Everything about Baeda Maryam Of Ethiopia totally explained
Baeda Maryam (
Ge'ez በእደ ማርያም
ba'ida māryām "He who is in the Hand of Mary," modern
be'ide māryām) (
1448 -
November 8 1478) was
nəgusä nägäst (
August 26 1468 - November 8, 1478) of
Ethiopia, and a member of the
Solomonic dynasty. Born at
Dabra Berhan, he was the son of
Zara Yaqob by Seyon Morgasa.
Towards the end of Zara Yaqob's life, he became increasingly convinced that members of his family were plotting against him, and had several of them beaten. Baeda Maryam's mother Seyon Morgasa died from this mistreatment in
1462, and Baeda Maryam buried his mother in secret in the church of Maqdesa Maryam, near Dabra Berhan, and donated incense and other gifts to support the church. Zara Yaqob then directed his anger at Baeda Maryam, until members of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church repaired the rift between the two, and Zara Yaqob publicly designated Baeda Maryam as his successor.
With his own mother dead, Baeda Maryam gave
Eleni, a wife of his father, the title of Queen Mother. She proved to be an effective member of the royal family, and Paul B. Henze comments that she "was practically co-monarch" during his reign. However,
Edward Ullendorff notes Baeda Maryam was unable to hold together the far-flung empire his father left him: "some of the outlying provinces recently conquered began to grow restive; the feudal lords whom Zar'a Ya'qob had only ephemerally brought under central control reasserted their regional authority; and the senior clergy relapsed into some of the old-established ways of conduct and ecclesiastical organization."
Campaigns against the Dobe'a
Emperor Baeda Maryam conducted a campaign against the
Dobe'a early in his reign, but they'd evacuated their cattle, camels, and his campaign was unable to track down any Dobe'a. He subsequently rode into the area himself, but the Dobe'a recognized him from a distance and were able to flee, their possessions already having been evacuated. At this point, the "Dankalé," the ruler of the Danakil (better known as the
Afar), offered to intervene and help in the Emperor's campaign. He sent the Emperor a horse, a mule laden with dates, a shield, and two spears to show his support, along with a message saying, "I have set up my camp, O my master, with the intention of stopping these people. If they're your enemies, I won't let them pass, and will seize them." Ba'eda Maryam sent his men against the Dobe'a again, but his campaign was defeated and suffered heavy casualties. Ba'eda Maryam was by this point infuriated, criticizing his soldiers for attacking without orders and stating his determination to remain in the Dobe'a country until he'd subdued the country to the point where he could sow grain there and his horses could eats its crop. He then dispatched
Jan Zeg, the
Garad (governor) of
Bali, in a campaign in the region of
Gam, where the Garad was killed.
Cholera (or some other
pestilence) broke out among his men, depressing him further, resulting in his withdrawal to
Tigray. There he called upon one of his best fighting regiments,
Jan Amora ("Royal Eagle," after which the sub-province and
woreda were named), who were eager to participate in the campaign. The twelve Dobe'a leaders learned of the new attack being prepared, and began to flee in various directions into the lowlands of
Adal with their women, children, and cattle, with their property loaded on their camels and other beasts of burden. The Emperor heard of their plans, however, and mounted another campaign against Dobe'as, sending the governors of Tigray, Qeda and
Damot to pursue them. This new campaign was successful, resulting in the capture of many cattle and the deaths of many Dobe'a, both in the main attack and the following pursuit.
After this defeat, many of the Dobe'as converted to Christianity and begged the Emperor for his pardon. The Emperor in turn returned their cattle, supplementing it with others from the southern provinces of
Wej and
Genz and stationed soldiers in their country. He further built a church in Dobe'a country dedicated to the Virgin Mary and planted orange trees, lemon trees, and vines in the area, in fulfillment of his earlier declaration. Ba'eda Maryam soon returned to the Dobe'a country and appointed governors and "regulated the social condition of the people," as well as encouraging the celebration of the death of the Virgin Mary every January, upon which occasion he distributed bread,
tela (beer), and
tej (a type of honey
wine/
mead) to the people. He further ordered that the Dobe'as become cultivators, as opposed to bandits and left the country for the last time.
Other campaigns
Baeda Maryam moved his court to the
Gurage country, using it as a base for campaigns in
Dawaro and
Bale. His constant campaigning led to a peace treaty with Sultan
Muhammad of
Adal, the son of
Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din, and used the peace it brought to his southern borders to successfully campaign against the restive
Falasha in his northern territories. But on Muhammad's death, war with Adal flared up once again.
Baeda Maryam died at Abasi Wera Gabayi, but he was buried in a tomb at
Atronsa Maryam, on the left bank of the
Abay River, which was notable for its painting of
Mary and
Christ by the artist
Brancaleon, a
Venetian who had come to live in Ethiopia. His tomb was later destroyed in an
Oromo raid in
1709, when they sacked the church, enslaved or killed all of the people present, and hurled the coffin of Baeda Maryam over the nearby cliffs.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Baeda Maryam Of Ethiopia'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://baeda_maryam_of_ethiopia.totallyexplained.com">Baeda Maryam of Ethiopia Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
