Emperor of Ethiopia

Succession[edit]

On the death of a monarch any male or female descendant of the various dynastic lines could claim succession to the throne. Though in many cases the practice favoured primogeniture for at least one subsequent succession to the imperial throne, it often, as in the case of Emperor Yohannes IV of Tigray's claim to the throne after the death of Emperor Tewodros II from Gondar, would leave the direct lineage of one royal family in favor of another.


The system developed two approaches to controlling the succession: the first involved the selection of emperors by a council of vassal regional royals and powerful clergy members from throughout the country who supported their claim to the Imperial throne; the combined military and religious strength would use their influence to contain and put down any competing claims. The second involved interning 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. Ethiopian traditions do not all agree as to exactly when the custom started of imprisoning rivals to the throne on a "Mountain of the Princes". One tradition credits this practice to the Zagwe king Yemrehana Krestos (fl. 11th century), who allegedly 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 historian Thomas Pakenham, states that this practice predates the Zagwe dynasty (which ruled from c. 900 AD), and was first practiced on Debre Damo, which was captured by the 10th-century queen Yodit or "Gudit", who then isolated 200 princes 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 (1299–1314), following the struggle for succession that he believes lies behind the series of brief reigns of the sons of Yagbe'u Seyon (reigned 1285–1294). 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 patterns allowed all agnates to also succeed to the lands of the monarchy – which however is contrary to keeping the country undivided.


The potential royal rivals were incarcerated at Amba Geshen until the site was destroyed in 1540 during the Ethiopian-Adal war; then, from the reign of Fasilides (1632–1667) 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 had theoretically unlimited power over his subjects, his councillors 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 (c. 1691 – 1779), who held actual power in the empire and elevated or deposed emperors at will.