Emperor Yohannes III or Johannis III (born c.1797) was the last of the elder "Gondar" line of the Solomonid dynasty to reign over Ethiopia. He was the son of Tekle Giyorgis. He was largely a figurehead, with real power in the hands of the Enderase or Regent, Ras Ali II a princeling of the Oromo ruling family of the district of Yejju. Ras Ali had compelled Emperor Yohannes to marry Ras Ali's mother, the formidable Empress Mennen Liben Amede, who dominated both her second husband and her son. 1797 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 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. ... Tekle Giyorgis I (died 1825) was negus negusti of Ethiopia intermittently between 20 July 1779 and June 1800, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ... Ali II of Yejju (c. ... The Oromo are an African ethnic group found in Ethiopia and to a lesser extent Kenya. ...

During the various wars between Ras Ali and his leading rival for power, Dejazmach Wube Haile Maryam of Semien, Emperor Yohannes was deposed and restored several times between 30 August 1840 and 1851, alternating with his cousin Sahle Dengel. Yohannes was deposed the first time (October 1841) for showing himself a friend to Dejazmach Wube; he was restored briefly in 1845, then restored once again "by some unknown means" in 1850, according to E.A. Wallis Budge. August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Sahle Dengel was negus negusti of Ethiopia intermittently between 1832 and 11 February 1855. ... take you to calendar). ... 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Budge portrays Yohannes as a contemptible character, "only tolerated because he belonged to the Solomonic line. He was a glutton and a wine bibber, and was usually drunk, and when he was not in his banquet hall he was in his harim."¹ In traditional Arab culture, the harîm حريم (cf. ...

His ultimate fate is unclear -- as well as many of the details of his reign. He is said to have been ruling as Emperor 18 June 1847 when Mennen was defeated near the northern shores of Lake Tana by Kassa of Kwara (the future Tewodros II), who captured Yohannes and Mennen and traded them to Ras Ali for the title of Dejazmach and the territories of the deceased Ras Kinfu in Gojjam.² Another source states that when Kassa finally usurped the Imperial throne, Yohannes agreed to step down from the throne on the condition that the new Emperor guarantee that he would not ever be made to reunite with his much hated wife, Empress Mennen. Afterwards, Yohannes then faded into obscurity, dying a very impoverished man sometime in the early 1870s. It is also often said that he converted to Roman Catholicism at the end of his life, and wrote a letter to Napoleon III asking for financial relief. 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Lake Tana from space, April 1991 Lake Tana (also spelled Tana; older spellings include Tsana and Dambea) is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia. ... Tewodros II (also known as Theodore II) (1818 - 1868) was an Emperor of Ethiopia (1855 - 1868). ... Gojjam, or Gojam, was a province in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debra Markos. ... Events and Trends Technology The invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) was the son of King Louis Bonaparte and Queen Hortense de Beauharnais; both monarchs of the French puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland. ...

Budge reports another version, where Yohannes ended his life far less memorably, dying in 1851 "during an attack of acute indigestion", when Sahle Dengel replaced him a final time. Because Sahle Dengel was Emperor until shortly before Tewodros' coronation (11 February 1855), this version may be closer to the truth. February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Notes

1. E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 483
2. Mordechai Abir, Ethiopia: The Era of the princes (London: Longmans, 1968), p. 128f