Emperor of Ethiopia: Encyclopedia II - Emperor of Ethiopia - Succession

Emperor of Ethiopia - Succession

Succession to the throne at the death of the monarch could be claimed by any male blood relative of the Emperor: sons, brothers, uncles or cousins. As a result, two steps were taken: the first, employed on occasion before the 20th century, was to intern all of the Emperor's possible rivals in a secure location, which drastically limited their ability to disrupt the Empire with revolts, or to dispute the succession of an heir apparent; the second was that, with increasing frequency, Emperors were selected by a council of the senior officials of the realm, both secular and religious.

Ethiopian tradition contradicts itself over exactly when started the custom of rivals to the throne be imprisoned on a Mountain of the Princes. One tradition credits this practice to the Zagwe king Yemrehana Krestos, who is said to have received the idea in a dream;³ Taddesse Tamrat discredits this tradition, arguing that the records of the Zagwe dynasty betray too many disputed successions for this to have been the case.⁴ Another tradition, recorded by Thomas Pakenham, states that this practice predates the Zagwe dynasty, and was first practiced on Debre Damo, which was captured by the 10th century queen Gudit, who then put 200 princes isolated there to death; however, Pakenham also notes that when questioned, the abbot of the monastery on Debre Damo knew of no such tale.⁵ Taddesse Tamrat argues that this practice began in the reign of Wedem Arad, following the struggle for succession that he believes lies behind the series of brief reigns of the sons of Yagbe'u Seyon. A constructivist approach states that the tradition was used on occasion, weakened or lapsed sometimes, and was sometimes revived to full effect after some unfortunate disputes - and that the custom started in time immemorial as Ethiopian common inheritance pattern allowed all agnates to also succeed to the lands of the monarchy - which however is contrary to keeping the country undivided.

These potential rivals were incarcerated at Amba Geshen until Ahmed Gragn captured and destroyed that site; then, from the reign of Fasilidos until the mid-18th century, at Wehni. Rumors of these royal mountain residences were part of the inspiration for Samuel Johnson's short story, Rasselas.

Although the Emperor of Ethiopia possessed unlimited powers over his subjects, his councilors came to play an increasing role in governing Ethiopia because many Emperors were succeeded either by a child, or one of the incarcerated princes, who could only successfully leave their prisons with help from the outside. As a result, by the mid-18th century the power of the Emperor had been largely transferred to his deputies, like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray, who held the actual power of the Empire and elevated or deposed Emperors at will in their struggle for control of the entire realm.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Succession", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki