Za Dengel

Za Dengel was "IPA|negusä nägäst" (throne name Asnaf Sagad II or As.naf Seged or Atsnaf Seged, Ge'ez አፅናፍ ሰገድ, "to whom the peaks bow"; 1603 - 1604) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Lesana Krestos, the brother of Sarsa Dengel.

Za Dengel may have been married to 'Woizero' Wangelawit, eldest daughter of his second cousin Prince Susenyos Fasilides (later emperor) and lady Wolde Saala of Walaqa and Marabete (later Empress Sultan Mogassa).

Sarsa Dengel had intended to make his nephew as his heir, recognizing that to avert the civil war that would likely follow his death an adult would be needed, and the emperor's own sons were quite young. These plans were changed by influence of particularly the Empress Sena Maryam, stepmother of Emperor's eldest surviving son Prince Yaqob, who was made emperor in 1597. She had Za Dengel seized and confined in a religious retreat on the island of Daq, on Lake Tana. He eventually managed to escape, taking refuge in Gojjam.

In 1603 Za Dengel was made Emperor by Ras Za Sellase, who intended Za Dengel to be little more than a figurehead. He was crowned as Asnaf Segad ('He to whom the horizons bow'). However, Za Dengel summoned the Jesuit Pedro Páez to his court at Dankaz, who persuaded him to embrace Catholicism.

This religious conversion led to Za Sellase not only withdrawing his support, but actively working against him and stirred up a revolt in Gojjam. Za Dengel marched to the plain of Bartcho to put down this revolt, but despite the help of 200 Portuguese musketeers Za Dengel perished in battle on October 24.

References

* E. A. Wallis Budge. "A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia", 1928. Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970. The sections about Za Dengel and his cousin Yaqob cover pp. 375-383.