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Tēwodros as Reformer and Modernizer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Donald Crummey
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Extract

This paper discusses the place of the Emperor Tewodros (1855–1868) in Ethiopian history and suggests that due to his policy of modernization, and to his ambition to transform Ethiopian society along modern lines, he is to be seen as the opener of the modern era. It is suggested, as well, that this concept of modernization and transformation may be applicable to other pre-colonial African rulers. Special reference is made to missionary sources. Catholic material from the Lazarist Mission is used to clarify and elaborate the reforming intentions of the early years of the reign; while, for the later years, they reveal modern dimensions to Tēwodros's foreign policy. Protestant material from the Chrischona Mission throws new light on the Emperor's personality, and elaborates his attempts at introducing foreign influence with a modernizing intention. It is also shown how the Protestant missionaries established a close relationship with the Emperor, which partially rested upon certain shared religious values. This led the missionaries to interpret his reforming ambitions primarily in terms of the Reformation princes of Europe. Finally, it is suggested that the Protestant missionary material has an important contribution to make in determining a major turning point in Tēwodros's career; a point from which his career began to decline, and the reforming intentions were increasingly neglected.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , July 1969 , pp. 457 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

1 Rossini, C. Conti, ‘La fine di re Teodoro in un documento Abissino’, Nuova Antologia, no. 381 (1935), 453–4;Google ScholarPankhurst, R., ‘Misoneism and innovation in Ethiopian history’, Ethiopia Observer, vii (1964), 294;Google Scholar S. Rubenson, King of Kings (Addis Ababa, 1966), 90; Tubiana, J., ‘Turning points in Ethiopian history’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, xxi (1965), 162–6.Google Scholar I am deeply indebted to my colleague Dr Richard Caulk for his comments and suggestions.

2 Ranger, T., Emerging Themes of African History. Proceedings of the International Congress of African Historians (Nairobi, 1968), Introduction.Google Scholar

3 Moreno, M., ‘La cronaca di re Teodoro attribuita al dabtarā “Zanab”’, Rassegna, 11 (1942);Google Scholar C. Mondon-Vidailhet, Chronique de Théodoros II roi des rois d'Ethiopie (1853–68) (Paris, n.d.) [Walda Māryām]; for Plowden see F.O. 401/1, Correspondence Respecting Abyssinia, 1848–1868;C. Conti Rossini, ‘Nuovi documenti per la storia d'Abissinia nel secolo XIX’, Rendiconti della Real Accadermia dei Lincei, S. VIII, 11 (1947), 408 ff.

4 Annales de la Congrégation de la Mission, xx (1855), 479; de Jacobis to Sturchi, 2 Jan. 1854.

5 Ibid. 524; de Jacobis to Etienne, Gondar, July (1854).

6 Walda Māryām, 11–13; Sellāsē, Gabra, Chronique du règne de Ménélik II Roi des Rois d'Ethiopie (Paris, 1930), 80;Google Scholar Zanab, 150.

7 Annales, xx (1855), 526.

8 Abir, M., ‘The origins of the Ethiopian-Egyptian border problem in the nineteenth century’, J. Afr. Hist, viii (1967), 443–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 Lettres Manuscrites de Monseigneur de Jacobis, 11, no. 357; Abennat Semien, 7 [sic] Feb. 1855. The dating of the letter is probably a mistake for 17 February since the events described took place on 9 and 11 February. Moreover, there is a letter in the Archives of the Propaganda Fide from de Jacobis in Semēn dated 17 Feb. 1855 (Scritture Riferite nei Congressi. Africa Centrale…, v, 917r). For a discussion of the other sources, with references, see Rubenson, King of Kings, chap. iv. The Lettres Manuscrites are to be found in the Lazarist House, Paris.

10 Revue d'Histoire des Missions, xvi (1939), 600; Delaye, Massaouah, 23 Feb. 1855. Cf. Annales, xx (1855), 578–9; Biancheri to Sturchi, Massaouah, 16 June 1855.

11 Coulbeaux, J.-B., Un Martyr Abyssin. Ghebra-Michael de la Congrégation de la Mission (Lazariste) (Paris, 1902);Google ScholarLettres de J, 11, no. 360; Abyssinie, 13 Sept. 1855.

12 Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Correspondence Politique. Egypte: Massaouah, iii, 535; Bell to Gilbert, Tanta, 13 June 1860.

13 Ibid, iii r ; Tēwodros to Gilbert, n.d. (translated at Massawa, 2 May 1861).

14 C. Conti Rossini, ‘Vicende dell'Etiopia e delle missioni cattoliche ai tempi di Ras Ali, Deggiac Ubie e Re Teodoro, secondo un documento abissino’, Rendiconti, S. V. xxv (1916), 532; Annales, xxx (1865), 61; Delmonte, 15 Nov. 1862.

15 For a discussion of the letters of 1862, and their consequences, see Rubenson, King of Kings, 84 ff.

16 Etiopia e Genti di Etiopia(Firenze, 1937), 85.

17 These materials, letters written from Ethiopia in the years 1855–62, are to be found in the C. F. Spittler Privatarchiv 653 in the Staatsarchiv of Basel, Switzerland. Although the Chrischona missionaries remained in Ethiopia till 1868, no correspondence with their society is known to exist after 1862, apart from material contained in the British Foreign Office records.

18 Samuel Gobat, Bishop of Jerusalem, His Life and Work… (London, 1884), 306–7Google Scholar: Church Missionary Intelligencer, vii (1860): and S. B.-S., C. F. Spittler 653; D2/1, ‘Neue Abyssinische Mission, Untersuchungsreise im Jahr 1855 durch Miss. Dr. Krapf und Bruder Flad von der Chrischona, Beschrieben durch Letzteren’; D3/2, Flad to Krapf, Gondar, 26 Oct. 1857.

19 Intelligencer, VII (1856), 89–90. Cf. Church Missionary Society Archives, CA5/016, 114a; Krapf to Gobat, Cairo, 1 Aug. 1835. The account of Krapf's trip, originally published in the Intelligencer, was subsequently published in his Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours during an Eighteen Years' Residence in Eastern Africa…(London, 1860). I know of no differences between the two editions.

20 CMS, CA5/016, loc cit.

21 Ibid.

22 King of Kings, 67.

23 Ibid, 48 ff.

24 J. Flad, Notes from the Journal of F.[sic] M. Flad, one of Bishop Gobat's Pilgrim Missionaries in Abyssinia. Edited, with a Brief Sketch of the Abyssinian Church, by the Rev. W. Douglas Veitch…(London, 1860)

25 Ibid, 47.

26 Rubenson, King of Kings, 70: F.O. 401/1, no. 504; Plowden to Clarendon, Dabra Tabor, 15 Jan. 1857: Zanab, op cit. 167–8.

27 Flad, Notes, 49–50.

28 Ibid, 50–1. Note the echo of Zanab's phrase ‘the slave of Christ’, op cit. 153.

29 Kienzlen to Gobat, Gondar, 4 May 1859; in Flad, Notes, 83.

30 Ibid. Cf. S.B.-S., C. F. Spittler 653; D3/5, Kienzlen to Spittler, Magdala, 30 Sept. 1858; D3/9, Saalmüller to Schneller, Magdala, 12 Sept. 1859, p. 21; D3/2, Bender to Gobat, Windstrasse, 3 Sept. i860; and Th. von Heuglin, Reise nach Abessinien, den Galla- Ländern, Ost-Sudan und Chartum in den Jahren 1861 and 1862 (Jena, 1868), 311. Note that the making of roads precedes the manufacture of cannons.

31 Von Heuglin, loc. cit; and Gabra Sellāsē, Chronique, 137, n. 3.

32 Th. Waldmeier, Erlebnisse in Abessinien in den Jahren 1858–1868… (Basel, 1869), 11–12: S.B.-S., C. F. Spittler 653; D3/12, Waldmeier to Schlienz, Gaffat, 14 May 1862; D3/9, Saalmüller to Spittler, Magdala, 12 Sept. 1859, pp. 26, 29.

33 S.B.-S., C. F. Spittler 653, D3/5; Mayer to various, Begemder, 29 Sept. 1858.

34 Ibid. D2/3; Kienzlen to Parents, Magdala, 10 Oct. 1859, P. 24.

35 Ibid. D3/12;. Waldmeier to Committee, Magdala, 10 Nov. 1859.

36 Ibid. D3/5; Kienzlen to Spittler, Magdala, 30 Sept. 1858. Cf. inter alia, Flad, op cit. 82 ff; Kienzlen to Gobat, Gondar, 4 May 1859: S.B.-S., C. F. Spittler 653; D3/2, Flad to Krapf, Magdala, 3 Oct. 1859; D3/9, Saalmüller to Schneller, Gaffat, 13 Jan. 1861.

37 S.B.-S., C. F. Spittler 653; D3/2, Flad to Spittler, Makdela, 7 Oct. 1859; D2/3, Kienzlen to Parents, Magdala, 10 Oct. 1859; D3/9, Saalmüller to Schneller, Magdala, 12 Oct. 1859.

38 Ibid. D3/1, Bender to Gobat, Dschadschaho, 20 Nov. 1861; D3/11, Schimper to Gobat, Adoa, 6 Feb. 1862; D3/12, Waldmeier to Chrischona Committee, Gaffat, 24 Nov. 1862: Magazin für neueste Geschichte der Evangelischen Missionen und Bibelgesellschaften, NF, viii (Basel, 1864), 509–10; Flad, Dschenda, 4 Dec. 1861.

39 Op. cit, 89.

40 S.B.-S., C. F. Spittler 653, D3/9; Saalmüller to Schneller, Gaffat, 13 Jan. 1861.

41 Ibid. 8.

42 Ibid. 6.

43 Ibid. 9.

44 Ibid. 10.

45 Ibid. D3/12: Waldmeier to Schlienz, Gaffat, 6 June 1861; and Waldmeier to Chrischona Committee, Gaffat, 24 Nov. 1862.