Sabla Wangêl, the queen of the Kingdom of Heaven

Margaux Herman (1)

1 CEMAf - Centre d'Etudes des Mondes Africains

The powerful queen Säblä-Wängēl, also called Wänag Mogäsa, was the wife of King Lebna-Dengel (r.1508-1540) whose regnal name was Wänag-Sagad. Säblä-Wängēl was one of the most important women which Ethiopia has seen from time to time. Among other things, the powerful Queen Säblä-Wängēl played a not insignificant role in the war against Ahmed Graň and his descendants, who ravaged Christian Ethiopia and devastated many churches in the 1540s. She impresses foreigners who describe her with full details in their papers about this expedition they wrote after coming back in Europe. After the death of her husband, Säblä-Wängēl served as Queen mother and regent during the reigns of her sons Gälawdēwos (r.1540-1559) and her grandson Sarsa-Dengel (r.1563-1596). She was given the highest title of received the Itēgē (lit.means Empress) and keep it until she died in 1568. Oral and written relevant traditions keep the memory of the quarrel that appears during the reign of her son Minas (r.1559-1563). As, she started to lose influence and power during the reign of Minas who favored his wife Selus-Hayla (Ädmäs Mogäsa) over his mother and gave the latter the honorific title of Itēgē. Selus-Hayla was unlawfully promoted to the status of Itēgē by her husband Minas, while Säblä-Wängēl was still alive. One of the major church foundations of Säblä-Wängēl is Mangesta Samayat Kidana Mehret, currently known as Mangesto located in her native province of East Gojjam between the rivers Suha and the Yäbärt. It seems that even after the destruction of the church by the Oromos which appends during the reign of Iyasu the Great, Adyam Sagad (r. 1682-1708), the church survived in the memory as a place of great spiritual fathers with abba Zekre and Abba Pawli. Queen Mentewwab during the regency of her son Iyasu II (1730-1755), when she founded the great church of Dabra Tsehay Qwesqwam in Gonder, called their memory as the fathers of the faith of Gojjam and Qwara. One century later, the church is rebuilt by the King Takla Haymanot, King of Gojjam and Kaffa, and his daughter also called Säblä-Wängēl. They give to the church the same apparel of clergymen and lands as it used to be at the time of its foundation. Learned men with great knowledge rewrite manuscripts on the history of this church and of Gojjam and developed really interesting developments of the settlement of the people of Gojjam making their ancestor Queen Säblä-Wängēl as the queen of the Kingdom of Heaven, the center of Gojjam.

Mots clés: Ethiopia-Queen- Sabla Wangel- Goggam

Domaines: Histoire

Margaux Herman. Sabla Wangêl, the queen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Addis Ababa University Institute of Ethiopian Studies XVII International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Nov 2009, ADDIS ABEBA, France. ⟨halshs-00699633⟩