Yohannes II of Ethiopia

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Yohannes II or John II (Ge'ez ዮሓንስ) was {{IPA (7 May - 18 October 1769) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. He was the son of Iyasu I, and brother of Emperors Tekle Haymanot, Dawit III and Bakaffa.

Following the murder of Iyoas I, Ras Mikael Sehul summoned from the royal prison on Wehni the Emperor's elderly great-uncle, Yohannes, and presented him to the royal council as his choice for Emperor. When one of the council pointed out that Yohannes lacked one of his hands (it had been cut off in punishment for attempting to escape from Wehni), Mikael replied that if Yohannes needed help mounting his horse, he himself would help Yohannes.

Mikael married Yohannes to Mikael's own young granddaughter, Waletta Selassie.

Yohannes' reign is succinctly recounted by E. A. Wallis Budge:

John hated all military matters, and refused to march with the army, and after hiding himself begged Michael to send him back to Wahni. Michael was bound to march with his troops, but seeing it would be fatal for his plans to leave a king like John in Gondar, he had him poisoned one morning at breakfast time.¹

Notes

E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p.469

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