Yohannes IV of Ethiopia

Born the son of the Shum of Tembien, Mercha, and his wife Woizero Silass of Enderta, Kassai (or Kassa) Mercha could claim Solomonic blood through the line of his mother's Enderta family which was decended from Ras Michael Sehul and his wife Aster Eyasu, daugther of Empress Mentewab and her lover Melmal Eyasu. Melmal Eyasu was a Solomonic prince, and nephew of the widowed Empress Mentewab's husband Emperor Bekafa. Kassai could also claim Solomonic decent more distantly through his father's Tembien family, also through a female link to the dynasty.

Dejazmatch Kassai was a sworn enemy of Tewodros II, and gave logistical and political support to the British forces who arrived to defeat Emperor Tewodros in 1868. In gratitude, the British gave Dejazmatch Kassai a large number of modern weapons as they withdrew following their victory at Magdalla.

Dejazmatch Kassai came to control the province of Tigray following the defeat and suicide of Emperor Tewodros II in 1868, and was one of the three most powerful princes in Ethiopia (the others being Wagshum Gobeze Gebre Medhin, and Menelik IIKing of Shewa), all of whom vied to become sole ruler. Wagshum Gobeze was the heir to the old Zagwe Dyansty, and also had Solomoic blood through his mother, and based his claim on the Imperial throne on this dual heritage. The rivalry with the Wagshum was further complicated by the fact that Dejazmatch Kassai's sister, Dinkinesh Mercha, was married to Wagshum Gobeze Unlike either Gobeze and Kassai, Menelik King of Shewa could claim uninterrupted male lineage from King Solomon, which in some quarters made his blood claim to the Imperial throne the strongest.

In 1868, Wagshum Gobeze proclaimed himself Emperor Tekle Giorgis II of Ethiopia at Sokota in his district of Wag. Due to the fact that the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church, the abuna had died shortly before, there was no one to crown the new Emperor. In an effort to get Kassai to recognize this title, Tekle Giorgis gave his brother-in-law the title of "Re-ese Mekwanint", or "first among the nobles". Dejazmatch Kassai promptly started using the title, but did not recognize Tekle Giorgis' claim on the throne and refused to pay homage to him.

Tekle Giorgis moved first against Kassai, crossing the Takazze River in 1871. Dejazmatch Kassai defeated him near Adowa on July 11 of that year, capturing and deposing the Emperor, who died in captivity the next year.

Kassai had long prepared for this day, and had gathered the funds to pay the Patriarch of Alexandria to appoint a new abuna over the Ethiopian Church, Abuna Atnatewos, in accordance with custom; Atnatewos arrived in June 1869 along with two other bishops, Matewos for Shewa, and Petros for Gojjam. It was the first time that the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria had appointed more than one Bishop for Ethiopia. Atnatewos then crowned Kassai emperor January 12, 1872 at Axum. He took the name and title of Emperor Yohannes IV, King of Zion and King of Kings of Ethiopia, and became the first emperor crowned in that historic city since Fasilidos in 1632. Ras Adal of Gojjam submitted to Yohannes and recognized him as Emperor, and was rewarded with the title of King of Gojjam, and the new name of Tekle Haimanot.
Throughout his reign, Yohannes was embroiled in military struggles on his northern frontiers. First was from Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt, who sought to bring the entire Nile River Basin under his rule. The Egyptians flirted with encouraging Menelik of Shewa against the Emperor, but earned Menelik's enmity by marching from the port of Zeila and occupied Harrar on October 11, 1875. Both Menelik and Yohannes had regarded Harrar as a renegade province of Ethiopia, and Egyptian seizure of the Emirate was not welcome to either of them. The Egyptians then marched into northern Ethiopia from their coastal possesions around the port of Massawa. Yohannes pleaded with the British to stop their Egyptian allies, and even withdrew from his own territory in order to show the Europeans that he was the wronged party and that the Khedive was the agressor. However, Yohannes soon realized that the Europeans would not stop the Khedive of Egypt and so he gathered up his armies and marched to meet the Egyptian force. The two armies met at Gundat (also called Guda-gude)on the morning of November 16, 1875. The Egyptians were tricked into marching into a narrow and steep valley and were wiped out by Ethiopian gunners surrounding the valley from the surrounding mountains. Virtually the entire Egyptian force, along with its many officers of European and North American background, was completely whiped out. News of this huge defeat was suppressed in Egypt for fear that it would undermine the government of the Khedive. A new Egyptian force was assembled and sent to avenge the defeat at Gundat. The Egyptians were defeated again at the battle of Gura (March 7-9, 1876), where the Ethiopians were led again by the Emperor, and his loyal general, the capable (future) Ras Alula. This victory was followed by Menelik's submission to Yohannes March 20, 1878, and in return Yohannes recognized Menelik's hereditary right to the title of king of Shewa, and re-crowned him on March 26. Yohannes took this opportunity to try to tie the Shewan King more closely to him by arranging for Menelik's daughter Zewditu (future Empress of Ethiopia in her own right), to his own son and heir, Ras Araya Selassie. He also arranged for a general council of the Orthodox Church in which various heresies were stamped out in Gojjam and Shewa. Yohannis also ordered the moslems of Wollo to convert to Christianity within 6 months or face forfeiture of their proerties. Ras Ali of Wollo became Ras (later King) Michael of Wollo, and the Emperor stood as his Godfather at his baptism. He was given Menelik of Shewa's other daughter, Shewarega Menelik, as his wife.

When Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the Mahdi, and incited Sudan into a long and violent revolt, his followers successfully either drove the Egyptian garrisons out of Sudan, or isolated them at Suakin and at various posts in the south. Yohannes agreed to British requests to allow these Egyptian soldiers to evacuate through his lands, with the understanding that the British Empire would then support his claims on important ports like Massawa on the Red Sea to import weapons and ammunition, in the event that Egypt was forced to withdraw from them. This was formalized in a treaty signed with the British at Adwa known as the Hewit treaty. The immedidate response was to bring the wrath of the Mahdiyah upon Ethiopia: Ras Alula defeated a Mahdist army at the Battle of Kufit on September 23, 1885 that had invaded their county. About the same time, Italy took control of the port of Massawa, frustrating Ethiopian hopes and angering Yohannis. Yohannes attempted to work out some kind of understanding with the Italians, so he could turn his attention to the more pressing problem of the Mahdists, although Ras Alula took it upon himself to attack Italian units that were on both sides of the ill-defined frontier between the two powers. Domestic problems increased when the Kings of both Gojjam and Shewa rebled against Yohannis, and the Emperor had to turn his attention from the encroaching Italians to deal with his rebellious vassal kings. Yohannis crushed the Gojjame rebellion very brutally, but before he could turn his attention to Shewa, news arrived that the Mahdist forces had sacked Gondar and burned it's holy Churches. He marched north from Gojjam to confront the armies of the Mahdi.

Yohannes' life came to an end while he was dealing with another invasion by the followers of Muhammad Ahmad's successor, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, at the Battle of Metemma on March 9, 1889. Mortally wounded by a sniper during the battle, he had been carried to his tent, where he announced that his nephew Ras Mengesha was actually his natural son, and named him his heir (his elder son Ras Araya Selassie had died a few years earlier). He died a few hours later. Although the Ethiopian army had almost annihilated their opponents in this battle, hearing that their ruler had been slain shattered their morale and allowed the Mahdists to counterattack, scattering their enemy and capturing the body of the emperor. It was brought back to their capital at Omdurman, where the head was put on a pike and displayed.

Although a group of Tigrean nobles led by Ras Alula attempted to promote the claim of Yohannes' son Ras Mengesha Yohannis as emperor, many of the dead monarch's other relatives in both the Enderta and Tembien sides of his family objected and went into open rebellion against Mengesha. Tigrai was torn assunder by the rebellions of various members of the Emperor's family against Mengesha and each other. Menelik of Shewa took advantage of Tigrean disorder, and after allowing the Italians to occupy Hamasien, Serai and Akale Guzai, districts loyal to Yohannes IV, he was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia as Menelik II.

Note: sources give both 1821 and 1831 as his year of birth.

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