Emperor Yohannis IV was born Kassa Mercha, son of Dejazmatch Mercha, Shum of Tembien, and his wife Woizero Silass. Dejazmatch Mercha was the hereditary Shum Tembien, and claimed primacy over the lords of Tigrai. His mother was a decendant of the Ras Michael Sihul, who had became Enderase of the Empire during the reign of Emperor Eyoas. Ras Michael would later order the murder of that Emperor and rise to such power that some date the begining of the Zemene Mesafint to this event. Ras Michael Sihul was married to Woizero Aster Eyasu, daughter of Empress Mentewab and her lover Milmal Eyasu. Milmal Eyasu was a first cousin of Mentewab’s late husband, the Emperor Bekaffa, and thus a Solomonic prince. Dejazmatch Mercha’s mother was therefore a member of the House of Solomon, and it is through her that Kassa Mercha based his claim on the Imperial throne. However, Kassa Mercha could also claim a link to the House of Solomon in his Enderta ancestry as well through his mother Woizero Silass. Kassa became Shum of Tembien upon the death of his father, with the title of Dejazmatch. However, Dejazmatch Kassa was in constant rebellion against Emperor Tewodros II, a man of relatively low birth who had risen as a great warlord, to unite the fragmenting empire under his rule. Tewodros had usurped the Imperial crown from the hapless Emperor Yohannis III, the last of the Solomonic Emperors of the Gondar line. Dejazmatch Kassa was one of several rebellious nobles that refused to recognize Tewodros as their ruler. Tewodros II, however sealed his own fate by imprisoning all the European diplomats missionaries and merchants at his court in a fit of anger when Queen Victoria failed to reply to a letter he had sent her. The British launched an expeditionary force led by Brigadier General Sir Robert Napier (later Field Marshall Lord Napier of Magdalla). General Napier took great care in proclaiming upon his arrival that the British forces had no intention of remaining in Ethiopia, and that their sole mission was to free the hostages. He asked the rebellious nobles of Ethiopia to help him. Dejazmatch Kassa Mercha was one of the few who actually met with Napier as well as provide provisions for the British forces and guides as well. The British marched to the citadel at Magdalla and fought the Emperor’s army at Aroge, just below the escarpment of the cliff surrounded fortress. The Ethiopian force was defeated, and a stunned Emperor Tewodros had freed the hostages. It did not prevent the British from continuing their quest to punish Tewodros, and a few days later, on Easter Monday, 1868, the British stormed Magdalla. Rather than face the humiliation of defeat and capture, Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, shot himself with a pistol sent to him years earlier by Queen Victoria herself, and died.