The Prince and the Plunder

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

Category: Ecclesiastical & theological

A manuscript of the Amestu Amada Mestir which ‘no doubt’ came from Maqdala *

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What: One of at least 10 manuscripts in the university’s collection that the 19th century scholar William Wright said “no doubt came from Magdala”. He could be referring to a manuscript most recently listed in a 1961 catalogue of Cambridge’s Ethiopian manuscripts – possibly MS XXXIII (Add. 1861).

Where: Cambridge University Library, West Rd, Cambridge CB3 9DR

This post is less clear cut than most of the rest on this website – hence the asterisk in the title. It does not definitely identify a specific Maqdala manuscript in the library. Instead it identifies a possible candidate by following references in footnotes, catalogue entries and online databases.

In a footnote to the Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847, published less than 10 years after the Abyssinian Expedition in 1877, the author William Wright wrote:

"The University Library of Cambridge, for example, possesses several Ethiopic manuscripts, which no doubt came from Magdala, though only two of them, I think, are actually so marked. Among these is a fine copy of the Gospels, of the latter part of the xviith cent.; a manuscript of the xviiith cent., containing the rest of the New Testament, viz., St. Paul's Epistles, the Acts, the Revelation of St. John, and the seven Apostolic Epistles; and a splendid copy of the Old Testament, written for Maryam Sena, the queen of Sarzza Dengel, in the twenty-sixth year of that king's reign, A.D. 1588. It contains : the Octuteuch, Samuel and Kings, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, Job, Isaiah, the twelve minor Prophets (imperfect), Jeremiah (including Baruch, Lamentations, and the Epistle of Jeremiah), 4th Esdras, Daniel (including Susanna, etc ), and Ezekiel. Another volume, of the xvith or xviith cent., contains Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom. Besides these there are a Kerlos and an 'Arganona Dengel, both of the xviiith cent. ; a couple of Psalters ; the Gospel of St. John (brought from Southern India by Dr. C. Buchanan), of the xviith cent.; the Amestu 'A'mada Mestir in Amharic; and one or two more of less note."

The passage does not go further than that. There are no mentions of reference numbers or classmarks to help pin down a specific document in Cambridge.

Almost 100 years later, in 1961, Cambridge University Press published a Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library. That book, by Edward Ullendorf and Stephen Wright, lists :

MS XXXIII (Add. 1861) - Described as a Kala Haymanot, Amada Mestir. A note at the end of the entry reads: "Acquired at a sale in 1878 (therefore probably brought back to Britain by a member of Napier's Abyssinian expedition of 1867/8)."

[Click on the manuscript number to see the entry in the catalogue. You may have to sign up for a free membership on Archive.org to "borrow" the scanned-in book for an hour.]

This could have been the one mentioned in William Wright’s footnote listing works that “no doubt” came from Maqdala. Whether “no doubt” means ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ is something else to consider.

The 1961 catalogue also suggests there may be more than 10 Maqdala manuscripts in Cambridge. Of the 67 manuscripts listed in the Ethiopian collection of the Cambridge University Library, Ullendorff writes that their provenance is “in the main, from two sources; (a) MSS brought back by individual members of the British Expedition to Ethiopia in 1867-8; and (b) the gift of a number of MSS … from the Library of the late C.H. Armbruster”.

Armbruster donated 20 manuscripts to Cambridge. According to Rita Pankhurst’s pioneering 1973 paper, The library of Emperor Tewodros II at Mäqdäla (Magdala), “this leaves some 47 of which, in Ullendorff’s view, a good proportion may have been brought to Britain by members of Napier’s expedition”.

Manuscript including Didascalia Apostolorum, with flyleaves and margins covered in deeds (OR 799)

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What: An 18th century manuscript including the Didascalia Apostolorum; the Mashafa Megbarat Sanayet or ‘the Book of Good Works,’ on the Services of the Church and the Duties of the Priest; the Faus Manfasawi, or Epitome of Canon Law; and the Fetha Nagast. The flyleaves and margins are covered with deeds (originals and copies) in Ge’ez and Amharic, including a deed of gift by Bakafa to the priests of the church of Raphael.

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

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

Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript

Mashafa Bahri za-bezuh Setu, or “the Book of the Pearl of great price” (OR 787)

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What: Mashafa Bahri za-bezuh Setu or “the Book of the Pearl of great price.” Apparently of the 17th century. In a more modem hand are prefixed sections on Melchizedek and on the 318 Nicene Fathers, with Creed and Anathemas.

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

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

Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript

A 15th century collection of homilies (OR 774)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / 1 Comment on A 15th century collection of homilies (OR 774)

What: A 15th century collection of homilies, starting with Jacob (or Serug), on the Annunciation, and on the blessed Virgin Mary and Elizabeth. “Foll. 1-5, 169, and 170, belong to another Ms., written in 3 columns, in a fine hand of the 16th or 17th century; but the text has been almost entirely washed off.”

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

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

Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript

Including Homilies, Doctrine of the Apostles (OR 775)

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What: An early 18th century manuscript of Homilies copied from OR 774; The Teaching of the Apostles, regarding the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord; Cyriacus of Behnesa on the Glory of the Virgin Mary.

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

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

Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript

A copy of the Mashafa Hawi, with notes on the property of a convent (OR 776)

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What: A copy of the Mashafa Hawi, written in 1745. Foll. 1-14 and 268-274 are filled with notes, chiefly in Amharic. Among them is a list of the property of the convent of Dabra Zahai.

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

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

Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript