¹ To distinguish between the territory of the present Republic of Rwanda and the area corresponding to the former kingdom of central Rwanda, we will call the latter the Nyiginiya kingdom after the clan name of its rulers. The spelling of Kinyarwanda adopted, except for our omission of tones, follows the usage in Coupez, A. and Kamanzi, Th., Récits historiques rwanda dans la version de Gakaniisha, Tervuren 1962:14 (general), 15 (vowel-length notation).Google Scholar

² The most significant reconstructions are Pagès, A., Un royaume hamite au centre de l'Afrique (Brussels, 1933)Google Scholar; Schumacher, P., Ruanda (Microbibliotheca Anthropos, 28a) (St. Augustin, 1958)Google Scholar; Kagame, A., Inganji Karinga (2 vols.: Kahgayi 1943–1947; 2d. ed., 1959)Google Scholar; Kagame, A., Un Abrégé de l'ethno-histoire du Rwanda (Butare, 1972)Google Scholar and Kagame, A., Un Abrégé de l'histoire du Rwanda de 1853 à 1972. Tome deuxième (Butare, 1975).Google Scholar Although Kagame, , Abrégé I:9–17Google Scholar, denies that ibiteekerezo form the foundation of his work, it is in fact mostly based on these sources, including the “mini tales” provided by esoteric commentaries on the rituals of kingship.

³ Vansina's, J. short essay Evolution du royaume du Rwanda des origines a 1900 (Brussels, 1962), 20–24Google Scholar, presented these sources only in a general way.

⁴ Vansina, J. ed. Ibitéekerezo: Historical Narratives from Rwanda (Chicago: CUL/CAMP (CRL), 1973) about 6000 pages.Google Scholar

⁵ Especially Coupez/Kamanzi, Récits; d'Hertefelt, M. and Coupez, A., La royauté sacrée de l'ancicn Rwanda: texte, traduction et commentaire de son rituel (Tervuren, 1964)Google Scholar, and Smith, P., Le récit populaire au Rwanda (Paris, 1975).Google Scholar Other contributions published before 1980/87 can be found in d'Hertefelt, M. and de Lame's, D. encyclopedic bibliography, Société, culture et histoirc du Rwanda (2 vols.: Tervuren 1987).Google Scholar

⁶ E.g., Vidaᴦ, C., Sociologie des passions (Paris, 1993), 56–59Google Scholar, Nyagahene, A., Histoire et peuplement: ethnies, clans, lignages dans le Rwanda ancien et contemporain (Paris, 1997), 34, 37–38.Google Scholar

⁷ Nkurikiyimfura, J-N., “La révision d'une chronologie: le ens du royaume du Rwanda” in Perrot, C.H. and Gonnin, G., Sources orales de l'histoire de l'Afrique (Paris, 1989), 175 #23.Google Scholar

⁸ A more intensive search for local traditions was carried out from 1959 onwards and at least some local history was recorded in all but two or three of the historical provinces of the country of Rwanda.

⁹ Nyagahene, , Histoire: 680Google Scholar, speaks of the “the trampling in place which Rwandan historiography exhibits today, especially with regard to the precolonial period,” but he did nor make use of these sources either, let alone apply the rules of evidence to them.

¹⁰ Kagame, A., “Le code ésotérique de la dynastic du Rwanda,” Zaire 1(1947): 364-65, 373Google Scholar; idem., Abrégé: 11.

¹¹ Smith, , Récit, 15-17, 69–109Google Scholar; Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Récits, 7–8Google Scholar

¹² Smith, , Récit, 15–16Google Scholar; Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Récits, 7.Google Scholar Tone is indicated in discussions of etymologies.

¹³ Smith, , Récit, 15–16Google Scholar; Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Récits, 7–8.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Pagès, , Royaume, 550–51.Google Scholar His observations began in 1908.

¹⁵ Kagame, A., La notion de génération appliquée à la généalogie dynastique et à l'histoire du Rwanda des Xe-XIe siècles à nos jours (Brussels, 1959), 32.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Recits, 7.Google Scholar Gakaniisha presented some twenty tales over ten hours of taping in 1952/54; in the IRSAC collection Mugina told about forty of them over 20 hours.

¹⁷ E.g. Pagès, , Royaume, 73-74, 550.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Recits, 7Google Scholar, for Gakaniisha's family links to the court as tanners, a typical background for many storytellers.

¹⁹ Smith, , Récit, 76.Google Scholar

²⁰ As an experiment, Gakaniisha performed a tale for us in 1958-59 which he had first told in 1952. There was no change in plot, sequence of episodes, actors, or scenery, and even the differences in language were quite minor.

²¹ E.g., the tale of Nyanguge T and H. References to talcs in the IRSAC collection are by the names of kings, which are used as file headings, or other file headings, followed by T(taped records) and H (recorded by hand), followed by # and the number of the item in the file. When any number follows that, it refers to the page of the document in its French translation.

²² Roth editions of Kagame's Inganji Karinga were especially accessible, as now is his Abrégé. A spectacular example is the citation by “the great ‘vassals’ of the court” in Temps Nouveaux (6 Augusr 1958). There twelve conservative politicians use Inganji Karinga as an authority against Hutu rights. Written versions or summaries in French date from as early as the late 1910s and were known to the elites. The best known of these was Pagès, Royaume hamite.

²³ Divers, T,# 35: 4-5.

²⁴ On incompetence see Smith, , Récit, 19.Google Scholar

²⁵ For the ubucuurabwenge only, Schumacher, , Ruanda: 122–44Google Scholar, gives various versions received from named specialists; Kagame, , Notion, 14–27Google Scholar; Nkurikiyimfura, “Révision,“ 149–80Google Scholar; and IRSAC “divers” T #10 by Jean Mugina.

²⁶ Smith, , Recit, 15Google Scholar

²⁷ E.g., the account of how Rundi diviners imposed the regnal name Mutara is a full-fledged tale Cf. Kagame, , Abrégé I:111–13.Google Scholar It clashes with all the ibiteekerezo, which ascribe this more logically to Mpande, the famous court diviner of the time.

²⁸ For a severe and detailed critique of Kagame's work, see Coupez, A., “Magie et idéologie face à l'histoire du Rwanda,” Cultures et Développement 6/1(1974), 135–47.Google Scholar

²⁹ And the importance for the history of Rwanda of Kagame's original papers, should they have survived. They should he deposited in an archive and made accessible to the public.

³⁰ E.g., Coupez/Kamanzi, Récits; Smith, Récit; and the summaries in Pagès, Royaume, and Kagame, Abrégé.

³¹ In this essny kings are referred to only by their own (“Tutsi”) name, except where the regnal name is of importance to the discussion. For the placement of each king in chronological order, see the conventional list of rulers in the appendix.

³² Gahima H 1.

³³ Probably the hill labeled Shori on the maps, almost due south of Butare.

³⁴ Yuhi Gahima, T#1;[JVO] 1.

³⁵ Kagame, , Abrégé I:108.Google Scholar In this context “Burundi” cannot designate the kingdom, only the area where that kingdom later arose.

³⁶ Kagame, , Abrégé I:137–38.Google Scholar

³⁷ For him, Nyagakeecuru lived on Nyakibanda hill southwest of Butare and he does not mention Mubumbaano, which may well be a different hill. Usually Nyagakeecuru is associated with Huuyi mountain, northwest of Butare. For her name in fiction (umugani) see the tale from Bugoyi recorded in Czekanowski, Jan, Forschungen im Nil-Kongo-Zwischengebiet: Ethnographie:Zwischenseengebiet Mpororo/Ruanda (Leipzig 1917), 351–53.Google Scholar

³⁸ Kagame, , Abrégé I: 85, 109, 110.Google Scholar

³⁹ Ibid., I: 94. No story about Ndoori's supporters was found during research for the IRSAC collection, although this was a three-year-long collective effort over the whole country of Rwanda.

⁴⁰ Mazimpaka, T: #4.

⁴¹ Ndoori H #20 mid #28. See also #40, which is very close to #28. as is #65 and #67 concluding, “and Rwanda became even bigger.” Pagès, , Royaume, 282–83Google Scholar, has the same story and assumes that its historicity consists in the conquest of the Huuye area.

⁴² Seemugeshi, T: #9.

⁴³ Kagame, Abrégé, I:110.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Mazimpaka, T#4 for Binaama against the Rundi. For the context see Kagame, , Abrégé I:111–13Google Scholar, occurs supposedly under Seemugeshi and mixes two types of information: one about an explanation for the placename utwicara-bami “seats of kings” near Nyaruteja (Butare prefecture) and one secret tradition about the origin of one ubwiiru ritual from Burundi in which the ritual specialist is settled at Rusatira, Butare prefecture. This place is also the later headquarters of Yuhi Mazimpaka (129) in his struggle with “Ntare” as told in ibiteekerezo. Obviously this is the context for this tale about Binaama. Despite its supposed secret transmission among ritualists only, the supposed Rundi origin of a whole ubwiiru ritual is not credible. Not only does it contradict other data, but ubwiiru did not exist at all in Burundi.

⁴⁵ Kagame, , Abrégé, I:38 (date) and map 3Google Scholar; Kagame, A. in Prioul, C., Serven, P., eds. Atlas du Rwanda (Kigali), 1981: xii/2.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Kagame, , Abrégé, I:109–10.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Mutabaazi, T: #3: 14-15

⁴⁸ Kagame, , Abrégé, I:83–87.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ This is particularly striking with regard to Nzaratsi in Nyantango, where Yuhi Gahima was supposed to have founded a major capital. Local history stresses that this capital was founded by Rwabugiri “in 1893.” Cf. Historique et chronologie du Rwanda (Kigali, n.d.[1956]), 113 (data from 1935-39).Google Scholar Until that time the local lineages of both pastoralists and farmers only obeyed their local chiefs.

⁵⁰ Kagame, , Abrégé, I:87.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Mutabaazi, T#3:14. The proof consisted in a buffalo tail in the court treasury at least until Musinga (1896-1931). Gahima had killed this buffalo at a spot near the Nyabarongo across from Budaha. Mugina concludes: “Therefore it has happened, we know it.” A critic might object that a buffalo was supposedly killed near the Nyabarongo by an earlier king, Mukobanya, during the campaign against Murinda—and why would this tail not commemorate that feat? Cf. Kagame, , Abrégé I:67.Google Scholar Kagame omits to say that this detail is part of the story of Murinda, for the buffalo was magically linked to Murinda so that only when it was killed could he also be killed.

⁵² Pagès, , Royaume, 575.Google Scholar

⁵³ Mazimpaka, T #10. Compare to T #9 and to Kagame, , Abrégé, I:130-31, 133–34Google Scholar, for the same sequence but different explanations, in which Rujugira was the rightful successor.

⁵⁴ See preceding footnote and Forges, A. Des, “Court and Corporations in the Development of the Rwandan State,” ms. n.d. (ca.1984?), 19.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Kagame, , Abrégé I:9–10et passimGoogle Scholar

⁵⁶ Pagès, , Royaume: 263–66.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Kagame, , Abrégé I:10, 127.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Pagès, , Royaume, 138Google Scholar, Mazimpaka H #4, #9; T, #8, #12. Mutabaazi. T #1

⁵⁹ Smith, P., “Personnages de légende” in La civilisation ancienne des peuples des grands lacs, (Paris, 1981), 246–47.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Pagès, , Royaume: 526–27.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Ibid., 561, 573. Schumacher, , Ruanda, 160Google Scholar hears a difference in tone and rejects the etymology of Pagès.

⁶² Mazimpaka, T #7.

⁶³ All versions of Nyanguge are filed under Rugwe and Mukobanya; Murari under Murahaazi, H #7 T 10, both by Seebuhoro. The child of Murari's wife was even called Kigeri, like Nyanguge's child. But Murari also occurs under Ndabarasa, H #22. The child was also called Kigeri (Ndabarasa), its father Cyirima (here Rujugira).

⁶⁴ Both filed under Mutabaazi.

⁶⁵ Smith, , Récit, 29, 76, 290–313 #17.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Seemugeshi T #7.

⁶⁷ In addition to files Ruganzu, see, e.g., Pagès, , Royaume: 246 (Rusatsi)Google Scholar; 278 (dressed in sheepskin is Cambarantama). For Vansina, Burundi J., La légende du passé:traditions orales du Burundi (Tervuren, 1972), 81–84.Google Scholar Ntare's personal name was Rushatsi. See also Chrétien, J-P., “Du hirsute au hamite. Les variations du cycle de Ntare Rushatsi, fondnteur du royanme du Burundi” HA 8(1981), 8–12.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Rwogera T #14 and H #7. Compare with T #2, more colorful but less precise.

⁶⁹ Kagame, , Abrégé 1:168–69Google Scholar; Rwogera T #3; 13: 4.

⁷⁰ Smith, , Récit, 19–20.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Rugwe T #4.

⁷² But see Ndabarasa H #8, about Nirabiyoro, where the first episode is taken from the Nyagakeecuru stories.

⁷³ Rugwe, H #1: #5; T 5, alludes to this vengeance.

⁷⁴ Kagame, , Abrégé I:91–92.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Ndabarasa, H #10: 2

⁷⁶ Ndabarasa, H #10: 2

⁷⁷ Mazimpaka, T #3: 4-5. Rwabugiri died at the age of forty or less; see Van Noten, F., Histoire archéologique du Rwanda (Tervuren, 1983), 102.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Schumacher, , Ruanda, 161.Google Scholar He wrote this text probably in the early 1930s. His sources were major specialists in history at court and he was a very careful scholar. Hence it is practically certain that the court had never heard of a “Cwa of Nyabungo” by then. Schumacher understood these “Nyoro” to be Hinda from Buhaya and not warriors from Bunyoro.

⁷⁹ Pagès, , Rayaume 558-61, 570–73Google Scholar; Kagame, , Abrégé 1:71–72.Google Scholar Files Mukobanya and Mutabaazi. Only H #3. and Mukobanya T #1:12 have “Rubiito, son of Mucweezi.” Feedback only Mutabaazi T#11 (Louis Ntuuro) “Cwa of Nyabungo” and, even more flagrantly, Mukobanya T#1 (Jean Mugina) “Cwa of Nyabwoogo.” Mugina and Ntuuro were among the most prolific storytellers in the IRSAC collection, but they also knew their Kagame very well!

⁸⁰ Kagame, , Abrégé, I:113–15.Google Scholar

⁸¹ at Gaseke. See Pagès, , Royaume, 121, 525–26.Google Scholar Another suspect parallel between the two includes their supposed longevity.

⁸² Over Burundi.

⁸³ This concerns a pact beween the kings of Rwanda and Burundi. Pagès, , Royaume, 132–33Google Scholar; Kagame, , Abrégé, I:111Google Scholar; Rujugira, T #1. In this file #2, but 2 attributes it to Mutara (Seemugeshi) but the Rundi king was Mutaaga, who fought Rujugira.

⁸⁴ For Nyamuheshera and Rwabugiri see DNewbury, “Trick Cyclists? Recontextualizing Rwandan Dynastic Chronology,”—HA 21(1994), 91–217Google Scholar; Ndabarasa and Rwabugiri H #31, where even the arrival of Europeans which occurred under Rwabugiri in 1894 is ascribed to Ndabarasa; Mukobanya and Ndabarasit in Pagès, , Royaume, 136, 143Google Scholar, where the war against Murinda is attributed to Ndabarasa, rather than Mukobanya as in most other versions. Pagès records that Murinda was already there at the time of Mazimpaka, which could be a confusion between that king and Rugwe.

⁸⁵ Pagès, , Royaume, 81–82Google Scholar, and Gisanura T #1. For confusion affecting Mutabaazi and Gisanura see Mutabaazi H #13: 3 (“his son was … Mazimpaka”).

⁸⁶ Gahima T#8, and Mazimpaka H #13 about Binaama; also Mazimpaka T #2 confusion with Gahima.

⁸⁷ See note 91.

⁸⁸ Pagès, , Royaume, 641.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ About Matama, always associated with Mutabaazi, but see Gahindiro H #24.

⁹⁰ Over Murinda “The Goyi,” usually linked to Mukobanya, but see Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Récits, 233 with Ndoori.Google Scholar Also see note 83.

⁹¹ In their polemic in Temps Nouveaux of 8 June 1958, the great “Abaragu” say: “History states that Ruganzu [Ndoori] killed many Bahinza (kinglets). He and our other kings have killed the Bahinza and thus acquired the lands of the Bahutu rule by the Bahinza.” Note the focus on Ndoori, rather than Rwabugiri.

⁹² Attributed on the basis of a proverb to Gisanura by Kagame, , Abrégé I:123Google Scholar, but very probably to be attributed to Maztmpakii, as in Pagès, , Royaume, 136Google Scholar, because his name means “to finish the litigation” (impaká). Further confusion on the same topic occurs between YUHI Gahindiro, YUHI Mazimpaka and Gisanura. Pagès, , Royaume, 148Google Scholar; Kagame, , Abrégé I:123Google Scholar; and Gahindiro, T #6.

⁹³ Pagès, , Royaume, 81, 122, 561–76.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ Kagame, , Abrégé I:83, 84 (Gahima)Google Scholar; Pagès, , Royaume, 578 (Mutabaazi).Google Scholar

⁹⁵ Pagès, , Royaume, 133Google Scholar, and Kagame, , Abrégé I:111Google Scholar, favor Seemugeshi. But see Rujugira T #1. As CYRIMA is equivalent to MUTARA, this case can be perceived once again as a shift between kings with the same dynastic name. In addition Czekanowski, , Ethnographie, 290Google Scholar, mentions that Rwabugiri and the king of Burundi “made a pact of friendship,” which may or may not refer to a bloodpact. Rundi sources do not mention this, however, so that in this case might Rwabugiri he mistaken for Rujugira?

⁹⁶ Gahindiro T #2.

⁹⁷ Mazimpaka T #8. Delmas, L., Généalogies Ae la noblesse(les Batutsi) du Rwanda (Kabgayi, n.d. [1950s]), 48.Google Scholar The genealogy comprised only six generations after the founder to ca.1950 and Mazimpaka lived eight generations ago, while Gahima supposedly ruled six generations before that.

⁹⁸ Only Pagès, , Royaume, 121, 125.Google Scholar ascribed this tomb to Rugwe. For the corpse see Van Noten, , Histoire archéologique, 38–43Google Scholar (¹⁴C dating is 1700 +/-90 and not very reliable).

⁹⁹ Schumacher, , Ruanda, 111–12.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Pagès, , Royaume, 95–96Google Scholar, taken from the official keepers: r 73-74 (before 1928); Delmas, , Généalogies, 23–25Google Scholar, recorded in 1921 from Sharangabo, brother of Musinga and identical with Kagame's. Schumacher, , Ruanda, 122–34Google Scholar (three lists recorded in 1928 and 1933). Kagame, , Notion, 15Google Scholar, had his list from Rwanyange, whom he says was the single official keeper still alive. For variability in this list see Czekanowski, , Ethnographie, 288Google Scholar; Pagès, , Royaume, 530Google Scholar, Kagame, , Notion, 14.Google Scholar Early attempts to obtain a list from Musinga failed because of the secrecy surrounding it. Schumacher, , Ruanda, 122Google Scholar (he got six names ca. 1910); Czekanowski, , Ethnographie, 286 did not get any information in 1907.Google Scholar

¹⁰¹ See, e.g., the set of tales told by Gakaniisha to Coupez/Kamanzi, Récits or the set by Mugina in the IRSAC collection and in the dissertation of Nkurikiyimfura.

¹⁰² Coupez/Kamanzi, Récits, full texts; Pagés, Royaume, summaries; Kagame Abrégé, only paraphrases ibiteekerezo, often in an incomplete fashion.

¹⁰¹ For a representative collection of tales about this king see Pagès, , Royaume, 228–335.Google Scholar He is so famous in Burundi that in one story he becomes a king of Burundi, as in Chrétien: “Du hirsute,” 10. His name seems to stand for any aggressive Rwandan king who was in parts of Kivu, so that one should not attach any chronological significance to such a mention, contra Newbury, “Trick Cyclists?”

¹⁰⁴ Delmas, , Généalogies, 66.Google ScholarKagame, , “Code ésotérique,” 386.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ Pagès, , Royaume, 140-41, 535.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ Kagame, , Abrégé, I:134.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁷ Czekanowski, , Ethnographie, 290.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ Pagès, , Royaume, 365Google Scholar, with Kibogo and Mutwa both found in the Ndoori cycle as well.

¹⁰⁹ Delmas, , Généalogies, 183Google Scholar and 20 [mana tree in general, for ancestor) and 154 (date).

¹¹⁰ Smith, , Récit, 75–76.Google Scholar

¹¹¹ Smith, , Récit, 15, 79–109.Google Scholar

¹¹² The latest in d'Hertefelt, M. and Chretien, J-P., “Mythes et stratégies amour des origines du Rwanda” in Chrétien, J.P. and Triaud, J-L., eds., Histoire d'Afrique: Les Enjeux de la mémoire (Paris, 1999), 281–320.Google Scholar Already by 1958 in an article in Temps Nouveaux (8 June 1958), basing the Tutsi right to rule an the Ibimanuka story. Also d'Hertefelt, M., “Mythes et idéologies dans le Rwanda ancien et contemporain” in Mauny, R. and Vansina, J., eds., The Historian in Tropical Africa (London 1964), 219–18.Google Scholar

¹¹³ Mutabaazi T #1-5, 7, 9 and H #6-8, 10, 12, 14, 23-24, Gahindiro, H #24, for most versions; Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Récits, 173–87.Google Scholar

¹¹⁴ Kagame, , Abrégé, I:81, 85Google Scholar (and IRSAC collections). The place where Nyanguge gave birth is also known.

¹¹⁵ Mashira, H #4, 9; Mutabaazi, T #12; Gahindiro, T #10, 18 and H #5 (filed with the king of the same name); Smith, , Récit, 290–313.Google Scholar

¹¹⁶ Note that in Burundi the Abashíra, descendants of Mashíra, are “a good Hutu family.” Rodegem, F. M., Dictionnaire rundi-français (Tervuren, 1970), 426.Google Scholar

¹¹⁷ For example, Nzaratsi, in Pagès, , Royaume, 578Google Scholar, merely means “charms.” Nzaratsi capital is just “the capital of charms” in the magic struggle between Mutabaazi and Mashira.

¹¹⁸ This can be detected by obvious discrepancies in the numbers of ancestors cited or gaps in the lists of officeholders remembered. Nearly all non-royal genealogies and lists of regimental officeholders which go back beyond Mazimpaka have been lengthened in this sense.

¹¹⁹ She was supposed to be a member of the Ha clan and hence the tale has her horn in Buha, but perhaps it is the reverse, as she was supposed to be from Buha (a legendary place for faraway brides) she was therefore placed in the Ha clan!

¹²⁰ Delmas, , Généalogies, 40n1.Google Scholar

¹²¹ See many items in Sentabyo, Gahindiro, and Rwogera files; Coupez, /Kamanzi, , Récits, 311–17Google Scholar; Kagame, , Abrégé I:182-84, 194–96.Google Scholar

¹²² As in de Heusch, Luc, Rois nés d'un coeur de vache (Paris, 1982).Google Scholar

¹²³ The earliest tales deal with an area less than 5% of that of the Rwandan Republic. But by 1700 the population in the Nyiginya kingdom may well have been one-third or so of the population then living in what is now the territory of Rwanda.