#taytu

#100Days100Women Day 6: Taytu Betul, brilliant Ethiopian empress fought against Italian colonial invasion, including planning the battle, strategy, and commanding cannoneers (and winning!). She also founded Addis Ababa, picking the site and building there. She wielded great power, and was in many ways a co-ruler with her husband, with him often deferring to her to say "no" so he could remain beloved while she was seen as a hard-customer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taytu_Betul

Taytu Betul had a restless heart and an iron will. She was also known for her wealth, including holdings in farmland and pasture. She was connected to an extensive network of wealth and power through relatives.

Menelik and Taytu sealed their union on Eater Sunday in 1883 it was a carefully considered act.

If Menelik and Taytu were running for office in an Americal balance to the ticket, The north had been the home of Ethiopia’s most recent emperors---both Tewodros and Yohannes had been from the North--- so there was a strong presumption in favor of northerners when a large, rich northern province; the family had contacts throughout the north, including Tigray and Begemder. Menelik was from the south, so Taytu brought him a kind of local legitimacy.

In politics, Taytu’s quick wit and acute political sense brought balance to Menelik’s cautious and deliberate leadership. Although Taytu was of Oromo--- and thus Muslim----heritage, the family had converted in the eighteenth century, confirming both the ideal of Christian Ethiopia and the savvy opportunism of her family. Since then, the family had accumulated significant property. Taytu gave Menelik a shrewd, wealthy, energetic political partner with a power base in the north, confirming Menelik as a leader with a claim to truly national credentials.

Taytu made the most of her position of power. Although she could tolerate the company of Europeans and made sure to invite them to royal events, her mistrust of Europeans was visceral. It was said that she could not abide by their oder.

At court, she anchored the anti-European faction. In policy discussions, she could always be counted on to define political choices in trenchant terms, self regard framing the debate. She is credited with choosing the new site for Menelik, called Addis Abbself-regard

Taytu’s was legendary. It was remarked more than once that she composed her inner circle carefully, choosing women with darker complexions, the better to show off her own light coffee skin. In the end, her understanding of power owed something to Machiavelli--- it was said while the gentle Menelik was loved, Taytu was feared ---The Battle of Adwa “African Victory in the Age of Empire”, Raymond Jonas