Mansur ad-Din of Adal
| Mansur ad-Din منصور اد الدين | |
|---|---|
| 2nd Sultan of the Sultanate of Adal | |
| Reign | early 15th century |
| Predecessor | Sabr ad-Din II |
| Successor | Jamal ad-Din II |
| Born | Zeila |
| Died | 1424 |
| Dynasty | Walashma dynasty |
| Religion | Islam |
Mansur ad-Din (Arabic: منصور اد الدين) (died 1424) was a Sultan of the Sultanate of Adal and a son of Sa'ad ad-Din II.[1][2]
Reign
On the death of his brother Sabr ad-Din III, Sultan Mansur succeeded the throne and enjoyed support of his brother Muhammad.
Early in his reign he launched an expedition against an Ethiopian Christian monarch, Emperor Dawit and drove him to Yedaya which was described as his royal seat, destroyed the Solomonic army, where according to Maqrizi, he was captured and killed.
His death however presumed to be an event of major importance, is not recorded by the Ethiopian Chronicles. The Ethiopian historian Taddesse Tamrat argues it's because the Ethiopian royal chronicles often deliberately attempted to suppress the violent deaths of the kings whose reigns they extol.
Mansur later made his way towards to Moha mountains where surrounded a considerable imperial force of 30.000 soldiers. He besieged them for two months by the end of which they were suffering from hunger and thirst. He then offered them an ultimatum of embracing Islam or return to their homes. Some 10.000 accepted the new faith of Islam; the remaining ones went home.
Soon after this the fortunes of war again changed. In 1424 another Christian monarch, Emperor Yeshaq, set forth with a huge army which Maqrizi likens to a swarm of locusts. Mansur and his brother Muhammad were captured and once more the former lands came under the rule of the Christian Amhara[3][4]
See also
Notes
- ^ Asafa Jalata, State Crises, Globalisation, And National Movements In North-east Africa page 3-4
- ^ The date of his death is from J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 75.
- ^ 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), pp.57
- ^ E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 302.