Dejazmach
Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( , modern transcription , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary royal nobility, formed the upper ...
Wand Bewossen (died 10 December 1777) was a prominent figure in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
n history. He was governor of
Lasta and later
Begemeder. He was on the losing side in the
Battle of Nefas Mewcha (1769), but one of the victorious generals in the
Three battles of Sarbakusa
The three battles of Sarbakusa were three military engagements in Ethiopia during the Zemene Mesafint that took place in May 1771. They pitted Wand Bewossen and Fasil of Damot against the forces of Emperor Tekle Haymanot II and Ras Mikael Seh ...
(May 1771). For his valor in the
Battle of Faggeta (9 December 1769), which included pursuing
Fasil for three days after the engagement, he was made governor of
Begemder, as well as married to ''Woizero'' Ayabdar. He was also married to ''Woizero'' Yeworqweha, who was a descendant of
Iyasu I and Woizero Wossen Azal, daughter of Dejazmatch Eshete Awsgenyos, sometime Governor of Agaw and Damot.
Not long after his marriage to ''Woizero'' Ayabdar, Wand Bewossen desired to wed Wossen Azal, the sister of
Hailu Eshte. Hailu would not consent to this marriage: according to
Herbert Weld Blundell's translation Hailu considered this alliance bigamous, but Donald Crummy's interpretation of the
Ge'ez text is Hailu was more concerned about the incestuous nature of the marriage. Wand Bewsossen then resorted to physical force to Hailu until he finally dropped all of his objections to the alliance. He was killed at
Ashawa when he fell from his horse.
[Weld Blundell, ''Royal chronicle'', p. 331]
See also
*
Zemene Mesafint
The Zemene Mesafint ( Ge'ez: ) variously translated "Era of Judges", "Era of the Princes," "Age of Princes," etc.; taken from the biblical Book of Judges) was a period in Ethiopian history between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries when the cou ...
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wand Bewossen
1777 deaths
18th-century Ethiopian people
Warlords of the Zemene Mesafint
Year of birth unknown