Oromo ruler Iyasu V of Ethiopia | Iyasu V ( Lij Iyasu ), Emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 – 16.

Iyasu V ( Ge ' ez ኢያሱ፭ኛ, the Ethiopian version of Joshua ), also known as Lij Iyasu ( Ge ' ez ልጅ ኢያሱ ; 4 February 1895 – 25 November 1935 ) was the designated but uncrowned Emperor of Ethiopia ( 1913 – 16 ).

Because he was never crowned emperor, he is usually referred to as Lij Iyasu, " Lij " meaning child, especially one born of royal blood.

The second heir of the female line was his younger grandson Lij Iyasu, son of Shoagarad and Ras Mikael.

On 11 June 1908, after experiencing a stroke while on pilgrimage to Debre Libanos, Menelik informed his ministers that Lij Iyasu would succeed him.

Until Lij Iyasu came of age, the elder statesman Ras Tessema Nadew ' would be Regent Plenipotentiary ( Balemulu ' Enderase ).

In May 1909, shortly before the Emperor made this decision, Lij Iyasu was married to Woizero Romanework Mengesha, the daughter of Ras Mengesha Yohannes, granddaughter of Emperor Yohannes IV, and the niece of Empress Taitu.

Not long after his decision that Lij Iyasu would succeed him, Emperor Menelik succumbed to further strokes.

During his last years, in a bid to retain power, Empress Taitu intrigued against his choice, intending to substitute either her step-daughter Leult Zewditu or her daughter's husband Ras Gugsa Welle ( who happened to be Taitu's nephew ) for Lij Iyasu.

On 28 October 1909, after a massive stroke, Menelik's choice of Lij Iyasu as his heir was made public with Ras Bitwoedded Tessema Nadew as Enderase.

On 10 April 1911, Tessema Nadew died and, when the council met to appoint a successor as Enderase, Lij Iyasu demanded a role in the process.

At this point, Lij Iyasu decided to leave the capital, ostensibly on a military expedition against the Afar, but he simply traveled through eastern Shewa and into Wollo, meeting with the common people.

Here Lij Iyasu took part in a series of slave raids, in which 40, 000 people of both sexes were captured, " half of whom died en route of smallpox, dysentery, hunger and fatigue.

Lij Iyasu showed a pronounced lack of interest in the day to day running of the government, leaving most of the work for the ministers to deal with.

They were constantly subject to insults and disparagement by Lij Iyasu who referred to them as " my grandfather's fattened sheep.

Although Marcus states that " What actually happened will not be known until information from the French archives becomes available ," Fitawrari (" Commander of the Vanguard ") Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam, a fervent reformer and a onetime friend of Iyasu, states in his recently published autobiography that the Djibouti trip was something of a vacation for Lij Iyasu, and that he spent much of his time consorting with Muslim notables in the city and consuming large amounts of qat as well as completely depleting the funds of the Ethiopian mission in the French colony.

On 27 September 1916, while at the city of Harar, Lij Iyasu was deposed in favor of his aunt, Zewditu.

Lij Iyasu's only legitimate child was a daughter born in 1928 to him and Sabla Wangel Hailu, Alem Tsahai Iyasu who was granted the title of Emebet-hoy by Emperor Haile Selassie.

According to Fitawrari Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam, Lij Iyasu at one point announced " If I do not make Ethiopia Muslim, then I am not Iyasu.

However, Thomas Kane writes that after Lij Haile Maryam Mammo's victory at Morit on 21 April 1937, Abebe and Fitawrari Zawdu Abba Koran took control of Morat and Geru, then on 25 July the three joined with Blatta Tekle Walde-Hawaryat and Major Masfon Selassie for an attack on Addis Alem ; however they encountered the enemy far to east of their intended target, and increasing enemy forces and aerial bombardments forced them to withdraw to Menz 1 September.

The abandoned fortress was occupied briefly by Lij Iyasu after the defeat of his supporters in the Battle of Segale ; troops of the victors subjected him and his followers to an unenthusiastic siege.

It was awarded to Negus Mikael, father of Iyasu V, but changed to Negus of Wollo in consideration of the feelings of many princes in northern Ethiopia, then after his son Lij Iyasu's deposition the title went to Tafari Makonnen, who later became Emperor Haile Selassie.

The rapport between the two may have inspired Lij Iyasu to attempt to bind Dejazmach Tafari to him more firmly through marriage ties.

This account contends that, upon the priest's death, Lij Iyasu's remains were moved to the crypt of St. Tekle Haimanot's Church at the monastery, and placed below the tomb prepared for Ethiopia's first Patriarch, Abuna Basilios.

On 18 July 1917, Iyasu slipped through the siege lines and rallied the peasantry of Wollo to revolt ; the rebellion was crushed and many of Iyasu's generals were captured, forcing Lij Iyasu to flee to the Afar Depression.

Menelik had three acknowledged children: Zewditu herself, a son Asfaw Wossen who died in infancy, and another daughter Shewa Regga, the mother of Lij Iyasu, Menelik's eventual heir.

In 1913, Menelik died, and Lij Iyasu, the son of Zewditu's half-sister Shewa Regga, who had been publicly declared heir apparent in 1909, took the throne.

Ras Leul Seged apparently did not hold a grudge against Dejazmatch Tafari for this circumstance, blaming it entirely on Lij Iyasu who had ordered it.

Menelik II, and later his daughter Zewditu, would be the last Ethiopian monarchs who could claim uninterrupted direct male descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba ( both Lij Iyasu and Emperor Haile Selassie I were in the female line, Iyasu through his mother Shewarega Menelik, and Haile Selassie through his paternal grandmother, Tenagnework Sahle Selassie ).

Although the direct male line ended with Menelik II, who was succeeded first briefly by his grandson by a daughter Lij Iyasu1913-1916, and then by another daughter Empress Zewditu 1916-1930, and eventually by the son of a first cousin in the female line, Emperor Haile Selassie who reigned from 1930 till the monarchy ended in 1974.

Lij Endelkachew had previously served in a variety of diplomatic and political posts.

Lij Iyasu's aunt, Zewditu Menelik, was also removed from the palace and banished into internal exile at her estates at Falle.

His grandson and current Iyasuist claimant to the Ethiopian throne, Lij Girma Yohannes, claims that Iyasu's body was brought to the Church of St. Mark at Addis Ababa's Guenete Leul Palace ( since 1961 the main campus of Addis Ababa University ) and buried there in secret.

Woizero Menen probably met Dejazmach Tafari Makonnen ( later Emperor Haile Selassie ) at the home of her uncle, Lij Iyasu.

Returning to Mockler's narrative, in May 1937 Abebe ventured out of Menz to proclaim Meleke Tsahai, the 16-year old son of the late Lij Iyasu emperor at the Three Ambas, alarming the Italian occupiers.

After Lij Iyasu was captured, he was held for a while at Ambo, before being transferred to house arrest at Fiche.

After his capture in 1921 by Gugsa Araya Selassie, the deposed Lij Iyasu was detained for two weeks at Maychew.

Despite continued attempts to retain power, on 22 July, Prime Minister Endalkachew was arrested, and the Derg asked Lij Mikael Imru to assume the Prime Minister's office.

" At last, on November 23 Lij Endelkachew and 60 ex-officials of the former Emperor's government were taken from Menelik Palace and to Akaki Central Prison where they were summarily executed.

After the defeat of his father Negus Mikael, Lij Iyasu took refuge in Dessie beginning on 8 November 1916 while unsuccessfully seeking support from Ras Wolde Giyorgis and other major nobles of northern Ethiopia.

However, Ras Wolde Giyorgis used these overtures to extract concessions from the central government, then marched on Dessie which Lij Iyasu fled 10 December.