Sarsa Dengel campaigns twice in Ennarea, in southwest Ethiopia, the first time in 1586, and the second time in 1597.

On the final campaign against the Oromo, his Chronicle records, a group of monks tried to dissuade him from this expedition; failing that, they warned him not to eat fish from a certain river he would pass.

Despite their warning, when he passed by the river the monks warned him about, he ate fish taken from this river and grew sick and died.

Sarsa Dengel had intended to make his nephew Za Dengel his successor, but under the influence of his wife Maryam Sena and a number of his sons-in-law, he instead chose his son Yaqob, who is seven when he comes to the throne, with Ras Antenatewos of Begemder as his regent.

Za Dengel and the other rival for the throne—Susenyos, the son of Abeto Fasilides—are exiled, but Za Dengel escapes to the mountains around Lake Tana, while Susenyos finds refuge in the south among the Oromo.

Interior East Africa (1600–1611 CE): Challenges of Succession, Religious Tensions, and Growing Foreign Influence in Ethiopia

The Brief Reign of Emperor Yaqob and Dynastic Instability

The early seventeenth century in Interior East Africa began with uncertainty and internal instability, centered around Ethiopia’s imperial throne. Emperor Yaqob (Malak Sagad II) (reigned 1597–1603), successor of the strong and centralizing Sarsa Dengel, faced mounting opposition from powerful regional nobles who had chafed under his father’s firm administrative policies. Yaqob's rule quickly became characterized by court intrigues and rebellion, notably from ambitious provincial governors seeking to reassert their traditional autonomy.

Despite his efforts to maintain central control, Emperor Yaqob was eventually overthrown in a coup in 1603, plunging the empire into a short but chaotic struggle for power.

Ascension and Early Rule of Emperor Za Dengel

Following Yaqob’s deposition, Ethiopia witnessed a swift succession by his cousin, Emperor Za Dengel (reigned 1603–1604). Za Dengel initially demonstrated promise, moving decisively to suppress revolts and restore central authority. He, too, was drawn into religious controversies as Portuguese Jesuits increased pressure to convert the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to Roman Catholicism, promising military and diplomatic support from Portugal in exchange.

In a notable diplomatic and religious shift, Za Dengel briefly aligned himself with the Jesuit missionaries, declaring openness to conversion to Catholicism—largely a political maneuver aimed at gaining external support to stabilize his precarious rule. This decision, however, severely alienated influential segments of Ethiopian society, especially the powerful Orthodox clergy and traditionally-minded nobility, triggering a significant backlash.

The Restoration and Firm Rule of Emperor Susenyos I

The religious and political crises under Za Dengel's brief reign paved the way for the emergence of a more durable ruler, Emperor Susenyos I (reigned 1607–1632), who ascended the throne following several years of turmoil and contested successions. Initially hailed as a stabilizing figure capable of reunifying the empire, Susenyos swiftly acted to suppress revolts and reassert imperial authority in Ethiopia’s central and peripheral provinces.

Recognizing the damage wrought by his predecessor's Catholic overtures, Susenyos initially appeared cautious in his approach to the Jesuits. However, his increasing interactions with Portuguese missionaries and their persuasive arguments regarding Catholic support in military and economic affairs led him gradually toward their influence.

Foreign Influences: Portuguese Jesuits and Early European Intervention

By 1610, the presence and influence of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries had grown substantially, increasingly intertwined with Ethiopia’s political dynamics. Jesuit leaders such as Pedro Páez arrived in Ethiopia, gaining access to Susenyos’s court and establishing a permanent mission presence. Páez, in particular, gained the emperor’s confidence, slowly laying the groundwork for greater Catholic influence.

The presence of these missionaries provoked tension within Ethiopian society. While the Jesuits offered expertise in architecture, engineering, and diplomacy, benefiting the imperial court materially, they simultaneously challenged the Orthodox Church's established religious traditions and authority.

Regional Stability and External Relations

Despite internal tensions, the early years of Susenyos's reign saw Ethiopia regain a measure of stability and regional authority. External threats from Muslim sultanates such as Adal had diminished considerably, though smaller skirmishes continued along border areas. The imperial administration reasserted control over vital trade routes, facilitating an economic recovery from previous decades of conflict.

Ethiopia also continued its complex diplomatic relationship with Ottoman representatives on the Red Sea, balancing cooperation with resistance to direct Ottoman domination. The emperor sought Portuguese naval support to counterbalance Ottoman maritime influence, making strategic alliances even more critical for Ethiopia’s security and prosperity.

Key Historical Developments

• Turbulent reign of Emperor Yaqob ending in deposition (1603), followed by brief and controversial reign of Za Dengel.

• Ascension and early stabilization under Emperor Susenyos I (1607), with renewed emphasis on central authority.

• Increased Portuguese Jesuit missionary influence at the imperial court, notably through Pedro Páez.

• Continued religious tensions arising from Jesuit efforts to convert the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to Roman Catholicism.

• Strategic management of relationships with regional Muslim powers and Ottoman representatives, aiming at securing economic and military stability.

Long-Term Consequences and Historical Significance

This era in Interior East Africa marked a critical juncture in Ethiopian history. It exposed vulnerabilities in the centralized monarchy, highlighting the persistent tension between imperial authority and regional autonomy. Moreover, the increasing influence of European missionaries, especially Portuguese Jesuits, set the stage for severe internal religious conflicts that would significantly impact Ethiopia’s political and cultural landscape. Emperor Susenyos’s complex relationship with the Jesuits, characterized by both cooperation and caution, presaged a later, more dramatic embrace of Catholicism, which would lead to greater internal strife. The delicate diplomatic balancing act practiced in this era also provided important precedents for Ethiopia’s interactions with external powers in the coming centuries.

Sarsa Dengel had intended to make his nephew as his heir, recognizing that to avert the civil war that will likely follow his death an adult will be needed, and the emperor's own sons are quite young.

These plans are changed primarily through the influence of Empress Sena Maryam, stepmother of Emperor's eldest surviving son Prince Yaqob, who had been made emperor in 1597.

The empress had had Za Dengel seized and confined in a religious retreat on the island of Dek in Lake Tana.

Za Dengel eventually managed to escape, taking refuge in Gojjam.

Za Dengel had in 1603 been made Emperor  by his cousin Ras Za Sellase, who intended Za Dengel to be little more than a figurehead.

He was crowned as Asnaf Segad ('He to whom the horizons bow').

However, Za Dengel summons the Jesuit Pedro Páez to his court at Dankaz, who persuades him to embrace Catholicism.

Cristóvão da Gama (son of the legendary Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama) had some decades earlier, in 1541, led a military expedition to save the Ethiopian emperor Gelawdewos from the onslaught of Ahmed Gragn, a Muslim Imam who almost destroyed the existence of the Ethiopian state.

The Jesuits who had accompanied or followed the expedition into Ethiopia, and fixed their headquarters at Fremona (near Adwa), have been oppressed and neglected over the past six decades, but not actually expelled.

Father Pedro Páez, born in Olmeda de las Cebollas (now Olmeda de las Fuentes, near Madrid), had studied at Coimbra and, sent from Goa to Ethiopia as a missionary in 1589, had been held captive in Yemen for seven years, from 1590 to 1596, where he had used his time to learn Arabic.

During this period he had to travel through the Hadramaut and Rub'al Khali deserts, and tasted coffee in Mocha, being most probably the first European to undergo such experiences.

Finally arriving at Massawa in 1603, he had proceeded to Debarwa where he met the chief of the Portuguese in Ethiopia, John Gabriel, on May 11, and four days later had made his way to Fremona.Unlike his predecessor, Andre de Oviedo, Paul Henze describes Paez as "gentle, learned, considerate of the feelings of others".

When summoned to the court of the young negusä nägäst Za Dengel, his knowledge of Amharic and Ge'ez, as well as his knowledge of Ethiopian customs impresses the sovereign so much that Za Dengel decides to convert from the Coptic Tewahido Church to Catholicism —although Páez, a man of great tact and judgment, warns him not to announce his declaration too quickly.

However, when Za Dengel proclaims changes in the observance of the Sabbath, Páez retires to Fremona, and waits out the ensuing civil war that ends with the emperor's death.

Za Dengel’s religious conversion leads to Za Sellase not only withdrawing his support, but actively working against him and stirring up a revolt in Gojjam.

Za Dengel marches to the plain of Bartcho to put down this revolt, but despite the help of two hundred Portuguese musketeers ,Za Dengel perishes in battle on October 24.

According to James Bruce, Za Dengel's corpse lay unclaimed on the battlefield for three days, until some peasants buried it "in a little building, like a chapel (which I have seen), not above six feet high, under the shade of a very fine tree, in Abyssinia called sassa."

The body will be reinterred ten years later in Daga Estifanos monastery on Daga Island in Lake Tana.

When Susyenos was a boy, a group of marauding Oromo had captured him and his father, Abeto (Prince) Fasilides, a grandson of Dawit II; holding them captive for over a year until they were rescued by the Dejazmach Assebo.

Upon his rescue, he had gone to live with Queen Admas Mogasa, the widow of Emperor Mena and mother of Sarsa Dengel, nəgusä nägäst from 1563 to 1597.

Susenyos in the 1590s had been perceived as a potential successor to the throne, as Emperor Sarsa Dengel's sons were very young.

Empress Maryam Sena, in order to eliminate Susenyos from the competition, had had him exiled, but Susenyos had managed to escape and find refuge among his former captors, the Oromo.

At the death of his one-time ally, Emperor Za Dengel, Susenyos is proclaimed his successor and returns to the realm, although the fight against Emperor Yaqob continues.

Not long after Za Dengel is defeated and killed in battle, Susenyos marches north at the head of an army raised among the Oromo, and sends a message to Ras Antenatewos proclaiming himself as king and demanding support from Antenatewos; unable to communicate with Za Sellase, the Ras sends his troops to support Susenyos.

A similar message to Za Sellase only serves to steel Za Sellase into action: he marches on Susenyos, who, sick from fever, retreats into the mountains of Amhara.

This lack of resolve persuades Ras Antenatewos to waver in his support, and as the rainy season passes Za Sellase begins to negotiate his submission to Susenyos.

At this moment Yaqob reveals himself in Dembiya and both Ras Antenatewos and Za Sellase flock to his side.