The Prince and the Plunder

A book on how Britain took one boy and piles of treasures from Ethiopia

Author: Andrew Heavens

Manuscript ‘acquired by my friend Captain James’ (Or.MS.461-462)

Published February 26, 2024 / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A manuscript in two volumes of the Acts of St George according to Theodotus of Ancyra with 20 full-page coloured illustrations

Where: Edinburgh University Library, 30 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LJ

One of 11 manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library written in Amharic or Ge’ez. Two of them – this one and a Bible – are positively linked with the battle of Magdala in the catalogue. Two others were “procured – i.e. not necessarily looted – on some of the British mission’s stop-overs on their way there.

The catalogue entry labels this manuscript Or.MS.461-462 and reads: “Gadala Georgios. The Acts of St George according to Theodotus of Ancyra. Ethiopic/Amharic. 2 vols, 163, 129 ff. Vellum, 30 by 26 cm. 20 full-page coloured illustrations. Brown camel or calf skin binding over thick wooden blind-tooled boards. Repaired by D.Cockerell, 1961. With MS letter of John Wilson to Sir Alexander Grant, Principal of the University, accompanying the gift, 1871 “Acquired by my friend Captain James after the taking of Magdala”.

The two other manuscripts in the library “procured” on the way are Or.MS.656 [Bible. Psalms.] Ethiopic/Amharic and Or.MS.673 Portion of the Gospels (?). Parchment Scroll. Ethiopic/Amharic. 

The arrival of the last two, as well as a copy of the Gospels currently in the National Library of Scotland, is described in Volume 8 (1868-70) of The Proceedings of the Antiquaries of Scotland. This says: “The large book, believed to be the Priest’s Bible, or rather the one belonging to the church, and from which he explained to his people, was procured in a church between Adabagah and Dongalo, about thirty-two or thirty-three miles south of Adigrat. The smaller book and scrolls were mostly procured in the neighbourhood of Senafe, from churches and villages. One of the boos was said to be the Psalms … Presented … by Captain Charles McInroy, Staff Service, Madras.”

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The Dundee scroll

Published February 26, 2024 / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A 19th century scroll painted with figures and geometric patterns

Where: University of Dundee Museum, Hawkhill House DD1 4HN

“Said to have been found in the palace of the King of Abyssinia ‘at the taking of Magdala,'” according to Andrew Proctor’s 1994 book Cultures of the world: The Ethnographic collections of Dundee Art Galleries and Museums.

Detail:
1060 SCROLL
Ethiopia
L.100 x DI.40 1993-382

Andrew Proctor’s book lists another Ethiopian scroll, with no mention of Magdala:

1059 SCROLL
Ethiopia
L.70 x DI.42 (Rolled up) 9999-1172
Long length of leather in three sections, inscribed in an Ethiopian script (“ge’ez”) and painted with figures and geometric patterns. Used for healing and protecting purposes.

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A manuscript of the History of King Lalibela (OR 718)

Published November 18, 2023 / by Andrew Heavens / 1 Comment on A manuscript of the History of King Lalibela (OR 718)

What: A 19th century Ethiopian manuscript of the History of King Lalibela of Lasta and the building of the churches

Where: The British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB

Ref: OR 718
Digital version – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_718

Provenance:
Stamped on first page: “Presented by the Secretary of State for India Aug. 1868”
Listed as part of the “Magdala collection” in William Wright’s Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847

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Fragment of Bible ‘found’ near Senafe (Or. 2273)

Published September 27, 2023 / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A fragment of a Bible “found” near the British mssion’s camp of Senafe by a Mr. J.T.C. Prince and presented to Baron van Heemstra van Froma en Eibersburen

Where: Leiden University Libraries

Listed in Inventory of the oriental manuscripts of the Library of the University of Leiden – part 3: manuscripts Or. 2001-Or. 3000

Or. 2273
Ethiopian, ff.
Fragment of the Bible in Ethiopian.
Provenance: Purchased by auction from the collection of Baron van Heemstra van Froma en Eibersburen, who had been presented with the manuscript by Mr. J.T.C. Prince, who had found the manuscript near the camp of Sanafé, during the English expedition to Ethiopia. Another manuscript found by Mr. Prince from Gouda is Or. 1924, above. (Initials of Mr. Prince must still be established??)
(Hebr. 124)

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Arabic manuscript ‘found’ in Maqdala (Or. 1924)

Published September 27, 2023 / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: An Arabic manuscript found by a Mr. J.F.E. Prince “in the camp of the emperor Theodorus II in Magdala”

Where: Leiden University Libraries

Listed in the Inventory of the oriental manuscripts of the Library of the University of Leiden – part 2: manuscripts Or. 1001-Or. 2000

Or. 1924
Arabic, paper, 104 ff., dated 1257 AH (1841 AD), copied from the autograph.
The part on al-muhlikat from an ethical work by Ibrahim b. al-Husayn b. `Ali al-Faradi al-Qadiri (718/1318), GAL S II, 147. CCO V, p. 256 (No. 2660) gives a survey of the contents. CCO 2660 (V, pp. 256-257). See Voorhoeve, Handlist, p. 448.

Provenance: Gift received in 1869, or shortly after, from Mr. J.F.E. Prince from Gouda, who had found the manuscript in the camp of the emperor Theodorus II of Abessynia (reigned 1855-1868) in Magdala. Mr. Prince had participated in the British punitive expedition to Magdala in 1868. The fragments of a printed work in Ethiopic (6 ff.), which according to CCO V, p. 225, were kept with this MS have been removed in the meantime. Their present whereabouts are unknown. Another manuscript found by Mr. Prince is Or. 2273, below. (Ar. 1216)

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