Global InformationAtse Hezqeyas information
Hezqeyas was a member of the Solomonic dynasty who was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia from 1736 to 1737 by a group of notables opposed to Emperor Iyasu II. Hezqeyas had been confined to the royal prison on Mount Wehni until freed by his supporters,[1] and had little influence over the early events.[2]
James Bruce mentions another usurper by the name of Hezqeyas, during the reign of Bakaffa. He was immediately arrested upon declaring his revolt, and a list of his supporters was found on him which led to more arrests. After a swift trial, the convicted were taken to Adababay in Gondar and slain with lances by the Emperor's bodyguard of Oromo. While Emperor Bakaffa commuted the execution of Hezqeyas to the rival having his hand cut off, nevertheless the rebel died from his punishment. The prime force behind the revolt, Ras Bitwoded Heraclius, avoided being connected with the revolt, but five days after Hezqeyas' death he was removed from his post and banished from Gondar.[3]
- ^ E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), pp. 450f
- ^ James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1805 edition), vol. 4 p. 108
- ^ Bruce, Travels, vol. 4 pp. 83f