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Ethiopian Source Material and Colonial Rule in the Nineteenth Century: The Letter to Menilek (1899) By Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Irma Taddia
Irma Taddia
Affiliation:
University of Bologna
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Extract

Despite his important political and literary activities, Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'-abehēr is almost unknown to scholars of Menilek's Ethiopia. This historical period is not particularly well researched, and the author stands out as one of the few Ethiopian intellectuals to have written such an important number of literary works focused on nationalistic and anti-Italian feelings. The Amharic/Ge'ez text under discussion, his letter to Menilek written in 1899, is a remarkable document from this point of view because it reveals a strong opposition to colonialism and the Italian occupation of Eritrea. This document is one of the first Ethiopian sources to testify to the growing nationalism and the growth of concepts of unity and independence. It allows us to consider more carefully the beginning of an Ethiopian secular ideology of the modern state. And such an ideology must be placed in the colonial context. The letter to Menilek raises some important questions regarding the new source material in the late nineteenth century available to historians of modern Ethiopia. A translation of the text is given as well as a comment on its historical significance.

Type
Text-in-Context
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , November 1994 , pp. 493 - 516
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

1 Menilek's period is much more researched than those of Tēwodros and Yohannes. I will refer many times in the course of this article to the most interesting works dealing with nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ethiopian emperors.

2 Among the few works on the Märäb Mällaš before Italian colonialism, see Erlich, Haggai, Ethiopia and Eritrea During the Scramble for Africa: A Political Biography of Ras Alula, 1875–1897 (East Lansing, 1982).Google Scholar

3 On this controversial matter see Rubenson, Sven, Wichalē XVII: The Attempt to Establish a Protectorate over Ethiopia (Addis Ababa, 1964).Google Scholar

4 Colonial literature on the battle of Advva is very vast, as we can see in Stella, G., Africa Orientate. Bibliografia (Ravenna, 1986)Google Scholar, although we lack recent discussion on its historical significance.

5 See McCann, James, ‘The Ethiopian chronicles: an African documentary tradition’, Northeast African Studies, 1, 2, (1979), 47–61.Google Scholar

6 Rubenson, S., The Survival of Ethiopian Independence (London, 1978), 27–28Google Scholar; Garretson, P. P., ‘Some Amharic sources for modern Ethiopian history, 1889–1935’, Bulletin of S. O. A. S., xxxviii, 2 (1978), 283–96.Google Scholar

7 See Ricci, L., ‘Letterature dell'Etiopia’, in Botto, O. (ed.), Storia delle Letterature d'Oriente (Milan, 1969), 852–8Google Scholar, for a review of Amharic literature under Menilek, and 883–7 for Tegreñña literature.

8 This aspect is emphasized by Tafla, Bairu, ‘The historical notes of Liqä Täbbäbt Abbäbä Yeräfu’, Bulletin of S. O. A. S. L, 2 (1987), 267–300.Google Scholar Diaries and private notes are rare in Ethiopia. I have found in Asmara in 1987 a valuable example of a diary written in Amharic by Käntiba Gilankiel and kept in a private collection. For this manuscript and the role of his author see Taddia, I., Un Intellettuale Tigrino nell'Etiopia di Menelik: Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abetter Gilay (1860–1914) (Milan, 1990).Google Scholar

9 Japan is an important myth for modern Ethiopian intelligentsia, as I have personally discovered in numerous interviews, and has been treated in various works. See Hiwet, A., Ethiopia: From Autocracy to Revolution (London, 1975)Google Scholar; Zewde, Bahru, ‘The concept of Japanisation in the intellectual history of modern Ethiopia’, in Proceedings of the Fifth Seminar of the Department of History (Addis Ababa, 1990).Google Scholar

10 Keflē, KidĀna Wald, La Foi des Pères Ançiens (Stuttgart, 1986), 3–4Google Scholar (Introduction by Berhanov Abbebé).

11 Secularization also found expression in a new literary form created by the imperial authorities for administrative purposes. Political communication in traditional Ethiopia was largely oral. The few cases of edicts or registers being recorded under the reign of Emperor Tēwodros (1855–1868), for example, were the exception to the rule. It was not until the reign of Haile Sellassie in this century that a degree of real political literacy emerged, as the imperial government began to use writing for political and administrative functions in response to the requirements of the developing modern Ethiopian state. This phenomenon must be related to the requirements of a centralizing power and its attempts to build a modern nation state. This emerges clearly in a period which is not, however, relevant to my argument here. See McCann, J., ‘Orality, state literacy, and political culture in Ethiopia: translating the Ras Kassa registers’, in Discussion Papers in the African Humanities (Boston, 1991).Google Scholar

12 The main emphasis on this trend in Ethiopian literature is given by Tafla, , ‘The historical’, 267–69.Google Scholar

13 For the Menilek period the best example is Rubenson, The Survival.

14 One of the first scholars to point out the importance of collecting Ethiopian sources has been Rubenson himself. See Rubenson, (ed.), Acta Aethiopica, vol. I, Correspondence and Treaties 1800–1854 (Evanston/Addis Ababa, 1987).Google Scholar

15 For the analysis and quotations of the writings of Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr see: Taddia, , Un Intellettuale, 81–93.Google Scholar Among the few scholars quoting his works see: T. Negash, ‘Blatta Gebre Egziabeher Gila Mariam and his works: a sketch towards a political biography of a nationalist’, 1–21, in Negash, , No Medicine for the Bite of a White Snake: Notes on Nationalism and Resistance in Eritrea 1890–1940 (Uppsala, 1986).Google Scholar

16 Only four poems were published in the 1920s, by Eadie, J. I., An Amharic Reader (Cambridge, 1924).Google Scholar Two of them were translated into Italian: Fusella, L., ‘Una Scaramuccia Poetica fra’Afawarq Gabra’Iyasus e il BlĀttĀ Gabra’Egzi'abehērĀ, in Segert, S. and Bodrogligeti, A. J. E. (eds), Ethiopian Studies Dedicated to Wolf Leslau (Wiesbaden, 1983).Google Scholar An anonymous booklet undoubtedly attributable to this intellectual came out at the beginnings of this century. For a discussion of this book see Taddia, , Un Intelletuale, 82–85.Google Scholar

17 A part of this correspondence had been published in Taddia, , Un Intellettuale, 121–62.Google Scholar

18 See Rubenson, Correspondence, which provides 190 letters of the nineteenth century published both in the original and in the English translation.

19 Rubenson includes in his collection the correspondence between important political figures in Ethiopia, but also occasionally some private letters. See Ibid., x.

20 His role is neglected in recent works of Ethiopian literature which emphasize other authors well-known to scholars, such as Afäwärq Gäbrä Iyäsus, Heruy Wäldä Sellasē, Gäbrä Heywat Baykädañ. See for example: Fusella, L., Tedeschi, S., and Tubiana, J., Trois Essais sur la Littérature Ethiopienne (Paris, 1984).Google Scholar Nevertheless, a recent book quotes the writer as the most outstanding figure in Italian Eritrea. See Zewde, Bahru, A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1974 (London, 1991), 107.Google Scholar

21 For a biography of Gäbrä Egzi’abehēr giving details of his life and importance in Italian Eritrea, see Taddia, Un Intellettuale.

22 For the historical context of his life see also: Taddia, I., ‘Blatta Gäbrä Egzi’abehēr's letter to Menilek in the Italian colonial context’, in Discussion Papers in the African Humanities (Boston, 1991).Google Scholar

23 Mantegazza, V., La Guerra in Africa (Florence, 1896)Google Scholar and Vivaldi, R. Pianavia, Tre Anni in Eritrea (Milan, 1901).Google Scholar See also Caulk, R., ‘Black snake, white snake: Bahta Agos and his revolt against Italian overrule in Eritrea, 1894’, in Crummey, D. (ed.), Banditry, Rebellion and Social Protest in Africa (London, 1986), 293–310.Google Scholar

24 See the testimony of the Italian Governor of Eritrea, Martini, F., Il Diario Eritreo (Florence, 1942–1943), ii, 59.Google Scholar

25 Gamerra, G., Fra gli Ascari d'Italia (Bologna, 1899), 60Google Scholar; Rossini, C. Conti, Italia ed Etiopia dal Trattato di Uccialli alla battaglia di Adua (Rome, 1935), 419.Google Scholar Some Ethiopian unpublished manuscripts quote the role of the intellectual on the Italian side: Gäbrä Mika'ēl Germu, ‘Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr Gilay’ (unpublished Tegreñña document of seven pages, kept in Asmara by the son of the author Ato Amanuel Germu, who kindly gave me permission to reproduce it).

26 Martini, , Il Diario, ii, 59Google Scholar; Gamerra, , Fra gli Ascari, 54–61Google Scholar; Vivaldi, Pianavia, Tre anni, 261–65.Google Scholar

27 Italian unpublished documents record extensively the official position of the interpreter and his role in colonial bureaucracy. See Archivio Eritrea (Rome), Pacco 293, Serie III, fasc. f: ‘Note personali sul servizio prestato dall'interprete’, and Pacco 404. fasc. 3: ‘Registro capi e ribelli, 1904–1905’.

28 Archivio Eritrea (Rome), Pacco 293, Serie III, fasc. d: ‘Verbali d'indagine, 1899’.

29 Ras Mäkonnen, governor of Harar, also ruled Tegray in 1899–1900 and was a key figure in Menilek's politics at the end of the century. The best source for precise information during these years is Martini, II Diario. Italian archives conserve important unpublished correspondence between Mäkonnen and the colonial government along with other relevant material dealing with the Ras himself. See Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Rome), Fondo Martini, Scat. 14, fasc. 47, ‘II Tigrai sotto ras Maconnen, 1899–1900 (parte prima) and Scat. 14, fasc. 48. ‘II Tigrai sotto ras Maconnen 1899–1900’ (parte seconda).

30 Italian colonial documents contain numerous letters exchanged between the interpreter and his friends in Asmara dealing with political matters. See: Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293, Serie I, fasc. 4: ‘Interprete indigeno Garesghear Ghilemariam (attività sospette) 1899’. This file contains 56 documents mainly consisting of letters and notes of the intellectual and his friends in Asmara.

31 The letter to Menilek is conserved in: Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293. Serie II, ‘11 Documenti compromettenti inviati al R. Commissario civile deII'Eritrea’, Asmara 4 agosto 1899, ‘Allegato 11’.

32 The activity of the interpreter was carefully controlled by the Italian Governor Martini, as we can see in the dossiers of colonial archives. See Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Rome), Fondo Martini, ‘II Tigrai nel 1898’, Fasc. 54:‘Governo deU'Eritrea. Lettere e notizie di capi indigeni’, in which a file is entitled ‘Blatta Garesghear Ghelemariam’.

33 A letter of Ras Mängäša to Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr is published in Taddia, , Un Intellettuale, 158–59Google Scholar, while Ras Mäkonnen is quoted in a number of letters on record, as documented in op. cit., 122, 124–25, 134–35, 136–42, 143–47, 148–49, and 161–62.

34 See the colonial translation, Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293. Serie II. ‘Allegato 11’.

35 See Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Rome), Fondo Martini, ‘II Tigrai sotto Ras Maconnen 1899–1900’, Parte I. ‘Relazione Mozzetti al Governatore’, 13 May 1899, in which serious feelings on Mäkonnen's occupation of colonial Eritrea are expressed.

36 See II Secolo xix, 6–7 February 1900; 7–8 February 1900; 13–14 February 1900; 25–26 February 1900 and La Tribuna, 15 January 1900; 15 February 1900.

37 See Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 1032, Fasc. 12, ‘Voci di abbandono della colonia Eritrea’, 1897.

38 Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293, fasc. 4.

39 At least three codes were used. For two examples of codes deciphered by the Italian administration see: Taddia, , Un Intellettuale, 150; 160.Google Scholar

40 The familiarity of the interpreter with the main political figures and his influential role in Menilek's Ethiopia is also documented by oral informants. This was confirmed in a number of interviews conducted in Addis Ababa, Asmara, and his native village Sa'da Krestyan during October-November 1987, July 1988 and September-October 1989.

41 See Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Rome), Fondo Martini, Scat. 14: ‘Ufficio di Gabinetto Governo dell'Eritrea. Informazioni’ (27 Agosto, 1899), a secret report by the Italian Government which asserted that Gabra Egzi'abehēr was finally convinced by Menilek to support his cause in March 1896.

42 See Archivio Eritrea (Rome), Pacco 313, Fasc. I: ‘Carceri e penitenziari. Evasioni 1900’.

43 Archivio Eritrea (Rome), Pacco 337, ‘Relegati, 1900’, and Pacco 338, fasc. II. ‘Evasi di Nocra’.

44 See: Gäbrä Mika'ēl Germu, ‘Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr” (unpublished Tegreñña document of five pages, kept by the author's son in Asmara), as well as the one by the same author quoted in note 25.

45 According to the Italian Government, Mäkonnen was recalled because of his bad relations with Italy; see Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome, Fondo Martini, Scat. 14, ‘II Tigrai sotto Ras Maconnen 1899–1900’, Parte II.

46 Merab, , Impressions, iii, 359–60Google Scholar; Cohen, M., ‘La naissance d'une littérature imprimée en Amharique’, Journal Asiatique, xxvi, 2 (1925), 349.Google Scholar

47 Eadie, , An Amharic, 193–203.Google Scholar

48 Among the interviews I have conducted in Ethiopia in recent years, those given by Ato Yohannes Rädda Sadeq from Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr's homeland Sa'da Krestyan and Abba Gäbrä Iyasus in Addis Ababa were particularly interesting.

49 For the texts of polemical poems exchanged between these intellectuals see: Fusella, , Una Scaramuccia, 145–56.Google Scholar See also Sengal, E., ‘Notesulla Letteratura Moderna Amarica’, Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientate di Napoli, ii (1943), 292Google Scholar, and Rouaud, A., AfäWärq. Un intellectuel éthiopien témoin de son temps 1868–1947 (Paris, 1991), 262.Google Scholar

50 The booklet published anonymously outside Ethiopia and circulated secretly in Addis Ababa was first attributed to the intellectual by Cohen, , La Naissance, 349.Google Scholar

51 The unpublished manuscript is kept in Italian archives. See: Archivio Eritrea (Rome), Pacco 78, fasc. 3: ‘Blatta Garesghear: Sue Memorie, 1897’, Arnharic text composed of 235 pages.

52 Eadie, , An Arnharic 193Google Scholar; Cohen, , La Naissance, 349.Google Scholar

53 Abba Gäbrä Iyäsus, one of the main informants, testifies to having received some manuscript poems from Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr while he was studying at the beginning of this century in Rome.

45 See: Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Rome), Fondo Martini, Scat. 15, Fasc. 52 ‘Governo dell'Eritrea. Interessi italiani in Etiopia’, which includes a letter from Annaratone to Martini signed in Dessie, 21 July 1909: ‘II famigerato Blata Garesghear stampa al Ghebbi segretamente un foglio o giornale (uscente a periodi non ben definiti) riservato solo a pochissimi capi’ [‘The notorious Blata Garesghear secretly prints a broadsheet or newspaper in Ghebbi (being issued at various moments not well specified) reserved for only a few leaders’].

55 Anonymous, , ‘Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr Gilay ‘a'mero’ yätäbaläwn gazeta bä'eǧaççäw yäsafu’, Addis Zaman, 26 Säne (1978 Ethiopian calendar), 2Google Scholar; anonymous, ‘Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr Gilay Hamasyänay hasir tank’, unpublished documents, private collection kept by Ato Mähari Mäsgänä, Asmara.

56 The exact date of the departure from Addis Ababa to Harar is not known. Doctor Merab gives the last date of his stay with Makonnen as 1902: Merab, P.. Impressions d'Ethiopie. L'Abyssinie sous Ménélik, ‘ii (Paris, 1929), iii, 334, 359–60Google Scholar, while Italian colonial documents indicate the year 1904: Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 403, Registro capi. Ribelli 1904–1905’, fasc. 3. See also some Ethiopian writers quoting the life of the intellectual in Harar: Fusella, L., ‘Le Biografie di BlĀtengēta Heruy Walda SellĀsē’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, xxxi (1987), 59Google Scholar; Fusella, L., ‘Menelik e l'Etiopia in un Testo Amarico del BĀykadĀñ, Annali dell'lstituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, iv (1952), 134.Google Scholar

57 Merab, , Impressions, iii, 359–60.Google Scholar

58 See Ä'alämē Ešäte, Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr Gila därä fävvdal därä impēriyalist dahafi’. (Unpublished document, Addis Ababa, 1969 [Ethiopian calendar]).

59 Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293.

60 Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293, Serie II, ‘Allegata 11’.

61 See my recent volume dealing with the role of the intellectual in Menilek's Ethiopia: Taddia, , Un Intellettuale, 163–72.Google Scholar

62 I will discuss this point later.

63 See Martini, , Il diario, ii, 58.Google Scholar

64 A complete list of colonial documents quoting the letter is found in Taddia, , Blatta Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr's Letter, 15–16.Google Scholar

65 I have been unable to find any Ethiopian source of the period quoting the letter presumably because it was written only two months before his imprisonment. Furthermore, the intellectual had had no time to circulate the text. Only Italian colonial documents mention it in addition to oral testimonies.

66 The letter, although addressed to Menilek, was sent to Ras Mäkonnen, no doubt because of the close personal relations between Gäbrä Egzi'abehēr and this important political figure in Menilek's court, but also, perhaps, for his potential role in influencing Menilek's policy on Eritrea. Another reason was that at the time, in 1899, Mäkonnen was in charge of Tegray.

67 Tafla, Bairu, Asmä Giyorgis and his Work. History of the Galla and the Kingdom of Sawa (Stuttgart, 1987), 845Google Scholar; Fusella, , ‘Menelik e l'Etiopia’, 134.Google Scholar

68 I have discussed the nature of this document extensively both in the Boston paper and in my book on the intellectual quoted above.

69 This seems to me the main issue raised by the document which has been analysed from this point of view by few scholars. See Negash, , ‘Blatta Gebre Egzi'abehēr’, 1–21.Google Scholar

70 See the original manuscript in Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293. Serie II, ‘Allegato 11’, 1.

71 Ibid. 2.

72 The subject is treated in many passages: Ibid., 2, 3.

73 Ibid. 4.

74 Ibid. 4. The Italian translation and the notes are published in Taddia, Un Intellettuale, 172.

75 Zaghi, C. (ed.), Crispi e Menelich nel Diario Inedito del Conte Augusto Salimbeni (Turin, 1956).Google Scholar

76 Taddia, Ibid, 104.

77 Ibid. 12–3. On the Empress’ rebuke to Menilek see Ibid., 110, 131, and 150.

78 Quoted in Rossetti, , Storia diplomatica, 81.Google Scholar For the Empress’ criticism and her political influence see also: Prouty, C., Empress Taytu and Menilek II. Ethiopia 1883–1910 (London, 1986), 74–99Google Scholar, and Filesi, C., Ligg Iasù e l'Etiopia negli anni 1909–1932 (Rome, 1990), 14–22.Google Scholar

79 Tafla, , Asmä Giyorgis, 845.Google Scholar On the Treaty of Weççalē see Rubenson, , The Survival, 384–99Google Scholar and Zaghi, C., La conquista dell'Africa (Naples, 1984), 635–80.Google Scholar

80 See: Archivio Eritrea, Pacco 293, Serie II, 8.

81 On the Ethiopian state see Crummey, D., ‘Imperial legitimacy and the creation of neo-solomonic ideology in 19th century Ethiopia’, Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, 109, xxviii, 1 (1988), 13–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries are analysed by a number of scholars; see: Rubenson, The Survival; Abir, M., Ethiopia, the Era of Princes: The Challenge of Islam and the Re-Unification of the Christian Empire, 1769–1855 (London, 1968);Google ScholarCrummey, D., ‘Society and ethnicity in the politics of Christian Ethiopia during the Zamana Masafent’, Int. J. Afr. Hist. Studies, vIII (1975), 266–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Crummey, D., ‘State and society: 19th-century Ethiopia’, in Crummey, D. and Stewart, C. (eds.), Modes of Production in Africa: The Precolonial Era (Beverly Hills, 1981).Google Scholar

82 Tamrat, Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford, 1972)Google Scholar; Sellassie, Sergew Hable, Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 (Addis Ababa, 1972)Google Scholar; Haile, Getatchew, ‘The unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia’, Journal of Modern African Studies, xxiv, iii (1986), 465–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For the historical context of state formation in Ethiopia see: Tareke, Gebru, Ethiopia, Power and Protest (Cambridge, 1991), 25–54Google Scholar, and Donham, D., ‘Old Abyssinia and the new Ethiopian empire: themes in the social history’, in Donham, D. and James, W. (eds.), The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia (Cambridge, 1986), 3–48.Google Scholar

45 For an interesting discussion and a new interpretation of the Ethiopian state in the nineteenth-century see Bekele, Shiferaw, ‘The state in the Zamana Masafent (1786–1853): an essay in reinterpretation’, in Beyene, Taddese, Pankhurst, R., and Bekele, Shiferaw (eds.), Kassa and Kassa: Papers on the Lives, Times and Images of Tewodros II and Yohannes IV (1855–1889) (Addis Ababa, 1990), 25–68.Google Scholar This essay criticizes previous works, such as those of Rubenson, Abir and Crummey quoted above.

84 Sellassie, Zewde Gebre, Yohannes IV of Ethiopia: a Political Biography (Oxford, 1975).Google Scholar

85 Crummey, , ‘Imperial legitimacy’, 24–33.Google Scholar

86 An interesting article discusses this topic in the period before Menilek: Bekele, Shiferaw, ‘Reflections on the power elite of the Wärä Séh Mäsfenate (1786–1853)’, Annates d'Ethiopie, xv (1990), 157–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

87 Terence Ranger recently developed this topic in many works; among them see: Ranger, T., The Invention of Tribalism in Zimbabwe (Gweru, 1985)Google Scholar, and his ‘The invention of tradition revisited: the case of colonial Africa’ (Paper presented to the Conference on ‘Popular Culture in Question’, Essex, April 1991).

88 I have referred to these European sources in I. Taddia, ‘In search of an identity: Amhara/Tegrean relations in the late 19th century’ (Paper presented to the XIth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies Addis Ababa, 1991, proceedings forthcoming).

89 Italian colonial documents also mention the independence of the Tegrean nobility under Tēwodros and Menilek and the control of central power over local hegemonies. Among these documents the most interesting is: L. Bellini, ‘Cenni storici sul Tigrai e notizie biografiche sulle persone principali e più influenti di questo regno nonché degli altri paesi d'Etiopia che possono avere ingerenza sulla parte futura deU'Eritrea e del Tigrai’ (Asmara, 1892), unpublished paper, Archivio Eritrea, (Rome), Pacco 164.

90 See note 34 above. Both the Amharic/Ge'ez text and the Italian translation appear in Taddia, , Un Intellettuale, 163–72.Google Scholar

91 Rubenson, Correspondence, xi.

92 In the course of my research I found only four letters written in Tegreñña in the late nineteenth century. They are published and translated into Italian in Taddia, , Un Intellettuale, 132–3, 134–5, 143–7 148–9.Google Scholar One letter in the collection is a mixture of Amharic and Tegreñña, op. cit., 136–42. According to Kevin O'Mahoney, Yohannes decreed that ‘Tegreñña should be the official language of the empire’, but no sources for this statement were quoted. See his The Ebullient Phoenix. A History of the Vicariate of Abyssinia (Asmara, 1987), 174.Google Scholar I have not found this reference in any other documents of the period.

93 See a recent volume on late nineteenth-century Ethiopian history published in Italy and translated from Tegreñña: Giyorgis, Fesseha, Storia d'Etiopia (Naples, 1987)Google Scholar, edited by Yaqob Beyene. The manuscript collection of MikĀel Germu conserved in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies of the University of Addis Ababa contains a few other works in Tegreñña which are interesting from an historical point of view, but have been ignored by scholars up to now.

94 I indicate the differences between the translation presented here and the Italian translation recorded in the archives. Thus ‘CT’ indicates the colonial translation, ‘om.’ the omissions and ‘ill.’ the illegible text. The transliteration of Amharic follows the original text exactly and sometimes differs from the conventional orthography for wellknown names. The English translation is literal rather than literary. Alessandro Bausi translated the text.

95 CT: ‘all’ intelletto del suo paese, al vero figlio della santa regione dell'Etiopia Madre di tutti noi’ [‘to the intellect of his country, to the true son of the holy region of Ethiopia Mother of us all’].

96 It must be emphasized that ‘half of Tegrē’ refers to the loss of Eritrea occupied by the Italians, a definition which I have never found in other Ethiopian documents of the period. For the significance of addressing the letter to Ras Mäkonnen see note 66 above.

97 CT: ‘Epoi’ [‘And then’].

98 CT: ‘Non essere alcuno investito di un'alta carica se non da Dio’ [‘Be no one elected for a high office but by God’].

99 CT: ‘Ciò stante ogni uomo deve tenere il Re come unico testimone (della potenza di Dio) e tale che può ordinare e disporre come gli pare e piace’ [‘Thus, every man must consider his King as his only witness (of the power of God) and so he can order and dispose as he likes’].

100 CT om. ‘Your brothers’.

101 CT om. ‘Their king, who did this, is not a good model’.

102 CT. ‘(seguono alcune preposizioni [sic] indecifrabili)’ [‘some indecipherable prepositions [sic] follow’].

103 CT: ‘Invece di conservare fino alla morte la loro porzione di suolo essi (delle frasi indecifrabili, sembra si tratti del soggetto… ossia dignitari o grandi capi) vanno diminuendo il territorio’ [‘Instead of keeping their portion of land until death they (some indecipherable sentences, it seems to be the subject… that is dignitaries or great chiefs) are decreasing the land’].

104 The comparison between Menilek and the Emperors Tēwodros (1855–1868) and Yohannes (1871–1879), who died for their country, is a recurrent theme of the letter as well as the question of the borders. Both themes emphasize the historical consciousness of the author.

105 CT: ‘Ella aveva potestà di spezzare (questo male)’ [‘You had the power to break (this evil)’].

106 CT om. ‘kings’.

107 CT: ‘è incominciato’ [‘it has started’].

108 CT:‘poi un uomo saràchiiesto per marito da sette donne’ [‘then a man will be asked for his hand by seven women’].

109 The famous and controversial treaty between Italy and Ethiopia signed in May 1889. See note 79.

110 Hereditary rights to land (rest) and grant of land (or revenues of land) assigned in return for service commonly translated as ‘fief’ (gult) widespread in all Ethiopia with regional differences. For the Amhara area see Crummey, D., ‘Abyssinian Feudalism’, Past and Present, lxxxix (1980), 115–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for Eritrea: Carbone, A., Termini più in uso nel diritto terriero dell'Eritrea (Asmara, 1940), 42–4; 45–6.Google Scholar CT ‘i campi dei monasteri’ [‘the fields of the monasteries’].

111 Rim can be defined as a right to land in favour of the church: Carbone Termini, 44, or as ‘ecclesiastical land [which] fell juridically under the church’: Crummey, D., ‘Gondarine Rim land sales: an introductory description and analysis’, in Hess, R. H. (ed.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Ethiopian Studies (Chicago, 1979), 472.Google Scholar CT ‘i fondi dei monasteri’ [‘the lands of the monasteries’].

112 CT: ‘le tue ricchezze’ [‘your riches’]. The text clearly states teggennät, that means ‘protezione’; see Guidi, I., Vocabolario amarico-italiano (Rome, 1901), 831.Google Scholar The word also has the technical meaning of ‘protectorate’, very important in this context: Kane, T., Amharic-English Dictionary (Wiesbaden, 1990), 2180Google Scholartagga. CT wrongly reads taggennät, deriving it from the homophonous root: op. cit. 2181, ‘wealth, riches, fortune’.

113 CT: ‘Nel tempo del flagello gli è per la loro preghiera che Iddio ha aiutato V. M.’ [‘In the time of the scourge it is thanks to their prayer that God helped Your Majesty’].

114 Various colonial battles favourable to Ethiopia in 1895–1896, among them the last one is the battle of Adwa (1 March 1896).

115 From ‘saying: ‘Because, staying together…’ to ‘would tear them to pieces unfairly’, CT: ‘e poi (segue un periodo intraducibile) Essi dissero: mentre noi siamo i vostri re, voi ci ferite a mezzo degli altri Europei ed essendo degli altri Europei molto amici li trattate bene. Questo Ella ha fatto per la rovina dei rimanenti Etiopi’ [‘and then (the following passage is not translatable) They said: while we are your kings, you wound us by means of the other Europeans, and your being good friends of the other Europeans, you treat them well. You did this for the ruin of the remaining Ethiopians’].

116 Zorobabel, of the tribe of David, who brought the Jews back home from Babylonia in 537 B. C.

117 CT: ‘ed ha costruito l'edifiio dei fanciulli’ [‘and You have built the house of the children’].

118 The author refers to the King Ayzur who reigned half a day (a. d. 775): Sellassie, , Ancient and Medieval, 203Google Scholar; The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography (Addis Ababa, 1975), 31Google Scholar; Rossini, C. Conti, ‘Les listes des Rois d'Aksum’, in Journal Asiatique, xiv (1909), 320Google Scholar, while CT renders ‘il suo regno come quello degli Assiri’ [Your kingdom like that one of the Assyrians].

119 CT: ‘per cupidigia’ [‘because of greed’].

120 CT om ‘tomards death and sin’.

121 The peace Treaty between Italy and Ethiopia signed in Addis Ababa in October 1896, a few months after the battle of Adwa.

122 The frequent references to biblical figures emphasize the importance of historical times for the country and seem to be a further example for Menilek to change his vision of Ethiopia.

123 Emperor Gälawdēwos (1540–1559), who reorganized the kingdom and died in a battle against the Muslims.

124 CT: ‘Perché non le procura del bene e fa in una testa due lingue e in un trono due re? ’ [‘Why do You not do good and make of a head two tongues and of a throne two kings?’].

125 CT: ‘Secondo i patti e le trattative fatte V. M. metterà in libertà i nostri fratelli’ [‘According to the treaty and negotiation Your Majesty will free our brothers’].

126 We must stress ‘half of Ethiopia’ and ‘half of Tegrē’: see note 96.

127 CT om. ‘instead of making the Christians’ blood flow again in vain’.

128 CT: ‘triste per la Madre che da nessuno è consolata’ [‘sad for the Mother who is not consoled by anyone’].

129 CT: Scritto I' II Ghembot’ 1891 nella citta del deserto (18 maggio 1899)’ [‘Written on the 11 Ghembot 1891 in the city of the desert (18 May 1899)’].