Aksum was a city in the Kingdom of Aksum, which controlled the northern highlands of the Horn of ... more Aksum was a city in the Kingdom of Aksum, which controlled the northern highlands of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea between the 1st and 7th centuries CE. The ruins of this past splendour, as well as the site’s groundwater resources, have ensured that human settlement has continued almost uninterrupted to the present day. Most often associated with its political and religious symbols, such as the Ark of the Covenant or the ceremony of the coronation of the Christian kings, Aksum is also home to a specific culture that can be described as urban for the following reasons: an exclusive right to land ownership has been passed down through the generations, in connection with a hereditary and ancestral legitimacy. Now called qwelz, a rare term that originally referred to the maintenance of the walls and paved floors of the Church of Maryam Seyon in Aksum, this land right is the symbol of an elite, urban culture. Our in situ investigation allows us to shed specific light on the subject to contribute to an urban history of ancient Ethiopia that is still in search of sources.
Between the eleventh and mid-twentieth centuries, the Christian royal power in Ethiopia produced ... more Between the eleventh and mid-twentieth centuries, the Christian royal power in Ethiopia produced documents recording land donations and transfers of privileges granted to religious institutions and important men of the kingdom. Although it was the only producer of written deeds, the royal authority showed little concern for the fate of these documents: it did not conserve them or endow them with any external mark of validation, and accepted modifications relatively easily. This paradox can be resolved through an in-depth study of the practices surrounding the production and preservation of this documentation. The royal power set up ad hoc committees that traveled to the provinces in order to have the acts promulgated there, or issued them from the royal camp and sent them to the institutions concerned. Both writing processes and archiving were delegated to religious institutions, whether they were direct beneficiaries of the acts or functioned as regional administrative centers. The chronological scansions of these phenomena remain difficult to trace. Nevertheless, a radical change took place from the 1720s onwards, as private individuals claimed the right to have transfers that concerned them written in the vernacular language. The stability of Gondarian society and the professionalization of scribes linked to the churches allowed them to become the notaries of their communities and to serve the interests of the lower nobility. Ethiopian bureaucracy thus escaped the monopoly of sovereign power to serve the community of landowners.
in: Samantha Kelly (dir.). A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, Brill, 2020
The medieval Ethiopian economy is another challenging subject to treat, for different reasons. Et... more The medieval Ethiopian economy is another challenging subject to treat, for different reasons. Ethiopian economic history is not a new subject: Richard Pankhurst pioneered such work in the 1950s, with a focus on modern Ethiopia, and Donald Crummey did groundbreaking work, for the early modern period, in the 1980s and 1990s. But economic research specifically on the medieval period has developed very little. This chapter is therefore a first, albeit in what would seem to be a “traditional” field. Drawing methodologically and for relevant data on studies dealing with earlier and later periods, highlighting the economic aspects of scholarship on the medieval period, and mining primary sources where studies lack, it provides a synthetic picture of agriculture and animal husbandry as well as trade that encompasses, to the extent possible, Christian, Muslim, and local-religious societies in the variety of their ecological settings.
The paper illustrates the choices made by the Ethiopian Manuscript Archives collaborative project... more The paper illustrates the choices made by the Ethiopian Manuscript Archives collaborative project when defining the TEI-XML schema and architecture for the encoding of charters and similar documentary texts transmitted within Ethiopian manuscripts.
Oral Traditions in Ethiopian Studies, 7 (dir. Dirk Bustorf; Sophia Dege-Müller; Alexander Meckelburg), 2018
At the end of the 17th century, the history of Gonǧ monastery, in Goǧǧam, was complex and traumat... more At the end of the 17th century, the history of Gonǧ monastery, in Goǧǧam, was complex and traumatic because its abbot, Ṭäbdän Dǝngǝl, head of the qǝbat movement during Yoḥannǝs’ reign (1667-82), entered in rebellion against King Iyasu (1682-1706), who favored the Däbrä Libanos monastic network and declared qǝbat a heresy. The civil war lasted until Ṭäbdän and his followers were excommunicated and banished, in 1687. Nonetheless, a few decades later, Gonǧ was richly endowed by the royal power and its violent and rebellious past seemed forgotten. How did a rebellious institution come back to the foreground of the political and religious scene a few decades later? What had to be altered or forgotten in this violent history? How did written documents, oral history and iconographic sources, not to forget rites and the landscape, enter into this re-imagining of the past? The memory has been lost of Ṭäbdän Dǝngǝl, the abbot of Gonǧ who sowed dissension within the qǝbat movement, opposed his own monks and led an up-rising against the king. New narratives, such as a dying bishop travelling miraculously to Gonǧ and the ‘late’ invention of a neutral founding father, help in attracting the faithful and pilgrims, and recalling the institution’s long history and close relations with major political and religious authorities. In this case study, oral history forges stories and portrays characters in ways that obstruct the exposal of the ‘historical truth’.
IN KAISERLICHEM AUFTRAG. Die Deutsche Aksum-Expedition 1906 unter Enno Littmann, Ethnographische, kirchenhistorische und archäologisch-historische Untersuchungen (3), 2017
The photographs of the DAE taken in 1906 show two complementary aspects of the written history of... more The photographs of the DAE taken in 1906 show two complementary aspects of the written history of Aksum. First, the Golden Gospels of Aksum is a cartulary of the royal charters promulgated in favour of the northern religious institutions, via Aksum. Aksum has been, at least until Fasiladas, a privileged political center who acted as an intermediary between northern institutions and the royal court. Second, the compilation known as the Bokk of Aksum is made of heterogeneous texts. Nonetheless, this sequence of documents is the result of choices and shall be understood as a single – or at least a cumulative – historiographical project. Some sequences can be deciphered, leading to an understanding of the narrative intent that links those documents. The first movement focuses on the consecration and anointment of the kings in Aksum, which finds its legitimacy in the narrative of the KebräNagast, when King Solomon anoints his son Ebn El-Hakim in Jerusalem and transfers to him the kingship over Israel. A second sequence deals with land tenure as attributed to the church of Aksum Ṣeyon by royal donations. The legendary anchor of the first and main gult, instituting Abreha and Asbehä as the first royal grantors of the land tenure of the church, shows that it has been a necessity to link the obvious remnants of the past and thus to ensure the preeminence of Aksum upon any other place in Ethiopia. A third movement returns to history and is clearly attributed to King Sarsä Dengel. It is composed of lists of kings - Christian as well as Muslims - and patriarchs, and inserts the history of Aksum in a broader framework. The opening of Ethiopian historiography to „Universal Histories“ -translated from Arabic- as well as the confrontation of the Ethiopian Christian kingdoms to the Ottoman and the European worlds during the 16th century mark the opening up of Ethiopian historiography to the wider world and might have contributed to this new way of writing and formalising history. A fourth movement mentions the flight of the Ark of the Covenant from Aksum during the Roman catholic reign of Susenyos (ca. 1615), the rebuilding of the church during Fasiladas' reign (1655) and the renewal of laws, rules, charges and gult donations by King Iyasu (1687) before his failed attempt to be anointed in Aksum. Ending the compilation, a version of the Short Chronicles has been added. It goes until the 4th year of Fasiladas reign and the building of Gondar, as if the birth of the new capital of the monarchy was the end of the Aksumite history. Eventually, Aksum is the main character of this compilation. The historiographical project behind it is to place Aksum at the centre of a „national history”.
http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2037
In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of G... more http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2037 In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of Gondar, the scriptorium of King Iyo’ās (1755-1769) imported sheets of paper to make a lectionary (senkesar) in three volumes. Today, one volume remains in Addis Ababa at the Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, Department of Manuscripts, under the serial number 197. It is the only known Ethiopian Christian manuscript on paper. In Ethiopia, Christians copied their manuscripts exclusively on parchment. This innovative and ambitious project met the most sophisticated Ethiopian standards while adapting the codicological norms to the requirements of this new medium. Craftsmen who knew how to work on paper, foreigners or Ethiopians trained by foreigners, made this volume. The status of this manuscript was high enough to be part of the imperial library at the turn of the twentieth century and then included in the national heritage collection.
http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2021
The Orthodox Christian Church of Ethiopia was ... more http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2021 The Orthodox Christian Church of Ethiopia was statutorily a Coptic bishopric. From the fourth century until the middle of the twentieth century, its metropolitan bishops were appointed by the Patriarchal See of Alexandria. Three Copto-Arabic documents, issued between 1375 and 1424 by Egyptian bishops in Ethiopia, provide a better understanding of the power relation issues between the Coptic episcopate, the Ethiopian political power, and the powerful monastic networks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Did abuna Salāmā, the “Translator”, plot with the monks of Ḥayq Esṭifānos to place Dāwit on the throne? What accounts for his successor, abuna Bartalomēwos, first a faithful ally to the throne, ending up placed under close surveillance and then dismissed and imprisoned? Did an Egyptian bishop, whose seat was in the Nile delta, “take his place” after seeking asylum in Ethiopia? In the wake of the shift in the power relations woven between Alexandria and Ethiopia, how come two Egyptian metropolitans endorsed all religious decisions, even the least orthodox ones, taken by King Zar’ā Yā‘eqob? Analysing these documents enables one to raise, and sometimes answer, these questions. It is also an opportunity to take a new look at administrative scriptural practices.
Studies in Ethiopian Languages, Literature, and History. Festschrift for Getatchew Haile (ed. A. macCollum), 2017
The dramatic history since the early 17th century of the church of Gonǧ Tewodros Däbrä Ṭǝbab in t... more The dramatic history since the early 17th century of the church of Gonǧ Tewodros Däbrä Ṭǝbab in the province of Goǧǧam was linked to its prominent rank and to its close relations, and frequent conflicts with, royal power. Its clergy might have turned to Catholicism in the 1620s, when the Ethiopian king Susnəyos (1607-32) conducted a policy, with the help of Jesuit missionaries, for converting the Ethiopian Church and society to Roman Catholicism. Besides this Catholic episode, Gonǧ headed a theological movement, unctionism or qəbät, till the first half of the 18th century, when it lost its leadership. Unfortunately for the church, this theological faction was proclaimed heretical in 1878. Thereafter, its brilliant past had to be concealed. This article focuses on the first known abbot of Gonǧ, Ləbsä Krəstos, who was sentenced to death in 1636 and has been incarnated in a giant sycamore, one of the biggest trees in the area. It examines a case presented as successive exhibits from nine sources. Each of them provides clues about Ləbsä Krəstos. Sources on the life of such a controversial figure come from factions that have taken sides. Can different sources about a single person be pieced together in order to write his biography? Or do they stem from such mismatched contexts that they cannot be put together like pieces of a single puzzle but, instead, have to be handled like disjointed pieces of evidence about the person in question? The life and career of Ləbsä Krəstos provides an opportunity for seeing how religious identities emerged at the very beginning of the Gondarine period and how different parties competed. By following these exhibits about the life of a single man and listening to the different voices that talk about him, will we come to hear about this man or will we learn more about the ones who are talking?
Musical instruments were used in the Christian realm of Ethiopia during the early modern period f... more Musical instruments were used in the Christian realm of Ethiopia during the early modern period for proclamations, major religious celebrations, court ceremonies, and the movement of the king and his troops inside and outside of royal cities, as well as for signaling the start of battles. Only the powerful had the prerogative of having certain instruments played. The nägarit (kettledrums) were also insignia of power. Owning or displaying them was an expression of power as much as having them played. The nǝsǝr qana were double-reed instruments associated with the king. Originally insignia of Oromo military might, the mäläkäts, long trumpets, were gradually adopted in the Christian realm as the Oromo came to share in exercising power. On the basis of evidence drawn from a study of images, horns, though still present on the battlefield, seem to have lost prestige to the benefit of trumpets.
Les souverains chrétiens éthiopiens possédaient comme fonction régalienne le droit d’attribuer un... more Les souverains chrétiens éthiopiens possédaient comme fonction régalienne le droit d’attribuer un droit foncier, connu sous le nom de gult, aux institutions religieuses et aux personnes privées. Les domaines attribués en statut gult étaient généralement de large étendue et en théorie inaliénables, et leur subdivision en parcelles soumises à des régimes d’exploitation et fiscaux variés dépendait de l’histoire de chaque institution. À travers l’analyse de deux versions d’un même acte royal (émis par le roi Iyasu I, 1682-1706) en faveur d’une église (Aksum Maryam Ṣeyon), l’un émis par le scriptorium royal, le second émis par les bénéficiaires, il est possible de saisir les enjeux de chacun de ces deux niveaux interdépendants du droit foncier. Affirmer ou confirmer un domaine gult et préciser les droits au niveau du parcellaire sont bien deux actions juridiques qui se recouvrent et se complètent.
Literacy and writing practices have been both a subject of research and a starting point for anal... more Literacy and writing practices have been both a subject of research and a starting point for analyses of societies and their history. The state of research and reflection in this field is rich and diverse, especially for historiography in the West. But what about studies of the practices and uses of writing on the African continent during ancient and modern times, apart from the colonial period? Since new studies in historiography can now be used to reconsider the tools and topics of history, how do classical methods from medieval history and its so-called “auxiliary sciences”, as well as methods from anthropology, sociology or linguistics, change (if they do so) our way of looking at how writing has been used in Africa?
L’« écrit » constitue un objet de recherche autant qu’un point d’entrée pour l’analyse des sociét... more L’« écrit » constitue un objet de recherche autant qu’un point d’entrée pour l’analyse des sociétés et de leurs dynamiques historiques. L’état des recherches et des réflexions est particulièrement riche et foisonnant, notamment en ce qui concerne les historiographies occidentales. Qu’en est-il plus particulièrement des travaux sur les pratiques d’écriture et leurs usages sur le continent africain pour les périodes anciennes et modernes (hors du champ des productions écrites coloniales) ? À un moment où les renouveaux historiographiques ont largement permis de repenser les objets de l’histoire, comment des méthodes classiques et venues d’horizons disciplinaires divers (histoire médiévale et sciences dites auxiliaires, anthropologie et sociologie, linguistique) ont-elles – ou n’ont-elles pas – modifié le regard porté sur les usages de l’écrit en Afrique ?
Anaïs Wion, 500 Years of Royal Control over Aksum Agricultural Commodities
During the medieval an... more Anaïs Wion, 500 Years of Royal Control over Aksum Agricultural Commodities During the medieval and early modern period in Ethiopia, land charters -materials produced by officials to administer agricultural land- have little to say about the practical issues of resource management. These highly codified and legalistic texts focus on regulating access to land rights. The present paper analyzes a document which is unconventional in being much more pragmatic and this partly counterbalances the silence of the sources regarding the natural and agricultural environment. It is a tax-list giving a long prescriptive list of taxes (in cereals and beans, honey, cotton cloth and edible oil) due from the agricultural plains surrounding Aksum, the holy city in northern Ethiopia. Aksum has been a center of power, political and symbolic as well as economic, which explains the raison d’être for this atypical document. The tax-list was copied for several centuries, and this stability as well as the differences among the few known copies testify both to the longevity of administrative and political control over this region and to an adaptability and flexibility notably as regards the measurement of taxable products. The present analysis of a royal prescription of taxes will also help to clarify how complex political structures have shaped territories and agricultural practices over a very long term (fifteenth to twentieth centuries).
https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1316
This second article in a series devoted to the hi... more https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1316 This second article in a series devoted to the history of the philosophical treatises attributed to Zar’a Yā‘eqob and his disciple Walda Ḥeywat explores the phase of “demystification”. How did doubts arise about the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob as soon as 1916; and how did its authorship come to be attributed to Juste d’Urbin in 1920? The article, by the great philologist and historian C. Conti Rossini, that turned this “rare pearl in Ethiopian literature” into a literary hoax is a compendious collection of pieces of evidence rather than an irrefutable proof. Another philologist, E. Mittwoch, tried a few years later to prove that Juste d’Urbin was the author; but his linguistic and philological analysis was biased due to an indirect source it used. The academic community accepted, nonetheless, these two scholars’ authoritative arguments. The current article follows up on this scholarship in an effort to corroborate and enrich it, and to show its weak points. It provides a new interpretation based on genetic criticism of these texts that tries to see the author, Juste d’Urbin, at work writing the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob. Furthermore, Juste d’Urbin’s unpublished correspondence to Antoine d’Abbadie is used to better understand this freethinker’s thoughts and motivations.
https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1063
On the Ethiopian highlands in the middle of the 1... more https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1063 On the Ethiopian highlands in the middle of the 19th century, Juste d’Urbin, a Catholic missionary, chose to stop evangelizing and devote himself fully to the study of the Ge’ez and Amharic languages and of the country’s Orthodox civilization. He sent to his mentor, Antoine d’Abbadie (well-known at the time for his writings on Ethiopia) his work, in particular two copies of a very rare philosophical text presumably authored by an Ethiopian in the 17th century. This first article in a series devoted to the history of Ḥatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob and its appendix, Ḥatatā Walda Ḥeywat, shows how these texts fit into Juste d’Urbin’s work, describes the manuscripts he sent to Antoine d’Abbadie, and analyzes the hitherto unpublished correspondence between these two men. Juste d’Urbin, a linguist and translator, wanted to make a contribution to Ethiopian studies. His letters reveal an ambitious, anxious thinker who wanted to realize a work of philosophy. Might the two Ḥatatā have been a response to this twofold ambition?
Aksum was a city in the Kingdom of Aksum, which controlled the northern highlands of the Horn of ... more Aksum was a city in the Kingdom of Aksum, which controlled the northern highlands of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea between the 1st and 7th centuries CE. The ruins of this past splendour, as well as the site’s groundwater resources, have ensured that human settlement has continued almost uninterrupted to the present day. Most often associated with its political and religious symbols, such as the Ark of the Covenant or the ceremony of the coronation of the Christian kings, Aksum is also home to a specific culture that can be described as urban for the following reasons: an exclusive right to land ownership has been passed down through the generations, in connection with a hereditary and ancestral legitimacy. Now called qwelz, a rare term that originally referred to the maintenance of the walls and paved floors of the Church of Maryam Seyon in Aksum, this land right is the symbol of an elite, urban culture. Our in situ investigation allows us to shed specific light on the subject to contribute to an urban history of ancient Ethiopia that is still in search of sources.
Between the eleventh and mid-twentieth centuries, the Christian royal power in Ethiopia produced ... more Between the eleventh and mid-twentieth centuries, the Christian royal power in Ethiopia produced documents recording land donations and transfers of privileges granted to religious institutions and important men of the kingdom. Although it was the only producer of written deeds, the royal authority showed little concern for the fate of these documents: it did not conserve them or endow them with any external mark of validation, and accepted modifications relatively easily. This paradox can be resolved through an in-depth study of the practices surrounding the production and preservation of this documentation. The royal power set up ad hoc committees that traveled to the provinces in order to have the acts promulgated there, or issued them from the royal camp and sent them to the institutions concerned. Both writing processes and archiving were delegated to religious institutions, whether they were direct beneficiaries of the acts or functioned as regional administrative centers. The chronological scansions of these phenomena remain difficult to trace. Nevertheless, a radical change took place from the 1720s onwards, as private individuals claimed the right to have transfers that concerned them written in the vernacular language. The stability of Gondarian society and the professionalization of scribes linked to the churches allowed them to become the notaries of their communities and to serve the interests of the lower nobility. Ethiopian bureaucracy thus escaped the monopoly of sovereign power to serve the community of landowners.
in: Samantha Kelly (dir.). A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, Brill, 2020
The medieval Ethiopian economy is another challenging subject to treat, for different reasons. Et... more The medieval Ethiopian economy is another challenging subject to treat, for different reasons. Ethiopian economic history is not a new subject: Richard Pankhurst pioneered such work in the 1950s, with a focus on modern Ethiopia, and Donald Crummey did groundbreaking work, for the early modern period, in the 1980s and 1990s. But economic research specifically on the medieval period has developed very little. This chapter is therefore a first, albeit in what would seem to be a “traditional” field. Drawing methodologically and for relevant data on studies dealing with earlier and later periods, highlighting the economic aspects of scholarship on the medieval period, and mining primary sources where studies lack, it provides a synthetic picture of agriculture and animal husbandry as well as trade that encompasses, to the extent possible, Christian, Muslim, and local-religious societies in the variety of their ecological settings.
The paper illustrates the choices made by the Ethiopian Manuscript Archives collaborative project... more The paper illustrates the choices made by the Ethiopian Manuscript Archives collaborative project when defining the TEI-XML schema and architecture for the encoding of charters and similar documentary texts transmitted within Ethiopian manuscripts.
Oral Traditions in Ethiopian Studies, 7 (dir. Dirk Bustorf; Sophia Dege-Müller; Alexander Meckelburg), 2018
At the end of the 17th century, the history of Gonǧ monastery, in Goǧǧam, was complex and traumat... more At the end of the 17th century, the history of Gonǧ monastery, in Goǧǧam, was complex and traumatic because its abbot, Ṭäbdän Dǝngǝl, head of the qǝbat movement during Yoḥannǝs’ reign (1667-82), entered in rebellion against King Iyasu (1682-1706), who favored the Däbrä Libanos monastic network and declared qǝbat a heresy. The civil war lasted until Ṭäbdän and his followers were excommunicated and banished, in 1687. Nonetheless, a few decades later, Gonǧ was richly endowed by the royal power and its violent and rebellious past seemed forgotten. How did a rebellious institution come back to the foreground of the political and religious scene a few decades later? What had to be altered or forgotten in this violent history? How did written documents, oral history and iconographic sources, not to forget rites and the landscape, enter into this re-imagining of the past? The memory has been lost of Ṭäbdän Dǝngǝl, the abbot of Gonǧ who sowed dissension within the qǝbat movement, opposed his own monks and led an up-rising against the king. New narratives, such as a dying bishop travelling miraculously to Gonǧ and the ‘late’ invention of a neutral founding father, help in attracting the faithful and pilgrims, and recalling the institution’s long history and close relations with major political and religious authorities. In this case study, oral history forges stories and portrays characters in ways that obstruct the exposal of the ‘historical truth’.
IN KAISERLICHEM AUFTRAG. Die Deutsche Aksum-Expedition 1906 unter Enno Littmann, Ethnographische, kirchenhistorische und archäologisch-historische Untersuchungen (3), 2017
The photographs of the DAE taken in 1906 show two complementary aspects of the written history of... more The photographs of the DAE taken in 1906 show two complementary aspects of the written history of Aksum. First, the Golden Gospels of Aksum is a cartulary of the royal charters promulgated in favour of the northern religious institutions, via Aksum. Aksum has been, at least until Fasiladas, a privileged political center who acted as an intermediary between northern institutions and the royal court. Second, the compilation known as the Bokk of Aksum is made of heterogeneous texts. Nonetheless, this sequence of documents is the result of choices and shall be understood as a single – or at least a cumulative – historiographical project. Some sequences can be deciphered, leading to an understanding of the narrative intent that links those documents. The first movement focuses on the consecration and anointment of the kings in Aksum, which finds its legitimacy in the narrative of the KebräNagast, when King Solomon anoints his son Ebn El-Hakim in Jerusalem and transfers to him the kingship over Israel. A second sequence deals with land tenure as attributed to the church of Aksum Ṣeyon by royal donations. The legendary anchor of the first and main gult, instituting Abreha and Asbehä as the first royal grantors of the land tenure of the church, shows that it has been a necessity to link the obvious remnants of the past and thus to ensure the preeminence of Aksum upon any other place in Ethiopia. A third movement returns to history and is clearly attributed to King Sarsä Dengel. It is composed of lists of kings - Christian as well as Muslims - and patriarchs, and inserts the history of Aksum in a broader framework. The opening of Ethiopian historiography to „Universal Histories“ -translated from Arabic- as well as the confrontation of the Ethiopian Christian kingdoms to the Ottoman and the European worlds during the 16th century mark the opening up of Ethiopian historiography to the wider world and might have contributed to this new way of writing and formalising history. A fourth movement mentions the flight of the Ark of the Covenant from Aksum during the Roman catholic reign of Susenyos (ca. 1615), the rebuilding of the church during Fasiladas' reign (1655) and the renewal of laws, rules, charges and gult donations by King Iyasu (1687) before his failed attempt to be anointed in Aksum. Ending the compilation, a version of the Short Chronicles has been added. It goes until the 4th year of Fasiladas reign and the building of Gondar, as if the birth of the new capital of the monarchy was the end of the Aksumite history. Eventually, Aksum is the main character of this compilation. The historiographical project behind it is to place Aksum at the centre of a „national history”.
http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2037
In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of G... more http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2037 In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of Gondar, the scriptorium of King Iyo’ās (1755-1769) imported sheets of paper to make a lectionary (senkesar) in three volumes. Today, one volume remains in Addis Ababa at the Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, Department of Manuscripts, under the serial number 197. It is the only known Ethiopian Christian manuscript on paper. In Ethiopia, Christians copied their manuscripts exclusively on parchment. This innovative and ambitious project met the most sophisticated Ethiopian standards while adapting the codicological norms to the requirements of this new medium. Craftsmen who knew how to work on paper, foreigners or Ethiopians trained by foreigners, made this volume. The status of this manuscript was high enough to be part of the imperial library at the turn of the twentieth century and then included in the national heritage collection.
http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2021
The Orthodox Christian Church of Ethiopia was ... more http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/2021 The Orthodox Christian Church of Ethiopia was statutorily a Coptic bishopric. From the fourth century until the middle of the twentieth century, its metropolitan bishops were appointed by the Patriarchal See of Alexandria. Three Copto-Arabic documents, issued between 1375 and 1424 by Egyptian bishops in Ethiopia, provide a better understanding of the power relation issues between the Coptic episcopate, the Ethiopian political power, and the powerful monastic networks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Did abuna Salāmā, the “Translator”, plot with the monks of Ḥayq Esṭifānos to place Dāwit on the throne? What accounts for his successor, abuna Bartalomēwos, first a faithful ally to the throne, ending up placed under close surveillance and then dismissed and imprisoned? Did an Egyptian bishop, whose seat was in the Nile delta, “take his place” after seeking asylum in Ethiopia? In the wake of the shift in the power relations woven between Alexandria and Ethiopia, how come two Egyptian metropolitans endorsed all religious decisions, even the least orthodox ones, taken by King Zar’ā Yā‘eqob? Analysing these documents enables one to raise, and sometimes answer, these questions. It is also an opportunity to take a new look at administrative scriptural practices.
Studies in Ethiopian Languages, Literature, and History. Festschrift for Getatchew Haile (ed. A. macCollum), 2017
The dramatic history since the early 17th century of the church of Gonǧ Tewodros Däbrä Ṭǝbab in t... more The dramatic history since the early 17th century of the church of Gonǧ Tewodros Däbrä Ṭǝbab in the province of Goǧǧam was linked to its prominent rank and to its close relations, and frequent conflicts with, royal power. Its clergy might have turned to Catholicism in the 1620s, when the Ethiopian king Susnəyos (1607-32) conducted a policy, with the help of Jesuit missionaries, for converting the Ethiopian Church and society to Roman Catholicism. Besides this Catholic episode, Gonǧ headed a theological movement, unctionism or qəbät, till the first half of the 18th century, when it lost its leadership. Unfortunately for the church, this theological faction was proclaimed heretical in 1878. Thereafter, its brilliant past had to be concealed. This article focuses on the first known abbot of Gonǧ, Ləbsä Krəstos, who was sentenced to death in 1636 and has been incarnated in a giant sycamore, one of the biggest trees in the area. It examines a case presented as successive exhibits from nine sources. Each of them provides clues about Ləbsä Krəstos. Sources on the life of such a controversial figure come from factions that have taken sides. Can different sources about a single person be pieced together in order to write his biography? Or do they stem from such mismatched contexts that they cannot be put together like pieces of a single puzzle but, instead, have to be handled like disjointed pieces of evidence about the person in question? The life and career of Ləbsä Krəstos provides an opportunity for seeing how religious identities emerged at the very beginning of the Gondarine period and how different parties competed. By following these exhibits about the life of a single man and listening to the different voices that talk about him, will we come to hear about this man or will we learn more about the ones who are talking?
Musical instruments were used in the Christian realm of Ethiopia during the early modern period f... more Musical instruments were used in the Christian realm of Ethiopia during the early modern period for proclamations, major religious celebrations, court ceremonies, and the movement of the king and his troops inside and outside of royal cities, as well as for signaling the start of battles. Only the powerful had the prerogative of having certain instruments played. The nägarit (kettledrums) were also insignia of power. Owning or displaying them was an expression of power as much as having them played. The nǝsǝr qana were double-reed instruments associated with the king. Originally insignia of Oromo military might, the mäläkäts, long trumpets, were gradually adopted in the Christian realm as the Oromo came to share in exercising power. On the basis of evidence drawn from a study of images, horns, though still present on the battlefield, seem to have lost prestige to the benefit of trumpets.
Les souverains chrétiens éthiopiens possédaient comme fonction régalienne le droit d’attribuer un... more Les souverains chrétiens éthiopiens possédaient comme fonction régalienne le droit d’attribuer un droit foncier, connu sous le nom de gult, aux institutions religieuses et aux personnes privées. Les domaines attribués en statut gult étaient généralement de large étendue et en théorie inaliénables, et leur subdivision en parcelles soumises à des régimes d’exploitation et fiscaux variés dépendait de l’histoire de chaque institution. À travers l’analyse de deux versions d’un même acte royal (émis par le roi Iyasu I, 1682-1706) en faveur d’une église (Aksum Maryam Ṣeyon), l’un émis par le scriptorium royal, le second émis par les bénéficiaires, il est possible de saisir les enjeux de chacun de ces deux niveaux interdépendants du droit foncier. Affirmer ou confirmer un domaine gult et préciser les droits au niveau du parcellaire sont bien deux actions juridiques qui se recouvrent et se complètent.
Literacy and writing practices have been both a subject of research and a starting point for anal... more Literacy and writing practices have been both a subject of research and a starting point for analyses of societies and their history. The state of research and reflection in this field is rich and diverse, especially for historiography in the West. But what about studies of the practices and uses of writing on the African continent during ancient and modern times, apart from the colonial period? Since new studies in historiography can now be used to reconsider the tools and topics of history, how do classical methods from medieval history and its so-called “auxiliary sciences”, as well as methods from anthropology, sociology or linguistics, change (if they do so) our way of looking at how writing has been used in Africa?
L’« écrit » constitue un objet de recherche autant qu’un point d’entrée pour l’analyse des sociét... more L’« écrit » constitue un objet de recherche autant qu’un point d’entrée pour l’analyse des sociétés et de leurs dynamiques historiques. L’état des recherches et des réflexions est particulièrement riche et foisonnant, notamment en ce qui concerne les historiographies occidentales. Qu’en est-il plus particulièrement des travaux sur les pratiques d’écriture et leurs usages sur le continent africain pour les périodes anciennes et modernes (hors du champ des productions écrites coloniales) ? À un moment où les renouveaux historiographiques ont largement permis de repenser les objets de l’histoire, comment des méthodes classiques et venues d’horizons disciplinaires divers (histoire médiévale et sciences dites auxiliaires, anthropologie et sociologie, linguistique) ont-elles – ou n’ont-elles pas – modifié le regard porté sur les usages de l’écrit en Afrique ?
Anaïs Wion, 500 Years of Royal Control over Aksum Agricultural Commodities
During the medieval an... more Anaïs Wion, 500 Years of Royal Control over Aksum Agricultural Commodities During the medieval and early modern period in Ethiopia, land charters -materials produced by officials to administer agricultural land- have little to say about the practical issues of resource management. These highly codified and legalistic texts focus on regulating access to land rights. The present paper analyzes a document which is unconventional in being much more pragmatic and this partly counterbalances the silence of the sources regarding the natural and agricultural environment. It is a tax-list giving a long prescriptive list of taxes (in cereals and beans, honey, cotton cloth and edible oil) due from the agricultural plains surrounding Aksum, the holy city in northern Ethiopia. Aksum has been a center of power, political and symbolic as well as economic, which explains the raison d’être for this atypical document. The tax-list was copied for several centuries, and this stability as well as the differences among the few known copies testify both to the longevity of administrative and political control over this region and to an adaptability and flexibility notably as regards the measurement of taxable products. The present analysis of a royal prescription of taxes will also help to clarify how complex political structures have shaped territories and agricultural practices over a very long term (fifteenth to twentieth centuries).
https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1316
This second article in a series devoted to the hi... more https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1316 This second article in a series devoted to the history of the philosophical treatises attributed to Zar’a Yā‘eqob and his disciple Walda Ḥeywat explores the phase of “demystification”. How did doubts arise about the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob as soon as 1916; and how did its authorship come to be attributed to Juste d’Urbin in 1920? The article, by the great philologist and historian C. Conti Rossini, that turned this “rare pearl in Ethiopian literature” into a literary hoax is a compendious collection of pieces of evidence rather than an irrefutable proof. Another philologist, E. Mittwoch, tried a few years later to prove that Juste d’Urbin was the author; but his linguistic and philological analysis was biased due to an indirect source it used. The academic community accepted, nonetheless, these two scholars’ authoritative arguments. The current article follows up on this scholarship in an effort to corroborate and enrich it, and to show its weak points. It provides a new interpretation based on genetic criticism of these texts that tries to see the author, Juste d’Urbin, at work writing the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob. Furthermore, Juste d’Urbin’s unpublished correspondence to Antoine d’Abbadie is used to better understand this freethinker’s thoughts and motivations.
https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1063
On the Ethiopian highlands in the middle of the 1... more https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1063 On the Ethiopian highlands in the middle of the 19th century, Juste d’Urbin, a Catholic missionary, chose to stop evangelizing and devote himself fully to the study of the Ge’ez and Amharic languages and of the country’s Orthodox civilization. He sent to his mentor, Antoine d’Abbadie (well-known at the time for his writings on Ethiopia) his work, in particular two copies of a very rare philosophical text presumably authored by an Ethiopian in the 17th century. This first article in a series devoted to the history of Ḥatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob and its appendix, Ḥatatā Walda Ḥeywat, shows how these texts fit into Juste d’Urbin’s work, describes the manuscripts he sent to Antoine d’Abbadie, and analyzes the hitherto unpublished correspondence between these two men. Juste d’Urbin, a linguist and translator, wanted to make a contribution to Ethiopian studies. His letters reveal an ambitious, anxious thinker who wanted to realize a work of philosophy. Might the two Ḥatatā have been a response to this twofold ambition?
Cet ouvrage nous fait découvrir la collection méconnue de peintures sacrées éthiopiennes rapporté... more Cet ouvrage nous fait découvrir la collection méconnue de peintures sacrées éthiopiennes rapportée à Paris en 1933 par la Mission Dakar-Djibouti. Du XVème jusqu'au début du XXème siècle, ces peintures invitent à un voyage à travers l'art religieux éthiopien, des images de protection, portées à même le corps, aux peintures murales monumentales des sanctuaires.
Durant la première moitié du xviie siècle, une reine, Wäld Sä'ala, bâtit l'œuvre de sa vie en s'a... more Durant la première moitié du xviie siècle, une reine, Wäld Sä'ala, bâtit l'œuvre de sa vie en s'attribuant un vaste territoire au cœur des haut-plateaux éthiopiens. Un monastère - Qoma Fasilädäs - est fondé pour lui servir de lieu de vie, doter de biens fonciers sa famille et ses proches, conserver sa dépouille et pérenniser sa mémoire. Une formule métaphorique, transmise par la tradition orale, résume ce projet : Aux confins le feu, au centre le Paradis, faisant de cet espace un lieu à part disposant d'institutions dont l'autonomie est fièrement revendiquée. Cette reine fut l'épouse du roi Susneyos (r. 1607-32) qui se convertit au catholicisme et voulut en faire la religion du royaume en s'alliant avec les Jésuites avant que son fils, Fasilädäs (r. 1632-1667), ne rétablisse la foi d'Alexandrie. Mais à ces deux hommes elle refusa son soutien pour bâtir son propre réseau d'influence en s'alliant avec ceux qui s'avérèrent être les perdants des grandes batailles politiques de l'époque. De la splendeur de cette petite société de cour, des complots, des meurtres et des exils qui la traversèrent, rien ne subsiste dans l'historiographie officielle de la royauté. L'histoire de Qoma Fasilädäs serait donc restée jusqu'à aujourd'hui inconnue si Anaïs Wion n'était pas allée la rechercher dans les manuscrits jalousement gardés au sein de ce monastère et n'avait questionné sans relâche les dépositaires de cette mémoire. Les " jeux d'échelle " de cette enquête dans une fondation royale éclairent des pans obscurs de ce premier xviie siècle éthiopien, aussi crucial qu'encore méconnu, tout autant qu'ils permettent de comprendre comment une tradition orale formalisée, ancrée dans le temps de la fondation, permet aujourd'hui encore de réguler l'accès à la terre et les structures institutionnelles.
Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques, 2024
et ouvrage rend enfin accessible une thèse soutenue en 2013 et marque d’une pierre blanche les ét... more et ouvrage rend enfin accessible une thèse soutenue en 2013 et marque d’une pierre blanche les études concernant l’Éthiopie médiévale et moderne, aujourd’hui en plein essor et en pleine mutation. Le propos est de décentrer le regard historiographique sur un moment fondateur de la modernité éthiopienne : la guerre menée par les armées musulmanes dans les décennies 1520 à 1550 contre le royaume chrétien éthiopien et qui donna lieu à une profonde restructuration géopolitique dans cette partie de la Corne de l’Afrique. Si cette guerre a longtemps été considérée quasiment uniquement du point de vue chrétien, la principale source écrite la documentant, le Futūḥ al‑Ḥabasha ou Conquête de l’Éthiopie, a pourtant été écrit par un auteur musulman et pour un public musulman. Ce paradoxe montre bien le déséquilibre qui a longtemps prédominé dans le champ des études éthiopiennes et cette étude, ainsi que plus globalement l’ensemble des travaux d’Amélie Chekroun, participent grandement à repenser l’histoire de l’Éthiopie musulmane « à part égale ».
Référence de l'ouvrage : Amélie Chekroun, La conquête de l’Ethiopie. Un jihad au xvie siècle, Paris, CNRS éditions (collection Zéna, 3), 2023, 380 p., ISBN : 9782271145543, (disponible aussi en format epub)
Cet ouvrage traite d’un sujet épineux, celui des changements des statuts de la tenur... more Cet ouvrage traite d’un sujet épineux, celui des changements des statuts de la tenure foncière dans le royaume du Buganda au tournant du XXesiècle,et de ses multiples liens avec les évolutions politiques, religieuses, sociales, économiques, environnementales et culturelles de cette période charnière dans l’histoire de l’Afrique des Grands Lacs. L’historien Henri Médard, professeur à l’université Aix-Marseille et spécialiste de l’histoire ougandaise y démêle plusieursfils inextricablement liés,en partant de l’observation extrêmement détaillée de l’introduction de la propriété privée de la terre dans les régions lacustres du royaume du Buganda. En effet, une loi coloniale de 1900, émise par la Couronne britannique quicommence alors à imposer son emprise sur le royaume, jette à bas un système foncier sophistiqué dans lequel la superposition entre la propriété éminente du sol et les droits d’usage permettent à de multiples personnes de revendiquer des droits sur une même terre, dans un système de relations de dépendance et de clientélisme en constante négociation mais qui assure une cohésion à une société dans laquelle coexistent une monarchie forte et des systèmes lignagers.
Cet ouvrage de synthèse fait suite au premier opus de Christine Chaillot sur l'Église éthiopienne... more Cet ouvrage de synthèse fait suite au premier opus de Christine Chaillot sur l'Église éthiopienne (2002) en approfondissant la question de la transmission des connaissances. Cette enquête est basée sur une abondante bibliographie ainsi que sur de nombreux séjours en Ethiopie ayant permis de réaliser des entretiens auprès de professeurs, dignitaires et étudiants de l'Église éthiopienne afin de dresser un tableau de l'enseignement dans les écoles religieuses chrétiennes orthodoxes éthiopiennes dans les dernières décennies. Il ne s'agit pas d'un ouvrage académique, l'autrice se situant à la croisée d'une démarche militante pour favoriser la connaissances des christianismes orientaux, d'une approche journalistique -au meilleur sens du terme- et d'une forme d'érudition passionnée. L'ouvrage est organisé en 9 chapitres dont 5 présentent les grandes scansions de l'enseignement "traditionnel" : apprentissage de la lecture ; chant et musique liturgique (zemā et aqwaqwām) ; grammaire et poésie ge'ez (qəne) ; apprentissages des livres bibliques liturgiques et patristiques (maṣḥaf bet) et de leur exégèse (andəmtā) ; enfin travail des parcheminiers, scribes et peintres.
Verena Krebs’s book Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe offers a ... more Verena Krebs’s book Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe offers a fresh take on power relationships in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The author contends that, contrary to the widely accepted narrative, the Ethiopian rulers of that time did not increase their embassies to the Western powers (Rome, Venice, Aragon, Naples, and Portugal) because they were seeking alliances and/or military support against the Muslim powers. This idea of a desire for military alliances actually reflects the expectations of the Western powers. The Ethiopian kings, according to Krebs, were exclusively interested in acquiring luxurious objects, holy relics, and craftsmen capable of producing items such as paintings, golds jewelry and other items, and monumental buildings.
Cet ouvrage présente les travaux menés à l’université de Hambourg au Hiob Ludolf Center for Ethio... more Cet ouvrage présente les travaux menés à l’université de Hambourg au Hiob Ludolf Center for Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies (HLCEES) autour du projet Beta Maṣāḥǝft (BM) en donnant accès aux réflexions et aux choix scientifiques et techniques présidant à la création d’un environnement numérique pour les études sur et à partir des textes éthiopiens classiques. Bien au-delà de ce périmètre aréal, Digital Approaches to Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies peut être lu comme une présentation extrêmement pédagogique de ce que représentent désormais les données numériques dans les sciences humaines et sociales. Fondé sur de nombreux exemples pratiques et sur une solide expérience, l’ouvrage propose une ample réflexion théorique sur l’ouverture des données et sur ce que peut être une réelle interopérabilité.
This book is a modified version of Historias Etiopies. Diario de viagem by the same author publis... more This book is a modified version of Historias Etiopies. Diario de viagem by the same author published in 2000 by Assirio & Alvim in Lisbon. It contains the three main threads that reflect the first trip of the Portuguese anthropologist Manuel Joao Ramos to the Ethiopian highlands in 1999, twenty years ago: drawing; travel diary; and the recording of oral traditions. It is these three practices of his work as an anthropologist that he juxtaposes here, without any of these three clues to his passage through the Ethiopian highlands ever fully illustrating the other ones.
The third part of the book, entitled "Ethiopian Stories", has been significantly revised: the choice of oral texts has been renewed and each interview is accompanied by an introduction presenting the informant, the conditions under which the interview was conducted and an analysis of the content of the interview.
This book reflects several stories, that of an anthropologist and illustrator immersed for the first time in the Ethiopian reality and seeking to go back in time and probe the collective memory; those of a particular moment during which Ethiopia after the Derg and at the beginning of Mélés Zenawi's "reign" has not yet fully embraced ultra-liberalism and ethnic federalism; and those linked to the foundation of a dynasty and of a capital north of Lake Tana, by two powerful and controversial sovereigns in the Pre-Modern period.
This book is the publication of a PhD thesis defended in 2012 at the Pontifical Gregorian Univers... more This book is the publication of a PhD thesis defended in 2012 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. It purports to address the question of ethics in the Ḥatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob (HZY), a short philosophical text in Ge'ez attributed to an educated Ethiopian cleric of the 17th c. The book is divided into three parts of two chapters each. The first part gives the historical background and details the content of the Ḥatatā. The second deals with the essential notions of “human being” and “God” as found in the Ḥatatā. The third part deals with ethics and morality. Only the Ge'ez text of the HZY (not the HWH) is edited on the basis of E. Littmann's edition of 1904, which did not take into account the differences between the two known manuscripts and which considered the manuscript BnF Eth. 215 as the best manuscript.
The academic online journal Afriques. Débats, méthodes et terrains d’histoire publishes, in his column Sources, under the direction of Claire Bosc-Tiessé, the first online edition of a Ge’ez text. This is the hagiography, the malk’e and the miracles of Daniel, abbot of the monastery of Dabra Maryam Qorqor, in Garalta (Tigray). This text is edited, translated into French and presented by Gérard Colin, together with an index of biblical quotations and of proper names.
Since 2022, DISTAM (DIgital STudies Africa, Asia, Middle East) has been a consortium of the Frenc... more Since 2022, DISTAM (DIgital STudies Africa, Asia, Middle East) has been a consortium of the French research infrastructure Huma-Num. It is intended to accompany and consolidate the digital transition of Middle Eastern, African, and Asian studies in France. The Huma-Num Consortiums, which cover twelve various fields, define shared digital procedures and standards (methods, tools, sharing of experience). One of their characteristics is that they bring together professionals with different and complementary skills: humanities researchers, computer scientists, and librarians. They have been accredited for a period of four years, renewable once. Among them, DISTAM is the only consortium having an areal dimension.
The kingdom of Benin, in what is now central Nigeria, was a powerful African state from the Middl... more The kingdom of Benin, in what is now central Nigeria, was a powerful African state from the Middle Ages until its destruction and invasion by the British at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1897, the British army looted the treasures kept in Benin City and since then thousands of precious objects, mainly bronze and ivory, have been scattered to western countries. The desideratum as well as various attempts to create an overview of the scattered royal treasures of Benin have existed for a long time and have been present in academic circles and in the demands of activists since the 1970s and 1980s. The concrete restitution policy initiated in Germany, in response to a long-standing Nigerian demand, has changed the working relationship between Nigerian and European partners in this field and made this project possible.
The international team of the Digital Benin project has brought together around 5000 objects belonging to this heritage, spread across 131 institutions and collections worldwide into a single digital space. Among the many challenges it faces, this paper focuses on the issue of metadata. Will this situation provide an answer to the perennial question: is metadata really interoperable? The answer is: forget everything you know about Dublin Core or whatever!
The purpose of this post is to briefly present four research projects that have recently worked o... more The purpose of this post is to briefly present four research projects that have recently worked on the automatic recognition of Ethiopian handwriting, each with different objectives and methods. Indeed, HTR (Handwritten Text Recognition) cannot be considered in isolation from the research projects that motivate it.
En complément de l’approche extrêmement fouillée proposée par le guide « OCR / HTR et graphie ara... more En complément de l’approche extrêmement fouillée proposée par le guide « OCR / HTR et graphie arabe, Les manuscrits arabes à l’heure de la reconnaissance automatique des écritures », Cahier du GIS MOMM no 3, rédigé par Noémie Lucas et publié en 2022, qui peut être difficile à prendre en main pour des porteurs de projet, il a semblé utile de proposer des fiches pédagogiques concises. Elles visent à accompagner la mise en place d’un travail néces- sitant l’acquisition de textes manuscrits en graphies non-latines. Il s’agit de rendre visible les étapes cruciales de tels projets, en insistant sur les choix qui peuvent être faits à chaque étape et qui déterminent l’avancement du travail. L’objectif de ces fiches synthétiques est de permettre de comprendre ce qui motivent ces choix, de documenter les processus de décision et d’aider à préparer ce travail à trois niveaux différents : en amont, afin de pouvoir anticiper les étapes ; lors du choix d’un outil en fonction des objectifs et du type de corpus ; une fois le texte acquis afin que la phase de post-traitement soit la plus optimisée possible.
Since 2006, the French linguist community has had a tool for depositing the sound sources that do... more Since 2006, the French linguist community has had a tool for depositing the sound sources that document the world’s linguistic diversity. Named Cocoon, for “COllections de COrpus Oraux Numériques”, this technical platform was then opened to all researchers wishing to create, structure, make accessible and archive sound corpora composed of audio recordings accompanied, in a third of cases, by annotations and transcriptions. It seemed to me that within the framework of Digital Orientalist, it is interesting to make this tool known. It is both elaborate in its conception and simple in its use.
Cited as a reference in Ethiopian philosophy and studied in universities around the world, the Tr... more Cited as a reference in Ethiopian philosophy and studied in universities around the world, the Treatise of Zara Yaeqob, a deistic and rational text supposedly written in Ge'ez in the 17th century, is in fact the fruit of the imagination of an Italian monk . Although unveiled at the beginning of the 20th century, the forgery has stood the test of time.
This project aims to understand how an “African heritage” was constructed in order to provide the... more This project aims to understand how an “African heritage” was constructed in order to provide the means to analyze the histories and origins of each object and, ultimately, to better write the history of Africa. Its audience consists of museum professionals, scholars, and students, and it has been built in order to create bridges between these various audiences. It is a part of a larger research program led by Claire Bosc-Tiessé, and it induces an active collaboration of curators in rethinking the history of African cultural heritage in French institutions.
This post shares my experience of building a collaborative team for transcribing a complex corpus... more This post shares my experience of building a collaborative team for transcribing a complex corpus, composed of amateurs and scholars, that met IRL and/or online or never met but shared the same tool. The ways they used this tool and the reason why they transcribe were tremendously diverse but the result proves to be really efficient and the process joyful and intellectually challenging.
De 1837 à 1848, Antoine d’Abbadie sillonne la Corne de l’Afrique en collectant des informations d... more De 1837 à 1848, Antoine d’Abbadie sillonne la Corne de l’Afrique en collectant des informations de nature géographiques, historiques, ethnographiques ou encore linguistiques qu’il recopie dans des carnets. Il va exploiter les données collectées pendant cette décennie d’enquête quasiment jusqu’à sa mort en 1897. Pourtant, si les informations de nature géographique furent traitées quasi-exhaustivement et publiées, il n’en est pas de même pour l’ensemble de son travail de terrain qui fut partiellement utilisé par Antoine d’Abbadie lui-même puis de manière fragmentaire par la communauté scientifique. C’est le manque de connaissance de ces matériaux très complets, anciens et difficilement exploitables qui a donné naissance à un projet de numérisation, transcription et édition de ces carnets.Mené dans le cadre du quardiennal de la recherche de la BnF, ce projet interroge d’abord le statut de cette source foisonnante de manière très pragmatique : faut-il différencier le traitement des informations contenues dans les carnets en fonction des statuts qu’elles ont connus ? En termes plus simples : faut-il retranscrire puis ré-éditer des informations qui ont déjà été publiées et analysées ? La multiplicité des cas montre qu’il faut examiner chacun d’entre eux, et que la notion de source première révèle toute sa complexité dans le cas des notes de terrain.
À la naissance de l’ethnologie française. Les missions ethnographiques en Afrique subsaharienne (1928 - 1939), 2017
Cette sous-partie du portail "À la naissance de l’ethnologie française.
Les missions ethnographiq... more Cette sous-partie du portail "À la naissance de l’ethnologie française. Les missions ethnographiques en Afrique subsaharienne (1928-1939)" présente les collectes de manuscrits éthiopiens effectuées par Marcel griaule en 1928-29 lors de son premier voyage en Éthiopie, puis lors de la Mission Dakar-Djibouti en 1932 à Gondar.
Billet d'analyse de la seconde phase de l'Histoire générale de l'Afrique et de la "coalition des ... more Billet d'analyse de la seconde phase de l'Histoire générale de l'Afrique et de la "coalition des artiste pour l'HGA, pour le carnet "Afriques", sur Hypothèses.org
Un musée vient d'être inauguré à Gondar grâce à la coopération franco-éthiopienne. Une occasion i... more Un musée vient d'être inauguré à Gondar grâce à la coopération franco-éthiopienne. Une occasion immanquable pour les autorités de réécrire l'histoire de la nation.
A. Wion, Sisay Sahile, S. Hardy, J. Le Péchon, M. J. Ramos, 2014, Ethiopian City Guides: Gondar, ... more A. Wion, Sisay Sahile, S. Hardy, J. Le Péchon, M. J. Ramos, 2014, Ethiopian City Guides: Gondar, Addis Ababa, CFEE/Shama Books, 69 p.
Ce séminaire teste et confronte hypothèses et méthodes pour montrer comment les sciences humaines... more Ce séminaire teste et confronte hypothèses et méthodes pour montrer comment les sciences humaines écrivent aujourd’hui le passé de l’Afrique. L’objectif est de présenter et discuter les recherches en cours sur l’Afrique ancienne, entendue dans un sens très large de la préhistoire jusqu’au pré-contemporain, prenant en compte aussi bien les régions au sud du Sahara que celles qui sont au nord. Il s’agit non seulement d’établir une veille sur les tendances actuelles de la recherche mais surtout de voir comment celle-ci peut se faire en situation de pénurie documentaire dans une interdisciplinarité en acte. Ce séminaire permet aussi de mobiliser et rassembler les recherches sur l’Afrique pré-contemporaine pour créer un lieu d’échanges et dynamiser le champ.
A partir de recherches en cours présentés par des intervenants extérieurs, ce séminaire teste et ... more A partir de recherches en cours présentés par des intervenants extérieurs, ce séminaire teste et confronte hypothèses et méthodes pour comprendre comment les sciences humaines écrivent aujourd’hui le passé de l’Afrique. Ce séminaire est validant pour les étudiants en master d’histoire à Paris-I comme séminaire interne, comme séminaire externe pour les autres, ouvert aux doctorants et aux chercheurs.
Ce séminaire a pour objectif de présenter et discuter les recherches en cours sur l’Afrique ancie... more Ce séminaire a pour objectif de présenter et discuter les recherches en cours sur l’Afrique ancienne, entendue dans un sens très large de la préhistoire jusqu’au pré-contemporain. Il s’agit non seulement d’établir une veille sur les tendances actuelles de la recherche mais aussi de tester et confronter hypothèses et méthodes pour voir comment les sciences humaines écrivent aujourd’hui le passé de l’Afrique. L’ouverture à tous les espaces africains et à la très longue durée est avant tout militante. Il s’agit de considérer que relèvent de l’Afrique aussi bien les régions au sud du Sahara que celles qui sont au nord, les espaces méditerranéens participant de réseaux qui trouvent aussi leurs racines en Afrique. Il est en outre nécessaire de mobiliser et rassembler toutes les recherches sur l’Afrique ancienne pour se doter d’un lieu d’échanges, tenter de dynamiser le champ et éventuellement recruter. Mais au-delà du militantisme, ce séminaire se fonde sur l’idée que par une attention première à l’étude des sources textuelles, picturales et/ou archéologiques, les chercheurs de tous horizons peuvent partager des questions de méthode.
Ce séminaire mensuel (2016-17) a pour objectif de présenter et discuter les recherches en cours s... more Ce séminaire mensuel (2016-17) a pour objectif de présenter et discuter les recherches en cours sur l’Afrique ancienne, entendue dans un sens très large de la préhistoire jusqu’au pré-contemporain. Il s’agit non seulement d’établir une veille sur les tendances actuelles de la recherche mais aussi de tester et confronter hypothèses et méthodes pour voir comment les sciences humaines écrivent aujourd’hui le passé de l’Afrique.
Le 7 juillet, journée d’étude ayant pour objectif de présenter le contexte historique dans lequel... more Le 7 juillet, journée d’étude ayant pour objectif de présenter le contexte historique dans lequel furent écrits les carnets d'Antoine d'Abbadie, ainsi que les objectifs scientifiques du projet de transcription et d’édition et ses choix en matière d’outils numériques. La matinée sera dédiée à une présentation de ces différents aspects. Un « transcrithon » sera organisé dans l’après-midi afin de se familiariser avec les outils et de mieux comprendre les enjeux scientifiques de l’acquisition du texte des carnets.
Elle se déroulera à partir du centre des Colloques du Campus Condorcet, Place du Front Populaire, Aubervilliers, salle 50 au au rez-de-chaussée, métro Front Populaire (en hybride présentiel et en zoom, sur Zoom (ID de réunion : 969 4150 9076). Si vous êtes intéressés par l’accès à la visioconférence, demander le mot de passe aux organisatrices à l’adresse : projetmssabbadie at gmail point com.
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Eventually, Aksum is the main character of this compilation. The historiographical project behind it is to place Aksum at the centre of a „national history”.
In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of Gondar, the scriptorium of King Iyo’ās (1755-1769) imported sheets of paper to make a lectionary (senkesar) in three volumes. Today, one volume remains in Addis Ababa at the Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, Department of Manuscripts, under the serial number 197. It is the only known Ethiopian Christian manuscript on paper. In Ethiopia, Christians copied their manuscripts exclusively on parchment. This innovative and ambitious project met the most sophisticated Ethiopian standards while adapting the codicological norms to the requirements of this new medium. Craftsmen who knew how to work on paper, foreigners or Ethiopians trained by foreigners, made this volume. The status of this manuscript was high enough to be part of the imperial library at the turn of the twentieth century and then included in the national heritage collection.
The Orthodox Christian Church of Ethiopia was statutorily a Coptic bishopric. From the fourth century until the middle of the twentieth century, its metropolitan bishops were appointed by the Patriarchal See of Alexandria. Three Copto-Arabic documents, issued between 1375 and 1424 by Egyptian bishops in Ethiopia, provide a better understanding of the power relation issues between the Coptic episcopate, the Ethiopian political power, and the powerful monastic networks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Did abuna Salāmā, the “Translator”, plot with the monks of Ḥayq Esṭifānos to place Dāwit on the throne? What accounts for his successor, abuna Bartalomēwos, first a faithful ally to the throne, ending up placed under close surveillance and then dismissed and imprisoned? Did an Egyptian bishop, whose seat was in the Nile delta, “take his place” after seeking asylum in Ethiopia? In the wake of the shift in the power relations woven between Alexandria and Ethiopia, how come two Egyptian metropolitans endorsed all religious decisions, even the least orthodox ones, taken by King Zar’ā Yā‘eqob? Analysing these documents enables one to raise, and sometimes answer, these questions. It is also an opportunity to take a new look at administrative scriptural practices.
During the medieval and early modern period in Ethiopia, land charters -materials produced by officials to administer agricultural land- have little to say about the practical issues of resource management. These highly codified and legalistic texts focus on regulating access to land rights. The present paper analyzes a document which is unconventional in being much more pragmatic and this partly counterbalances the silence of the sources regarding the natural and agricultural environment. It is a tax-list giving a long prescriptive list of taxes (in cereals and beans, honey, cotton cloth and edible oil) due from the agricultural plains surrounding Aksum, the holy city in northern Ethiopia. Aksum has been a center of power, political and symbolic as well as economic, which explains the raison d’être for this atypical document. The tax-list was copied for several centuries, and this stability as well as the differences among the few known copies testify both to the longevity of administrative and political control over this region and to an adaptability and flexibility notably as regards the measurement of taxable products. The present analysis of a royal prescription of taxes will also help to clarify how complex political structures have shaped territories and agricultural practices over a very long term (fifteenth to twentieth centuries).
This second article in a series devoted to the history of the philosophical treatises attributed to Zar’a Yā‘eqob and his disciple Walda Ḥeywat explores the phase of “demystification”. How did doubts arise about the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob as soon as 1916; and how did its authorship come to be attributed to Juste d’Urbin in 1920? The article, by the great philologist and historian C. Conti Rossini, that turned this “rare pearl in Ethiopian literature” into a literary hoax is a compendious collection of pieces of evidence rather than an irrefutable proof. Another philologist, E. Mittwoch, tried a few years later to prove that Juste d’Urbin was the author; but his linguistic and philological analysis was biased due to an indirect source it used. The academic community accepted, nonetheless, these two scholars’ authoritative arguments. The current article follows up on this scholarship in an effort to corroborate and enrich it, and to show its weak points. It provides a new interpretation based on genetic criticism of these texts that tries to see the author, Juste d’Urbin, at work writing the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob. Furthermore, Juste d’Urbin’s unpublished correspondence to Antoine d’Abbadie is used to better understand this freethinker’s thoughts and motivations.
On the Ethiopian highlands in the middle of the 19th century, Juste d’Urbin, a Catholic missionary, chose to stop evangelizing and devote himself fully to the study of the Ge’ez and Amharic languages and of the country’s Orthodox civilization. He sent to his mentor, Antoine d’Abbadie (well-known at the time for his writings on Ethiopia) his work, in particular two copies of a very rare philosophical text presumably authored by an Ethiopian in the 17th century. This first article in a series devoted to the history of Ḥatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob and its appendix, Ḥatatā Walda Ḥeywat, shows how these texts fit into Juste d’Urbin’s work, describes the manuscripts he sent to Antoine d’Abbadie, and analyzes the hitherto unpublished correspondence between these two men. Juste d’Urbin, a linguist and translator, wanted to make a contribution to Ethiopian studies. His letters reveal an ambitious, anxious thinker who wanted to realize a work of philosophy. Might the two Ḥatatā have been a response to this twofold ambition?
Eventually, Aksum is the main character of this compilation. The historiographical project behind it is to place Aksum at the centre of a „national history”.
In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of Gondar, the scriptorium of King Iyo’ās (1755-1769) imported sheets of paper to make a lectionary (senkesar) in three volumes. Today, one volume remains in Addis Ababa at the Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, Department of Manuscripts, under the serial number 197. It is the only known Ethiopian Christian manuscript on paper. In Ethiopia, Christians copied their manuscripts exclusively on parchment. This innovative and ambitious project met the most sophisticated Ethiopian standards while adapting the codicological norms to the requirements of this new medium. Craftsmen who knew how to work on paper, foreigners or Ethiopians trained by foreigners, made this volume. The status of this manuscript was high enough to be part of the imperial library at the turn of the twentieth century and then included in the national heritage collection.
The Orthodox Christian Church of Ethiopia was statutorily a Coptic bishopric. From the fourth century until the middle of the twentieth century, its metropolitan bishops were appointed by the Patriarchal See of Alexandria. Three Copto-Arabic documents, issued between 1375 and 1424 by Egyptian bishops in Ethiopia, provide a better understanding of the power relation issues between the Coptic episcopate, the Ethiopian political power, and the powerful monastic networks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Did abuna Salāmā, the “Translator”, plot with the monks of Ḥayq Esṭifānos to place Dāwit on the throne? What accounts for his successor, abuna Bartalomēwos, first a faithful ally to the throne, ending up placed under close surveillance and then dismissed and imprisoned? Did an Egyptian bishop, whose seat was in the Nile delta, “take his place” after seeking asylum in Ethiopia? In the wake of the shift in the power relations woven between Alexandria and Ethiopia, how come two Egyptian metropolitans endorsed all religious decisions, even the least orthodox ones, taken by King Zar’ā Yā‘eqob? Analysing these documents enables one to raise, and sometimes answer, these questions. It is also an opportunity to take a new look at administrative scriptural practices.
During the medieval and early modern period in Ethiopia, land charters -materials produced by officials to administer agricultural land- have little to say about the practical issues of resource management. These highly codified and legalistic texts focus on regulating access to land rights. The present paper analyzes a document which is unconventional in being much more pragmatic and this partly counterbalances the silence of the sources regarding the natural and agricultural environment. It is a tax-list giving a long prescriptive list of taxes (in cereals and beans, honey, cotton cloth and edible oil) due from the agricultural plains surrounding Aksum, the holy city in northern Ethiopia. Aksum has been a center of power, political and symbolic as well as economic, which explains the raison d’être for this atypical document. The tax-list was copied for several centuries, and this stability as well as the differences among the few known copies testify both to the longevity of administrative and political control over this region and to an adaptability and flexibility notably as regards the measurement of taxable products. The present analysis of a royal prescription of taxes will also help to clarify how complex political structures have shaped territories and agricultural practices over a very long term (fifteenth to twentieth centuries).
This second article in a series devoted to the history of the philosophical treatises attributed to Zar’a Yā‘eqob and his disciple Walda Ḥeywat explores the phase of “demystification”. How did doubts arise about the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob as soon as 1916; and how did its authorship come to be attributed to Juste d’Urbin in 1920? The article, by the great philologist and historian C. Conti Rossini, that turned this “rare pearl in Ethiopian literature” into a literary hoax is a compendious collection of pieces of evidence rather than an irrefutable proof. Another philologist, E. Mittwoch, tried a few years later to prove that Juste d’Urbin was the author; but his linguistic and philological analysis was biased due to an indirect source it used. The academic community accepted, nonetheless, these two scholars’ authoritative arguments. The current article follows up on this scholarship in an effort to corroborate and enrich it, and to show its weak points. It provides a new interpretation based on genetic criticism of these texts that tries to see the author, Juste d’Urbin, at work writing the Hatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob. Furthermore, Juste d’Urbin’s unpublished correspondence to Antoine d’Abbadie is used to better understand this freethinker’s thoughts and motivations.
On the Ethiopian highlands in the middle of the 19th century, Juste d’Urbin, a Catholic missionary, chose to stop evangelizing and devote himself fully to the study of the Ge’ez and Amharic languages and of the country’s Orthodox civilization. He sent to his mentor, Antoine d’Abbadie (well-known at the time for his writings on Ethiopia) his work, in particular two copies of a very rare philosophical text presumably authored by an Ethiopian in the 17th century. This first article in a series devoted to the history of Ḥatatā Zar’a Yā‘eqob and its appendix, Ḥatatā Walda Ḥeywat, shows how these texts fit into Juste d’Urbin’s work, describes the manuscripts he sent to Antoine d’Abbadie, and analyzes the hitherto unpublished correspondence between these two men. Juste d’Urbin, a linguist and translator, wanted to make a contribution to Ethiopian studies. His letters reveal an ambitious, anxious thinker who wanted to realize a work of philosophy. Might the two Ḥatatā have been a response to this twofold ambition?
Référence de l'ouvrage : Amélie Chekroun, La conquête de l’Ethiopie. Un jihad au xvie siècle, Paris, CNRS éditions (collection Zéna, 3), 2023, 380 p., ISBN : 9782271145543, (disponible aussi en format epub)
The third part of the book, entitled "Ethiopian Stories", has been significantly revised: the choice of oral texts has been renewed and each interview is accompanied by an introduction presenting the informant, the conditions under which the interview was conducted and an analysis of the content of the interview.
This book reflects several stories, that of an anthropologist and illustrator immersed for the first time in the Ethiopian reality and seeking to go back in time and probe the collective memory; those of a particular moment during which Ethiopia after the Derg and at the beginning of Mélés Zenawi's "reign" has not yet fully embraced ultra-liberalism and ethnic federalism; and those linked to the foundation of a dynasty and of a capital north of Lake Tana, by two powerful and controversial sovereigns in the Pre-Modern period.
The academic online journal Afriques. Débats, méthodes et terrains d’histoire publishes, in his column Sources, under the direction of Claire Bosc-Tiessé, the first online edition of a Ge’ez text. This is the hagiography, the malk’e and the miracles of Daniel, abbot of the monastery of Dabra Maryam Qorqor, in Garalta (Tigray). This text is edited, translated into French and presented by Gérard Colin, together with an index of biblical quotations and of proper names.
The international team of the Digital Benin project has brought together around 5000 objects belonging to this heritage, spread across 131 institutions and collections worldwide into a single digital space. Among the many challenges it faces, this paper focuses on the issue of metadata. Will this situation provide an answer to the perennial question: is metadata really interoperable? The answer is: forget everything you know about Dublin Core or whatever!
Les missions ethnographiques en Afrique subsaharienne (1928-1939)" présente les collectes de manuscrits éthiopiens effectuées par Marcel griaule en 1928-29 lors de son premier voyage en Éthiopie, puis lors de la Mission Dakar-Djibouti en 1932 à Gondar.
Catalogue de l'exposition "ETONNANTE ETHIOPIE". Marnaz, 19 sept.- 04 oct. 2015, à travers la collection privée de DENIS GERARD
L’ouverture à tous les espaces africains et à la très longue durée est avant tout militante. Il s’agit de considérer que relèvent de l’Afrique aussi bien les régions au sud du Sahara que celles qui sont au nord, les espaces méditerranéens participant de réseaux qui trouvent aussi leurs racines en Afrique. Il est en outre nécessaire de mobiliser et rassembler toutes les recherches sur l’Afrique ancienne pour se doter d’un lieu d’échanges, tenter de dynamiser le champ et éventuellement recruter.
Mais au-delà du militantisme, ce séminaire se fonde sur l’idée que par une attention première à l’étude des sources textuelles, picturales et/ou archéologiques, les chercheurs de tous horizons peuvent partager des questions de méthode.
Elle se déroulera à partir du centre des Colloques du Campus Condorcet, Place du Front Populaire, Aubervilliers, salle 50 au au rez-de-chaussée, métro Front Populaire (en hybride présentiel et en zoom, sur Zoom (ID de réunion : 969 4150 9076). Si vous êtes intéressés par l’accès à la visioconférence, demander le mot de passe aux organisatrices à l’adresse : projetmssabbadie at gmail point com.