| Menen Liben Amede | |
|---|---|
| Empress of Ethiopia | |
| Reign | 1819–1858 |
| Regent ofBegemder | |
| Reign | 1831–1841 |
| Died | 1858 |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | RasAli II of Yejju |
| Dynasty | House of Solomon |
Menen Liben Amede (died 1858) was Empress consort of Ethiopia by marriage toEmperorYohannes III in 1840–1841, 1845 and 1850–1851.
She was also regent ofBegemder in 1831–1841 during the minority of her sonAli II of Yejju, who was her son in her first marriage toAlula of Yejju. She was a significant personage during theZemene Mesafint of the 19th century beforeTewodros II reunited theEthiopian Empire in 1855.
She married first toAlula of Yejju (sometime governor ofDamot and then ofGojjam), with whom she had a son,RasAli II of Yejju around the year 1819. After the death of her first spouse, she married the future emperorYohannes III.
On a meeting of the chief nobles of theYejju at the dynastic capital ofDebre Tabor, after the death ofRasDori in July 1831, Dori's cousin, Menens son Ali was appointed Ruler ofBegemder and Imperial Regent at the age of 12.[1] As his father Alula was dead by this time and Ali was a minor, a council of regents was appointed from the nobles of that people. However, Menen soon came to control this council and exerted much influence over political decisions for the next decade.[2]
A palace was built for Menen Liben Amede, though it was not as large as her son's.[3]
Following the death ofRasKinfu, people fought for control of his lands in Gojjam. Eventually Menen gained the upper hand in theBattle of Chenti Ber (October, 1839), defeating and capturing Kinfu's relativeWalda Tekle. Not long afterwards, she deposedSahle Dengel on 29 August 1840 in favor of her husband Yohannes.[4] However, Yohannes offended her sonRas Ali by favoring his rivalWube Haile Maryam, andRas Ali restored Sahle Dengel in October 1841.
Occupation of the imperial throne alternated between Yohannes and Sahle Dengel until Kassa ofQwara (the futureTewodros II) defeated Empress Menenin combat on 18 June 1847 near the northern shores ofLake Tana, capturing her and Yohannes. He then traded them toRas Ali for the title ofDejazmach and the territories of the deceasedRas Kinfu in Gojjam.[5] Another source states that when Kassa finally usurped the Imperial throne, Yohannes agreed to acquiesce to the change on the condition that the new Emperor guarantee that he would not ever be made to reunite with his much hated wife, Empress Mennen.
On her part, in order to have influence over Kassa Menen offered her granddaughterTewabech Ali as a bride to him. Nevertheless, Kassa came to love her and was faithful to her until her death in 1858.[6] Menan also awarded Kassa all of Ye Meru Qemas for the same reasons.[7]
Menen disappears from the historical record soon after this.