ABSTRACT
Immediately after the death of Iyasu II, Ras Walda Nul and Ras Warana, each with a strong bodyguard, came to Gondar and appointed Joas king. A number of men were promoted to high posts of honour, but all such men were members of the Queen Regents family, or her relations, and great resentment was felt by the old feudal chiefs at this proceeding. Nana Glyorgls, a great chief of the Agaw of Damot, resented the fact that Warana, who was of Galla origin, was governor of Damot, and showed his re sentment by cutting off supplies from Gondar. Warana and Eshte, the Queen Regents brother, collected all the troops available in Gondar, and marched against the rebel and practically exterminated the Agaw. Nana Glyorgls escaped, but many of his officers were killed. The next serious trouble was caused by Netcho of Tcherkln, a district between Walkalt and the Takaze, who had married the
Wazero Esther, a daughter of the Queen Regent, who took up his abode with the princess in Maguena in the Kuolla Wagara, and confiscated the ecclesiastical property of the monks in that district. The monks regarded this as an act of sacrilege and excommunicated Netcho and complained to the king. The ’Itege (Queen Regent) withdrew her daughter at once to Gondar, so that she might not fall under the ban of the Church, and soldiers were sent to dislodge Netcho. His resistance was overcome and he was taken prisoner and exiled to a mountain in Walkalt, where he either died or was murdered. The ’Itege thought that her son-in-law had presumed too much on his relationship to her. Soon after this event this great and loyal servant of the royal house died, and he is to be remembered honourably, for he was the only governor of a province in Abyssinia who never rebelled ; the ’Itege mourned greatly the loss of this devoted servant. A little later ’Ayo, the Ras of Begamder, resigned his appointment, because he understood from the ’Itege that he was to be succeeded by his son Maryam Bare’a, a good soldier and a man of great ability. The ’Itege was so pleased with him that she gave him her daughter the Wazero Esther, the widow of Netcho, to wife. This marriage was approved of by all, for the bridegroom was popular, and of the bride Bruce says (Travels, ill. p. 272) that “ it was impossible to see her and hear her speak without being attached to her for ever after.”
