Zauditu
Empress Zauditu (also Zawditu , Amharic ዘውዲቱ ) (born April 29, 1876 , † April 2, 1930 ) was the first monarch of Ethiopia .
Life
youth
She was the eldest daughter of Menelik II , the king of Shewa , and his first wife Woizero Abechi. Consequently, it came from the Shewar branch of the Solomon Dynasty . In 1882 she was married to Araya Selassie Yohannis, son of the incumbent Emperor Yohannes IV and heir to the throne, for political reasons . In return, Menelik recognized Yohannes' suzerainty. However, the two should be in conflict again a short time later, whereby Zauditu managed to maintain good relationships with both her father and her father-in-law. When her husband died in 1888, Emperor Yohannes IV is said to have given her a valuable herd of cattle on the way to her hometown - this at a time when his relationship with Menelik was at a particularly low point. When Yohannes died the following year, Menelik took power. Zauditu then married twice more. Her fourth marriage was in 1900 with Gugsa Welle, the nephew of her stepmother Taytu and ruler of Simien .
Under Emperor Iyasu
In 1908, after a stroke, Emperor Menelik II determined that his grandson Iyasu should succeed him to the throne after his death. Zauditu was at this point in fourth place in line to the throne. Her stepmother Taytu is said to have tried to make Zauditu or her husband the heir to the throne, but the court refused to recognize it. Iyasu waited for his coronation in the years that followed, but although Menelik was now bedridden and paralyzed, Taytu was unwilling to proclaim Iyasu emperor. When Menelik "finally" died in 1913, Iyasu was so upset by the behavior of his relatives that he forbade a public funeral or commemoration of the old emperor and banished Taytu, Zauditu and Gugsa Welle to the country. However, the reign of the new emperor was marked by conflicts with the nobility, the church and the old ministers of his grandfather. On September 27, 1916, Iyasu was overthrown by the nobility because he allegedly had converted to Islam and had therefore forfeited his right to the imperial crown. Zauditu was declared empress , her cousin Tafari Makonnen crown prince.
Domination
Although the nobility supported their rule, many nobles still distrusted their stepmother, Taytu. They arranged for Gugsa Welle to be appointed governor of Begemder and not be directly present at court. However, this step may have taken Zauditu, who is described as very emotional. She also felt ashamed of having dethroned the heir to the throne, desired by her father, and thereby disregarding Menelik's will. These two components meant that Zauditu was not a very happy empress. She quickly lost interest in politics of the day. In addition, the Empress took conservative views, while her Crown Prince Tafari wanted to modernize the country. While Tafari abolished slavery and ensured that Ethiopia joined the League of Nations , Zauditu dealt with religious matters and had a large number of churches built.
In September 1928, some reactionaries at court tried to stop the reform course with a coup against Tafari Makonnen. When Tafari summoned a company, the putschists withdrew to the Menelik mausoleum. That was surrounded by the company, which in turn was surrounded by Zauditu's bodyguard. However, Tafari could count on the support of the army and their modern weapons, which is why the coup was quickly suppressed. The empress was then forced to appoint him negus (king) and de facto hand over power in the state. Zauditu remained nominally head of state as Empress ( Negiste Negest ).
Gugsa Welle was killed on March 31, 1930. He had tried to start a rebellion against Tafari Makonnen in Begemder and was defeated and killed by the modernized Ethiopian army at the Battle of Anchem. Zauditu had not supported the rebellion and urged her husband to stop it.
Two days later, on April 2, 1930, Zauditu died. Today it is known that she suffered from diabetes and typhoid fever, but whether this was the cause of death is not uncontested. Incorrect treatment - such as a reported bath in ice-cold holy water that led to a state of shock - could also have been decisive. Conservative critics of her successor repeatedly accused her of having had Tafari Makonnen or one of his supporters poisoned.
Negus Tafari Makonnen succeeded her on the throne and took the emperor name Haile Selassie .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Empress Zewditu - Queen of Kings. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 25, 2015 ; accessed on February 12, 2015 .
- ↑ Harold G. Marcus: The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913 . Red Sea Press, Lawrenceville 1995, ISBN 1-56902-010-8 , pp. 231, 241, 261 .
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Jesus V. |
Empress of Ethiopia 1916–1930 |
Haile Selassie I. |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zauditu |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zawditu |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | first monarch of Ethiopia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 29, 1876 |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 2, 1930 |