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imprior tewoderos
Emperor Tewodros II was born Kassa Haile Giorgis, (often refered to as Kassa Hailu), the son of a minor nobleman of Qwara district of Dembia, a region of western Beghemider province bordering on the Sudan. His actual place of birth was in the small villiage of Dawa, located about 12 kilometers from the city of Gondar, in 1818. His father, Haile Giorgis Wolde Giorgis would die long before Kassa could possibly have remembered him. Kassa’s paternal grandfather was Dejazmatch Wolde Giorgis, a prominent nobleman of his time. Kassa’s mother was named Woizero Attitegeb Wondbewossen, and her paternal grandfather was Ras Wodajo, another powerful and prominent nobleman. Woizer Attitegeb’s mother, Woizero Tishal, was also of noble birth, Although Emperor Tewodros II is often refered to as a non-royal userper, he did claim that father was decended from Emperor Fasiledes through a daughter. Many of his contemporaries however did not believe that he was of Imperial blood. Indeed even today, he captures the imagination of his admirers more as a self made man rather than the scion of an ancient lineage of monarchs. It was however dificult in those days to rule the Empire without establishing some connection to the dynasty, so his claims may have been his attempt at ligitimation. While Kassa was still very young, his parents divorced, and his mother took her son from Kwara to her native Gondar. Not long afterwards, his father died, and his paternal relatives, eager to divide up the property among themselves, left Kassa without a share of his father’s property. Kassa’s mother apparently supported herself and her son by selling Kosso. Kosso is a powerful drug used to expel intestinal parasites such as tapeworms, which Ethiopians were prone to get due to their high consumption of raw meat. Kassa’s detractors would often refer to him as “the Kosso sellers son”, an insult he seldom forgave.
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At a young age, Kassa was sent to study at a monastery as most other young boys of his era. The monastery where he was studying was pillaged and burned as a result of the endless wars of the Zemene Mesafin. The particular battle involved was probably the oddest battle of the entire era. In a bitter contest for power, Dejazmatch Wube Haile Mariam had decided to challenge the Yejju dynasty of Ras Ali II, the Enderase and Re-ese Mekwanint of the Empire. Although through his control of the puppet Solomonic Emperor, Ras Ali was the de-jure ruler of Ethiopia, much of the Empire was ruled by regional princelings and warlords. Dejazmatch Wube was among the more powerful of these warlords as he ruled not only Simien, Tsegede and Wolkait, but all of Tigrai which he had snatched from the sons of Dejazmatch Sabagadis, the Shum Agame, and all of Hamasein, Serai, Akale Guzai, as well as parts of northern Wollo. He was ruler of most of northern Ethiopia, and in fact liked to occasionally call himself “Ye Abesha Nigus” or “King of Abyssinia”, an illigitimate claim that irritated Ras Ali, the Emperor Yohannis III and the King of Shewa as well. Dejazmatch Wube had just arranged for the appointment of a new Archbishop from Alexandria. He had paid for the vast expenses involved in bringing the new bishop to Ethiopia, and pay the traditional payment for the appointment to the Turkish authorities in Egypt as well as to the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria. The new Archbishop, Abune Sellama II arrived in Ethiopia and went directly to Simien where Dejazmatch Wube convinced him that Ras Ali and his Yejju dynasty were really muslims and not Orthodox Christians. Although they were practicing Christians, the Re-ese Mekwanint and his family had clung to the Muslim names of their ancestors. However, this was apparently enough evidence for Abune Sellama to exhort the public to rise up against Ras Ali. Hearing of Dejazmatch Wube’s intentions of removing Ras Ali from the Enderaseship, the puppet Emperor Yohannis III (who had been forced to marry Ali’s mother and crown her Empress Menen) had secretly escaped and joined Wube in Simien in early 1841. In reply, the ex-Emperor Sahle Dingel was briefly restored to the throne by Ras Ali. In February of that year, Dejazmatch Wube attacked Ras Ali’s seat of government at Debre Tabor. What followed is probably the oddest battle in Ethiopian (indeed African) history. During the course of the battle, Ras Ali ordered a cavalry charge. As he watched from a hill top, he saw many of his cavalry fall before the guns of Dejazmatch Wube’s army. Seeing so many of his horsemen die, Ras Ali is said to have commented that all was lost, and he took flight to evade capture. Ironically, Dejazmatch Wube had also been viewing the charge, and seeing many of his men fall under the cavalry attack, he also decided that all was lost, and he also fled the battle field. The fact that both commanders of both armies had fled before the end of the battle would be the source of endless jokes for years. However, messengers were able to catch up with the fleeing Dejazmatch Wube to tell him that Ras Ali had fled. The prince of Simien returned in pompous triumph and entered Debre Tabor in victory, entering the great hall of Ras Ali to celebrate his victory. However, yet another odd twist was to take place. An officer of Ras Ali’s army named Aligaz with a small band of men, entered Debre Tabor which was quite chaotic at the time, and siezed the great hall, taking Dejazmatch Wube prisoner and quickly ending the victory celebration he was holding. Aligaz then sent messengers after the fleeing Ras Ali to notify him that victory was now his. The Ras however was so fearful, he had taken refuge at the Wadla monastery, and no one could find him. After hours of searching far and wide, and largely by the use of spies and informants, Aligaz was finally able to locate the Re-ese Mekwanint of Ethiopia and give him the good news. Ras Ali emerged from hiding to claim victory and returned to power. However, after some negotioations, Dejazmatch Wube was restored to his domains with the agreement that he would continue to pay his tribute to Ras Ali. Emperor Yohannis III was restored to his powerless throne. All in all, the situation was restored to exactly what it had been before the war, and the battle had been nothing more than a farcical waste of time, resources and lives. It was during this epic battle, that soldiers from the Moslem Raya and Azebo tribes of Wollo who were loyal to the Yejju dynasty of Ras Ali had torched the monastery where Kassa was studying. Witnessing the horrors of the distruction of his place of education had a deep impact on young Kassa and probably had a big effect on the course that his life took.
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