Negus Mikael of Wollo

He was born Mohammed Ali in 1850 in the province of Wollo, in the highlands of north-central Ethiopia. His father was Imam Ali Abba Bula, a nobleman of the Mammedoch line among the Oromo Muslim aristocracy of Wollo; his mother, Woizero Getie, is remembered in tradition as a Christian noblewoman of Amhara descent. From this meeting of peoples and faiths came a leader who would bridge the two great communities of his homeland.

As a young man he rose in the service of the Ethiopian crown, becoming governor of Wollo. At the Council of Boru Meda under Emperor Yohannes IV, the Muslim lords of Wollo were called to embrace Christianity; Mohammed Ali was baptized under the name Mikael and elevated to the rank of Ras. He forged enduring bonds with the Solomonic house, standing among the loyal men of Menelik II and leading the renowned Wollo cavalry against the invaders at the Battle of Adwa in 1896.

His fortunes rose highest through his son, Lij Iyasu, who became the uncrowned emperor after Menelik II. In May 1914, at Dessie, Ras Mikael was anointed Negus — King — of Wollo, and his authority reached across the north. Yet the elevation of a Muslim-born convert over the old Shewan nobility stirred deep resentment, and when Iyasu was deposed in 1916, Mikael took the field on his son's behalf at the Battle of Segale.

Defeated and captured, he was held in confinement and later placed under house arrest, dying on 8 September 1918 and laid to rest at St. Mikael Church in Tenta. May the name of Negus Mikael of Wollo be honored — a king who crossed the divides of faith and lineage, and stood to the last for his blood and his people.