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Hagiographies and the History of Medieval Ethiopia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Steven Kaplan
Steven Kaplan*
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Extract

The hagiographic literature of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church may be divided into two major categories: the translated lives of the saints and martyrs of the early Christian church and the lives of local saints. The essentially foreign works, which constitute the first of these groups, will be of only peripheral concern in this paper. While books such as Barlaam and Joasaph, The Life of St. George, and The Conflict of Severus did serve as models for the traditions dealing with local saints, they are of little interest to the student of Ethiopian history.

The most interesting of these local hagiographies are those about saints who lived between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. These traditions, which recount the lives of some kings and many monastic leaders, are of great importance for the reconstruction of the history of medieval Ethiopia. As Conti Rossini has written,

The more I preoccupy myself with the history of Ethiopia, the more I realize the importance of the study of local traditions. Only when we are a little more informed of these traditions with their accounts of the movements of peoples, with the advent (even if sometimes legendary) of successive chiefs, will we have an accurate idea of the history of Ethiopia.

However, while specialists in Ethiopian literature and history have long realized the potential value of these gadlāt (singular: gadl) as sources for the study of Ethiopian history, the tendency towards idealization displayed in these works, as well as their abundant miracles and anachronisms, have left historians uncertain as to how to extract reliable information from them.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 8 , 1981 , pp. 107 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1981

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Footnotes

*

Earlier versions of this paper were presented before seminars in Jerusalem at the Hebrew University, Harry S. Truman Research Institute, and Ecumenical Institute for Advanced Theological Studies. I am grateful to all participants for stimulating comments and queries. I would also like to express my thanks to Professor R.J. Zwi Werblowsky for his thoughtful suggestions and guidance.

References

NOTES

1. The Synkesar (Ethiopian Calendar of Saints) is composed of daily readings about both foreign and local saints, and thus consists of material from both categories.

2. The hagiographies which tell of saints from the Axumite period (4th–9th centuries) were generally not written until the 13th century and are of limited historical value. A preliminary bibliography of local hagiographies has been prepared by Zelleke, Kinefe-Rigb, “Bibliography of the Ethiopic Hagiographical Traditions,” Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 12(1975), 57–102.Google Scholar

3. Rossini, C. Conti, ”Note di agiografia etiopica (Abiya-Egzi, Arkaledes e Gabra Iyesus),” Rassegna di studi orientali, 17(1938), 409–10.Google Scholar

4. “A struggle, contest, esp. of saints and martyrs,” Lambdin, T.O., Introduction to Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez), (Ann Arbor, 1978), 401.Google Scholar As there is no single standard method for the transcription of Ge'ez, terms and names in that language have been transcribed in a spelling that was felt to be adequate for the purpose. No attempt was made to systematize the spelling.

5. Rossini, C. Conti, ”L'agiografia etiopica e gli atti del santo Yafqeranna Egzi (secolo XIV),” Atti dei reale Istituto Veneto, 96(1937), 403–12.Google Scholar Taddesse Tamrat accepts Conti Rossini's approach in his Church and State in Ethiopia 1270–1527, (Oxford, 1972), 2–4 Google Scholar, but exhibits a slightly different perspective on the subject in his “Hagiographies and the Reconstruction of Medieval Ethiopian History,” Rural Africana(1970), 12–18.Google Scholar

6. Rossini, Conti, “Yafqeranna Egzi,” 406.Google Scholar

7. Ibid., 407–08.

8. On the “perpetual renewal” of hagiographic texts see de Gaiffier, B., “Hagiographie et historiographie,” Recueil d' Hagiographie, [Subsidia Hagiographica LXI], (Brussels, 1977), 148–52.Google Scholar

9. Conti Rossini, “Yafqeranna-Egzi,” refers to only two works on general hagiography, while Taddesse Tamrat, “Hagiographies,” cites none. In turn, Analecta Bollandiana, the foremost journal of hagiography, has rarely discussed Ethiopian hagiography.

10. Delehaye, H., The Legends of the Saints, (London, 1961)Google Scholar; idem, Cing leçons sur la méthode hagiographique [Subsidia Hagiographica XXI] (Brussels, 1934), Aigrain, R., L'hagiographie: ses sources, ses méthodes, son histoire, (Paris, 1953).Google Scholar

11. Ibid., 197.

12. On the characteristics of oral literature see Vansina, J., Oral Tradition, (Chicago, 1965).Google Scholar I am indebted to Professor Ephraim Issac and Emahoy Krestos Samra of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for much information on the place of gadlātin the Ethiopian Church.

13. Wright, W., Catalogue of Ethiopia MSS, in the British Museum, (London, 1877), x–xiii.Google Scholar

14. Kur, S., Actes de Marha Krestos, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (hereafter CSCO), [Scriptores Aethiopici, LXII] (Louvain, 1972), v–vi.Google Scholar

15. Kur, S., Actes de Samuel de Dabra Wagag, CSCO [Scriptores Aethiopici, LVII] (Louvain, 1968), i–ii.Google Scholar

16. Delehaye, , Legends, 71–72.Google Scholar

17. Tamrat, Taddesse, “The Abbots of Dabra-Hayq, 1248–1535,” Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 8(1970), 89n13.Google Scholar

18. Gadla Qawestos, unpublished manuscript, private photocopy, 226.

19. Rossini, Conti, “Note di agiografia,” 441.Google Scholar

20. Introduction to Kur, S., Actes de Iyasus Mo'a, CSCO [Scriptores Aethiopici, L] (Louvain, 1965), iv–xv.Google Scholar

21. Delehaye, , Legends, 69.Google Scholar

22. Tamrat, , Church and State, 3.Google Scholar “Each of these sections [of a gadl], in part or as a whole, may be written at different periods of time…” Taddesse does not appear to have considered the full implications of this statement for the three-fold classification of texts suggested by Conti Rossini.

23. Iyasus Mo'a, xvi.

24. Gadla Qawestos; Tamrat, , Church and State, 303.Google Scholar

25. Budge, E.A.W., The Life and Miracles of Takla Haymanot, (London, 1906), 29 Google Scholar, Chapter 35 claims a role for Takla Haymanot in the restoration of the Solomonic dynasty, a tradition which dates to the late 17th or early 18th century. Cf. Huntingford, G.W.B., “The Lives of Saint Takla Haymanot,” Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 4(1966), 34–35.Google Scholar

26. Samuel of Dabra Wagag, xiii.

27. Delehaye, , Legends, 78.Google Scholar This is the case, for example, with the lives of Saint Takla Haymanot. The longer, more elaborate version from the saint's own monastery of Dabra Libanos is found in many manuscripts, while the shorter, simpler, Waldebba version exists in a single manuscript. Huntingford, , “Takla Haymanot,” 34.Google Scholar

28. Delehaye, , Legends, 91–99 Google Scholar; De Gaiffier, , “Hagiographie,” 153–63Google Scholar; Patlagéan, E., “A Byzance: ancienne hagiographie et histoire sociale,” Annales: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, 23(1968), 117 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rossini, Conti, “Note di agiografia,” 435.Google Scholar

29. Schneider, M., Actes de Za Yohannes de Kebran, CSCO [Scriptores Aethiopici, LXIII] (Louvain, 1972), 6 Google Scholar; Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 2; Marha Krestos, 4; Takla Haymanot, 6–7. (References throughout are to Ge'ez text.)

30. Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 2; Marha Krestos, 3–4; Iyasus Mo'a, 6–7; Za Yohannes, 1–2, 5; Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 6.Google Scholar

31. Za Yohannes, 2–5; Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 8ff.Google Scholar

32. Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 3; Za Yohannes, 2–5, Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 9, 15.Google Scholar

33. Six, V., Die Vita des Abuna Tadewos von Dabra Maryam im Tanasee, (Wiesbaden, 1975), 50–67 Google Scholar; Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 3–4.

34. Delehaye, , Legends, 69.Google Scholar While Delehaye's analysis is presumably based on evidence drawn from sources other than the Ethiopian Church, I have found his views confirmed by members of the Ethiopian Church, who have been rather scornful of some of the “stories” found in hagiographies.

35. De Gaiffier, , “Hagiographie,” 150.Google Scholar Many gadlāt are found in only two or three mss, thus easing the problems of a text-critical edition.

36. Marha Krestos; Budge, Takla Haymanot.

37. In preparing this paper, I have relied heavily on research conducted on Gadla Takla Haymanot. This text has been chosen both because of the saint's importance to the Ethiopian church and because of the abundant material on his life. In the main I have relied upon Budge's previously-cited edition of a Dabra Libanos text, Rossini, C. Conti, “Il Gadla Takla Haymanot secondo la redazione Waldebbana,” Memorie della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, ser. 5/2 (1896), 97–143 Google Scholar, and JE315E, an unpublished Dabra Libanos-type manuscript in the library of the Ethiopian Archbishopric of Jerusalem. See E. Isaac, “Shelflist of the Ethiopic Manuscripts in the Ethiopian Monasteries of Jerusalem,” Rassegna di Studi Etioipici (forthcoming). I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation to the members of the Ethiopian community for their assistance and kindness during the past two years.

38. JE315E, f. 6a; Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 10.Google Scholar

39. Rossini, Conti, Takla Haymanot, 103.Google Scholar

40. JE315E, f. 8a; Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 13.Google Scholar

41. For other examples of the “hidden relative” in hagiographic texts see Wensinck, A., Legends of Eastern Saints, II, (Leiden, 1913), xxvii.Google Scholar For more on this episode see below.

42. JE315E, f. 62a; Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 80.Google Scholar

43. Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 82.Google Scholar

44. Ibid.

45. Gadla Qawestos, 50.

46. Sellassie, Sergew Hable, Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270. (Addis Ababa, 1972), 284.Google Scholar

47. Gadla Qawestos, 226.

48. Tamrat, Taddesse, Church and State, 213–19Google Scholar; Isaac, E., A Hew Text Critical Introduction to Mashafa Berhan, (Leiden, 1973), 62–68.Google Scholar

49. This text is our only reference to either a pro-Sabbath position on the part of Heywat Bena Ba-Seyon or a Sabbath controversy in this period. The author's attribution of a pro-Sabbath position to Qawestos is similarly unattested, 45, 49.

50. Tamrat, Taddesse, “Hagiographies,” 16 Google Scholar; Cerulli, E., “Gli abbati di Dabra Libanos capi del monachismo etiopico, seconda la ‘lista rimata’ (sec. XIV-XVIII),” Orientalia, 11(1943), 234.Google Scholar

51. Marha Krestos, v-vi.

52. Iyasus Mo'a, v-xiv.

53. Ibid., 36-37.

54. JE315E, f. 53b; Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 72.Google Scholar In the Waldebba text ( Rossini, Conti, Takla Haymanot, 107 Google Scholar) no reason is given for the saint's action. It is interesting to note in light of our discussion in the first part of this paper that Gadla Iyasus Mo'a, which is the latest text, is the most reliable!

55. Iyasus Mo'a, viii.

56. Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 69, 72.Google Scholar

57. Ibid., 64-68; Tamrat, Church and State, 162n1.

58. Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 3-6. Takla Haymanot is also said to have predicted Samuel's birth, chosen his name, and been his “Father in the Holy Spirit.”

59. Tadewos, 79-80, 129, 286-91.

60. Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State, 169n1, but cf. Tadewos, 24, 95-99.

61. Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 29.Google Scholar See Huntingford, , “Takla Haymanot,” 34–35 Google Scholar; idem, “The Wealth of Kings and the End of the Zagwe Dynasty,” BSOAS, 28(1965), 1ff.

62. Tamrat, Taddesse, “A Short Note on the Traditions of Pagan Resistance to the Ethiopian Church (14th and 15th Centuries),” Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 10(1972), 141–45, esp. 144n31.Google Scholar

63. Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State, 242n1.

64. Tamrat, Taddesse, “Hagiographies,” 15.Google Scholar

65. Vansina, , Oral Tradition, 80.Google Scholar

66. Margoulias, H.J., “The Lives of the Saints as Sources of Data for the History of Byzantine Medicine in the VIth and VIIth Centuries,” Byzantinische Zeitschrift, (1964), 127–50Google Scholar; idem, “The Lives of Byzantine Saints as Sources for the History of Magic in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries: Sorcery, Relics, Icons,” Byzantion, 37(1967), 228-69; idem, “Trades and Crafts in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries as Viewed in the Lives of the Saints,” Byzantinoslavica, 37(1976), 11-35.

67. Baynes, Norman, “The Thought World of East Rome” in his Byzantine Studies and Other Essays (London, 1960), 24.Google Scholar

68. Ibid., 25; idem, “The Pratum Spirituale” in Byzantine Studies, 261–70. Other works which have been especially helpful in the preparation of this portion of the paper include, Patlagéan, “Hagiographie,” and Brown, P., “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity,” Journal of Roman Studies, 61(1971), 80–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

69. Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 8.Google Scholar

70. Ibid., 9; cf. 10ff.

71. Ibid., 10; cf. 11.

72. Ibid.

73. Ibid.

74. In JE315E this appellation does not appear, indicating it was added to Budge's text by a later scribe. The virtues exhibited by Egzi Haraya are comparable to those of her son, Takla Haymanot, who during a period of asceticism before his death, stood, fasted, and did not sleep. Ibid., 90.

75. Ibid., 13.

76. Ibid., 25.

77. Ibid., 25–26.

78. Patalgéan, , “Hagiographie,” 113–16Google Scholar, notes that Byzantine hagiographies are generally divided into two parts: a period of separation, fasting, chastity, sleeplessness; the return to society. In contrast, Takla Haymanot and Iyasus Mo'a go into ascetic retreat only at the end of their illustrious careers. If we accept Brown's interpretation, “Holy Man,” 91–92, that ascetism was “a long drawn-out solemn ritual of dissociation - of becoming the total stranger,” we may suggest that the Ethiopian holy men did not play the “outsider” role of their Byzantine counterparts.

79. Budge, Takla Haymanot: Heroes saved while falling, 9; cf. 46ff., saved from spears, 9; cf. 47-48; discard pagan garb (fetters) to stand night in prayer, 11; 48.

80. Ibid., 57.

81. Ibid., 58ff. Thus the structure appears as follows: Fesha Seyon's refusal-name change-missionary activity-name change-monastic career.

82. Haberland, Eike, Untersuchungen zum äthiopicohen Königtum, (Wiesbaden, 1965).Google Scholar

83. Tamrat, Taddesse, Church and State, 116–18.Google Scholar The opposition to these kings was not unanimous as can be seen from the records of Dabra Hayq, idem, “Dabra Hayq,” esp. 95–98.

84. Budge, , Takla Haymanot, 8.Google Scholar

85. Basset, René, Histoire de la conquête de l'Abyssinie (XVIe siècle), (Paris, 1897), 2:372.Google Scholar

86. Perruchon, J., Vie de Lalibala, roi d'Ethiopie, (Paris, 1892), 44.Google Scholar

87. Bezold, C., Kebra Nagast, (Munich, 1905).Google Scholar On the historicity of this episode see Shahid, I., “The Kebra Nagast in the Light of Recent Research,” Le Muséon, 89(1976), 166–71.Google Scholar

88. Rossini, Conti, “Note di agiografia,” 409–10.Google Scholar