Yostos of Ethiopia

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Yostos or Justus (Ge'ez ዮስቶስ, throne name Tsehay Sagad Ge'ez ፀሓይ ሰገድ, "to whom the sun bows") was nəgusä nägäst (14 October 1711 - 19 February 1716) of Ethiopia.

According to Richard Pankhurst, on the death of Tewoflos, the chief nobles of Ethiopia feared that the cycle of vengeance that had characterized the reigns of Tewoflos and Tekle Haymanot before him would continue if a member of the Solomonic dynasty were picked for the throne, so they selected one of their own to be nəgusä nägäst. However Yostos encountered many challenges to his authority, and was forced to remain in the capital of Gondar for his entire reign, leaving the city only to hunt. After a few years, the political situation stabilized enough for him to construct two new churches in Gondar, Ledata ("Birth of the Virgin Mary") in 1713, and Abba Antons ("Father Anthony") in 1715.^[1]

Yostos grew ill in January 1716, and according to the Royal Chronicles withdrew from public life. The Scottish traveller James Bruce provides more information: while supervising the work on the Abba Antons church Yostos "was taken suddenly ill, and, suspecting some unwholesomeness or witchcraft in his palace, ordered his tent to be pitched without the town until his apartments should be smoked with gunpowder." However, the fumigation accidentally burned down part of the palace, which was seen as a "very bad omen".^[2] Yostos, still ill, took up residence in another part of the Royal Enclosure, but fear that he would make his son Fasil heir to the throne led to a battle between his courtiers (who wanted the ailing Emperor to proclaim an heir) and the Imperial Guard (who were loyal to the Solomonic dynasty). Victorious, the Imperial Guard proclaimed Dawit III Emperor 30 January. Meanwhile, Emperor Yostos was still alive in the palace, forgotten in his sick bed until his death. He was given a respectful burial in Ledata church.^[3]

[edit] Notes

^ Richard P.K. Pankhurst, History of Ethiopian Towns (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1982), pp. 144f.
^ James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1805 edition), vol. 4 p. 52.
^ Bruce, Travels, vol. 4 pp. 55ff.