Thread by @yegogotekmegeno

Weizero Bafena, Former Queen of Shewa, and 2nd Wife of Menelik; arguably the most cunning, tinkering, and ambitious woman of Ethiopia in the 19th century who almost succeeded in overthrowing her own husband from his throne and replace him as sole ruler

(A thread)

Bafena Getachew was born in Mida (Merhabete) and into relatively low status as the daughter of a local chief. Its said she was a descendant of the Merhabete Dynasty installed by Ras Demetros.

Shortly after 21 year old Menelik escaped from imprisonment in Mekdela, he was captivated by Bafena. The kicker was, she was almost twice his age. She'd already been married several times & had 8 children. However her beauty still drew countless men including the Shewan prince

He successfully married her. However their marriage was not looked highly upon neither by Meneliks relatives & officials nor Bafenas other children. This was mainly because of their age difference, but also because of her notoriety of her ambitious nature

As she was the only surviving daughter of her family, she inherited her family's estate, a rare occurrence in Ethiopian Highland practice as women were normally not allowed land inheritance. She managed to grow her estate through great diplomacy & became very wealthy

Menelik's officials associates tried desperately to convince him to divorce her but he refused each time. It wasn't just his officials who hated her foreign diplomats and missionaries like Aba Masias, who called her a "Unkepmt fox"

On one occasion, she barred Menelik's own mother, W/o Ejigayehu from entering the palace when she had an argument with her and forcibly summoned Aba Masias to negotiate diplomatic matters through her, much to both of their anger. Ejigayehu refused to see her face ever again

Although Menelik loved her greatly, Bafena did not. Bafena had married him for personal ambitions, she wanted to have a child with him so that her bloodline & descendants would take over the throne of Shewa but because of her old age, it was very difficult

She managed to give birth to a son, but it died in infancy. Heartbroken and incredibly angered she would never be able to conceive again, she started plotting against her husband, true to many peoples suspicions

She started scheming by planning to marry her daughter to Meshesha Seifu, the son of Ras Seifu, brother of former Negus Haile Melekot and 1st cousin of Menelik. Because Menelik had no able sons as heirs, Meshesha would be the next in line to be King of Shewa.

However, she called off the wedding, accusing Meshesha of insulting her. She did this to pit her Husband against him and used it as just cause to implicate him as an enemy. Angered, Meshesha left, taking a portion of the army with him, therby causing friction between the heirs.

Because Meshesha was adored, a revolt was about to ensue if it wasn't for the timely intervention of Ras Darge, their uncle & famous diplomat. Ras Darge was a setback for Bafena but she persisted, eventually managing to convince Menelik that Seifu was a threat & imprisoned him

With Meshesha out of the way, she set her eyes on getting rid of her husband altogether. This would be done by pitting him against the Emperor, Yohannes. She carefully concucted an ambitious plot in the long run.

Her ultimate goal was to overthrow Menelik & put her previous sons in throne, taking over the lineage of the kingship of Shewa. She would do this by first establishing marriage ties with her daughters with Meneliks relatives, & eventually have her son succeed Menelik himself.

First, she convinced Menelik to campaign against Yohannes in Gojam. While he was away, she plotted with Haile-Mikael, the aged uncle of Menelik to rebel & crown himself as King as well as his ally in Wollo, Mohammed Ali. To avoid suspicion, she accompanied him in Gojjam

In secret, she persuaded Hailemikael that once he was successful and Menelik was overthrown, he would hand the throne over to her son Amenshewa in exhange for countless riches. However, things turned left when the regent Menelik left behind, Dejach Germame defeated Hailemikael

When Menelik learned of this news, Bafena, undeterred, cunningly not only convinced Menelik to send her back to Shewa with an army regiment under the guise of quelling the rebellion (she concocted), but she also managed to gain approval of receiving an official seal of stamp.

She did this to counter the influence Germame had (who was already very suspicious and antagonistic towards her) over the army, and more importantly to weaken and split the strength of the army Menelik had in Gojjam at the mercy of Yohannes and his vassal King Tekle-Haymanot

When she returned to Shewa, with her stamp of approval, she transferred thousands of birr over to her, sentenced Hailemelekot to life imprisonement but freed Meshesha in Enewari and convinced the latter into aligning with her, and remarried her daughter to him.

In addition, she secretly sent messages conspiring with Emperor Yohannes, sending him logistical information and co-ordinates on Menelik in exchange for recognizing her and her sons as heirs of Shewa after he overthrew Menelik.

When Menelik heard of this (still unaware of Bafena role) , he was still in Gojjam completely pre-occupied with many distractions, including another rebellion against him in Wollo by his ally Mohammed Ali (Ras Mikael).

Things were going very well and Bafenas supreme plot almost succeeded if it weren't for two things she never expected. The first was Menelik's unexpected return to Shewa and his peace deal with Yohannes, who revealed to Menelik later that Bafena had reached out to him.

The second surprise came when Meshesha imprisoned her (whom she just released) & her children instead, double crossing her as revenge, sending a message to Menelik notifying him of her treachery & that he did not wish to fight his own cousin, rekindling their familial kinship

When Menelik returned to Shewa, he demanded an answer for why she betrayed him and she falsely stated that it was because Menelik had an affair with a Gurage woman named Welete-Selassie, whom he had a son with.

Bafena was banished from the palace & had all her wealth and land taken away. Menelik forgave her & returned her original wealth back but she was never to return to political prestige again & their divorce was finalized in 1882 upon his marriage to another strong-willed woman

Legacy: The actions of Bafena emboldened Shewan aristocrats enmity & sexist attitudes against resolute women figures in the political sphere, regarding them as power hungry and snakes. These admonishments would follow into Meneliks next and last marriage to Taytu

A woman who was just as stubborn, undeterred, and determined as Bafena but remained loyal to him till his end. Nonetheless, seeing her take matters & co-govern on political matters alongside her husband made the officials regard her as a "next Bafena".

Had Bafena been successful, it is likely that Ethiopia would be very different from what we know it as today

Bafenas other's children were named Amenshewa, Haile, Gizaw, Zikaregachew, Manalebish, and Ermijachew. In fact her youngest son Gizaw is said to have been the same age as Menelik