The Battle of Sahart was fought on 24 April 1541 between the army of Emperor

Gelawdewos Galawdewos ( gez, ገላውዴዎስ, 1521/1522 – 23 March 1559) also known as Mar Gelawdewos ( amh, ማር ገላውዴዎስ), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 3 September 1540 until his death in 1559, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His ...

and the forces of

Garad Garad ( Harari: ገራድ, , , Oromo: ''Garaada'') is a term used to refer to a clan leader or regional administrator. It was used primarily by Muslims in the Horn of Africa that were associated with Islamic states, most notably the Adal Sultanat ...

Emar, a lieutenant of Imam

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi ( so, Axmed Ibraahim al-Qaasi or Axmed Gurey, Harari: አሕመድ ኢብራሂም አል-ጋዚ, ar, أحمد بن إبراهيم الغازي ; 1506 – 21 February 1543) was an imam and general of the Adal Sultan ...

. According to Ethiopian sources, Gelawdewos was defeated. Gelawdewos succeeded to the throne soon after his father's death on 2 September 1540. Despite his youth, over the next few months he made several successful attacks on the Somali garrisons in northern Ethiopia. These lifted the morale of the restive Christian Ethiopians, and upon arriving in Semien, he was surrounded by the apostates and others who had joined the Imam who sought his clemency. Soon after the young Emperor crossed the Tekezé, to observe

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

in Sard. Garad Emar, Ahmad Gragn's governor of

Ganz The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and th ...

, assumed that Galawdewos' lieutenants would be away at their homes to celebrate the holiday, so picked this date to strike; according to Bruce, these plans were quickly communicated to Gelawdewos, who was able to prepare his own response.As paraphrased by

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 ...

, ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile'' (1805 edition), vol. 3, pp. 202f According to Bruce, when Garad Emar approached Sard he fell into an ambush Gelawdewos had prepared, and the governor's army was destroyed. However, Ethiopian chronicles state that Gelawdewos was defeated at Sahart. Regardless of the outcome, Gelawdewos retired back over the Takaze. Although the traditional account is that Gelawdewos retreated so far south as Shewa, C.F. Beckingham has produced evidence showing that the Ethiopian Emperor fled far to the south, over 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 ...

into

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 ...

, then back over the Abay to eventually reach Gindabret, "lying south of the most southerly reaches of the Blue Nile", sometime after 26 May.Beckingham, "A Note," p. 371

References

Sahart Sahart Sahart 1541 in the Ottoman Empire 1541 in Africa Sahart Sahart Sahart {{Battle-stub