The Prince and the Plunder

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

Author: Andrew Heavens

A manuscript including The Octateuch, Samuel and Kings (OR 483)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A manuscript finished in 1721, containing The Octateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth – as well as the Books of Samuel and Kings, 1st Kings (Samuel). 2nd Kings (Samuel) and lists of the Kings of Israel and of the Prophets and High Priests in their times.

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

Ref: OR 483
Digital version: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_483

Provenance:
Stamped at the front: “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

A manuscript including The Octateuch and the properties of the elements (OR 482)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: An 18th century Ethiopian manuscript including The Octateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth – as well as a short extract regarding the properties of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water.

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

Ref: OR 482
Digital version – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_482

Provenance:
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

The sapper’s scroll

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What: Scroll with ‘Sapper John Abbotts’ written on back

Where: The Royal Engineers Museum, Prince Arthur Rd, Gillingham ME7 1UR

The museum’s catalogue entry shows a 5 ft-long long narrow scroll with “five coloured drawn images depicting Christ and the apostles, an angel holding a knife in the right hand and a prayer object in the left”. There is also “a decorative image with a face in the top section of the scroll and a Coptic cross at the other end”.

On the back is written “7990 Sapper John Abbotts. 10th Company Royal Engineers. Abyssinian Field Force. Abyssinia // 13th April 1868”. That is the date of the last decisive battle when the British forces overran Magdala, found Tewodros dead and started looting the buildings.

From the catalogue entry
Object number: 4901.38
Material: parchment
Length: 1565 mm
Width: 75 mm

A manuscript including The Octateuch, Gospels and ecclesiastical works (OR 481)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A late 17th Century, profusely illustrated, manuscript of The Octateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth – as well as the Gospels and ecclesiastical works

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

Ref: OR 481
Digital version – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_481

Provenance:
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

A manuscript of The Octateuch (OR 480)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A 14th-15th Century manuscript of The Octateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth

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

Ref: OR 480
Digital version – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_480
Description: An Ethiopian manuscript containing:The Octateuch. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth)

Provenance:
On f.2r. Upper margin ኦሪት ዘቅዱስ መድኃኔ ዓለም, “the Law, belonging to the Holy Saviour of the World”. The church Holy Saviour of the World built by King Theodore at Magdala.

It is the first manuscript 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

A manuscript of The Miracles of Jesus Christ (OR 8824)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: An 18th century illuminated manuscript of The Miracles of Jesus Christ

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

Ref: OR 8824
Digital version – http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_8824
Title: The Miracles of Jesus Christ, ተአምረ ኢየሱስ.
Date: 18th century
Decription: An Ethiopian manuscript containing: 42 miracles of Jesus Christ. Number of illustrations: 40 miniatures illustrating the Miracles of Jesus and a rough drawing in black for a miniature representing of God the Father with the symbols of the four Evangelists.
Provenance:
Front flyleaf, a note “Bequeathed by Barea Batoness Zouche, 13 Oct 1917.”
Before f.1 a double paper leaf is inserted (110 x 185 mm.) containing a letter written by W. Wright to R. Curzon concerning the content of the manuscript. 6 November 1868. The letter says the manuscript came from Magdala.