Mikael Sehul (Tigrigna "Mikael the Astute"; his name at birth was Blatta Mikael; c.1691 - 23 June 1779) was a Ras or governor of Tigray 1748-71 and again 1772-79. He was a major political figure from the reign of Emperor Iyasu II, and his successors until almost the time of his death. Tigrigna (or ትግሪኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea, where it is the official language, and in parts of Ethiopia and Israel. ... Events and Trends Thomas Neale designed Seven Dials The Salem Witchcraft Trials are held in Massachusetts Bay Colony (1692). ... 1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Ethiopian aristocratic and religious titles used in Ethiopia until the end of the Monarchy in 1974. ... Map of Ethiopia highlighting the Tigray region. ... The Emperor of Ethiopia (Amharic ንጉሠ ነገሥት, niguse negest, King of Kings) was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. ... Iyasus II or Jesus II was negus negust (throne name Adyam Sagadwas) (19 September 1730 - 26 June 1755) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ...

Mikael was a son of Abeto Hezeqeyas [Isqias] Wolde Hawaryot, by his wife, Woizero Ishate Mariam, daughter of Azzaz Yakub. They boasted a descent from the imperial Salomonid dynasty and his father used the title Abeto, a prince of imperial cadet line. He was a descendant of Ras Faris the Great.

Being a powerful lord already in the Tigray region, in succession to his father, he was appointed as Dejazmatch of Tigray 20 September 1748 and of Semien 8 October 1757. Raised to the title of Ras and confirmed as Governor of Tigray, Semien, Seggada, Walqat and 44 other districts, 13th September 1759. Established his capital at Adowa.

He first enters history as having a part in some of the difficulties that was experienced by the deligation sent to Cairo to obtain a new Abuna for the Empire in 1745. On their outbound trip, the party had been held up at Massawa by the local Naib for six months, and only released them after they gave him half of their funds. On the return trip, Abuna Yohannes was held for ransom at Arqiqo until the abbot of the monastery of Debre Bizan helped him to escape. This affront was too serious to be overlooked, and the then Dejazmach Mikael was subjected to a punitive campaign by the Emperor. However Dejazmach Mikael remained too powerful, and he was soon forgiven.¹ Although technically in Giza, The Great Pyramids have become a symbol of Cairo internationally Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة; transliterated: al-Qāhirah) is the capital city of Egypt (and previously the United Arab Republic) and has a metropolitan area population of approximately 15. ... Abuna is the title of the metropolitan bishop or head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. ... // Events May 11 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army including the Black Watch June 4 – Frederick the Great destroys Austrian army at Hohenfriedberg August 19 - Beginning of the 45 Jacobite Rising at Glenfinnan September 12 - Francis I is elected... Massawa in the 19th century Massawa or Mitsiwa (15° 36′ 33″ N 39° 26′ 43″ E) is a port on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. ... A naib is a leader of the fictional Fremen people in the Dune Universe novels by Frank Herbert. ... Ethiopian aristocratic and religious titles used in Ethiopia until the end of the Monarchy in 1974. ...

In the reign of Iyasus's successor Iyoas I (1755-69), Dejazmach Mikael found himself the beneficiary of two dynastic ties to the Imperial house: Empress Mentewab married 1769 him to her daughter Aster, and Mikael's son, Wolde Hayawrat, had married to another daughter of the Empress. It was at this time that Mikael was granted the title of Ras.² Iyoas I or Joas I (throne name Adyam Sagad) (1755 - 14 May 1769) was negus negusti (26 June 1755 - 7 May 1769) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ... The Solomonid dynasty is the traditional royal house of Ethiopia, claming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is said to have given birth to the traditional first king Menelik I after her Biblically-described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem. ... Mentewab (How beautiful) was Empress of Ethiopia, the consort of Emperor Bakaffa, mother of Iyasu II and grandmother of Iyoas I. She was also known officially by her baptismal name of Welete Giyorgis (Daughter of St. ...

Ras Mikael intervened in the Ethiopian Church, and was a champion of the Karva Haymanot doctrine.³ The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church is an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Church until it was granted its own Patriarch by Cyril VI, the Coptic Pope, in 1959. ...

He was offended by the behavior of his superior Ras Anda Haymanot during a hunting expedition, and returned to Adowa which he fortified, and rebelled from Anda Haymanot. Eventually Ras Mikael fought, captured then executed his one-time master in 1759.⁴ Adowa was located at a strategic point on the trade route between Massawa and Gondar, and from the fees and duties he extracted he was able to recruit an army of 8000 men and arm them with muskets. Adowa (also spelled Aduwa, Adwa or Adua) is a highland town in Ethiopia. ... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Gondar (less commonly spelled Gonder) was the old imperial capital of Ethiopia and the historic Begemder province, now part of the Amhara region. ... Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk The word musket also means a male sparrowhawk. ...

Upon the death of Iyasu II, his son Iyoas took the throne and rivalry exploded between the mother of the late Emperor, and his widow. Empress Mentewab had been crowned co-ruler when her then underage son had succeeded her husband. Now that her son was gone, she believed that she was entitled to remain as co-ruler. However, Iyasu's widow, Welete Bersabe (known as Wubit) of the Oromo, strongly believed that it was her turn to take the leading role at the court of her son Iyoas as her mother-in-law had done during the previous reign. The young Emperor took the side of his mother against his grandmother. Empress Mentewab gathered her relatives from her native Qwara and their forces flooded into Gondar to support her claims. When news of the arrival of the Qwaran troops arrived, Welete Bersabe also summoned her relatives from Yejju, and throngs of Oromo soldiers arrived from that district to uphold her claims. The city of Gondar was swamped by these two tense armies, and a bloodbath seemed imminent. ...

To resolve the faceoff, Empress Mentewab looked to her son-in-law Ras Mikael to intervene. Mikael Sehul arrived with an army of 26,000 promising to mediate the dispute between the two queens and their followers. He took control of the capital city of Gondar and assumed an increasingly dominant role.

Invested as Ras Bitwodad and Enderase (Viceroy) of the Empire 22nd January 1768. Emperor Iyoas became alarmed, and after secretly intreguing with Fasil ordered the Ras to return to Tigray. Ras Mikael Sehul disobeyed, and defeated Fasil's army. He returned to Gondar and demanded an assembly of the nobility before whom he announced that he had proof that the Emperor Iyoas had plotted to have him killed while he was off defending his throne for him.

The assembly was presented with testimony, and agreed that it was a grievous crime, deserving of death, but that as a monarch could not be killed, they merely confined the Emperor to his palace. Mikael Sehul then ordered the Emperor killed. As it was considered wrong to pierce the heir of Solomon with a spear, or cut him with a sword, or to strike him with bullets, Mikael Sehul ordered the Emperor strangled with a length of silk in imperial red in January 1769. The death of the Emperor put both dowager queens, Empress Mentewab and Welete Bersabe, in a distraught state. Mentewab removed herself from all political activity and secluded herself at her palace at Qusquam where she buried her grandson with much pomp and grandure. 1769 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Ras Mikael then appointed the next two Emperors: Yohannes II, who proved to be a nonentity and was quickly gotten rid of, then Tekle Haymanot II. Despite his power over the throne, the populace rebelled; Ras Mikael responded with a reign of terror over Gondar (1770), but failed to control the countryside where the armies of Fasil, Goshu of Amhara, and Wand Bewossen of Begemder allied to fight him. The parties met at Sarbakusa, where Ras Mikael was finally defeated, and finally surrendered to Wand Bawasan on 4 June 1771. Wand Bawasan imprisoned Mikael Sehul for a year, then either sent him back to Tigray to live out his last years as governor of that province, or Ras Mikael voluntarily retired to that province.⁵ He d. at Adowa (Bala Mika'el), Tigray, 23rd June 1779. Yohannes II or John II was negus negusti (7 May 1769 - 18 October 1769) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ... Tekle Haymanot II (1754 - 7 September 1777) was negus negusti (18 October 1769 - 13 April 1777) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ... 1770 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Wand Bewossen is a famous military figure in Ethopian history. ... Begemder was a province in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Gondar. ... June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining. ... 1771 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

His first official wife was Woizero Walatta Gabr'el (d. at Adowa, after 1766), and his second was 1769, Woizero Aster, widow of Dejazmatch Natcho and of Ras Ya Mariam Bariaw, and a daughter of Garazmatch Iyasu Milmal and Empress Berhan Mogassa (Mentwab). He was succeeded, each briefly, by his son Wolde Samuel of Tigray, then by his grandson Wolde Gabriel, and ultimately by his nephew Gabre Maskal. By 1790, his family has lost the rule of Tigray to descendants to his onetime lieutenant and then rival, Kifle Iyasu of Endarta. Who in turn by 1818 lost it to Lords of Agame. Etc.

Notes

1. The misadventures of the delegation is described in the Royal Chronicle of Iyasus II's reign, translated in Richard R.K. Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles (Oxford: Addis Ababa, 1967), pp. 125-9. It is J. Spencer Trimingham (Islam in Ethiopia [Oxford: University Press, 1952), p. 105) who states that Ras Mikael was held responsible and punished.
2. Pankhurst, Royal Chronicles pp. 133f, and Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 121.
3. Mordechai Abir, The era of the princes: the challenge of Islam and the re-unification of the Christian empire, 1769-1855 (London: Longmans, 1968), p.40.
4. Richard R.K. Pankhurst, History of Ethiopian Towns (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1982), p. 194.
5. This narrative is based in part on Richard R.K. Pankhurst, An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia (London: Lalibella House, 1961), pp. 88f, with details drawn from Harold G. Marcus, A History of Ethiopia (Berkeley: University Press, 1994), pp. 46f and 51f.