Amda Seyon III was an Imperial

usurper A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...

who self-crowned as Emperor of Ethiopia for less than one month. Amda Seyon was proclaimed '' negusä nägäst'' in September 1707 at Yebaba in

Gojjam Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical province in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos. Gojjam's earliest western boundary ex ...

. He made his way to

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...

, where he had himself crowned, and within a short time gained the support of the friends of the late Emperor Iyasu. Emperor

Tekle Haymanot Abune Tekle Haymanot ( Ge'ez: አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት; known in the Coptic Church as Saint Takla Haymanot of Ethiopia; 1215 – 1313) was an Ethiopian saint and monk mostly venerated as a hermit. He was the Abuna of Ethiopia who fo ...

quickly returned to the capital that same month, despite the difficulty of travel during the

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * '' ...

, and forced the usurper to flee. According to

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Eur ...

, it was Tekle Haymanot's kinsman and governor of Gojjam, Dirmen, who followed Amda Seyon's army out of Gojjam, then chased them out of Gondar. Dirman closely followed the usurper as Amda Seyon led his followers across the

Abay River Abay may refer to: People *Abay (name) Places *Abay District, East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan * Abay District, Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan ** Abay (town), the province's administrative center * Abay, Almaty, Kazakhstan * Abay, Aktobe, a village ...

and back to Ibala, and after blocking Amda Seyon at Faggeta engaged him on the plains of Maitsa. Amda Seyon was killed in the battle, "in the beginning of the engagement, fighting with all of the bravery that could be expected from a man in his circumstances."James Bruce, ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile'' (1805 edition), vol. 4 pp. 12f.

References

18th-century emperors of Ethiopia Pretenders to the Ethiopian throne {{Ethiopia-royal-stub