6 - Abba Bahrey’s Zenahu le Galla and its Impact on Emperor Za-Dengel’s War against the Oromo, 1603−1604

Summary

Zenahu le Galla, Abba Bahrey's singularly most popular manuscript, which has been quoted several times in this study, deserves serious consideration. As will be shown further in the chapter, although Bahrey authored other works, it was Zenahu le Galla that made him very famous and a significant intellectual in the country during the second half of the sixteenth century. His manuscript was and remains one of the most original documents in Ethiopian historiography. However, three points should be made before advancing further. First, although the main focus of this chapter is examining the importance of Zenahu le Galla, it also attempts to explore briefly other works of Abba Bahrey, especially some of the prayers he marshalled against the Oromo. Second, in this chapter I have drawn on my previous short articles on Abba Bahrey. Third, the title of Abba Bahrey's manuscript in its original Geez language is Zenahu le Galla, which is translated as ‘History of the Galla’. ‘Ethnography of the Galla’ or ‘News about the Galla’. However, according to Getatchew Haile, the Geez term Zena ‘has multiple meanings such as news, epistle, prophesy, deed, narrative, and so forth’. In this chapter, Zenahu le Galla, ‘History of the Galla’ and ‘News about the Galla’ are used interchangeably.

Zenahu le Galla, written in 1593 contains the first detailed description of pastoral Oromo population movement of the sixteenth century and its impact on the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia together with their history and their social organization. As the first detailed study of Oromo social organization of the time, Zenahu le Galla makes unprecedented claim to authority on pastoral Oromo population movements during the second half of the sixteenth century. It also contains the first rational thorough analysis of the class structure of the Christian society of his time, which demonstrates Bahrey's deep knowledge about his society and how he used that knowledge effectively for educating the elite at the court of Emperor Sarsa Dengel. As the first detailed historical document that dramatically presents the impact of Oromo warfare on the Christian kingdom, Bahrey's manuscript has been the most widely read and referenced source on Ethiopian history in general and early Oromo history in particular. The manuscript has been translated into three major European languages, German, French and English. It was first translated from Geez into Amharic in the 1940s.