What: An Ethiopian manuscript, dated 1696, of the Fetha Nagast legal code, the Faws Manfasawi and part of the Christian treatise Didascalia Apostolorum. Described as having “beautiful and even script” throughout
Where: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin/Berlin State Library, Unter den Linden 8, Potsdamer Straße 33, Westhafenstraße 1, Berlin.
Images: The library has digitised the manuscript and published the images here.
Provenance: One of two manuscripts that Graf von Seckendorf bought after the Battle of Magdala and presented to King Wilhelm, according to A. Dimmmann’s 1878 book Verzeichnis der abessinischen Handschriften, Berlin, Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften – G. Vogt (Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Band 3).
That says: “… und sodann im Jahr 1869 die Prachthandschrift 19 und die werthvolle Nr. 42 von Sr. Majestät dem König Wilhelm, an welchen sie Graf von Seckendorf, Lieutenant im ersten Garderesiment zu Fufs, verehrt hatte: der letztere hatte sie in Abessinien nach dem Sturm auf Magdala angekauft”
which, roughly, translates as “…and then in 1869 the magnificent manuscript 19 and the valuable No. 42 from His Majesty King William, to whom Count von Seckendorf, Lieutenant in the First Guard Resiment in Fuss, had presented it: the latter had purchased it in Abyssinia after the storming of Magdala”.
The reference to a purchase after the storming of Maqdala probably refers to the auction of plunder that took place after the battle.
Detail: Listed as No. 42 in von Seckendorf’s catalogue. The entry in the catalogue describes the manuscript as Ms. or. fol. 595.