1872, Kassai proclaimed himself Emperor of Ethiopia with the name of Yohannes IV. Tekle Giyorgis was blinded and imprisoned with his brother and mother at the Abba Garima Monastery near Adwa, where he was executed or died some years later. Genealogy Emperor Tekle Giorgis II based his claim to the Imperial throne on a dual heritage: his mother, Princess Ayichesh Tedla, was a descendant of Emperor Iyasu I, also known as Atse Adiyam Saggad or Emperor Iyasu the Great, who was the grandson of Emperor Fasilides of the Gondar branch of the Solomonic dynasty; and via his father Wagshum Gebre Medhin, he was the heir to the old Zagwe throne and the rulers of Wag province. Tekle Giyorgis II's mother, Princess Ayichesh Tedla, was the daughter of Dejazmach Tedla Hailu, of the Gondar branch of the Solomonic line, heir of Lasta, and one of twelve Amhara nobles who were executed during Tewodros II's rule. Dejazmach Tedla's death had caused a rebellion in Wollo. Nearly a century prior to the reign of Tekle Giyorgis II, Emperor Iyasu I's great-granddaughter, Princess Yeworqweha, had been wedded to Dejazmach Wand Bewossen, a renowned 18th-century warlord and ruling Zemene Mesafint prince who nearly established full control of the Ethiopian Empire and governed the provinces of Lasta and Begemeder until he died in battle in 1777. Their son and heir, Prince Ras Hailu Wand Bewossen — the successor of his father Wand Bewossen and sovereign of Lasta, of the Gondarine Solomonic bloodline, and father of the Gondar-Lasta House of the Solomonic dynasty — begot Princess Ayichesh's father, Dejazmach Tedla Hailu. Princess Ayichesh was also the paternal grandmother of Leul Ras Kassa Haile Darge. Leul Ras Kassa's father, Dejazmach Hailu, was her younger son and the half-brother of Tekle Giyorgis II, to whom she had given birth from a remarriage with an influential Lasta ecclesiastic and nobleman—Dejazmach Megabe Woldekiros. Princess Ayichesh remarried after the execution of her husband—the then-King of Wag province, and father of Tekle Giyorgis II—Wagshum Gebremedhin. Tekle Giyorgis II's uncles, the sons of Dejazmach Tedla Hailu, played significant roles as members of the Gondar-Lasta Imperial House, brothers of his mother—whom he referred to as his brothers in surviving Imperial letters. They interceded as high Imperial officials and his generals during his rise to the throne and throughout his three-year reign until his fall. Prince Ras Meshesha Tedla is known to have ruled Wag province,