Menelik II
Menelik II (August 17, 1844 . December 12, 1913), Conquering Lion of
Judah, Elect of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia was negus negust
(emperor) of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death.
Menelik IIThe son of King Haile Melekot of Shoa (1847 - 1855),
was born in 1844 in Ankober, Shoa and heir to the Shewan branch of
the Solomonic Dynasty which claimed descent from King Solomon of
ancient Israel, and the Queen of Sheba. On the death of his father
in 1855 he was taken prisoner by Emperor Tewodros II (Theodore II),
a former minor noble originally named Kassa of Kwara, who had
usurped the Imperial throne from the last Emperor of the elder
Gondar branch of the Solomonic dynasty, Emperor Johannis III (John
III). Menelik was imprisoned on Tewodros' mountain stronghold of
Magdala, but was treated well by the Emperor, even marrying
Tewodros's daughter Alitash. However, he would eventually succeed at
escaping from Magdala and abandoned his wife, returning to Shoa to
reclaim his ancestral crown and at once attacked the usurper
claiming the Imperial throne for himself as well. These campaigns
were unsuccessful, and he turned his arms to the west, east and
south, and annexed much territory to his kingdom, still, however,
maintaining his claims of divine right to the Imperial Crown of
Ethiopia in addition to the royal one of Shoa.
In 1883, King Menelik married Taytu Betul, a noblewoman of
Imperial blood, and a member of the leading families of the regions
of Simien, Gojjam and Begemder. Her uncle Dejazmatch Wube had been
the ruler of Tigre and much of northern Ethiopia. She had been
married four times previously and exercised considerable influence.
Menelik and Taytu would have no children. Menelik had previous to
this marriage, sired not only Zauditu (eventually Empress of
Ethiopia), but also another daughter, Shoaregga (who married Ras
Mikael of Wollo), and a son Prince Wossen Seged who died in
childhood. Menelek.s clemency to Ras Mangasha, whom he compelled to
submit and then made hereditary Prince of his native Tigre, was ill
repaid by a long series of revolts by that prince. After the suicide
of Tewodros II in 1868 following his defeat at the hands of the
British at Magdalla, Menelik continued to struggle against the
various other claimants to the Imperial throne. The eventual
successor, the Emperor Yohannes IV (better known to Europeans as
King John of Abyssinia) was however able to better exert his claims
due to the large number of weapons left to him by the British whom
he had aided against Tewodros. Being again unsuccessful, Menelik
resolved to await a more propitious occasion; so, acknowledging the
supremacy of Yohannes. In 1886 Menelik of Shoa married his daughter
Zauditu to the Emperor.s son, the Ras Araya Selassie. Ras Araya
Selassie died in May 1888 without any issue by Zauditu of Shoa, and
the Emperor Yohannes IV was killed in a war against the dervishes at
the battle of Gallabat (Matemma) on May 10, 1889. The succession now
lay between the late emperor.s natural son, the Ras Mangasha, and
Menelek of Shoa, but the latter was able to obtain the aliegance of
a large majority of the nobility on November 4, and consecrated and
Crowned as Emperor Menelik II shortly afterwards.
In 1880, at the time when he was claiming the throne against
Mangasha, Menelek signed at Wuchale in Wollo province (Uccialli in
the Italian version), a treaty with Italy acknowledging the
establishment of the new Italian Colony of Eritrea with its seat at
Asmara. This colony had previously been part of the northern Tigrean
territories from which Ras Mangasha had generated support, and the
establishment of the Italian colony weakend the Ras. However, it was
soon found that the Italian version of one of the articles of the
treaty placed the Ethiopian Empire under Italian domination, while
the Amharic version did not. Menelik denounced it, and after
negotiations failed, abrogated it, leading Italy to declare war and
invade from Eritrea. After defeating the Italians at Amba-Alagi and
Mekele, he inflicted an even greater defeat on them, in the battle
of Adowa on March 1, 1896, forcing them to capitulate. A treaty was
signed recognizing the absolute independence of Ethiopia.
Menelik II's French sympathies were shown in a reported official
offer of treasure towards payment of the indemnity at the close of
the Franco-Prussian War, and in February 1897 he concluded a
commercial treaty with France on very favorable terms. He also gave
assistance to French officers who sought to reach the upper Nile
from Ethiopia, there to join forces with the Marchand Mission; and
Ethiopian armies were sent towards the Nile, but withdrew when the
Fashoda Crisis between France and the United Kingdom cooled off. A
British mission under Sir Rennell Rodd in May 1897, however, was
cordially received, and Menelik agreed to a settlement of the Somali
boundaries, to keep open to British commerce the caravan route
between Zaila and Harrar, and to prevent the transit of munitions of
war to the Mahdists, whom he proclaimed enemies of Ethiopia.
In the following year the Sudan was reconquered by an
Anglo-Egyptian army and thereafter cordial relations between Menelek
and the British authorities were established. In 1889 and subsequent
years, Menelik sent forces to co-operate with the British troops
engaged against the Somali mullah, Mahommed Abdullah.
