Araya Selassie Yohannes

Araya Selassie Yohannes (born 1870; died 1888) was an army commander and a member of the Royal family of the Ethiopian Empire. Araya Selassi Yohannes was the grandfather of Haile Selassie Gugsa.

Biography

Prince (Leul) Araya Selassie Yohannes was the legitimate son of Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia. Mengesha Yohannes was his illegitimate half brother.

In 1882, the twelve-year-old Araya Selassie Yohannes married six-year-old Princess (Leult) Zewditu, eldest daughter of Negus Menelik, King of Shewa. The marriage was political, having been arranged when Menelik agreed to submit to Yohannes' rule. Araya Selassie Yohannes had a son, Gugsa Araya Selassie from a previous union.

In 1883, Araya Selassie Yohannes was made Governor (Shum) of Wollo Province and, in 1886, he was made Governor of Begemder Province. He died of smallpox in June 1888 gathering an army for his father while in Mek'ele.

Familial rivalry between the two lines of descent from Emperor Yohannes IV proved to be a difficult issue for Emperor Menelik II and his successors. Leul Ras Gugsa Araya Selassie, the son of Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes, and Leul Ras Seyum Mangasha, the son of Ras Mengesha Yohannes divided Tigray Province between them. Gugsa Araya Selassie ruled the eastern half and Seyum Mangasha ruled the westrn half. The balance seemed to be in Gugsa Araya's favor however when Ras Seyoum Mengesha having married Lij Iyasu's half sister was suspected of hiding the deposed Emperor designate in his home.Leul Ras Gugsa as the former stepson of Empress Zewditu was seen as more firmly in the anti-Iyasu camp. This was further cemented when Leul Ras Gugsa captured Lij Iyasu and handed him over to the central government. He married as his third wife, Princess Yeshashework Yilma, neice of Emperor Haile Selassie.

In 1947, when Gugsa Araya Selassie died, eastern Tigray Province was incorporated back into western Tigray and was governed by Ras Seyum Mangasha rather than be ruled by the grandson of Araya Selassie Yohannes, the dishonored Haile Selassie Gugsa.

See also

• Monarchies of Ethiopia
• Line of succession to the Ethiopian Throne
• Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles
• Mengesha Yohannes - Half brother of Araya Selassie Yohannes

Sources

• Marcus, Harold G. (1994). A History of Ethiopia. London: University of California Press. p. 316. ISBN 0-520-22479-5.
• Mockler, Anthony (2002). Haile Sellassie's War. New York: Olive Branch Press. ISBN 9781566564731. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)