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Seen but Not Heard: Children and Childhood in Medieval Ethiopian HagiographiesAuthor(s): Steven KaplanReviewed work(s):Source: The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3 (1997), pp. 539-553Published by: Boston University African Studies CenterStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/220575 .Accessed: 03/06/2012 09:08

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The International Journal of Af,ican Historical Studes, Vol. 30, No. 3 (1997) 5 3 9

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD: CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD

IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES

By Steven Kaplan

Despite the existence of a considerable body of scholarly literature concerning many aspects of Ethiopian culture, social history remains a relatively neglected field. With a few notable exceptions, virtually all studies have focused upon the political, ecclesiatical, and, to a lesser extent, economic spheres. While the activities of kings, conquerers, and church leaders have been extensively chronicled, the most elementary facts concerning the basic units of Ethiopian society have usually been ignored by historians. Richard Pankhurst's recent A Social History of Ethiopia' is really more a collection of isolated quotations and paraphrases than a true history and does little.to fill this gap.2 Clearly a detailed social histoiy is a major scholarly desideratum not only for its intrinsic historical value, but also for the proper under- standing of political, economic, and social processes in later periods including the modem era.

Properly executed, such a history may be of interest well beyond Ethiopianist circles. In the words of Jack Goody, Christian Ethiopia was African in a geograph- ical, but not in a social or cultural sense.3 It is thus ideally suited, he suggests, to serve -as a test case for comparisons between African and Eurasian societies. Similarly, but with a slightly different emphasis, John Iliffe observes that while Ethiopia shared the plough, literacy, and a world religion with early medieval Europe, there is little evidence of land pressure during much of its history.4 Both scholars believe that a detailed examination of Ethiopia may prove particularly valu- able for comparative purposes.

While several scholars have taken up the challenge of such a comparison, the gaps that exist in the scholarly record have made it difficult for them to proceed beyond a certain level.5 If little is known about the basic units and institutions of medieval Ethiopian society, even less is understood regarding the manner in which

I Richard Pankhurst, A Social History of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa, 1991). 2 See the critical reviews by Donald Crummey, Journal of African History 33 (1992), 349,

and Jan Abbink, Africa 62 (1992), 290-91. 3 Cf. Jack Goody, Cooking, Cuisine and Class (Cambridge, 1982), 210-13; Production and

Reproduction (Cambridge, 1976), 1 10-1 1. 4 John Iliffe, The African Poor: A History (Cambridge, 1987), 14.

5 Donald Crummey, "Abyssinian Feudalism," Past and Present 89 (1980), 115-38; Donald Donham, "Old Abyssinia and the New Ethiopian Empire," in Donald Donham and Wendy James, eds., The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia (Cambridge, 1986), 3-48; Alan Hoben, "Family, Land and Class in Northwest Europe and Northern Highland Ethiopia," in Harold Marcus, ed., Proceedings of the First United States Conference of Ethiopian Studies (East Lansing, 1975), 157- 70.

540 STEVEN KAPLAN

they functioned and were connected to larger trends in the country's history. In this paper, I will attempt to make a small contribution towards filling these gaps through the exploration of children and childhood in the medieval period.

Writing of Byzantine childhood, Dorothy Abrahamse has noted that "For both psychohistorical and sociological theories of the history of childhood, evidence from a non-western, but Christian, medieval society is of particular importance."6 From this perspective, Ethiopian sources may prove of interest and importance to a wide range of scholars.

Methodological Considerations

In his 1991 Social History of Ethiopia, Pankhurst claims that "Early historical data on Ethiopian children is so scant that it is almost as though they were neither seen nor heard."7 This is true, to a limited extent. There are so far as I know no medieval Ethiopian texts concerned specifically with the nature of childhood, the best meth- ods of raising children, or their special medical problems.8 Archival sources such as baptismal registrars or church records are similarly lacking. Nor does there appear to be an equivalent to the Arabic consolation treatises, which comfort the parents of a child who has died.9

However, Ge'ez hagiographies (gadlat) from the period between 1270 and 1527 contain a wealth of information about children and childhood.10 Historians of other regions and periods have, for some time, made use of hagiographic sources in their quest to reconstruct the history of childhood.11 There is no reason to believe that the Ethiopian material is inherently any less reliable than the sources upon which others have depended in their research.

6 Dorothy Abrahamse, "Images of Childhood in Early Byzantine Hagiography," The Journal of Psychohistory 6, 4 (1979), 512.

7 Pankhurst, Social History, 3. See also his article, "Childhood in Traditional Ethiopia: Work, Education and Preparation for Adult Life and Literacy," in Ulla Ehrensvard and Christopher Toll, eds., On Both Sides of Al-Mandab: Ethiopian, South Arabic and Islamic Studies Presented to Oscar Lofgren, Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, Transactions 2 (1989), 55.

8 Children do appear as patients brought by their parents to be healed by holy men or saints. 9 Cf. Avner Gil'adi, Children of Islam: Concepts of Childhood in Medieval Muslim Society

(New York, 1992). 10 This is the earliest period in Ethiopian history for which sufficient historical sources exist

to make such a study feasible. An in-depth analysis of this period many also serve as a starting point for a larger project extending into later periods.

II See e.g. Ann Moffatt, "The Byzantine Child," Social Research 53, 4 (1986), 705-23; Dorothy Abrahamse, "Images of Childhood in Early Byzantine Hagiography," The Journal of Psychohistory 6, 4 (1979), 497-517; Shulamith Shahar, "Infant, Infant Care and Attitudes Toward Infancy in the Medieval Lives of Saints," The Journal of Psychohistory 10, 3 (1983), 281-309; Michael Goodich, "Childhood and Adolescence among the Thirteenth-Century Saints," The Journal of Psychohistory 1, 2 (1973), 285-309; Mary Martin McLaughlin, "Survivors and Surrogates: Children and Parents from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Centuries," in Lloyd de Mause, ed., The History of Childhood (New York, 1975), 101-81; and several of the essays in Diane Wood, ed., The Church and Childhood (Oxford, 1994).

CHILDHOOD IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES 541

Indeed, many of the standard difficulties faced by the critical historian in the use of hagiographic texts can be bypassed in researching this particular subject.12 It is not our purpose, for example, to determine whether a particular event took place in the lifetime of one saint or another. Nor (at least for the moment) will we attempt to trace historical changes or regional differences within the medieval period. Accordingly, it is sufficient for our purposes to determine that such events were part of the milieu in which the saints operated.13

In some cases, moreover, we can add to our knowledge through recourse to other forms of literature. As discussed below, some of the most interesting infor- mation on children appears in theological texts that use the care of children as a metaphor.

Even when this material is included, however, the case should not be over- stated. The primary concern of hagiographic texts is by definition the saintly hero. Events were likely to have been invented or surpressed in an attempt to further his reputation.14 Since most saints were the male leaders of monastic communities, the hagiographic texts offer comparatively little information on female children, the way they were seen to differ from males, or the manner in which their early lives and education differed. Indeed, even in their depiction of male children, the young seldom speak except to utter words of precocious wisdom. For the time being at least, medieval Ethiopian children remain frequently seen, but rarely heard.

12 See the discussion of hagiographic sources for Ethiopian history in Steven Kaplan, The Monastic Holy Man and the Christianization of Early Solomonic Ethiopia (Wiesbaden, 1984), 1- 11. Scholars of Ethiopian history and literature remain divided as to whether and how hagiographic texts can be read as historical sources. To quote one anonymous reviewer of this paper, "What we get in Ethiopian literature is an insight not directly to Ethiopian historical reality . . . but an insight into an Ethiopian cleric's image of reality, where his concrete experience of life is mixed to the whole set of implications derived from the use of a 'dead' language ... [The] language, style, and contents of many of these texts are stereotyped, reflecting learning and acquired competence of the author, not so much his individual experience." The limits of this article do not permit a longer discussion of this topic. I remain, nevertheless, far more optimistic as to the historical value of these texts.

13 Here we are interested in what John Boswell has called "likely" facts, "used to impart an aura of reality and verisimilitude in a story, real or fictional," in The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (New York, 1988), 11, n. 15.

14 For a discussion of the "quicksand problem"-the frequent appearance of what were in reality comparatively rare events because of their dramatic plot value-see Boswell, Kindness, 6- 11.

542 STEVEN KAPLAN

Barrenness, Pregnancy, and Childbirth

In this paper, we shall consider only briefly the phenomena of pregnancy and childbirth.15 As might be expected, barrenness and difficult births are both familiar features in medieval Ethiopian gadlat. The barrenness of the saint's mother prior to his birth is a familiar motif in hagiographic texts and is often deployed as "a theatre for divine intervention which introduces the exceptional nature of the saint."16 It is a common but not universal theme in the birth narratives of the gadlat. Despite the widespread deployment of elements found in Biblical and standard hagiographic nativity stories, some saints are said to have been conceived and born with little fanfare. In other cases, the parents are said to have prayed, made a vow, or given to charity prior to the birth of their first child.17

Saints were often visited by barren women or their spouses and by those who had difficulties in pregnancy.18 The monastic holy man was, however, only one of a multitude of those who attempted to solve such problems. The pagan parents of Abba Matyas are said to have prayed to Mary for a child, promising to convert to Christianity if she heard their prayer. They also asked a priest to pray on their behalf.19 A childless woman who visited Abba Marha Krestos had spent five years seeking a cure for her troubles through other agencies.20 Of particular interest is the

15 Some of the issues associated with these phenomena have been treated by Robin Aronson, "Ethiopian Hagiography: The Contextual Matrix of the Infancy Narratives" (senior essay, Columbia University, Department of Religion, 1990). For a thought-provoking general study see Jacques Gelis, History of Childbirth: Fertility, Pregnancy and Birth in Early Modern Europe (Boston, 1991).

16 Aronson, "Ethiopian Hagiography," 25. 17 Stanislas Kur, ed., Actes de Iyasus Moa in Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum

Orientalium-Scriptores Aethiopici [hereafter cited as SCSO SA] 49 (Louvain, 1965), 7; Gadla Gabra Masqal, Fonds Conti Rossini MS 1 (Accademia Lincei, Rome) 1, f. 50r; Gadla Hesan Moa, Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library [hereafter cited as EMML] MS 4242 f. 3b (prayer); Paola Marrassini, ed., "II Gadla Matyas," Egitto e Vicino Oriente VI (1983), 301; Gadla Samra Krestos, Fonds Conti Rossini MS 88, f. 61v-62v (vow); Stanislas Kur, ed., Gadla Samuel of Dabra Wagag CSCO SA 2 (prayer and charity). The gadl of Aron is interesting in that the saint's father recounts such an episode when he visits a monk after the child's birth, but the written text does not include the story. Boris Turaiev, ed., Acta S. Aronis et S. Phillipi in CSCO SA 20 (Louvain, 1905), 121- 22. This may indicate another oral version of Aron's gadl. The most elaborate accounts concerning barrenness are in a number of texts associated with Dabra Libanos (cf. E.A.W. Budge, ed., The Life and Miracles of Takla Haymanot (London, 1906), 17-38, and in foreign texts.

18 See, for example, I. Wajnberg, ed., "Das Leben des hl. Jafqerena 'Egzi," Orientalia Christiana Analecta 106 (1936), 84-88; Stanislas Kur, ed., Actes de Marha Krestos in CSCO SA 59 (Louvain, 1979), 71-73, 106, 122-26; Taamera Iyasus Mo a, ff. 73v-74r; Marrassini, ed., Gadla Matyas, 3018; Budge, ed., Life and Miracle, 122, tells of woman who was pregnant for three years and seven months. Cf. however, Rossini, ed., Acta S. Basalota Mika'el et S. Anorewos, in CSCO SA 20, p. 109, in which a nun's miscarriage is viewed as a miracle.

19 Gadla Matyas, 301-02. 20 Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 122-23. Note that different editions and translations of the

Ethiopian lives of saints translate the Ethiopic Gadl into various languages and use the terms Actes, Acta, Leben, and so on. This is maintained in the first reference to a particular work. Subsequent citations are listed as Gadla (The Life of) in the interest of consistency and simplicity.

CHILDHOOD IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES 543

case of a woman who had lost three children despite giving birth at a monastery, but bore a healthy child at the grave of Saint Takla Haymanont.21

While the individual narratives must be treated with caution, barrenness was clearly a familiar phenomenon and considered a shameful condition for a woman and of concern to her family.22 Would-be parents express their desire for a child, noting their longing for an heir23 and someone to commemorate their tazkar.24

As noted above, the birth of a saint is usually claimed to have been preceded or accompanied by auspicious signs. The mother of the saint is also often described as having given birth painlessly,25 a motif whose greatest importance probably lies in its avowedly exceptional nature.26 Other women were not so fortunate, and several are said to have died while pregnant or while giving birth.27 The husband of a woman undergoing a particularly difficult labor asked an itinerant monk to read a

21 Budge, ed., Miracles of Takla Haymanot, 128. Another woman conceived after using water mixed with dust from the grave of the saint. Rather surprisingly, infant mortality does not play a major role in Ge'ez hagiography. This can hardly be because it was rare. Rather, I would suggest that whatever its frequency, it did not usually serve the purposes of the authors to expand on the subject. Their heroes had obviously not died at a young age, and miracle stories usually emphasized those saved by the saint, not those he failed to save.

22 Carlo Conti Rossini, ed., "II 'Gadla Filipos' ed il 'Gadla Yohannes' di Dabra Bizan," Memorie della Reale Accademia dei Lincei 8 (1901), 72. Simon Messing, "The Highland-Plateau Amhara of Ethiopia" (Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1957), 427, states that in the 20th century 25 percent of women were said to be barren and another 25 percent were said to have frequent miscarriages.

One of the most interesting questions related to the theme of this paper is the extent to which "modern" ethnographic data can be used to reconstruct patterns from earlier periods. For the present at least, I have been extremely cautious in using such information, limiting my use to cases in which modern sources appear similar to material cited in earlier texts. Although it is tempting to argue that Ethiopian social life changed rather slowly over centuries, it would be a grave error to assume such continuity. Indeed, the extent of change and continuity would appear to be one of the central unanswered questions posed by this endeavor.

23 Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 5. It should perhaps be noted in this context that texts from this period offer no evidence for adoption and fostering, both of which were widespread in later periods in Ethiopian history. Their "silence" on this topic should not, of course, be read as proof that it did not exist. Rather, it may not have served the purpose of these particular narratives.

24 Madelaine Schneider, ed., Actes de Za-Yohannes de Kebran in CSCO SA 63 (Louvain, 1972), 9; Kur, ed., Gadla Iyasus Mo'a, 7. Tazkar is the name given for memorial service observed on the twelfth, fortieth, and eightieth day after the funeral. Wolf Leslau, Comparative Dictionary of Ge'ez (Wiesbaden, 1987), 636.

25 Cf. the discussion of the birth of Jesus in Getatchew Haile, ed., The Mariology of Emperor Zar'a Ya'eqob of Ethiopia (Rome, 1992), 24.

26 Veronika Six, ed., Die Vita des Abuna Tadewos von Dabra Maryam (Wiesbaden, 1975), 52; in addition, no one had to cut the child's umbilical cord. Kur, ed., Gadla Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 3, Ta'amera Iyasus Mo'a, EMML-1940, f. 73b.

27 B. Turaiev, ed., Acta S. Fere Mika'el et S. Zar'a 'Abraham, in CSCO SA 23 (Louvain, 1905), 17; Six, ed., Gadla Tadewos of Dabra Maryam, 150.

544 STEVEN KAPLAN

prayer for her. Instead he gave her a mixture of water and dust from the grave of a saint.28 Somewhat more prosaically, a midwife sometimes assisted at the birth.29

Baptism and Naming

According to Ethiopian custom, a male child was baptized and named forty days after birth.30 This was in keeping with the Biblical custom of isolating the child and mother, who also underwent purification at this time.31 Surprisingly perhaps, there does not appear to have been any unity of practice as to who chose the child's name. The priest who performed the baptism appears to have frequently exercised this privilege, although the child's parents or a godfather may also have made the choice.32 The baptismal name appears to have been chosen on the basis of several possible considerations. Some, such as Filepos, were named for the saint on whose day they were baptized.33 One of the priests who baptized Yemrehanna Krestos (later Marha Krestos) planned to name him after his father (although it is not completely clear whether this refers to the saint's father or the priest's). Another wished to name the infant after the child's maternal grandfather. They were

28 Budge, ed., Miracles of Takla Haymanot, 121; Rossini, ed., Gadla Anorewos, 110; Carlo Conti Rossini, ed., Acta Sancti Abakerazun et Sancti Takla Hawaryat, in CSCO SA 24 (Louvain, 1910), 67, mentions a woman who went to live with her family prior to giving birth, cf. in the twentieth century, Messing, "Highland-Plateau Amhara," 428.

29 Kur, ed., Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 3. 30 The period was presumably eighty days in the case of a girl, although this is not clearly

stated in my sources. Children in danger of dying could apparently be baptized earlier, Getatchew, Mariology, 140.

31 Specific mention of the forty days is made in several texts including ed., Gadla Za- Yohannes, 6; Schneider, ed., Gadla Filepos of Dabra Bizan, 74; Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Takla Haymanot, EMML 1843, f. 5; Six, ed., Gadla Qawestos, National Library Addis Ababa, f. 21; Gadla Tadewos of Dabra Maryam, 66; Gadla Zena Marqos, EMML 3901, f. 6. Gadla Za-Yohannes, 6, explicitly connects this to the mother's purification although Gadla Takla Haymanot of Dabra Libanos, 42, makes a more general mention of the days of purification. Gadla Aron, 121 "After the days of their purity were completed." Cf. Carl Bezold, ed., Kebra Nagast (Munich, 1905), 67. This custom was, of course, common among many of the Eastern churches;see Jane Baum, "The Fate of Babies Dying before Baptism in Byzantium," in D. Wood, ed., The Church and Childhood, 117- 18.

32 Schneider, ed., Gadla Za-Yohannes, 7 (priest); Kur, ed., Gadla Samuel of Dabra Wagag, 5; Carlo Conti Rossini, "Gli atti di re Na'akuto La'ab" Annalia 2 (1943), 116-17 (godfather); Gadla Filepos of Dabra Bizan, 74; Gadla Basalota Mikael, 6 (mother). Kur, ed., Gadla Mama Krestos, 6. Gerard Colin, ed., "Vie de Samuel de Dabra Halleluya," CSCO 519 SA 93 (Louvain, 1990), 6 (parents). Hagiographers frequently took advantage of this opportunity to discuss the spiritual meaning of the saint's name. Paolo Marrassini, ed., Gadla Yohannes Mesraqawi (Firenze, 1982) LXI-LXII. The parents of the newborn were often expected to pay the clergy and prepare a feast. Those too poor to do so risked being refused baptism for their child. Haile, ed., Mariology, 136, 140.

33 Rossini, ed., Gadla Filepos, 74.

CHILDHOOD IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES 545

dissuaded only when the saint's mother claimed that his proper name had been revealed to her in a drearn.34

On occasion information is provided in the text as to designations other than the baptismal name. Aron was given the name Farrday by his parents, and then a second baptismal name, Aron, was given by the priest.35 The saint later known as Batargela Maryam was named Besen'a Maryam at his baptism, but his maternal grandmother called him Bartalomewos (Bartholomew) on account of her daughter's vision revealing that name.36 Takla Haymanot was called Fesseha Seyon, but was also know as Zar'a Yohannes.37

Although we can be relatively sure that male children were circumcised on the eighth day, according to Ethiopian and Biblical custom, only a handful of texts mention this.38 Infants also received the Eucharist at this time-a process described by the Portuguese: "The Ethiopians say that they give the Communion to young children in this manner: that is, they put the finger upon the sacrament and the blood, and then they put this finger in the mouth."39

Terminological Issues

There does not appear to be any one term in Ge'ez that easily translates as "baby" or "newborn." Wald (son, boy, child, young one) from the root walada (to give birth, beget, bear [a child], conceive, bring forth) appears often, but refers to the link with a parent, and is by no means limited to newborns or even the very young.40 Ne'us (small, little, minor, youth, younger) also carries a wide range of meanings stretching into early adulthood.41 Daqiq (little, young, child, son, servant, off-

34 Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 6. Cf. Gadla Na'akweto La'ab, 116-17, for a case of the name revealed to the godfather. Gadla Basalota Mika'el, 6, revealed to the father prior to conception. Getatchew Haile, "Power Struggle in the Medieval Court of Ethiopia: The Case of Batargela Maryam," Journal of Ethiopian Studies XV (1982), 26, the name revealed in a vision.

35 Turaiev, ed., Gadla Aron, 121. 36 Haile, ed., "Batargela Maryam", 43. 37 C. Carlo Rossini, ed., "II 'Gadla Takla Haymanot' secondo la redazione Waldebanna",

Memorie della Reale Accademia des Lincei ser. 5, 2 (1894) 103. 38 Gadla Zena Marqos, f. 5. Cf. in Gadla Za-Yohannes, 2 reference to a neighboring

uncircumcized" people. 39 C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford, eds., The Prester John of the Indies

(Cambridge: 1961), II, 354-55. Cf. n.1 40 Leslau, Dictionary, 613; C.F.A. Dillmann, Lexicon Linguae Aethiopicae (Lipsiae, 1865),

col. 1185-1887. Compare the comments on terms in Rob Meens, "Children and Confession in the Early Middle Ages," in D. Wood, ed., The Church and Childhood, 53-55. See also below for the use of this term in metaphorical expressions.

41 Leslau, Dictionary, 381; Dillmann, Lexicon, col. 664; ne's and ne'esenna both can mean "childhood" or "infancy." Abba Ezra of Gunda Gunde is said to have become a monk when he was still a child at age twelve, Andre Caquot, ed., "Gadla Ezra", Annales dEthiopie 4 (1961), 73; but cf. also "the husband of my youth" (ne's).

546 STEVEN KAPLAN

spring, disciple) appears to cover a similarly large spread of ages, and is certainly not limited to infants.42

Hesan (infant, young child, page) from the root hasana (hold in the lap, nurse, nourish, suckle, feed, rear) is the term most frequently used for the newborn.43 As might be expected, the nursing of the hesan is mentioned in a number of texts. Qawestos is said to have been nursed by the mother of Takla Haymanot, an appar- ent attempt to strengthen his connection with that prestigious saint.44 Basalota Mika'el is said to have grown until he reached the age at which he was weaned, which in the case of Endreyas is specifically stated to be three years.45 Ewostatewos, in contrast, is said to have grown through grace and not through mother's milk.46 One particularly interesting but exceptional episode concerns the royal child, Batergela Maryam.

After [a few months], the nurse of the small child fell sick, and they told [this] to his father. When the father of the child heard [this], he gave [an] order that they remove the nurse of the child to another place. They then gave the child many nurses. But he refused to suckle even an hour. When the father heard that the child refused to suckle, he brought back the earlier nurse of the child. Even when his earlier nurse came back, the child refused to suckle. The child grew up by the power of God, his God, and by the power of Our Holy Lady Twice Virgin Mary, his support. His father called the child and saw him and was pleased. He said to the nurse, "Did my son grow like this without suckling?" The nurse of the child said, "Yes, your son, my lord, grew without suckling. He did not suckle more than five months." When the father heard [this], he admired and said, "Truly, Our Holy Lady Twice Virgin Mary nursed this child of mine.... "47

This case nothwithstanding, nursing is not a prominent theme in the texts. Saints are not portrayed as assisting woman who have problems in this area, and wet-

42 Leslau, Dictionary, 140; Dillmann, Lexicon, col. 1099.

43 Throughout this paper I have kept transliterations of Ge'ez terms as simple as possible. I have chosen, therefore, the form hesan, rather than hetsan or other versions requiring diacritical marks.

44 Gadla Qawestos, 29; Six, ed., Gadla Tadewos, 294. Cf. also Schneider, ed., Za-Yohannes, 7.

45 Conti Rossini, ed., Basalota Mika'el, 6, Gadla Endreyas, Fonds Conti Rossini MS 84, f. 7r. Cf. Messing, "Highland-Plateau Amhara," 432 (two years); Donald Levine, Wax and Gold (Chicago, 1965), 220 (two to three years). Sagga Za'ab, Takla Haymanot's father, is said to have "cried like a child made to leave his mother's breast." Budge, ed., Gadla Takla Haymanot, 23.

46 B. Turaiev, ed., Acta S. Eustahii in Monumenta Aethiopiae Hagiologica III (Peterpoli, 1905), 5.

47 Haile, ed., Batargela Maryam 51 (tr.), 43(tx). See also Haile, ed., The Different Collections of Nags Hymns in Ethiopic Literature (Erlangen, 1983), 60, for a saint "who was nursed and grew by food of the Spirit."

CHILDHOOD IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES 547

nurses do not appear frequently in the texts. Mary is often depicted in Ethiopian art with the child Jesus, but is rarely shown nursing him.48

Behavior in the manner of infants (ser'atomu le-hesanat) is said to include crawling, stuttering speech, and crying. The author of Gadla Marha Krestos shows a particular sensitivity to this use of the term hesan. He employs it repeatedly, often contrasting particularly adult actions (making the sign of the cross) or statements (reminding his father of a vow) with normal childlike behavior such as crawling and standing while balancing by holding his father's knee.49 Finally, when Marha Krestos is consecrated as a deacon, the hagiographer concludes,

And now let us desist from calling him a hesan, for while he was a hesan in stature, he was great in knowledge and was consecrated as a deacon. [There is] a time to call him a hesan and a time to call him a deacon.... We shall return to calling him a deacon to recount the miracles that our Lord accom- plished by the hand of his servant. ...50

This author's statement that it is not fitting to call someone "great in knowl- edge" a hesan would seem to fit the general perception of this stage of life as one of innocence and a lack of understanding. The monks of Dabra Bizan are said to have pleaded for leniency for a disobedient boy saying, "Do not curse him, Our Father, for he is a child [hesan] and does not know ... ."51 It is said that Gabra Masqal was brought to Abba Samuel of Dabra Halleluya as "a young child [walda hesan] ... small [ne'us] and did not know good from evil."52 These and other examples would appear to indicate that one characteristic of the hesan was his lack of judgment and responsibility.53

Despite the popularity of hesan as a designation for infants, it clearly was not limited to this meaning and covered a range of ages that extends throughout infancy to adolescence. Gadla Za-Yohannes refers to a young boy (hesan), who had not yet

48 Cf. the comments by Marilyn Heldman in Roderick Grierson, ed., African Zion (New Haven and London, 1993), 187-88.

49 Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 6-8. Cf. Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Basalota Mika'el, hegga daqiqa (the law of children). The depiction of the saint as an extraordinary child is, of course, a common hagiographic theme. See Marrassini, ed., Yohannes Mesraqawi, lxiii-lv, and more generally, E. R. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. W.R. Trask (London, 1952), 98-105. What is noteworthy here is the mixing of behaviors. It should also be noted that saintly children are rarely if ever quoted as speaking as children.

50 Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 9. 51 Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Filepos, 109. 52 Kur, ed., Gadla Samuel, 13.

53 Boris Turaiev, ed., Acta S. Fere Mikae'el et S. Zar'a Abraham in CSCO SA, 23 (Louvain, 1905), 24, reports on a hesan who maliciously breaks a bird's wings. The hesan's lack of knowledge and inability to sin (?) would explain the fact that young children received communion before adults and were not required to purify themselves through confession. Cf. Steven Kaplan, "The Social and Religious Functions of the Eucharist in Medieval Ethiopia," (forthcoming), and infra.

548 STEVEN KAPLAN

reached adolescence.54 Krestos Samra is said to have been accompanied on her journey to a monastery by a young servant, referred to as a hesan; certainly not an infant.55 Gadla Ewostatewos similarly tells of two hesanat, journeying on their own, who died shortly after being brought to the saint.56

Often hesan seems to have the quasi-legal sense of a "minor."'57 Basalota Mika'el is said to have fled to a monastery when his father wished to "give him a wife." The abbot of the monastery was reluctant to accept him as a novice because he was still a hesan.58 As a hesan (again, minor and clearly not "infant"), he is also depicted as travelling the roads on his own.59 Thus, while it appears that hesan may be the term closest to the English "baby" or "infant," its meanings are clearly not limited to the youngest of children or to a single chronological stage of life.

Education and Discipline at Home

As we would expect, medieval Ethiopian society had no frameworks designed especially for children. As a result, infants were constantly underfoot. At times, such as when taken to church, they were placed in a leather carrier.60 At this early age, children may well have spent much of their time with their mothers, even after they had been weaned. Wondrous stories in which the future saint is present at the preparation of food (and miraculously multiplies the quantity) may offer a hint that children were largely confined to the domestic realm.61 More mundane, perhaps, is the case of a woman whose young child climbed into the oven while she was preparing to bake food.62

Children (primarily boys)63 usually began their "formal" education between the ages of five and seven.64 As Pankhurst has noted, "Schooling, in the Christian areas, was entirely vested in the Church, and was carried out by the clergy.'65 In many cases, however, education began at home with a father or other relative who was a member of the clergy.

54 Schneider, ed., Gadla Za-Yohannes, 22. I hope to deal with the topics of "youth" and adolescence in a later paper, which will also consider courtship, matchmaking, and marriage.

55 Enrico Cerulli, ed., Atti di Krestos Samra in CSCO SA 33, (Louvain, 1956) 13. 56 Turaeiv, ed., Gadla Ewostatewos, 30. 57 Leslau, Dictionary, 226. 58 Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Basalota Mika'el, 8-9. This is, perhaps, a reference to child

betrothal. 59 Ibid. 60 Ta'amera Iyasus Mo'a, f. 74.

61 Ibid., 44ff.

62Ibid., 117. 63 But cf. Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Filepos, 71. 64 Gadla Zena Marqos, f. 6b, Schneider, ed., Gadla Za-Yohannes, 7; Kur, ed., Gadla Samuel

of Dabra Wagag, 7. Cf. Colin, ed., Gadla Samuel, 6, who after being taught at home reached "the age to be taught."

65 Pankhurst, Social History, 3.

CHILDHOOD IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES 549

Ordination of young children and even infants as deacons was not unusual in Ethiopia. Since the Egyptian Abuna was the only official allowed to consecrate clergy, the Ethiopians constantly feared that his death and the lack of a timely replacement would leave them clergyless. Consecrations of both priests and deacons were therefore conducted en masse as Alvarez describes.

The children who can neither speak nor walk [among them] are carried by men in their arms, because women cannot enter into the church, and their wailing is like kids in a yard without the mothers, when they are taken away they are dying of hunger, because they finish the service at the hour of Vespars; and they are without food because they are to receive communion. The little children of such an age we know they cannot read, and of the bigger ones there are few who can read . Then follows the mass, and at the end of it they give communion to all of them, and the danger of the little ones is an amazing thing, for even by force of water they cannot make them swallow the Sacrament (because it is of coarse dough), because of their tender age, and their crying.66

As we have seen, several hagiographic texts offer confirmation of the consecration of such youthful deacons. Samuel of Waldebba was sent to study with a priest. He became a deacon and served in the church, but cried and wept because he was still a child.67 Alvarez also reports that children were often included in the Church's fasts, noting that his informants told him that "most women do not give milk to their chil- dren [during the three-day fast of Nineveh] more than once a day."68

In addition to their Christian education, young boys also learned the skills they would need in daily life. Za-Yohannes, Takla Haymanot, Takla Hawaryat, Gabra Endreyas, and Zar'a Abreham all learned to hunt and shoot with a bow while receiving a Christian education.69 Filmona is, however, said to have guarded his father's flocks, while a brother studied the psalms.70 Other saints are depicted as

66 Beckingham and Huntingford, Prester John, II, 354-55. Cf. n. 1 Communion in the Ethiopian Church could only be received by those who were pure in the eyes of the Church and was usually proceeded by confession. Since infants received communion, it appears to indicate that they were viewed as sinless once they had been baptized.

67B. Turaiev, ed., Vita Samuelis Valdebani (Petropoli, 1902) 1; B. Turaiev, ed., Gadla Filepos, 175.

68 Beckingham and Huntingford, Prester John, II, 354-55., 390. Cf. n. 1 "The Ethiopians say that children of seven and less years do not fast . .. the Ethiopians say that during the said three days . .. some people are so severe that besides babies at the breast, they make even the beasts fast."

69 Schneider, ed., Gadla Za-Yohannes, 8; Ta'amra Gabra Endreyas, EMML 654, f. 2; Turaiev, ed., Gadla Zara Abreham, 17; Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Takla Hawaryat, 69 (also riding horses). Cf. Pankhurst, Social History, 3-4. Ewostatewos, in contrast, is said not to have played with other children when growing up. Turaiev, ed., Gadla Ewostatewos, 9.

70 M. de La Fuye, ed., Actes de Filmona in CSCO SA 35 (Louvain, 1958) 7-8; Cf. also Gadla Hesan Mo'a, f. 5a.

550 STEVEN KAPLAN

accompanying their fathers on journeys, an experience probably intended to famil- iarize them with different aspects of the roles that awaited them.71

Discipline for those who failed to meet expectations was often harsh. The father of Filepos of Dabra Libanos is said to have beaten him severely for offending their pagan neighbors and Marha Krestos's father seems to have viewed physical punishment as an important educational method.72 While these specific examples must be considered with caution and may have only applied to older children deemed responsible for their actions, more telling is a comment in the Miracles of Gabra Endreyas. The young saint is said to have obeyed his abbot "as a son obeys his father."73

Oblation and Children in Monasteries

Not all boys were raised and educated while living with their families. Some were sent to monasteries to be educated with an understanding that, should they desire, they could leave and return to the secular world. Maba Seyon, for example, was sent as a young boy to a monastery, where he learned to write, paint, chant, and pray. Later, when his kinsfolk wished him to marry, he refused to leave the monastery and eventually became a monk.74 Samuel of Dabra Wagag, placed in a monastery at age seven, was asked at a later date to make a choice between his lay father's way of life and monasticism.75 Another case of a child who was intended for only a short stay was a young boy who arrived at the Kebran monastery. He disobeyed Abba Za-Yohannes and was struck down. Later, the abbot pardoned him but decreed that he would not inherit from his father, but serve in the monastery.76

Others were dedicated to the church at an early age and were expected to live out their lives in monasteries. A boy who grew up in the monastery of Dabra Hayq apparently objected to his circumstances and fled.77 The precise circumstances behind such oblations, or religious offerings, appear to have varied. Some children were promised to the church before their birth;78 while others were sent to the monastery following the death of a parent, usually their mother. In some cases,

71 Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 10. 72 Turaiev, ed., Gadla Filepos of Dabra Libanos, 183; Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 13. Cf.

Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Basalota Mikael, 7. 73 Gadla Endreyas, Fonds Conti Rossini, MS 84, f. 3b. Cf. Gadla Madhanina Egzi', Fonds

Conti Rossini 13, f. 8v. 74 E.A.W. Budge, ed., The Life of Maba' Seyon (London, 1898), 4. Cf. Turaiev, ed., Gadla

Fere Mika'el, 4.

75 Kur, ed., Gadla Samuel, 7; cf. Colin, ed., Gadla Samuel, 6-7. Marha Krestos, who remained at home well into adolescence, appears in contrast to have been intended by his parents for a monastic life. Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 13-14.

76 Schneider, ed., Gadla Za-Yohannes, 22.

77Ta'amera Iyasus Mo'a, f. 82b. R. Basset, ed., "Vie d'Abba Yohanni," Bull. de correspondence africaine 11 (1884), 446, reports the unusual case of a child, abandoned after his mother was raped, who was taken into a monastery.

78 Wajnberg, ed., Gadla Yafqerrenna Egzi, 84.

CHILDHOOD IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES 551

parents who themselves chose the monastic life directed their children to the same vocation. Abba Isayayas was given to a monastery as an "offering" (maba') after both his parents entered monasteries.79 Abba Abakarazun and his brother Nob were given to a monastery by their widowed mother, who became a nun.80

The gadl of Abba Basalota Mika'el offers a particularly interesting account of a boy's dedication to the church. After numerous attempts to prevent his son's entry into a monastery, the father appears to have resigned himself to his son's wishes. Accompanied by a servant, the boy attempted to enter monasteries permanently, but was refused.81 Finally, the his father brought him to a church dedicated to the Arch- angel St. Mikael (Michael). There he cut his son's ear with a blade (the mark of a slave) while saying, "Take him that he may be your servant [or slave] and serve you in the church until the day of his death." The boy replied, "I am not the slave of Mikael, but (I am) the slave of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom I give my spirit and my flesh. "82 Other texts offer similar dedicatory speeches. Isayayes's father said, "Take this child [hesan], for I surrender him to my father Estifanos that he may be a gift to God."83 In Gadla Aron we read: "Behold, I consecrate him to God that he may serve and be devoted in the house of God all the days of his life. ..84.

Whatever their circumstances (and no one pattern appears to dominate), young boys were a common feature of monastic life. As Pankhurst has noted, a group of Portuguese who visited the famous monastery of Dabra Bizan n 1520 reported "that they saw 'some twelve to fifteen' orphan boys of from ten or fourteen years of age whom the priests were bringing up."85 The gadl of Filepos of Dabra Bizan, who lived a century earlier, also specifically mentions that monastery's practice of taking in orphans.86 One young boy (hesan) who failed to show proper respect to Filepos paid for it with his life.87

Indeed such first-hand contact with children may account in part for some of the verisimilitude found in hagiographic accounts of childhood. The author of

79 Aleksander Ferenc, ed., "Les Actes d'Isaie de Gunda-Gunde," Annales dEthiopie 10 (1976), 244-45; Leslau, Dictionary, 114, "offering to God or to church, bringing in, gift, oblation." Cf. Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Filepos, 75; Turaiev, ed., Gadla Samuel, 3; R. de Santis, ed., "II Gadla Tadewos di Dabra Bartarwa," Annali Lateranensi 6 (1942), 18-22. Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Abakarazun, 6. On oblation in the west, see Boswell, Kindness, 228-55, 296-321.

80 Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Abakarazun, 6. This appears to have been a last resort. First, her husband did not inherit his father's position as a local official. He returned home and died. After the death of her husband, the woman returned to the house of her father. When he too died, she place her sons in a monastery and then entered a convent.

81 In both cases the monks were willing to serve as his teacher, i.e., to accept him conditionally as a novice.

82 Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Basalota Mikael, 12. For the case of a child who had his face cut as part of his dedication to the Virgin, see Haile, ed., "Batergela Maryam," 28.

83 Ferenc, ed., Gadla Isayayas, 244-45. 84 Turaiev, ed., Gadla Aron, 121. 85 Pankhurst, Social History, 3. Cf. Beckingham and Huntingford, eds., Prester John, 88. 86 Conti Rossini, ed., Filepos, 93. -

87 Ibid., 109.

552 STEVEN KAPLAN

Gadla Takla Haymnanot, for example, strikes an authentic note when he states that the young saint sometimes stamnmered like a child.88 And we read in Gadla Zar'a Abreham of a young boy (hesan) who maliciously broke the wings of a bird.89

Monks in turn were well known to children. In Mugar a gathering of adoles- cent youths (warazut) played, with each group chanting out its loyalty to a different group of monks. One youth who mocked Marha Krestos was severely punished.90

Childhood as Metaphor

Our knowledge of children and childhood is not derived solely from hagiographic works or direct description of children. The medieval Ethiopian authors at times revealed their understanding of children in their metaphorical use of the experience of childhood and especially the parent-child connection to describe other situations. These descriptions may not only deepen our understanding of parenting but also shed light on other aspects of Ethiopian society.

God's caring for Abraham is, for example, said to be similar to that of a mother: "When she gives birth to a child, [she] bathes it with water, cleans its blood from its nostrils and mouth, lets it suck milk from her breasts . . ."91 In the life of Saint Basalota Mika'el, his soft skin is compared to that of an infant, and the Patriarch is said to have rejoiced at receiving the saint's relics "like an infant who rejoices when he sees his mother."92 Sagga Za'ab, Takla Haymanot's father is said to have "cried like a child made to leave his mother's breast. "93

The parent-child connection, or more specifically that of father to son, was commonly used to describe the relationship between abbots and their monks. The language of "spiritual kinship," with its father, children, sons, etc., is so common that it goes almost unnoticed in most discussions. It should, however, be noted that believers and disciples were frequently referred to as daqiqa (children of) or walda (sons of) a particularly religious leader.

The son-father relationship also served as a model for correct behavior. We have noted how Gabra Endreyas is said to have obeyed his abbot "as a son obeys his father. 94 Abba Yostinos admonished his followers "as a father admonishes his

88 Gadla Takla Haymanot, 51.Cf. Turaiev, ed., Gadla Aron, 122-23, for a similar comment on the infant Jesus.

89 Turaiev, ed., Gadla Zar'a Abreham, 24. A monk took the bird to the saint, who healed it. 90 Kur, ed., Gadla Marha Krestos, 142. 91 Getatchew Haile, ed., The Epistle of Humanity of Emperor Zara Ya'eqob in CSCO SA

95, (Louvain, 1991), 18. 92 C. Conti Rossini, ed., Acta S. Basalota Mika'el et S. Anorewos in CSCO SA 20 (1905),

24, 53. Cf. also Ibid. 24 "like an infant lying and gazing at his mother."

93 Budge, ed., Gadla Takla Haymanot, 23.

94 Gabra Endreyas, f. 3b. Cf. Gadla Madhanina Egzi', Fonds Conti Rossini 13, f. 8v.

CHILDHOOD IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIAN HAGIOGRAPHIES 553

children" 95 Samuel of Dabra Wagag is said to have loved two converts like their father and mother.96

Monks were said to have been "born" from a particular monastery, which was then their home (leda bet; literally "birth house"). Catechumens (weluda beta krestiyan), the baptized (weluda temqat), and the faithful (weluda haymanot) were all referred to by terms redolent with birth and filial relations.97 Believers who established a special relationship with a holy man put themselves under his protec- tion ('amhasana, from the root hasana/hasan discussed in some detail above).98

Such terms may also be found beyond discussions of monastic life. In a telling passage from the fourteenth century, the Emperor Amda Seyon appeals to his soldiers, reminding them that he "nourished [hesankukemu -lit., "I nursed you"] and brought you up ['alhaqukemu]...." Later in the same text they respond, "You nourished us [hesankana] and brought us up ['alhaqana] . . ."99 Such frequent uses of parent-child metaphors may reflect the oft-cited Ethiopian propensity towards hierarchical relationships and certainly deserve further investigation. 10

I began this paper by noting the need for further work in the social history of traditional Ethiopia, despite scepticism about the possibility of examining the history of children and childhood in certain periods. Whatever the verdict may be as to the quality of the present effort, I hope it has dispelled claims that such a history cannot be written. Indeed, further work on this topic and others may prove enlight- ening. This article has not only shed some light on issues such as childbirth, naming, terms used in descibing children, and oblation, it has also shown that the image of the child and of the parent-child relationship extended into Ethiopia's monasteries, religious life, and political-military vocabulary. The last of these points is perhaps the most intriguing and deserves further investigation. It offers the possiblity that a proper social history of traditional Ethiopia may be not merely an interesting adjunct to work already done in political and ecclesiatical history, but a new strand to be interwoven to the benefit of all.

95Getatchew Haile, ed., "The Life of Abuna Yostinos," Analecta Bollandiana 101 (1983), 314.

96 Kur, ed., Gadla Samuel, 17 97 Cf. Leslau, Dictionary, 613; Dillman, Lexicon, col. 886-888, and the comments on wald

(son, boy, child, young one) and walda (to give birth, beget, bear [a child]) above. 98 Leslau, Dictionary, 335; Dillman, Lexicon, col. 139. Cf. Conti Rossini, ed., Gadla Takla

Hawaryat, 77, 82. 99 Jules Perruchon, "Histoire des guerres d'Amda Seyon, roi d'Ethiopie," Journal Asiatique

ser. 8, 14 (1889), 400, 410. As this example indicates, the Ethiopian Royal Chronicles may also prove a valuable source for the exploration of social history. See James McCann, "The Ethiopian Chronicles: An African Documentary Tradition," Northeast African Studies 1, 1 (1979), 47-61. It is difficult to know if the Aksumite official known as hasani should be considered in this context. While some scholars have derived it from the root hsn, others believe it to be an Agaw term. Cf. C. Conti Rossini, La langue des Kemant en Abyssinie (Vienna, 1912), 171.

100 For an enlightening recent discussion of the use of the husband-wife metaphor see Margot Lovett, "On Power and Powerlessness: Marriage and Political Metaphor in Colonial Western Tanzania," The International Journal of African Historical Studies 27 (1994), 273-301.