Iyoas I

Iyoas I
Emperor of Ethiopia
Reign	27 June 1755 – 7 May 1769
Predecessor	Iyasu II
Successor	Yohannes II
Died	14 May 1769
Burial	Gondar, Ethiopia
Dynasty	Solomonic dynasty
Father	Iyasu II

Iyoas I or Joas I (Ge'ez ኢዮአስ, throne name Adyam Sagad, Ge'ez አድያም ሰገድ, "to whom the confines of the earth bow") (d. 14 May 1769) was nəgusä nägäst (27 June 1755 – 7 May 1769) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the infant son of Iyasu II and Wubit (Welete Bersabe), the daughter of an Oromo chieftain of the Yejju district.

Despite his extreme youth, he was the candidate proposed by Empress Mentewab, his grandmother, who then acted as his regent. Her proposal was supported by the great nobles of the reign, Ras Wolde Leul her brother, Waragna, Ayo governor of Begemder, and Ras Mikael Sehul. One handicap with this tactic of ruling through a proxy, as Richard Pankhurst points out, was that neither Iyoas, due to his age, nor Empress Mentewab, due to her sex, could operate far from the capital city of Gondar, and relied on Waragna and her brothers to lead many of the military campaigns. The very first challenge to Iyoas' rule, when Nanna Giyorgis rebelled in Damot out of envy for Waragna's increased influence in the court, had to be suppressed by a force led by Waragna and the Empress' brother Grazmach Eshte.

Another problem grew from Mentewab's arrangement of the marriage of her son to Wubit, the daughter of an Oromo chieftain. Iyasu II gave precedence to his mother and allowed her every prerogative as a crowned co-ruler, while his wife Wubit suffered in obscurity. Wubit waited for the accession of her own son to make a bid for the power wielded for so long by Mentewab and her relatives from Qwara Province.

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