RADAY

Raday, or Radet, who lived in the 16th century, was a chief of the Falasha, a people practising a form of Judaism in the rugged Semén mountains in northwestern Ethiopia. He led rebellions against the emperors of Ethiopia. Raday and his brother Kaleb, or Kalef, fought against imperial authority to preserve their autonomy. In 1559-60, the Emperor Minas (reigned 1559-63) fought his first campaign against Raday, but it was indecisive.

After the rainy season of 1579, the son of Minas, the Emperor Sartsa Dengel [reigned 1563-97], undertook a punitive expedition against Raday because he had neglected to pay the agreed tribute of grain, honey, cattle, and goats. This campaign took place in the Shawada district of Semén, east of Wangara. There was bitter fighting, with the Falasha offering a fierce resistance to superior forces, and sometimes preferring suicide to capture and forced conversion to Christianity.

After suffering several defeats, in 1580 Raday submitted to Abba Neway, a famous warrior-monk who was a trusted adherent of Sartsa Dengel, and who often engaged in mediation with rebel leaders. When Raday surrendered his Amba (steep-sided flat-topped mountain), the imperial troops were astonished to find that there was no booty available because Raday was a man who did not wish to amass wealth; on the contrary, he was a tiller of the soil who “ate his bread by the sweat of his brow.”

Abba Neway celebrated mass on the Amba, signifying its ritual cleansing, and commemorating the Christian victory. Although pardoned, Raday was chained to prevent him from undertaking any further rebellions against the emperor. But the Falasha continued to resist imperial rule for many years, under Raday’s successors, Gushan and Gedewon.

BELAYNESH MICHAEL