Imperial Legitimacy and the Creation of Neo-Solomonic Ideology in 19th-Century Ethiopia - article ; n°109 ; vol.28, pg 13-43
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Imperial Legitimacy and the Creation of Neo-Solomonic Ideology in 19th-Century Ethiopia - article ; n°109 ; vol.28, pg 13-43

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Cahiers d'études africaines - Année 1988 - Volume 28 - Numéro 109 - Pages 13-43
31 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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Publié le 01 janvier 1988
Nombre de lectures 28
Langue English
Poids de l'ouvrage 2 Mo

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Monsieur Donald Crummey
Imperial Legitimacy and the Creation of Neo-Solomonic Ideology
in 19th-Century Ethiopia
In: Cahiers d'études africaines. Vol. 28 N°109. 1988. pp. 13-43.
Résumé
D. Crummey — Légitimité impériale et création d'une idéologie néo-salomonienne en Ethiopie au XIXe siècle.
Cet article analyse l'idéologie et la légitimation de l'autorité impériale dans l'Ethiopie de la fin du xixe siècle à travers l'étude de
trois souverains importants et d'un souverain mineur de l'époque : Téwodros (r. 1855-1868), Tàklà Giyorgis (r. 1868-1871),
Yohànnes (r. 1871-1889) et Menilek II (r. 1889-1913). Pour ce faire, l'auteur étudie les rares écrits où les souverains
revendiquent explicitement leur légitimité, et il examine les symboles et les images primordiaux auxquels renvoie le choix de leur
nom de règne, de titres et de devises royales. L'auteur soutient d'une part que de tels symboles idéologiquement établis étaient
des moyens vitaux de communication dans cette société féodale ; d'autre part que les dirigeants de cette époque innovaient
dans leur usage de l'idéologie reçue. Sa thèse se fonde sur les informations trouvées dans la correspondance amharique, les
chroniques et autres documents éthiopiens, ainsi que dans des récits de voyageurs européens.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Crummey Donald. Imperial Legitimacy and the Creation of Neo-Solomonic Ideology in 19th-Century Ethiopia. In: Cahiers
d'études africaines. Vol. 28 N°109. 1988. pp. 13-43.
doi : 10.3406/cea.1988.2150
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cea_0008-0055_1988_num_28_109_2150Donald Crummey
Imperial Legitimacy and the Creation
of Neo-Solomonic Ideology in
icth-Century Ethiopia*
in This considerable porary sensibly Scholars systems spite and led polity autonomous to that cumstances Geertz world No modern i8th ibid. such say less the render is ideology of century Shils than is the has about world his way latter societies grasped ones mythic have in context 1964 task working strongly it which but in agreement modern politics is meaningful half its and devoted they Moreover Johnson taken peculiarly demonstrating could consisted historical contemporary the of All Starting This that with articulated have notes the ones possible pre-capitalist up play partipants considerable that function 1968 its i9th in the expanded deeply of they that with functioning the force analysis ideology powerful suasive century by vaguer Geertz how this present The were the one was historic providing of act polities case it history attention the their images function no requires is as stock largely role 1964 might The paper in ideologies less modern and culture powerful investigations in the required of notion important Lichtheim by times with in be men ideas latent of to Western subtlety societies means his world realized ideology authoritative the Geertz were reference of force support than studies under role change untaught of truly in Europe 1967 and manipulated he shares is which into in of is pre-capitalist the has However of he normal to ideology sensitivity and traditional Ideologies the Indonesia case has it Ethiopia make since concepts feelings There contem studied can stress wider little view with cir the by an be in is
An earlier version of this paper was presented at conference on the political
economy of Northeast Africa Michigan State University Apr 1983 am
grateful to Getatchew Haile for number of fresh insights and comments on the
revised version
Cahiers tudes africaines XXVIII-i ig88 pp 13-43 DONALD CRUMMEY 14
political actors but equally they constrained their users and imposed
limits on their actions.1
Ideology provided the stock of symbols and concepts which allowed
political rulers to communicate with mass following and
that following to identify with and in some sense participate in the
polity Those symbols supplied the means for overcoming formidable
problems in communication both geographic and social in the Ethiopian
case mountainous environment compounded the difficulties of main
taining rule in the absence of developed bureaucracy furthermore
between the King of Kings at the center and the mass of his peasant and
herder subjects in the provinces there lay powerful groups of nobles
clergy and gentry To bridge these groups and overcome topography
Ethiopian rulers resorted to primary symbols drawn from the stock
provided by an inherited ideology consisting primarily of regnal names
slogans and occasionally pregnant actions or ceremonies
Historical Ideology
inherited ideology was zionist one embodied in book called
the Kebra Nagast Olory of the .2 This work legitimized
rulers by making them the descendants of King union with
the Queen of Sheba and also legitimized the country and people of
Ethiopia by making them the successors of Israel and the Jews God
effected this succession by allowing Meniiek son of Solomon and Sheba
to remove the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Aksum where it
has since dwelt in the ancient church of St Mary of Zio Through
possession of the Ark constantly rebaptized through the Eucharist which
their priests perform on its replica the tabot present in each parish
church the Ethiopians have the symbol of election Levine 1974
eh vu 1975 has pointed out that the Kebra Nagast legitimated also the
social order for which it provided broad charter This zionist ideology
is that of hierarchical society Semitic in speech and Christian in religion
From its basic story and from the Bible on which it generously drew
the book offered rich stock of symbols and images to buttress authority
and supplied in the church the institution which embodied the
Christian character touchstone of authenticity
For stimulating reflections on ideology and history in Africa see HAMILTON
1987
BUDGE 1922 For useful comments see SHAHID 1976
For fascinating account by the only person known to me who claimed to have
seen this relic see RICHIAN 1871 II From the Ethiopian side see the
details in Annales 1903-1905 IMPERIAL LEGITIMACY IN ETHIOPIA 15
The Kebrä Nagast received its definitive form in the i4th century
although it may have been written as early as the 6th By the later
19th century the Solomonic ideology derived from it had had five hundred
years of practical expression This lapse of time produced another stock
of precedents and examples upon which the founders of the modern
Ethiopian State could draw
As Ethiopia entered the second half of the icth century it faced for
midable political challenges its national institutions had collapsed fol
lowing conflicts in the I770S provincial nobles had fully eclipsed the royal
court and the central authority in the Church and in the external
powers appeared on the scene first the Egyptians and later the Euro
peans The aspirant national rulers needed to find legitimate
basis for their authority Force of arms could create only the material
pre-conditions for such an authority To create its spiritual foundations
aspirant rulers resorted to neo-Solomonic ideology
This ideology drew heavily on fundamentals of the Kehrä Nagast and
secondarily on historical precedent simple return to Solomonic
thought was precluded by two closely related factors This body of had suffered with the eclipse of its last embodiers the Gondarine
kings moreover strict Solomonic thinking dictated succession through
the male line only claim none of the 19th-century aspirants could
make Budge 1922 147 Firstly they needed new principle of legiti
mate descent and they found it in the bilateral practice of their society
at large Hoben 1973 Secondly as active warlords they abandoned
the historic Solomonic practice of ritual seclusion And thirdly they
revolutionized royal marriage customs The medieval Solomonids had
practiced structured polygyny Taddesse Tamrat 1972 269-275 Dra
matically to distance themselves from the corruption of the later Gon
darine era and at the same time to capture the allegiance of the Church
the 19th-century neo-Solomonids adopted the marital customs of the
clergy strict monogamy sanctioned by the Holy Eucharist These
three innovations persisted until the end of the monarchy in 1974
We will explore ideology and the legitimation of imperial authority
in later 19th-century Ethiopia through focus on three major and one
minor rulers of the era Tewodros 1855-1868) Takla Giyorgis 1868-
1871) Yohännes 1871-1889) and Menilek II 1889-1913 We will
do this by considering in both their correspondence and chronicles
those rare passages in which they made explicit claims to legitimacy and
by looking at the primary symbols and images which they evoked through
their choice of regnal names titles and slogans DONALD CRUMMEY
The Neo-Solomonids Téwodros Takla Giyorgis Yohannes
and Melinek
would-be rulers of the later igth century saw themselves
engaged in reconstruction.4 recurrent phrase in their communications
is abbatoche my by which they meant their ancestors as imperial
rulers They preferred the title negusa nagast or king of title
found in Aksumite inscriptions H

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