Betul Haile Maryam (b. 1812 - d. 29 June 1853, Aysal) was a member of the Semien nobility through his paternal line.

Ancestry

Betul Haile Maryam was a son of

Haile Maryam Gebre Haile Maryam Gebre of Semien, Horse name: Abba Dammana (lit: Father of the Cloud) was an early 19th century governor of Semien, Welkait and Wogera. Haile Maryam tried to hold his hereditary possessions in the face of continuous pressure from riv ...

, the provincial governor of Semien by Hirut Gugsa. His full siblings were Merso Haile Maryam and Yewub-dar Haile Maryam, both of whom were older. His half brother

Wube Haile Maryam Wube Haile Maryam of Semien, (1799-1867), also called by his title ''Dejazmach'' Wube, Webé; his name is also given in European sources as ‘‘Ubie’’. Wube was one of the major figures of 19th century Ethiopia, during the closing decades o ...

was one of the most famous protagonist of the

Zemene Mesafint The Zemene Mesafint ( gez, ዘመነ መሳፍንት ''zamana masāfint'', modern: ''zemene mesāfint'', variously translated "Era of Judges," "Era of the Princes," "Age of Princes," etc.; named after the Book of Judges) was a period in Ethiop ...

era. He was the father of

Taytu Betul Taytu Betul ( am, ጣይቱ ብጡል; baptised as Wälättä Mikael; 1851 – 11 February 1918) was Empress of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913 and the third wife of Emperor Menelik II. An influential figure in anti-colonial resistance during the ...

Biography

Succession and exile

After the death of his father,

in 1826. Semien military officers chose

to lead Semien instead of his brother Merso. Betul with his mother and Merso fled to

Tigray province Tigray Province ( Amharic and ), also known as Tigre ( tigrē), was a historical province of northern Ethiopia that overlayed the present day Afar and Tigray regions. Akele Guzai borders with the Tigray province It was one It encompassed most ...

. Betul's sister Yewub-dar was married to

Sabagadis Woldu Sabagadis Woldu (; horse name: Abba Garray; baptismal name: Za-Manfas Qedus; 1780 – 1831) was a governor of Tigray Province of the Ethiopian Empire from 1822 to 1831. Sabagadis gained some notoriety in the first decade of the 19th century for r ...

, the Irob warlord that controlled much of Tigray.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betul Haile Maryam 1812 births 1853 deaths 19th-century Ethiopian people Warlords of the Zemene Mesafint History of Ethiopia