Asfa Wossen

Asfa Wossen (አስፋ ወሰን "āsfā wossen", "āsfā wessen", IPA2|wɔsːǝn, "Expand the Bounds"; reigned c.1770 - c.1808) was a Meridazmach of Shewa, an important noble office of Ethiopia. He was the son of Amha Iyasus; Mordechai Abir notes that he was one of Amha Iyasus' 48 offspring. [Abir, "Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855)" (London: Longmans, 1968), p. 148 n.3.]

According to Donald Levine, Asfa Wossen spent his youth in a monastery in Menz, where he became proficient at the traditional Amharic poetic genre known as "qene".Donald N. Levine, "Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture" (Chicago: University Press, 1972), p. 34]

During his reign, Shewan control over the tributary states of Geshe, Antzioka, Efrata, Moret and Marra Biete were strengthened. One step in this process led Asfa Wossen to follow the advice of his father confessor and embrace the doctrine of the "Sost Lidet" in order to absorb the key state of Marra Biete. [Abir, p. 148. Donald Crumey believes that this act helped to spread the doctrine further into Shewa. "Priests and Politicians", 1972 (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2007), p. 50.]

Abir considers Asfa Wossen "more of an administrator than a war leader", noting the Meridazmach's administrative innovations of Shewa. "However, when the need arose, Asfa Wossen proved himself to be as brave and talented a warrior as he was a good administrator." [Abir, p. 149.] Levine concurs in this assessment: "As a ruler he resembled many of Gondar's monarchs, preferring to spend his time in religious pursuits and the embellishment of his capital (Ankobar) than on the warpath." Once he secured his control over the Christian parts of Shewa, Asfa Wossen campaigned viciously against the Oromo of the plains of Shewa, the Tuloma Oromo, the Mogar Oromo, the Abichu who dwelled at the headwaters of the Awash River, and the Oromo tribes living in the mountains of Garra Korfu.

According to Henze, some of Asfa Wossen's administrative measures included tax reforms, and placing a personal representative in each district. Henze quotes the opinion of a contemporary chronicler, who wrote that "under Asfa Wossen a small group of five or six Amhara could travel without danger from Bulga to Debre Libanos, taking the shortest route through the Galla [Oromo] area." [Paul B. Henze, "Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia" (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 128.] Levine explains this benevolence was the result of "a monkish prophecy that his life would be short"; but by emptying the state coffers "he lived to fill them time and again." [Levine, "Wax and Gold", p. 35]

About the time Asfa Wossen had made some progress in consolidating his hold on Shewa, Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I made camp in Geshe, ready to wage war on this growing threat to his realm. Mutual friends (and the pressure of his general Wolde Selassie upon the Emperor) made peace between the two. Meridazmach Asfa Wossen paid tribute to the Emperor, who then returned to Gondar; this was the last time an Emperor exacted tribute from Shewa until the reign of Tewodros II. [Abir, p. 150. Levine adds that Asfa Wossen "handled the situation with characteristic Shoan adroitness": on the one hand he argued that if he extended his domains it was the expense of their common enemy, the Oromo; on the other, he "heaped gifts upon the emperor and his lieutenants" ("Wax and Gold", p. 35).]

In his last years Asfa Wossen lost his sight, and underwent a period of suffering. Following his death, his body was buried in his capital of Ankober. [Abir, p. 151.]

Notes