Eleni (
Ge’ez: እሌኒ, "Helena"; died April 1522) also known as Queen of Zeila was Empress of
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
by marriage to
Zara Yaqob
Zara Yaqob ( Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for t ...
(r. 1434–1468), and served as regent between 1507 and 1516 during the minority of emperor
Dawit II
Dawit II ( gez, ዳዊት; – 2 September 1540), also known by the macaronic name Wanag Segad (ወናግ ሰገድ, ''to whom the lions bow''), better known by his birth name Lebna Dengel ( am, ልብነ ድንግል, ''essence of the vi ...
. She played a significant role in the government of Ethiopia during her lifetime, acting as
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
co-regent or advisor to a number of
emperors
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
; one testimony of this is the manuscript Bruce 88, which states that she had been in the palace of three illustrious Emperors: Zara Yaqob; his son by another wife,
Baeda Maryam I
Baeda Maryam I ( gez, በእደ ማርያም; Bäˀəda Maryam, meaning "He who is in the hand of Mary"; 1448 – 8 November 1478), otherwise known as Cyriacus was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1468 to 1478, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. H ...
(r. 1468–1478), and
Na'od
Na'od ( gez, ናዖድ) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1494 to 31 July 1508, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His reign was marked by internal tension between territories with the assistance of Queen Eleni. He began construct an extravagant ch ...
(r. 1494–1505).
Life
The daughter of the King of
Hadiya, Eleni's kingdom was invaded by Emperor
Zara Yaqob
Zara Yaqob ( Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for t ...
for refusing to pay the annual tribute, leading to her capture, forceful conversion to Christianity, and marriage to Zara Yaqob. Hadiya rulers later appealed to the
Adal Sultanate
The Adal Sultanate, or the Adal Empire or the ʿAdal or the Bar Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate, ''Adal ''Sultanate'') () was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din ...
for assistance, which lead to the climax of conflict in the region during the
Ethiopian-Adal war. Although the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
historian
Baltasar Teles wrote that Eleni had no children, in some manuscripts of
Francisco Álvares
Francisco Álvares ( – 1536-1541) was a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese embassy to emperor Lebna Dengel accompanied by returning Ethiopian ambassador Matheus. The embassy arrive ...
's ''The Prester John of the Indies'', a male relative of
Lebna Dengel who escaped from
Amba Geshen
Amba Geshen is the name of a mountain in northern Ethiopia. It is in Ambassel, South Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, northwest of Dessie, at a latitude and a longitude of . Part of Ambassel woreda, Amba Geshen is one of the mountains of Ethiopi ...
is described as her son, according to the translator but not the original text
Political influence
After Zara Yaqob's death, the next emperor,
Baeda Maryan I Baeda may refer to several Emperors of Ethiopia:
*Atse Baeda Maryam (1787–1788)
*Baeda Maryam of Ethiopia
Baeda Maryam I ( gez, በእደ ማርያም; Bäˀəda Maryam, meaning "He who is in the hand of Mary"; 1448 – 8 November 1478), othe ...
, gave Eleni the title of Queen Mother, as his own mother Tsion Mogasa had been beaten to death during his father's reign. Eleni proved to be an effective member of the royal family; Paul B. Henze comments that she "was practically co-monarch" during his reign. When
Eskender
Eskender ( gez, እስክንድር, "Alexander"; 15 July 1471 – 7 May 1494) was Emperor of Ethiopia and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was Kwestantinos II (Ge’ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He was the son of Emp ...
succeeded his father, Empress Eleni was initially pushed out of power by the ''
Bitwoded
Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( gez, መሳፍንት , modern , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary nobility, formed the upper ...
'' Amda Mikael. However, around 1486 she participated in a palace coup that led to his deposition and execution, and Eleni thereafter played a leading role in government, which continued into the reign of Emperor
Na'od
Na'od ( gez, ናዖድ) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1494 to 31 July 1508, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His reign was marked by internal tension between territories with the assistance of Queen Eleni. He began construct an extravagant ch ...
.
The Portuguese missionary
Francisco Álvares
Francisco Álvares ( – 1536-1541) was a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese embassy to emperor Lebna Dengel accompanied by returning Ethiopian ambassador Matheus. The embassy arrive ...
was told by the ''
Abuna
Abuna (or Abune, which is the Construct state, status constructus form used when a name follows: Ge'ez alphabet, Ge'ez አቡነ ''abuna''/''abune'', 'our father'; Amharic language, Amharic and Tigrinya language, Tigrinya) is the honorific titl ...
''
Marqos, that upon Emperor Na'od's death in combat, "he and Queen Eleni made him
ebna DengelKing, because they had all of the great men in their hands." This statement points to the power Eleni wielded.
Regency
Understanding the growing threat that Ethiopia faced from the expanding
Ottoman influence in the region, with the counsel of
Pero da Covilhã Pero may refer to:
* Pero (mythology), several personages in Greek mythology
** Pero (princess), daughter of Neleus
* Pero (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname Pero
* Pero language, a language of Nigeria
* Pero, Lombardy, ...
, sent
Mateus (also known as Matthew the Armenian) as an ambassador to the
King of Portugal
This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution.
Through the n ...
and the Pope in Rome. Apparently, the Portuguese only came to understand the nature of Matheus's mission after they arrived in Ethiopia, which complicated D. Rodrigo da Lima's mission to the
Ethiopian Emperor
The emperor of Ethiopia ( gez, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəgusä nägäst, " King of Kings"), also known as the Atse ( am, ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition ...
. Eleni served as chief regent for the under-age Lebna Dengel, along with his mother, the Dowager Empress
Na'od Mogassa, and ''Ras''
Degelhan of
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 ...
, the Emperor's senior male relative.
Álvares also notes that Eleni possessed extensive estates in the province of
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 ...
. Others said that "she was accomplished in everything: in front of God by practising righteousness and having strong faith, by praying and receiving Holy Communion; in worldly terms, she was accomplished in preparing food
or the royal table in familiarity with the books, in knowledge of the law, and in understanding the affairs of state. For these qualities, the King greatly loved our Queen
Eléni. He considered her like his own mother’.
Death
The date of Eleni's death is not entirely certain. However, Henze states that she died at an advanced age in the 1520s, and Beckingham and Huntingford confirms this by arguing that the evidence in Álvares account provides enough information to date her death to April, 1522.
[Beckingham and Huntingford discuss the evidence on p. 425 n.1 of their translation.] Álvares makes it clear that she died while he was in Ethiopia, adding that her death was a cause for sorrow by her subjects:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleni of Ethiopia
16th-century women rulers
Empresses and imperial consorts of Ethiopia
1522 deaths
15th-century Ethiopian people
16th-century Ethiopian people
Year of birth unknown
Women rulers in Africa
Queen mothers