Negus
Negus is a title in the Eritrean and northern Ethiopia Semitic languages. It denotes a monarch, such as the Bahri Negasi of the Medri Bahri kingdom in pre-1890 Eritrea, and the negus in pre-1974 Ethiopia. The negus is referred to as An-Najashi in the Islamic tradition.Overview
Negus is a noun derived from the Eritrean and northern ethiopia Semitic root, meaning "to reign". The title has subsequently been used to translate the words "king" or "emperor" in Biblical and other literature. In more recent times, it was used as an honorific title bestowed on governors of the most important provinces : Gojjam, Begemder, Wollo, Tigray and the seaward kingdom and later Shewa.
Both uses and the imperial dignity would meet in the person of a regional prince, Lij Kassa Hailu, the third youngest son of Däjazmač Hailu Wolde-Giyorgis, Governor of Qwara Province, by his second wife Woizero Attitaggab. He rebelled against Empress Menen and her son, the Viceroy Ras Ali II of Yejju, in 1845 and spent the next nine years alternating between rebellion and submission until he was proclaimed negus at Amba Chera on 19 September 1854, and after the Battle of Derasge proclaimed himself emperor on 8 February 1855 and was crowned as Tewodros II, at Derasge Maryam the next day.
