Amda Seyon I: Difference between revisions

| name = Amda Seyon I <br> {{lang|am|ቀዳማዊ ዓፄ ዐምደ ጽዮን}}

He is best known in histhe so called chronicles as a heroic warrior against the Muslims, and is sometimes considered to have been the founder of the Ethiopian Empire. MostAmda Seyon's chronicles however appear to be highly unreliable as it was written a hundred years after his reign and conflates conflicts involving successive Ethiopian emperors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chekroun |first1=Amélie |title=Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dīn (first half of the 16th century): from its emergence to its fortification |date=2022 |journal=Annales d'Éthiopie |volume=34 |page=26 |doi=10.3406/ethio.2022.1710 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ethio_0066-2127_2022_num_34_1_1710}}</ref> Nonetheless the text state most of his wars were against the Muslim sultanates to the southeast, which he was able to fight and always defeat, and substantially enlarge his kingdom by gradually incorporating a number of neighboring states.<ref name=Brit/>

His supposed conquests of Muslim borderlands were said to have greatly expanded Christian territory and power in the region, which were maintained for centuries after his death. Amda Seyon asserted the strength of the new Solomonic dynasty and therefore legitimized it. These expansions further provided for the spread of [[Christianity]] to frontier areas, sparking a long era of proselytization, [[Christianization]], and integration of previously peripheral areas.<ref name=EncEth>Joanna Mantel-Niećko and Denis Nosnitsin, "^cAmdä Ṣəyon I" in Siegbert Uhlig, ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), p. 228.</ref>

Taddesse Tamrat reports that he found a contemporary note written in a manuscript now kept in the island [[monastery]] of [[Lake Hayq]], which mentions that in 1309 [[Ethiopian calendar|AM]] (1316/7 AD), Emperor Amda Seyon successfully campaigned against the Pagan [[Damot (historical region)|Damot]]([https://www.abyssinica.com/search?q=%E1%8C%A5%E1%8A%95%E1%89%B3%E1%8B%8A%20%E1%8B%A8%E1%8B%B3%E1%88%9E%E1%89%B5%20%E1%88%98%E1%8A%95%E1%8C%8D%E1%88%B5%E1%89%B5&p=1 ዳሞት መንግስት]) as well as Muslim [[Harla Kingdom]] and [[Hadiya Kingdom]].<ref>Taddesse, ''Church and State'', pp. 135ff.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=Bethany |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Archaeology |date=3 September 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=427 |isbn=978-0-19-998787-0 |url=https://wwwbooks.google.cacom/books/edition/The_Oxford_Handbook_of_Islamic_Archaeolo/yCsDEAAAQBAJ?hlid=en&gbpv=1yCsDEAAAQBAJ&dq=amda+seyon+harla&pg=PA427&printsec=frontcover}}</ref> The note describes his [[Conquestconquest of Damot]], many of whose people he exiled to another area, and then the Conquestconquest of Hadiya, to whose people he did likewise. Though his early control of these regions was minimal, it is evident by 1332 (or 1329) that Hadiya had been fully integrated, providing troops for his 1332 campaigns against the [[Sultanate of Ifat]]. The King of Hadiya, Amano, refused to visit the emperor and give his tribute, encouraged by, according to Amda Seyon's chronicler, a Muslim "prophet of darkness" named Bel'am.<ref name="PankBord78">Pankhurst, Richard. ''The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century'' (Asmara, Eritrea: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 78.</ref> According to the emperor's Chronicle, Bel'am told him to rebel:

Around 1320, Sultan [[an-Nasir Muhammad]] of the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]] based in Cairo began persecuting [[Copts]] and destroying their churches. Amdä Seyon subsequently sent a mission to Cairo in 1321-2 threatening to retaliate against the Muslims in his kingdom, and threatened to send a legion in conquest of Egypt after diverting the course of the [[Nile]] if the sultan did not end his persecution.<ref>Pankhurst, ''Borderlands'', p. 40.</ref> Though Al-Nasir Muhammad ignored the envoys, fear of the diversion of the Nile in Egypt would continue for centuries.<ref name=Pank41>Pankhurst, ''Borderlands'', p. 41.</ref> As a result of the dispute and threats, [[Haqq ad-Din I]], sultan of Ifat, seized and imprisoned a member of the deputation sent by the Emperor named Ti'yintay on his way back from Cairo. Haqq ad-Din tried to convert Ti`yintay, killing him when this failed.<ref>J. Spencer Trimingham, ''Islam in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 71.</ref> The Emperor responded by invading Ifat accompanied by, according to Amda Seyon's royal chronicler, only seven horsemen, and killed many of the sultan's soldiers. Part of the army then followed him and destroyed the province's capital, Ifat, and Amda Seyon took much of its wealth in the form of gold, silver, bronze, lead, and clothing. Amda Seyon continued his reprisals throughout all of the provinces of Ifat, pillaging Kuelgora[[Kwelgora]], [[Biqulzar]], [[Gidaya]], [[Hubat]], [[Fedis (historical region)|Fedis]], Qedsé, [[Hargaya]], and [[Shewa]], populated mainly by Muslims, taking livestock, killing many inhabitants, destroying towns and mosques, as well as taking prisoners.<ref>{{cite book |title=Gidaya |publisher=Encyclopedia Aethiopica |url=https://en.sewasew.com/p/gidaya-(%E1%8C%8D%E1%8B%B3%E1%8B%AB)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankhurst |first1=Richard |title=Ethiopian Borderlands |year=1997 |publisher=Red Sea Press |page=41 |isbn=9780932415196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC&dq=the+emperor+followed+up+this+victory+by+sending+his+army+further+into+all+the+lands+of+the+muslims&pg=PA41}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hassan |first1=Mohammed |title=The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia 1300-1700 |year=2015 |publisher=James Currey |page=70 |isbn=9781847011176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fg1zCgAAQBAJ&dq=amda+seyon+mosque&pg=PA70}}</ref>

Amda Seyon continued and was attacked twice in skirmishes before making camp.<ref name="PankChron18" /> The Muslims returned during the night in much greater numbers, and attacked him with an army raised from the seven "great clans" of Adal: Gebela, Lebekela, [[Wargar]], Paguma, and Tiqo. During the battle, Amda Seyon was struck from the rear by an enemy's sword, cutting his girdle around his waist and his battle dress, but the Emperor was able to turn and kill the attacker with his spear before he could strike again.<ref>Pankhurst, ''Ethiopian Royal Chronicles'', pp.&nbsp;19–20.</ref> According to [[James Bruce]], the imperial army had been infiltrated by foreign agents from [[Harar]], however Amda Seyon's men were able to apprehend and execute them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bruce |first1=James |title=Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume II In the years 1769, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54181/54181-h/54181-h.htm}}</ref> Amda Seyon emerged victorious from the battle and sent fresh troops who had not fought to pursue the surviving enemies. They were able to reach the survivors on the banks of a nearby river by morning and kill them, taking many swords, bows, spears, and clothes.<ref>Pankhurst, ''Ethiopian Royal Chronicles'', p.&nbsp;20.</ref>

[[File:Amdaseyon.jpg|thumb|[[Gondarine period|Gondarine]] Depictiondepiction of Amda Tsiyon I]]

Before the end of the month of December, Amda Seyon ravaged the land of [[Sharkha]] and imprisoned its governor Yoseph.<ref>Huntingford, ''The Glorious Victories'', ''passim''.</ref> These efforts extended Ethiopian rule for the first time across the [[Awash River]], gaining control of [[Sultanate of Dawaro|Dawaro]], [[Bale Province,(historical Ethiopiaregion)|Bale]], and other Muslim states.

[[File:MedievalEthiopia.png|right|thumb|270px|Map of medieval Ethiopian provinces, with sub-provinces in smaller lettering and neighbouring groups in italics.]]

"These devastating victories settled the crucial question as to which of the powers, Christian or Muslim, was to dominate the southern region for the next two centuries. The glorious victories of Amda-Siyon fastened thehelp [[Abyssinia|Abyssinians]] yoke upon the Muslim necksurvive." States [[Mohammed Hassen]], "It made the southern region the nerve centre of Ethiopian history. Henceforth for the next two centuries, the southern region remained the source from which the stream of history flowed in different channels. In short, the wars of Amda-Siyon made the [[Abyssinian people|Abyssinians]] masters of the region, and from then on there gleams around the name [[Abyssinia|Abyssinians]] that halo which belongs to the great conquering nations. However, in the long run these victories failed to achieve the desired end." "The campaigns of Amda-Siyon createddid not create an empire, but they did lay a proper foundation for the creation of a nation later inspire Emperor [[Menelik II|Emperor Menelik ii]] for the unification of modern [[Ethiopia]]. In no concrete manner was there a creative marriage of cultures, a passage of ideas, an equal sharing of wealth. To the Christians the conquest meant constant enrichment. ."<ref>Mohammed Hassen, The Oromo of Ethiopia pp.15</ref> We need to understand the system used in the empire may have different fom that the European we should understand in african context; I legacy not just making an Empire it also unti [[Arabization|Arabazation]] Some of the leader of sultanats whare arab dissent.