with no further contact with its traditional ally Byzantium.

In the 14th century, Christian rulers of Ethiopia tried to expand their territories, sometimes fanatically persecuting Muslims and Jews, and thus to spread the Christian faith again. As a result, there were repeated armed conflicts in the region, in the course of which eastern Ethiopia was conquered mainly by Muslims from the sultanates of Harar and Adal . The Portuguese and the Turkish Ottomans also took part in the conflicts.

With the support of Jewish falashas who were actually suppressed by Orthodox Christians, the Portuguese managed to secure at least large parts of Ethiopia after several setbacks. Large parts of the country were settled by the Oromo , some of whom converted to Christianity and took part in the defense against the continuing attacking Sultanate of Harar.

Life of Sissinios

youth

Sarsa Dengel , who ruled under the title Malak Sagad I from 1563–1597, originally wanted to bequeath the throne to his nephew Za Dengel . But under the influence of his wife Maryam Sena and some of his sons-in-law, he instead chose his seven-year-old son Yaqob (Jacob) as his successor, who initially officially ruled under the title Malak Sagad II from 1597 to 1603, during Ras Antenatewos of Amhara for him took over the reign.

Za Dengel and his competitor Sissinios were banished.

Za Dengel fled to the mountains around Lake Tana , while Sissinos hid with the Oromo in the south. According to another account, he and his father were held captive by Oromo rebels for a year until they were freed by Dejazmach Assebo.

After six years, Jakob fell out with Ras Antenatewos and installed Ras Za Sellase as regent in his place. This, however, deposed Jacob, banished him to Enarya and made his cousin Za Dengel under the name Asnaf Sagad II in 1603 ruler. But this turned out to be less easily steerable than Jacob. That is why Ras Za Sellase brought Jacob back from exile after just one year and reinstated him as ruler in 1604. Za Dengel died in 1607 fighting with rebels.

Shortly afterwards Sissinios marched north with an army drawn from the ranks of the Oromo. He sent Ras Antenatewos a message in which he proclaimed himself king ( Negus ) and asked him for support, which the latter gave him in the form of troops. He had sent the same message to Ras Za Sellase. But this attacked him with an army, whereupon Sissinos, sick with fever, withdrew to the mountains of Amhara . Ras Antenatewos turned around and joined his troops with those of Za Sellase to support Jacob. Nevertheless, Sissinios finally succeeded in winning the Battle of Gol in the mountains of Gojam, in which Jacob died.

Reign

On March 18, 1608, Sissinios was crowned at Aksum . The coronation ceremony was described by the Portuguese João Gabriel. Sissinios' palace was in Dankaz.

Jacob's body was never found. As a result, in the first years of Sissinio's reign there were repeated turmoil because there were men who claimed to be the still living and thus legitimate Emperor Jacob.

Za Dengel, the reigning nephew of Sarsa Dengel from 1603 to 1604, converted to the Roman Catholic faith under the influence of the Jesuits who followed the Portuguese .

Sissinos himself converted to Catholicism at the instigation of the Jesuit missionary Pedro Páez in a public ceremony in 1622 and renounced further coexistence with his various concubines and wives, but limited himself monogamous to his first wife.

After the death of the tolerant missionary in 1624, Afonso Mendes, who was much more intolerant of Ethiopian traditions, took his place. At his pressure, Sissinios even allowed himself to be moved to a church union with Rome.

In 1630 Sarsa Krestos, the viceroy of Begemder, proclaimed Sissinios' son Fasisidos to be ruler. Sissinios therefore had him captured and executed.

Two years later, Sissinio's brother Malta Krestos revolted in Lasta. The uprising was suppressed, but killed 8,000 people.

Impressed by this, Sissinios guaranteed his subjects freedom of religion, revoked membership of the Catholic Church and reestablished the traditional, Coptic Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church .

Then he abdicated in favor of his son Fasilidos (Basilides), who ruled from 1632-1667 under the name Alam Sagad.

Sissinios died on September 7, 1632 and was buried in the church of Genneta Iyasus.

literature

• EA Wallis Budge: A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia . 1928. Oosterhout, Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970
• Paul B. Henze: Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia . Palgrave, New York 2000.
• Richard KP Pankhurst: The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles . Oxford University Press, Addis Ababa 1967.

predecessor	Office	successor
Jacob	Emperor of Ethiopia 1607–1632	Fasilides