Yonas ( Ge'ez: ዮናስ; died May 1813) was

Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia (, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse (, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor w ...

from 18 August 1797 to 4 January 1798, and a member of Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Letezum, and the grandson of the Emperor Fasilides. H. Weld Blundell, ''The Royal chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840'' (Cambridge: University Press, 1922), p. 446

Reign

According to

E. A. Wallis Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptology, Egyptologist, Orientalism, Orientalist, and Philology, philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient ...

, Yonas was a figurehead, proclaimed Emperor by '' Ras'' Isra'el of Begemder, and deposed by Gugsa, a chieftain of the Yejju Oromo people. However, the ''Royal Chronicle'' records that he was proclaimed Emperor after the Emperor who controlled

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 ...

, Salomon III, had been defeated by the rebel ''Balambaras'' Asserat, who forced him to flee Gondar. However, during Yonas' reign the realm was afflicted by a

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

in which "more men died than could be numbered." Yonas' son Mafu died 7 November, then his wife Esther, both apparently from this famine. Lacking any support or rationale for his rule, the major warlords of the time -- ''Ras'' Mare'ed, '' Dejazmach'' Hailu Eshte, ''Dejazmach'' Wolde Selassie, and ''Ras'' Guebra -- all successfully petitioned to Emperor Tekle Giyorgis to return from exile in Waldebba and become ruler once again. Upon learning of Tekle Giyorgis' approach when he was still one day's march away, Yonas fled to sanctuary in the Abuna's palace. After months of hiding in the Abuna's palace, Yonas became a potential pawn when Waheldu, the brother of Asserat and also in conflict with the major warlords, attempted to have Yonas brought to him and used as his own candidate for Emperor. Tekle Giyorgis managed to foil this plot by giving amnesty to Yonas, and had him and Yonas' brother Goshu, "Dwell with him in friendship" in the Royal Enclosure. By 1802, he was a prisoner in Lasta. Henry Salt is reported to have met with his son Fasilidas in Adowa 16 September 1805, and who "seemed anxious to have a private conversation ith Salt but was prevented." Nathaniel Pearce reports that Yonas was living in exile in Gojjam at the time of his death, and died penniless "without leaving sufficient even to purchase a coffin to receive ... isremains, or money enough for ''fettart'' or ''toscar''."Nathaniel Pearce, J.J. Halls. ed. ''The Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce'' (London, 1831), vol. 1, pp. 124f. Pearce heard of Yonas' death on 7 June, but did not record the exact date it occurred.

References

{{Emperors of Ethiopia 18th-century births 1813 deaths 18th-century emperors of Ethiopia 19th-century Ethiopian people 18th-century monarchs in Africa Year of birth unknown