Yohannes II ( Ge'ez: ዳግማዊ ዮሐንስ; 1699 – 18 October 1769) was

Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia ( gez, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse ( am, ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century ...

, and a member of the

Solomonic dynasty The Solomonic dynasty, also known as the House of Solomon, was the ruling dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire formed in the thirteenth century. Its members claim lineal descent from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Tradition asserts ...

. He was the son of

Iyasu I Iyasu I ( Ge'ez: ኢያሱ ፩; 1654 – 13 October 1706), throne name Adyam Sagad (Ge'ez: አድያም ሰገድ), also known as Iyasu the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 19 July 1682 until his death in 1706, and a member of the Solomonic ...

, and brother of Emperors Tekle Haymanot I,

Dawit III Dawit III ( Ge'ez: ዳዊት), throne name Adbar Sagad (Ge’ez: አድባር ሰገድ), also known as Dawit the Singer was Emperor of Ethiopia from 8 February 1716 to 18 May 1721, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Iyasu I ...

, and

Bakaffa Bakaffa ( Ge'ez: በካፋ) birth name: Missah; throne name Aṣma Giyorgis (Ge'ez: ዐፅመ ጊዮርጊስ), later Masih Sagad (Ge'ez: መሲሕ ሰገድ) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 18 May 1721 to 19 September 1730, and a member of the S ...

Reign

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 Europ ...

, during the reign of his brother Bakaffa (1721-1730), the Emperor had vanished from view and a rumor circulated that Bakaffa had died.

Qegnazmach 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 ...

Giyorgis acted on this by bringing Yohannes down from the royal prison on

Wehni Wehni (Amharic: ወህኒ) is the name of one of the mountains of Ethiopia where most of the male heirs to the Emperor of Ethiopia were interned, usually for life. It was the last of the three such mountains, or ''amba'', said to have been used fo ...

to rule, but before Yohannes could be proclaimed emperor, Bakaffa revealed himself and ordered the two men punished for their presumption, Giyorgis with death and Yohannes by having his hand cut off. However, in his edition of Bruce's work Alexander Murray replaced Bruce's words with a summary of the ''Royal Chronicle'', which records Yohannes had lost his hand for escaping from Wehni prior to this event, and instead, along with the other royal prisoners of Wehni, had refused to descend and be made Emperor. In either case, Yohannes did not become emperor during the 1720s or 1730s. Then, later, following the murder of

Iyoas I Iyoas I ( Ge'ez: ኢዮአስ; died 14 May 1769), throne name Adyam Sagad (Ge'ez: አድያም ሰገድ) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 27 June 1755 to 7 May 1769, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the infant son of Iyasu II and Wubit ...

in 1769,

Ras Ras or RAS may refer to: Arts and media * RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label * Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service * Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station * Rás 2, an Icelandic radio stati ...

Mikael Sehul Mikael Sehul (born Blatta Mikael; 1692 – 1784) was a nobleman who ruled Ethiopia for a period of 25 years as regent of a series of weak emperors. He was also a Ras or governor of Tigray 1748–71 and again from 1772 until his death. He was a m ...

summoned the late Emperor's great-uncle, Yohannes, from Wehni, although Yohannes must then have been in his seventies at least, and presented him to the royal council as his choice for Emperor. When one of the council pointed out that Yohannes lacked one of his hands (it had been cut off in punishment for attempting to escape from Wehni), Mikael replied that if Yohannes needed help mounting his horse, he himself would help Yohannes. Mikael married Yohannes to Mikael's own young granddaughter, Waletta Selassie. Yohannes' reign is succinctly recounted by E. A. Wallis Budge: :John hated all military matters, and refused to march with the army, and after hiding himself begged Michael to send him back to Wahni. Michael was bound to march with his troops, but seeing it would be fatal for his plans to leave a king like John in

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 ...

, he had him poisoned one morning at breakfast time.

Reign

Notes

Further reading