The Past and Present Society

Abyssinian Feudalism
Author(s): Donald Crummey
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Past & Present, No. 89 (Nov., 1980), pp. 115-138
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM*
CONCEPTS OF FEUDALISM HAVE BEEN FREQUENTLY INVOKED BY OBSER-
versof the Ethiopianscene. Fromthenineteenth centurywhensuch
conceptsemerged,European scholarsand have frequently
travellers
used themin referring to Abyssiniansociety.1Ethiopianshave also
begunto applythem.2Recentworkhas tendedto sharpentheapplica-
bilityoffeudalconceptsbothbyan appreciation ofthewidercompara-
tiveframework, and by a closeracquaintancewiththeAmharaseg-
mentof theAbyssinianwhole.3
The parallelsbetweenthe traditionalAbyssiniansocial orderand
themedievalEuropeannormoffeudalism arestriking: that
so striking
bothliberalandMarxiansocialthoughtseemat a pointofconvergence
in applyingnotionsof feudalismto an analysisofAbyssinianreality.
For an Ethiopianist,readingBloch can be seductiveand hallucina-
to drawattentionto
tory.4AllanHoben was one of thefirstexplicitly
theapplicabilityofBloch,and thesolidityofHoben'sworkinvitesthe
development ofa moreextendedapplication.InspiredbytheMarxian
traditiona numberofotherwritershavebegunto discussthemodeof
productionin Ethiopia,as distinctfrommattersof social styleand
* Versionsofthis
paperhavebeenpresentedto theAfricanStudiesSeminar,McGill
University, January1976, to the annual meetingof theAfricanStudiesAssociation,
Boston,November1976, and to a symposiumon "Cultivatorand the State in I're-
ColonialAfrica",Urbana,May 1977. I am particularly gratefulto Donald Ievine and
JohnM. Cohen fortheircarefuland challengingreadings.
1 For example, Arnauld d'Abbadie, Douze ans dans la Haute-Ethiopie (Paris,
I 868); C. ContiRossini,Principidi dirittoconsuetudinario dell'Eritrea(Rome, I 916);
E. Cerulli, "Punti di vista sulla storia dell'Etiopia", in Atti del convegnointer-
nazionale di studietiopici(Rome, 1960); P. Gilkes,The DyingLion: Feudalismand
Modernizationin Ethiopia (London, 1975). JohnMarkakishas been morehesitant
thanmost:J.Markakis,Ethiopia: The Anatomyofa Polity(Oxford,1974), p. 4; and
themostvigorousdissent:G. Ellis,"The Feudal Paradigmas
Gene Ellis has registered
a Hindranceto Understanding Ethiopia",Jl. Mod. AfricanStudies,xiv (1976), pp.
275-95.
2 Eshetu Chole, "The Mode of Productionin Ethiopiaand theRealitiesThereof",
Challenge:Jl. EthiopianStudentsUnioninNorthAmerica,xii (197 1),pp. 3-28;Addis
Hiwet,EthiopiafromAutocracyto Revolution(London, 1975); ProvisionalMilitary
Administrative Council[Ethiopia],The EthiopianRevolution... FirstAnniversary of
theEthiopianRevolution(AddisAbaba, 1975).
3 A. Hoben, Land TenureamongtheAmhara ofEthiopia: The Dynamicsof Cog-
natic Descent (Chicago, 1973); W. Weissleder,"The Political Ecology of Amhara
Domination" (Univ. of Chicago Ph.D. thesis,1965); D. N. Levine, Wax and Gold
(Chicago, I965); D. N. Levine, GreaterEthiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic
Society(Chicago, 1974), ch. 8. See also F. C. Gamst,"Peasantriesand Eliteswithout
Urbanism:The Civilizationof Ethiopia", ComparativeStudies in Societyand Hist.,
xii (I970), pp. 373-92.
4 M. Bloch,Feudal Society,2nd edn., 2 vols. (London, I962).

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II6 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

superstructure.5 Their suggestionsabout the feudal nature of the

Abyssinianmodeof productionalso deservediscussionand develop-
ment.Most particularly the Marxiantrendhas forcefully raisedthe
conceptof class, a conceptwhichshouldbe takenmoreseriouslyby
studentsofAbyssiniansociety.
However,althoughtheMarxianand liberalschoolsdo convergein
applyingfeudalconcepts,thoseconceptshave different contentand
are appliedin differentways.Moreoverneitherschoolhas pressedits
conceptsveryhard,and theensuingargumentwillregistera number
of seriousqualifications.
I mustalso notethatmyown analysisis pre-
liminaryin that,whileit restson a considerablebodyofprimaryand
secondaryinformation, it suffers
fromthepresentinadequatestateof
research.As yet our historicalknowledgeof Abyssiniansocietyis
sketchy;and verylittleresearch,particularly historical,has been in-
formedby questionspertinentto the presentdiscussion.Finally,it
shouldbe admittedthat,in itsconcernformodels,and forbasic con-
tinuities,thispaper has a certainstaticqualitywhichcontrastswith
the normalproductof historicalresearch.This paper searchesfor
neitheroriginsnorchange,but rathertriesto establishthatwhichre-
quireshistoricalexplanation,and to depictthecontextofchange.
"Feudalism"has had a chequeredcareerin studiesofsub-Saharan
Africa.Social anthropologistshaveoccasionallyevokedit,butattacks
byGoodyand Beattiein theearly196osdroveitintoa disfavourfrom
whichit has yetto emerge.6HistoriansofAfricatendto borrowsuch
littletheoryas theyuse fromsocial anthropologists, and have em-
ployedfewcomparative ortheoreticalconcepts.Nonetheless notionsof
"feudalism"neverwhollydisappeared,beingspasmodicallyused by
representativesofboththeliberalsocialscienceand theMarxiantradi-
tions,althoughthelatterhavebeenvirtually as reticent
as theformer.7
s EshetuChole, "The Mode of Productionin Ethiopiaand theRealitiesThereof".
See also Haile Menkerios,"The PresentSystemof Land Tenure in Ethiopia", Chal-
lenge,x (1970), pp. 4-24; Dessalegn Ramahto,"Conditionsof the EthiopianPeas-
antry",Challenge,x(I970), pp. 25-49; Addis Hiwet,EthiopiafromAutocracyto
Revolution. See also M. Stahl, Ethiopia: Political Contradictionsin Agricultural
Development(Polit.ScienceAssoc.in Uppsala,Pubn. no. 67, Stockholm,1974). Some
of myargumentswerefirstoutlinedin my"Society and Ethnicityin the Politicsof
ChristianEthiopiaduringtheZamana Masdfent",Internat.Jl.AfricanHist.Studies,
viii(1975), pp. 266-78.
6
J.Goody,"Feudalismin Africa",Jl.AfricanHist., iv (1963), pp.1-18; J.Beattie,
"Bunyoro:An AfricanFeudality?",Jl. AfricanHist., v (1964), pp. 25-36. Somewhat
overlookedhas beenGoody'smorecogent"Economyand FeudalisminAfrica",Econ.
Hist. Rev., 2nd ser.,xxii(1969), pp. 393-405.
7 R. Cohen, "The
DynamicsofFeudalismin Bornu",inJ.Butler(ed.),AfricanHis-
tory(Boston Univ. Paperson Africa,ii, Boston,Mass., 1966), pp. 87-105; A. Smith,
"The EarlyStatesoftheCentralSudan", in J.F. A. Ajayiand M. Crowder(eds.),His-
toryof WestAfrica,2 vols. (London and New York, 1971-2), i, pp. 175-6, 189-90;
WalterRodney,How Europe Underdeveloped Africa(London and Dar es Salaam,
1972), ch. 2; C. Coquery-Vidrovitch, "Recherchessur un mode de productionafri-
cain", Pensee (Apr. 1969),pp. 61-78; M. Malowist,"The Social and EconomicStabi-
(cont. onp. 118)

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM II7

0 50 100 150miles

0 )5 100 150kilometres

Land 2000 metresor

moreelevation f

/
(

Io

Language Area
I Tegrenni
Amharic

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 II8 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

The Africandebateoriginallycentredon theEast Africanlacustrine

zone,and thereare no signsofa seriousrevivaloftheconceptthere.8
On the otherhand the centralSudan, especiallynorthernNigeria,
seemsmorefertile groundand one waitsimpatiently forthehistorians
ofthearea to deal at lengthwithsocialstructure.9
Onlywhenthathas
beendonewillfruitful internaltoAfricabecomepossible.
comparisons
However,fromthebeginning, twofactorsdo seemto differentiatethe
Sudanicstatesand societiesfromhistoricAbyssinia:thegreaterimpor-
tancefortheSudanicstatesofbothethnicpluralismand long-distance
trade.Ethnicpluralismthroughout theSudanic beltis surelyintima-
telyrelatedto thecomparative weakness ofpoliticalandsocialintegra-
tionthroughout the historicperiod;an integration renderedtheless
urgentbythegreatimportance oflong-distance tradeforruling-class
supportin thearea.10
Ethnicpluralismleads to a preliminary pointabouttheEthiopian
past: theapplicabilityofthetermAbyssinia.It willbe arguedthatthis
termis usefulin isolatingan area of closelyintegratedcommoncul-
ture,whichin turnreflects theexistenceofone historicsocialforma-
tion. Recentstudieshave concentrated on the Amhara,and tendto
viewsocietyand polityas Amharacreations,explicablebyreference to
Amharaculture." There are somegroundsforthis.Since the thir-
teenthcenturytheAmharahave been thedominantethnicgroupin
Ethiopia.The Solomonicdynastywhichruledfrom1270 to 974 was
(tOte 7 COllt.

lityof theW'esternSudan in theMiddle Ages",Past and Present,no. 33 (Apr. 1966),

pp. 3-I5; E. Gellner,"Class beforeState: The SovietTreatmentof AfricanFeudal-
ism",Archiveseuropeennesde sociologie,xviii(I 977), pp. 299-322.
8 S. Karugire,A Historyof the Kingdom of Nkore in WesternUganda to 1896
(Oxford,1971), ch.I; E. Steinhart,"Vassal and Fiefin Three LacustrineKingdoms",
Cahiersd'etudesafricaines,vii (1967), pp. 606-23. But see also Coquery-Vidrovitch,
"Recherchessur un modede productionafricain",p. 70.
9 See Smith,"The EarlyStatesoftheCentralSudan". See also A. Hopkinsapropos
the social dimensionof the greatjihad: A. Hopkins,An EconomicHistoryof West
Africa(London, 1973),p. 134note26. ButcomparewithM. G. Smith,Government in
Zazzau, I800-I950 (London, 1960); V. N. Low, ThreeNigerianEmirates:A Studyin
Oral History(Evanston,Ill., 1972).
10S. Amin,Le developpement inegal:essaisurlesformations socialesdu capitalisme
peripherique(Paris, 1973), ch. I; S. Amin,"Underdevelopment and Dependencein
Black Africa:HistoricalOrigin",Jl. Peace Research[Oslo], ii (1972), pp. 107-8; L.
Brenner,"The NorthAfricanTrading Communityin theNineteenth-Century Cen-
tralSudan", in D. McCall and N. Bennett(eds.),Aspectsof WestAfricanIslam (Bos-
ton Univ. Papers on Africa,v, Boston,Mass., 1971), pp. 137-50. As exemplified by
Samir Amin,a good deal ofMarxistattentionhas goneintothequestionoftrade;see
also Coquery-Vidrovitch, "Recherchessurun modede productionafricain";G. Dupre
and P.-P. Rey, "Reflectionson the Pertinenceof a Theory of the Historyof Ex-
change",Economyand Society,ii (1973), pp. 131-63.But see WalterRodney'sstric-
tures against exaggeratingthe importanceof trade: Rodney,How Europe Under-
developedAfrica,p. 66.
11The tendencyis a generalone. D. N. Levine seemsto hoveruneasilybetween
the Abyssinianwhole and the Amharasegment.For the latter,see Levine,Greater
Ethiopia,pp. 148-52, 175; forthe former, see ibid.,p.I18.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM II9

an Amharadynasty;and was perceivedto be so by its subjects.Am-

haric is knownas lesana negus ("the king'slanguage"). Neverthe-
less ideology,socialstructure,land tenure,popularcustomand relig-
ion weresharedovera widerarea bya numberofpeoples:principally
bytheTegrenniia-speakers to thenorth;and also by theAgawofWag
and Lasta. Abyssiniais themostusefultermwe have to describethe
geographicalarea overwhichthiscommonality prevailed.
Mostcrudely,Abyssiniain thissensecouldbe definedas thatquad-
rantof modernEthiopialyingnorth-west ofAddisAbaba, consisting
of thehistoricterritoriesofTegre (heretakenin itsbroadestsenseto
compriseall the territories occupiedby Tegreifina-speakers, thusin-
cludinga triangularsectionof Eritrea,the apex of whichwould lie
nearAsmara,and thebase ofwhichwouldlie alongthemodernborder
ofTegre),Bagemder,Wallo,Gojjamand Shawa. These territories are
generallycontainedwithin,but are smallerthan,themodernprovin-
ces of thesame name.The discrepancy betweenhistoricterritory and
modernprovinceis moststriking in thecase ofShawa, theAbyssinian
partsof whichare a comparatively smallpartof the modernwhole,
lyinggenerallymuchto thenorthofAddisAbaba,butextending down
eastwardsof the cityin a narrowstripalong the RiftValleyescarp-
ment.Walloalso raisespeculiarproblems, butat theveryleastI would
wantto includeitsdistricts ofWag,Lasta, Yajju, Wadla,Dalanta and
SayntwithinAbyssinia.The purposeof thisdefinition is to givegeo-
graphicalprecision to the area of cultural commonalityindicated
above. It is also intendedexplicitlyto exclude the restof modern
Ethiopia,despitetherathergeneraltendency to arguethatin thepost-
conquestperiodfromthe I88os onwardsotherpartsof the country
morecloselyapproximated feudalnorms.RatherI wouldliketoisolate
whatis ultimately one socialformation forwhichwe have a verycon-
siderablebodyofevidence.
AlthoughEthiopiansare dividedon the question,the termAbys-
siniadoeshavelegitimacy in theirdiscourse,and is frequently usedby
bothAmharasand Tegreansin ordinaryspeechto characterizelocal
stylesand customs.12 The Agaw are an equivocal case. In the con-
sciousnessof mostEthiopians,Semiticspeechseemsto have been an
important componentof Abyssinianidentity, althoughin itselfit did
notguaranteeinclusion.The AgawspeakKushiticlanguages.13 How-
12 For
example,habasha lebs ("Ethiopian dress") or habasha megeb("Ethiopian
food"). The adjectivalformityoppyawi("Ethiopian") tendsto be used in ratherself-
conscioussituations.Unfortunately we lack a studyoftheseterms,butit is myimpres-
sion that the notionof "Ethiopia" was much morean elite termthan was that of
"Abyssinia".My distinction betweenhistoricAbyssiniaand modernEthiopiais arbi-
trary.
13 The
Christian,Semitic-speaking
historically Gurage are anotherequivocalcase.
TIheirparticipationin the Solomonicpolitywas occasionaland incidental,and their
social structurewas different.W. Shack does notdeal withthesematters:W. Shack,
The Gurage:A People of theEnsete Culture(London, 1966); W. Shack, The Central
Ethiopians:Amhara,Tigrinaand Related Peoples (London, I974).

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120 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

ever,the veryinadequateliteratureon themdoes not suggestthat

thoseofWagandLasta differ in anyrespectsotherthanlanguagefrom
theirSemitic-speaking neighbours. Theyhavebeenentirely integrated
intotheAbyssinian polityat leastsincethetwelfth and thirteenth cen-
turieswhentheyruledit. The basic realityto whichI wantto call at-
tentionhereis thatat leastsincethethirteenth centurytheAbyssinian
statehas restedupon and drawnitssupportfroma coherentplough-
cultivating peasantry,whosedensityand sizeofpopulationfarexceeds
thatofanyothergroupovera verywidearea (excludingonlythelower
Nile valley),and whichdespitesomelinguistic differentiation(princi-
pallyintoAmharicand Tegreinnia) was integratedbya highdegreeof
commoncultureand custom.'4Attemptsto explainthe stateor the
social orderfromwhichit aroseby reference to one groupalone are
boundto fail.Attempts to explainor describethestatewithoutrefer-
ence to itsrelationswiththepeasantryare equallyboundto be inade-
quate.
The periodto whichmyremarksare intendedto applyis a very
roughone: fromtheseventeenth centuryto theearliertwentieth cen-
tury. Since about a
1935 moneyeconomyspreadrapidly and a central-
ized bureaucracyand administration grew up, technicallydistinct
fromand independent oflocalpowerstructures. Interlockedwiththese
developments was a striking expansionof thecommunications infra-
structureand a slow growthof capitalistenterprise.'5 The extentto
whichthesedevelopments alteredtheAbyssiniansocialorderis as yet
unresolved,but for analyticalpurposesit is convenientto exclude
them.Throughoutthebulkof theperiodunderreviewtheEthiopian
regionhad onlythe meagerestcontactswiththe evolvingcapitalist
systemof worldtrade;Ethiopia'sexternalcommerciallinkageslying
rathertowardsthenorthend oftheRed Sea.
The starting-pointrequiressome justification. The sixteenthcen-
turysaw a numberofupheavals,thefullsocialimportofwhichhas yet
to be assessed.FromI529 to 1543thecountrywas rackedbywar,fol-
lowingwhichitcameunderat leasthalfa century ofpressurefromim-
migrating bandscalledGalla. Then,forthefirstquarteroftheseven-
teenthcenturyit wentthroughinternalstrifewhichbecamecompli-
catedbytheintervention ofJesuitmissionaries. The statusofthepeas-
antrythroughall thisis obscure.However,at the apex of thesocial
14 D. N. Levinehas discussed
waysin whichthe Solomonicstoryconsti-
significant
tuteda social and culturalmyth,as distinctfroma purelydynasticone: D. N. Levine,
"Menilek and Oedipus: FurtherObservationson the EthiopianNational Epic", in
H. G. Marcus (ed.), Proceedingsof theFirst UnitedStates Conferenceon Ethiopian
Studies,I973 (East Lansing,Mich., 1975),pp. 11-23;Levine,GreaterEthiopia,ch. 7.
15 Markakis,Ethiopia, esp. ch. 12; P. Gilkes, The Dying Lion: Feudalism and
Modernizationin Ethiopia (London, 1975), ch. 3; C. Clapham, Haile Sellassie's
Government(London, I 969); P. Koehn and JohnM. Cohen, "Local Government in
Ethiopia: Independenceand Variabilityin a DeconcentratedSystem",Quart. Jl.
Administration, ix (1975), pp. 369-86.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM I2I

orderthemonarchy enteredthesixteenth centuryin commandofcon-

siderablemilitary resourcesplantedaroundthecountryin local garri-
sons or regiments knownas chawa.'6 Duringthesixteenth centuryit
lostcontrolof thechawa to powerfulprovincialrulers.17In theyears
between1596 and I607 themonarchybecamesubjectto the nobles,
and in i604 thequestionof its abolitionwas openly,if verybriefly,
raised.18Two majorfactorsmakingforunrestin theseyearswerethe
ambitionsofthenoblesand therestlessness, indeeduncontrollability,
of thechawa.19 The greatnobleswereunwillingto abolishthemon-
archy,and peace was eventuallyrestoredby the late I63os or early
I64os. However,thecrisisoftheearlierseventeenth centurycertainly
lookslike a basic crisisin social, indeedclass, relations,forout of it
emergedone ofthecentralcatchwordsdealingwiththefreestatusof
thepeasantry.We willreturntothiscatchword belowwhenwe takeup
the questionof the applicabilityof the notionof "serfdom"to the
Abyssinianpeasants.Moreover,so faras questionsof therelationsof
themonarchyto societyare concerned,particularly withreference to
militaryinstitutions,bytheearliereighteenth centurythechawa had
virtuallyceased to exist;20and by the nineteenth centurythe word
chawa had becomeassimilatedin certaincontextsto the notionof
as a numberof sayingscitedbelowsuggest.However,al-
gentility,2'
thoughwe maysuspecttheearlierseventeenth centuryto havebeena
of
period significant social as
change, yet we know too littleto be con-
fidentofthedirection ofchange.Did itentaila modification in thesta-
tusofthepeasantryawayfromearlierserfdom towardsa morelibera-
ted status?Or did it arise froman unsuccessful attemptmoreinten-
sivelyto subjugatea freepeasantry,perhapsin thedirectionof serf-
dom? While the latteris morelikely,our presentevidenceappears
ambiguous.
In theperiodunderreviewtheAbyssinianpeasantrysupportedits
stateand an extensiverulingclass by meansof a modeofproduction
16 Taddesse Tamrat,Churchand State in
Ethiopia,1270-1527 (Oxford,1972), pp.
89-94; MeridW. Aregay,"SouthernEthiopiaand theChristianKingdom,1508-1708,
withSpecial Referenceto the Galla Migrationsand theirConsequences" (Univ. of
London Ph.D. thesis,197 ).
17 MeridW. Aregay,"SouthernEthiopiaand theChristian
Kingdom,1508- 708",
ch. 4; LaVerle B. Berry,"The SolomonicMonarchyat Gondar, i630-1755: An Insti-
tutionalAnalysisof Kingshipin the ChristianKingdomof Ethiopia" (Boston Univ.
Ph.D. thesis,1976), pp. lvii,25 -2, 293-6.
18Girmah Beshah and Merid W. Aregay, The Question
of the Union of the
Churchesin Luso-EthiopianRelations,I500-I632 (Lisbon, 1964), p. 73.
19Stimulatingquestionsabout thisperiodare raisedin A. Bartnickiand J.Mantel-
Niecko, "The Role and Significanceof the ReligiousConflictsand People's Move-
mentsin the PoliticalLifeofEthiopiain theSeventeenthand EighteenthCenturies",
Rassegna di studietiopici,xxiv(1969-70), pp. 5-39.
20 MeridW.
Aregay,"SouthernEthiopiaand theChristianKingdom,1508-1708",
pp. 581-2; Berry,"The SolomonicMonarchyat Gondar, 1630-1755", pp. 293-6.
21
Levine, Wax and Gold, p. 156.

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I22 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

and an attendantsocialorderinwhich,as alreadyremarked, a number

of observershave seen strikingparallelswiththe Europeannormof
feudalism.I proposeto startthediscussionwiththequestionofsocial
order,sincethisis themoredevelopedin the scholarlyliteratureon
Ethiopia.Laterthequestionofthemodeofproduction willbe raised,
tobe followedbya considerationofthemeaningof"class" intheAbys-
siniancontext.The initialdiscussionwillbe organizedaroundBloch's
celebratedsummaryofthegenericcharacteristics of a feudalorder:
A subjectpeasantry;widespreaduse oftheservicetenement (i.e. thefief)insteadofa
salary . . .; the supremacyof a class of specializedwarriors;tiesof obedienceand
protection whichbindmanto manand, withinthewarriorclass,assumethedistinc-
tiveformcalled vassalage; fragmentation - leadinginevitablyto dis-
of authority
order;and, in themidstofall this,thesurvivalofotherformsofassociation,family
and State . ..22
The Abyssinian staterestedfirmlyon thepeasantryand on thepro-
duce of theland. The Ethiopiancultivatorfitsvirtually all definitions
of a peasant:in no sense,economically,politically,culturallyor relig-
iouslywas he an independent or autonomousfigure,but ratherwas
linkedin all thesespheresby relationships whichran verticallyup a
hierarchicalsocial order,and horizontally overa wide geographical
area.23Converselyformalkinshiporganizations, beyondpossiblythe
family,playedno real rolein theorganizationofproductionor in the
distribution "Clan" and "tribe"are termsmanifestly
of its results.24
to a
inapplicable description ofAbyssinian societyin ourperiod.25 The
relationshipbetweencultivators and thestateis pithilysummedup in
theAmharicapposition:arrasa/naggasa(cultivating/ruling).26 I will
returnto thequestionofsubjugationand constraint.
Virtuallyall commentators have notedthe use of fiefsas a major
deviceforruling-class support.The genericAbyssiniantermis gult,
deriveddirectly fromtheverbgwallata.Guidirendersgwallatasimply
as "assegnare un feudo".27 As terminologyvaried considerably, in
22
Bloch, Feudal Society,ii, p. 446. For Hoben's applicationto the Amhara,see
especiallyhis Land TenureamongtheAmharaof Ethiopia,pp. 1-2.
23 JohnM. Cohen has drawnattentionto therelevanceof Ethiopiancultivators to
thegeneraldiscussionaboutpeasantsin Africa:J.M. Cohen, "Ethiopia: A Surveyon
theExistenceofa Feudal Peasantry",Jl.Mod. AfricanStudies,xii(1974), pp. 665-72.
The classic statementis by L. Fallers,"Are AfricanCultivatorsto be Called 'Peas-
ants'?", CurrentAnthropology, ii (196I), pp. 108- o, repr.in his Inequality:Social
Stratification Reconsidered(Chicago, 1973), pp. 80-8. For Ethiopia,see also Gamst,
"IPeasantriesand EliteswithoutUrbanism";Levine,Wax and Gold, ch. 3.
24 Hoben's workis fundamental foran understanding of Abyssinianruralsociety.
In additionto Land Tenure among the Amhara of Ethiopia, see also his "Social
Stratification in TraditionalAmharaSociety",in A. Tuden and L. Plotnicov(eds.),
Social Stratification in Africa(London, 1970), pp. 187-224; and his "Land Tenure
and Social MobilityamongtheDamot Amhara",in Proceedingsof the ThirdInter-
nationalConferenceofEthiopianStudies,AddisAbaba, 1966, 3 vols. (AddisAbaba,
1970), iii, pp. 69-87.
25 In
spiteof Shack, The CentralEthiopians.
26 J. Baeteman,Dictionnaireamarigna-francais (Dire Daoua, 1929), col. 524.
27 I.
Guidi, Vocabolarioamarico-italiano(Rome, 1953 edn.), col. 708.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM 123
someareas gulthad a ratherrestricted connotation.28 But itsgeneric
use is attestedovera wide area,29reflecting the commonpracticeof
Abyssinianrulersofassigninglandsand therevenuesofspecificlands
in returnforservice.In practicethegranting offiefswas byno meansa
royalmonopoly, and subinfeudation was common. Salaries wereun-
heardofpriorto thetwentieth century.
Abyssiniansocietywas dominatedby a warriorethos.30Arnauld
d'Abbadie,who livedand foughtin Ethiopiain the I83os and I840s,
remarked:"la formesociale des Ethiopiensest toute militaire".31
Fiefs,as I havenotedelsewhere, wereassociated"objectively and sub-
jectively"withmilitaryfunctions.32 Objectively,a primaryrequire-
mentof thegult-holder was to providehis lord withtroopsin time
of war. Subjectively,the Abyssiniannobilitythoughtof littlebut
fighting. However,militaryfunctionswerecomparatively unspecial-
ized. In sharpcontrastwithmedievalEuropeor medievalJapan,there
was no technology of heavyarmour;horsemenwerenothighlytrain-
ed. Weaponryand tacticswererathersimple.33 On theotherhandtwo
furthercomparisonsdo suggestthemselves.Since the sixteenthcen-
turytheuse of firearms in Ethiopiarequiredtrainingand skill,and a
specializedgroupdevelopedaccordingly.The Ethiopianrulerssup-
portedtheirmusketeerswith fiefs,but retainedcontrolover their
weapons.34Moreovertechnology alone does notexplainsocial differ-
entiation,and it wouldseemthatthe core of traditionalarmieswas
formedbyprivileged groupsand notbya leveeen masse.35We also find
thatthefarasannia(horseman)occupieda social nicheverysimilarto
thatof theEuropeanknight.
Patron-clientrelations,resembling the "ties of obedienceand pro-

28 Berhanou Abbebe,Evolution de la
proprietefoncieteau Choa (Ethiopie) du
regnede Menelikd la constitution de 193 (Paris, 1971), pp. 24-33.
29 For
example,in Eritrea by Conti Rossini,Principidi dirittoconsuetudinario
dell'Eritrea,p. 112; and in Gojjam by Hoben, Land Tenure among theAmhara of
Ethiopia,pp. 5-6.
30 D. N. Levine,"The
Militaryin EthiopianPolitics:Capabilitiesand Constraints",
in H. Bienen (ed.), The MilitaryIntervenes:Case Studies in Political Development
(New York, 1968), pp. 5- o; Weissleder,"The PoliticalEcologyof AmharaDomina-
tion".
31Abbadie,Douze ans dans la Haute-IEthiopie, p. 367.
32Crummey,"Societyand Ethnicityin thePoliticsofChristianEthiopia",p. 268.
Abbadie,Douze ans dans la Haute-Ithiopie,is fullof examples.
33Levine,GreaterEthiopia,pp. 152-5;R. A. Caulk, "Firearmsand PrincelyPower
in Ethiopia in the NineteenthCentury",Jl. AfricanHist., xiii (1972), pp. 609-30.
Compare withBloch, Feudal Society,ii, p. 444. G. Ellis has notedthis: Ellis, "The
Feudal Paradigmas a Hindranceto Understanding Ethiopia", p. 285.
34Fantahun Birhane,"Gojjam, 1800-1855" (Haile Sellassie I Univ. B.A. thesis,
1973), p. 48; Caulk, "Firearmsand PrincelyPowerin Ethiopia".
35 R. A. Caulk, "Armiesas Predators:Soldiersand Peasants in Ethiopia,c. I850-
1935", Internat.Jl. AfricanHist. Studies,xi (1978), pp. 457-93; Svein Ege, "Chiefs
and P'easants:The Socio-I'oliticalStructureof the Kingdomof Shawa about 1840"
(LUniv. of BergenHovedfagthesis,1978), pp. 182-5.

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124 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

tection",linkedthemembers ofAbyssinian society,in a mostpronoun-

ced way.Markakisnotesthesaying:"A dogknowshismaster,butnot
hismaster'smaster".36 Mostrecently Reminickhas commented on this
hierarchicalpatterning,althoughit is notedby all othercommenta-
tors.37Indeedthesetieswereso strongthattheyprevailedovermost
horizontalties,probablyevenmoreso thanin Europe.They seemto
have penetrated moredeeplyamongtheEthiopianpeasantry,whose
familyand communaltieswerecorrespondingly weakened.Again,as
in theEuropeancase,theritualassociatedwiththesetieswas increas-
inglyelaborateas onemovedup thesocialscale.The conceptofvassal-
paralleled.However,bothBlochand Ganshofdraw
age is notdirectly
attentionto theimportance of handsin theEuropeanritualoffeudal
submission.38 The Amharictermfortributary obeisancewas ej man-
sha, or "raisingthe hands".39Submissionhad regularlyto be re-en-
actedinperson;and a customary formofannouncingrebellionwas the
refusalto attendon one's lord,eitherwhencalled,or whennormally
expected,suchas at theNewYear. It is probablethatfurther studywill
allow us to developour understanding of theritualof submissionin
Abyssiniansociety.40
Authority was fragmented. One need note only the widelycited:
kaGwondarnegus,yagarambaras("the local chief[ismorepowerful]
thanthekingin Gondar").41It is an openquestionwhetherbureau-
cratizationmaybe said to have existedat all. Even at the heightof
royalpoweraround1700 thecourtoperatedlargelythroughthenobi-
lity,whichwas basedinthecountryside and notat thecourt.Moreover
Abyssinianpoliticalhistoryhas a majormotifof centrifugal tenden-
cies,whichare associateda greatdeal morewiththedrivesofthenobi-
litytowardsmaximumlocal autonomythanwiththeethnicorregional
identitiesto which many previouscommentators have attributed

36 Markakis,Ethiopia,p. 39.
37 R. Reminick,"The Structureand Functionsof Religious Belief among the
Amharaof Ethiopia",in Marcus (ed.), Proceedingsof theFirstUnitedStates Confer-
ence on EthiopianStudies, I973, pp. 27-8, 40-1. See also Levine, GreaterEthiopia,
pp. 122-4;or Gilkeson theashkarsystem:Gilkes,The DyingLion, pp. 27-9.
38 F. L. Ganshof,Feudalism,
3rdedn. (London, 1964), pp. 26-30,73-4; Bloch,Feu-
dal Society,i, pp. 145-6.
39 Guidi, Vocabolarioamarico-italiano,col. 380; I. Guidi withF. Gallina and E.
Cerulli,Supplementoal vocabolarioamarico-italiano(Rome, 1940), col. 144; Baete-
man,Dictionnaireamarigna-francais, col. 503. It is also thecolloquialexpressionfor
greeting.
40 At themoment our mostdetaileddescription ofan act ofsubmissionand homage
is thatofMenilekto YohannesIV in 1878: Gabra Sellase, Tarika zaman zaDagmawi
Menilek negusa nagast za Ityoppya[A Historyof Menilek II, King of Kings of
Ethiopia] (Addis Ababa, 1959 Ethiopiancalendar[A.D. 1966/7]),ch. 26. Berryhas
made someinteresting commentsalongtheselines:Berry,"The SolomonicMonarchy
at Gondar, 1630-1755",ch. 5.
41 Levine,Waxand Gold,p. 56, citingBaeteman,Dictionnaireamarigna-francais,
col. 629.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM 125
them.42These centrifugalforcestriumphedfromthe 1770s to the
I85os, in theperiodknownas theZamana Masafent(the Era of the
"Judges"or "Princes").43
Nonetheless,to completetheanalogywe shouldnotethata specific
stateconceptsurvivedrepeatedlyto play a powerfulrole at various
periodsofAbyssinian In thelatethirteenth
history.44 and earlierfour-
teenthcenturiesthe legacyof Aksumwas used by theparvenuSolo-
monidsto establishtheirlegitimacyand to forgea morecentralized
polity.45In the seventeenthcenturythissame legacy,and medieval
additionsto it,wereagaincalledintoplayto buttress a gravelyshaken
state.46In thenineteenthcenturyall threemajormonarchs,Tewodros
(r. 855-68),Yohannes(r. 1872-89)and Menilek(r. I889- 913), drew
on separateremnants ofthemedievalorclassicalpasttolegitimate and
consolidatetheirauthority.47
Froma formalpointofviewBloch's summarysuggestsa consider-
able degreeof parallelismbetweenthe Abyssinianand the western
European social formations. However,pointsof difference do also
emerge:notleastwithrespecttovassalage,whichmanyobservers con-
siderto be a crucialinstitutionto the European model.Moreoverit
mustbe admittedthatthemodelis a vagueone allowingdevelopment
and comparisons in manydifferentdirections.In particular,exceptfor
thenotionoffief,itmakesno reference to propertyrelations.The lat-
terare forcefullyraisedbytheMarxianschoolin itsdiscussionofthe
modeof production.
The precedingdescriptionoftheformofAbyssinian societypointed
out thatit restedon peasantproduction.It did so objectivelyand con-
42MeridW. Aregay,"SouthernEthiopiaand theChristianKingdom,1508-1708",
pp. 225, 354 ff.; Crummey,"Society and Ethnicityin the Politics of Christian
Ethiopia". I do notclaimthatregionalism or ethnicity wereentirelynegligiblefactors.
However,theirimportancewillonlybe fullyappreciatedwhenwe have a bettergrasp
ofthesocial and class contextin whichpowerwas held.See Markakis'scommentin his
Ethiopia,pp. 7-8.
43 For a generalstudyoftheperiod,see M. Abir,Ethiopia: The Era of thePrinces:
The Challengeof Islam and theRe-unification of the ChristianEmpire,1769-1855
(London, 1968). Abirattributesmuchmoreto ethnicity than I do.
44Gamst,"Peasantriesand EliteswithoutUrbanism",p. 384. Feudalismas a polit-
ical phenomenonwithinthe contextof the disintegration of an earlierempireis a
majorthrustofR. Coulborn(ed.), FeudalisminHistory(Princeton,I956). See also J.
Critchley, Feudalism(London, 1978),ch. 3. Cerulli'sapplicationofa feudalconceptis
largelya politicalone: Cerulli,"Punti di vista sulla storiadell'Etiopia". But see R.
Cohen's criticismof thispoint:Cohen, "The Dynamicsof Feudalismin Bornu"; and
0. Lattimore,"Feudalism in History",Past and Present,no. 12 (Nov. 1957), pp.
47-57. This strikesme as theweakest,mostaccidentalcharacteristic of Bloch's para-
digm. However,PerryAndersonconcursin attributing a unique importanceto the
classical past of European feudalism:P. Anderson,Lineages of theAbsolutistState
(London, 1974), pp. 420-1.
45Taddesse Tamrat,Churchand State in Ethiopia,pp. 64-8.
46 Berry,"The SolomonicMonarchyat Gondar,
1630-1755".
47The wholefieldofideologyin themodernperiodof Ethiopianhistoryremainsto
be investigated.

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126 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

sciously. The only wealth produced by Abyssinian society came from

the land, or fromsmall craftproductionwhich was intimatelylinked to
the land. Artisanswere widely dispersed,and submergedin rural soci-
ety.At certain periods the taxation of long-distancetrade undoubtedly
contributedsubstantiallyto the supportof the Abyssinianroyal court
and possibly also to that of the nobility.48However, commoditypro-
duction, particularlyforlong-distancetrade, generallylay beyond the
frontiersof Abyssiniansociety,and beyond the controlof the Abyssin-
ian state. The plunderingof neighbouringpeoples also played a signifi-
cant role in the support of the Abyssinian nobilityat various times.49
However, long-distancetrade was never fundamentalto the interests
of the nobilityand the social order was not basically modifiedby its
fluctuations;nor was it basically modifiedby periods of weakness vis a
vis neighbouringstrangers.Moreover the institutionswherebytrade
was taxed and neighbours plundered arose fromAbyssinian society.
The Abyssinian ruling class was rooted in and drew its support from
the peasantry.
The Marxian concept of a mode of productionhas several different
levels ofmeaning. In its broadest form,the one which will be used here,
it refersto the totalityof relations withina social formation,relations
which it seeks to explain or illuminate by referenceto their material
contentor point of origin.50From this broad perspectivethe principal
determiningcharacteristicsof a class-based mode of productionappear
most readily by focusingon the means wherebythe rulers extractsur-
plus production fromthe ruled. Eshetu Chole, the Ethiopian econo-
mist, was the firstsystematicallyto attempt a Marxian analysis of
Ethiopian conditions; and a number of writershave followed him.51
Previous accounts have exaggerated the extent to which relations
between rulersand ruled in Abyssiniacorrespondto Dobb's analysis of
European feudalism,but theyhave directedus to a most fruitfulcom-
48 For the
early medieval period, see Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in
Ethiopia,pp. 80-9; fortheearliernineteenth century,see Abir,Ethiopia: The Era of
thePrinces,ch. 3.
49E. Simone, "The Amhara Military Expeditions against the Shawa Galla,
1800-1850: A Reappraisal",in Marcus (ed.), Proceedingsof theFirst UnitedStates
Conferenceon EthiopianStudies,1973, pp. 135-41.Predatoryrelationsalso marked
theactivitiesoftheGojjamessouthoftheAbayand ofDajjach Webein Bogos,bothin
the 183os and I840s. MeridW. Aregaydiscussesa sixteenth-century situationwhere
state plunderingfed into an exporttrade in slaves: Merid W. Aregay,"Southern
Ethiopia and theChristianKingdom,1508-1700", pp. io6, 278-9.
50M. Godeliersuccinctlypointsup twodifferent usages: M. Godelier,Perspectives
in MarxistAnthropology (Cambridge,1977), p. i8. Hindessand Hirsthave recently
rejectedthe concept of a mode of productionaltogether,on Marxian theoretical
grounds:B. Hindessand P. Hirst,Mode ofProductionand Social Formation(London,
1977), ch. 3.
51 Eshetu
Chole, "The Mode of Productionin Ethiopiaand theRealitiesThereof";
AddisHiwet,EthiopiafromAutocracyto Revolution,pp. 25-6. Both drawsubstanti-
allyon M. Dobb, Studiesin theDevelopmentof Capitalism(London, 1963 edn.). See
in AgriculturalDevelopment,p. 22.
also Stahl,Ethiopia: PoliticalContradictions

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM 127

parison.For example,withrespectto thequestionofbasic class rela-

tions,in a verygeneralwaythecultivators occupyvaguelycomparable
positionsin thetwosocialformations on thecontinuumrunningfrom
slaveryto wage labour.52Moreoverthebroadmixofdeviceswhereby
therulingclass sustaineditself- rent,corveeand tribute- are di-
rectlycomparable.However,withrespectto the dominantmeansof
surplus-extraction the two formations differsharplyin that tribute
ratherthanrentstrictly conceivedwas thedominantmeanswhereby
wealthwas extractedfromtheAbyssinianpeasants.53As willbe seen
below,the Abyssinianrulingclass enjoyedonlya modestdegreeof
directaccess to land, the principalmeansof production.The over-
whelmingbulkoftheland was underpeasantcontrol,as weretheas-
sociatedmeansofproduction, mainlyoxen.
ThroughouttheAbyssinian territoriesagriculturallandwas heldon
an individualbasis by peasants.Pastureswerecommonland. Actual
holdingswereextremely fluidand conflicting land claimsweregener-
allymediatedbypeasantinstitutions, eitherbyputativedescent"cor-
porations"or, muchless frequently, byvillageorganizations. For the
land whichtheyheldintheirownright,thepeasantspaid a royaltithe,
or asrat (thewordsare directly equivalent);in additionto whichthey
mightpay tributeat a rateof betweena fifth and a thirdoftheirpro-
duction.Theirlivestockwas subjectto regularappropriation or taxa-
tion.Honeyand salt werebasic commodities also regularlyappropri-
ated. The peasantwas subjectto labour demands,such as building
housesforthenobility, and to a varietyofregularand irregularlevies,
someofthemratheronerous.For example,itwas normalforthepeas-
ant to give a giftto his lord on the lord'sappointment or accession
(mashomya),and to contribute to feastsand othercelebrations on the
occasionofmarriagesor christenings or whatever.Alsopeasantswere
oftenobligedto grinda certainamountofgrainfortheirlord,revers-
ing the relationshipof technologically moreadvancedmedievalEu-
ropewherethelordmightowna milltowhichpeasantswereobligedto
bringtheirgrain.In additiontheEthiopianrulingclass enjoyedsome
directaccessto land,and had thisland workedbythepeasants,either
bytenancyrelationships or bycorvee.Tenantsveryoftenworkedon a
50:50 share basiswith their landlord,althoughthissharedependedon
manyfactors,such as whoprovidedtheploughoxen.Landlordsrare-
ly extractedmorethan 50 per centunderthesearrangements. The
weightofcorveevariedenormously, fromas littleas sixdaysa yearto
as muchas one dayin three,theprincipalvariablebeingtheextentto
whichotherobligationswere present.54 Thus peasantssubjectedto
52Dobb, Studies in theDevelopmentof Capitalism,pp. 33-7 ff.
53Ibid.; Bloch,Feudal
Society,i, ch. 18.
54'Lhis passage on surplus-extractionultimatelyrestson two veryimportant,
but
elliptical,worksby traditionalEthiopianscholars:Gabra Wald Engeda Warq, Yalt-
yoppyaimaretenna gebersen [EthiopianLand and Tax Terms](AddisAbaba, 1944
(Cont. on fp. 128)

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 128 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

heavycorveeobligationsweregenerallyfreeofotherrentobligations.
Overallone mighthazard theguessthatthenormallevelofsurplus-
extractionamountedto aboutone-third ofpeasantproduction.5
As I willarguebelow,theprevalenceoftributeas opposedto rentas
a meansofsurplusextraction is a significant
departurefromtheEuro-
pean feudalmodeof production.The degreeof ruling-class accessto
theland is thekey.Untilnowthisquestionhas receivedonlylocal at-
tentionfromscholarsof Ethiopia.Thus of our twomajorstudiesof
local landholding,thosebyHobenand Weissleder, theformerreported
a minimaldegree,whilethelatterreported a veryhighdegree,ofdirect
accessbyrulersto theland.56BerhanouAbbebe,whoattemptsa gen-
eralsurveyat theprovinciallevel,reportsbothsituations, suggesting a
fairlyhighdegreeof directaccess,57but neitherhe, Hoben or Weiss-
lederattemptsanyoverallquantification. At thisstagewe are thrown
back on somesamplesurveyspublishedby theMinistryof Land Re-
formin thelate i 96s, whichreportincidenceoftenancy.58 Thesesur-
veys are extremely problematic,havingbeen badly organizedand
poorlycontrolled. Nonethelesstheymaybe takenas a roughguide,in
spiteofthefactthattheydocumenta situationlaterthantheone with
whichwe areconcernedhere.No onehas yetsuggested reasonswhywe
shouldbelievethatthe incidenceof tenancyin the Abyssinianareas
has undergonemajorchangesin thetwentieth century.Remembering
thatthe modernprovinceswhichformthebasis forreporting in the
surveysare largerthanthecorresponding traditionalAbyssinian terri-
toriesof thesame names,we findverylow figures. At thetimeof the
surveyin Wallo 17-5percentoftheruralpopulationlivedon wholly-
rentedland,while23-0 percentlivedon part-owned and part-rented.
The corresponding figuresforGojjam are 12.9 per centand 7-I per
cent;forBagemder,9-o percentand 5-7 percent;and forTegre,7-0
per cent and 18-2 per cent.59Whilethe figuresforWallo come to a
(note 54 cont.)
Ethiopiancalendar[A.D. 1951/2]), trans.MengeshaGessesse,"Ethiopia'sTraditional
SystemofLand Tenureand Taxation", Ethiopia Observer,v (1962), pp. 302-39; and
MahtemeSellassieWoldeMaskel,"The Land SystemofEthiopia",EthiopiaObserver,
i (I957), PP. 283-301. BerhanouAbbebehas done muchto clarifytheseworksin his
Evolutionde la proprietefonciere au Choa. For thepresentpoint,see ibid.,pp. 1o8- I1,
whichrestson Gabra Wald, Yaltyoppyamaretennagebersem,pp. 306-7ofthetrans-
State and Land in EthiopianHistory(Addis
lation.In general,see also R. Pankhurst,
Ababa, 1966), chs. 11 , 25.
55Ege, "Chiefs and Peasants: The Socio-PoliticalStructureof the Kingdomof
Shawa about I840", pp. 166-72.
56 Hoben,Land TenureamongtheAmharaofEthiopia; Weissleder, "The Political
Ecologyof AmharaDomination".
57BerhanouAbbebe,Evolutionde la proprietefonciere au Choa, pt. I, ch. 3.
58Unfortunately I have nothad directaccessto thesesurveysand draw hereon the
summariesas reportedby Haile Menkerios,"The PresentSystemof Land Tenure",
Challenge,x (1970), pp. 2-24; and by Gilkes,The DyingLion, ch. 4.
59CalculatedfromGilkes,The DyingLion, table I I, p. I16. I have ignoredShawa
since the discrepancybetweenthe modernprovinceand the traditionalAbyssinian
territoryis too great.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM 129

combinedtotalof40-5 percent,we mustremember thatWallois only

partlyAbyssinian. forthemorepurelyAbyssinian
The highestfigures
provincescome onlyto around 20-0 per cent (Gojjam and Tegre).
Thus directaccessto theland,evenon thebasisoftheseverycrudely
derivedfigures,cannotbe held as whollyexplanatoryof ruling-class
support.60
Corresponding to thiscomparatively lowlevelofdirectaccesstothe
land bytheAbyssinian rulingclass,thelegaland socialpositionofthe
Abyssinian peasantrycontrastswithitsEuropeancounterpart. In this
contextthepeasantwas gabbar,essentially a tax-or tribute-payer:he
was nota serf.61
MostAbyssinian peasantshad directaccesstotheland
throughhereditary, normallyinalienablerightsknownas rest.62The
figuresdiscussedabove suggestthatinGojjamonly12 9 percentofthe
cultivatorswerewithoutsome directaccess to land. The figuresfor
Bagemderand Tegreare 9-o percentand 7-0 percentrespectively.63
Noris thefigureforthelessAbyssinian Wallomuchhigherat 17 5 per
cent.We shouldalso notethatthereis a strongtrendin theanthropo-
logicalliteratureto minimizethe importanceof tenancy.Reflecting
the viewsof thepeasantswhomtheystudied,Hoben and Weissleder
botharguethattenancycouldbe a majorinstrument fortheeconomic
and socialimprovement ofthetenant;and Bauer studieda case where
tenants,throughtheircontrolof anotherofthemeansofproduction,
oxen, were richerthan theirlandlords.64 Nonethelesstenancydoes
remainan importantindexof social inequality.The peasantryhad
limitedbut effective rightsto move,althoughWeisslederpointsout
thatin somecircumstances thisrightwas morerealfortenantsthanit
was forfreeholders,whohad moreto lose.65On theotherhandthedis-
tinctiveconcurrentlandrightsofthenobility, therightsoftributeand
judgementknownas gult,wereoftennot strictlyhereditary. Many
60 Our
presentknowledgeofAbyssinianlandholding, despitesomebrilliantwork,is
stillseriouslydeficient.
61 Berhanou Abbebe,Evolutionde la proprietefonciereau Choa, pp. 94-6, 107.
Not theleastoftheconfusionsin Pankhurst'saccountarisesfromhis uncriticalcarry-
ingoverfromthePortuguesesourcesofthetermvillein:Pankhurst, State and Land in
EthiopianHistory,ch. I I. However,our understanding ofgabbar has beengenuinely
complicatedby two rathercontrastingsituationsin which it has been applied in
modernEthiopia. The termwas firstwidelyreportedin the literatureon southern
Ethiopia (that is, thoseterritories
drawn intothe empireby conquestin the i88os)
and, as suggestedabove, thereis some consensusthatthe southerncultivators,also
called gabbar, weremoreservilein statusthantheirnorthern counterparts. Whether
thisconsensusis soundlybased is anothermatter.
62 Hoben, Land Tenureamong theAmharaofEthiopia,chs. I, 9; see also Hoben,
"Social Stratificationin TraditionalAmharaSociety",pp. 198-205. In some of the
Tegreiiina-speaking rathermorecommunalformsexisted.
territories
63 Gilkes,The DyingLion, table i I, p. I 16.
64 D. N.
Bauer, "For Wantofan Ox .. .: Land, Capital and Social Stratification
in
Tigre", in Marcus (ed.), ProceedingsoftheFirstUnitedStates Conferenceon Ethiop-
ian Studies, I973, pp. 242-3.
65 ContrastwithDobb, Studies in theDevelopmentof Capitalism,pp. 65-6.

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I30 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

gult-holdings orwerebestowedat theprerogative

weretiedtooffices of
the crownor of somemorepowerful,moreoverarching gult-holder.
Thus thepositionofthepeasantrywas ratherstrongand was clearly
articulated:
"The land belongsto thegovernment" we say in orderto affirm thatjustas heaven
belongsto God, the land belongsto the king.We have recourseto thisstatement
whenwe intendtoexaltthegovernment's powerbutwedo notat all intendto allude
to thepossessionof fields... no one can take away our lands . ..66
The relationship of men to the land was epitomizedin a famous
Ge'ez saying,"Sab'a hara wagabbarmeder",whichMeridW. Aregay
rendersas: "Man is free,and land thetributary".67 Many aspectsof
thissayingareworthy offullerinvestigation
andcomment, suchas the
contextin whichit firstappears;and thefactthathara, whichMerid
and mostothercommentators renderas "free",literallymeans"sol-
dier".68The dissemination of thesayingalso shouldbe morefullyes-
tablished.However,itis sufficient hereto notethatitfirstappearsin a
chroniclereferring to theearlyseventeenth century.It thenreappears
at theendofthecentury in thechronicleofIyyasutheGreat(r. 1682-
I706); and is used in an edictissuedin northern Ethiopiain thelate
188os.69It can be takenas a bywordofbasicsocialrelations:menwere
notlegallyboundto thesoil,norweretheylegallyboundto a master;
obligationsoftaxationweretiedto theland,and entailedin itsuse.
The relativefreedomof the Abyssinianpeasantmaybe relatedto
anotheraspectofhissituationcontrasting to thatofmedievalEurope:
the low level of technologicaldevelopment. The agriculturalsystem
seemsto have beenfairlyadvanced,exploiting a widevarietyofcrops
in a wide varietyof systemsof rotation,fallow,irrigationand the
like.70Regrettably, as yetwe knowfartoo littleabout sown-to-yield
ratiosand techniquesof soil management.71 However,ploughswere
66 Conti Rossini,Principidi dirittoconsuetudinario dell'Eritrea,pp. I II -12. Ber-
hanou Abbebe,volution de la propriete fonciereau Choa, p. 228, pointsoutthatpart
ofthisstatement reportedinDante Odorizzi,"Notiziesull'ordinamento
was originally
della proprietaterrierain Etiopia e nella zona abissinadella colonia Eritrea",inAtti
del congressocolonialeitalianoin Asmara (Rome, 1906), i, p. 259.
67 MeridW.
Aregay,"SouthernEthiopiaand theChristianKingdom,1508- 1700",
pp. 381-2. See also Berry,"The SolomonicMonarchyat Gondar,1630-1755", p. 294.
68 A fact
suggestingthatfreedomand militaryservicewereconceptuallylinked,as
in medievalEurope. See also Conti Rossini,Principidi dirittoconsuetudinariodell'
Eritrea,p. I og. Gabru TarekeofSyracuseUniversity informs methathara in modern
has theunequivocalmeaningof"free".Meridbyno meansignoresthesocial
TIegreiiiia
context.
69 F. Beguinot,La cronacaabbreviatad'Abissinia(Rome, 1901), pp. 41-2; I. Guidi,
AnnalesIohannisI, lyasu I, Bakaffa(Paris, 1903), p. 20 ; S. F. Nadel, "Land Tenure
on the EritreanPlateau", Africa,xvi (1946), p. II.
70V. Stitz, Studien zur KulturgeographieZentraldthiopiens (Bonn, 1974), pp.
279-311.
71 The mostrecent
surveyis E. WestphalwithJ.M. C. Westphal,Agricultural Sys-
temsin Ethiopia(Wageningen,1975). Historicalmaterials,ofthekindwhichformthe
basis forG. Duby's magisterialRural Economyand CountryLife in the Medieval
West(London, 1968), seemnotto existforAbyssinia.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM I 3I

simple,irrigationelementary, the exploitationof water-power non-

existentand ofanimal-power low(forexample,grinding was byhand),
and thearsenaloftoolswas limited.72 Buildingwas scantilydeveloped.
The Abyssinian nobility livedin accommodation identicalin substance
and style,ifnotin size,to thatofthepeasantry.No castlesmarkedthe
Ethiopiancountryside, outsideoftheimperialpalacesand residences,
whichin the seventeenth and earlyeighteenthcenturiesdottedthe
Lake Tana area. Urbanizationwas verylittledeveloped,relatedto
whichwas a modestlevelofcraftdevelopment, and theabsenceofsize-
able mercantile and bourgeoiscommunities.
A consideration ofthemeansofsurplus-extraction - tributerather
thanrent- has led us to a broadlookat property relationsand at so-
cial relations,particularly at thestatusofthepeasantry.At all points
we have movedawayfromwhatappearto be determining character-
isticsofa feudalmodeofproduction. So faras theviewsofMarxhim-
selfare concerned, itseemsclearthattheAbyssinian case moreclosely
approximates whathe meantbytheAsiaticmode.We do nothave to
accepteitherthecoherenceor theapplicability of theAsiaticconcept
to findthegroundson whichhe soughttodistinguish itfromthefeudal
as instructive.For Marxthecrucialcharacteristics ofthefeudalsocial
ordervis a vis theAsiaticwereserfstatusforthecultivators, a high
degreeof directaccess to theland fortherulers,and thepresenceof
townsin whichwere concentratedartisanallabour.73An immense
amountof subsequenthistoricalresearchhas done littleto shakethis
characterization, althoughit has permittedgreatrefinement. Marx
correctlyperceivedthat the social order of medievalEurope was
uniquein important waysand limitedhisuse ofthefeudalconceptto
thatsocialorder.Engelswas at bestwillingto talkofa "semi-feudal"
socialorderobtainingin such areas as theOttomanempire.74 On the
otherhandMarxsaw theAsiaticmodeas basedon "theself-sustaining
unityof manufactures and agriculture",and saw theprivateposses-
sionoflandedproperty as occurring withina framework ofessentially
communalproperty.75 As contrastedwithMarx's conceptof thefeu-
dal, thereis no doubtthatthesecharacteristics morecloselydefinethe
Abyssinian case.
72 Ellis notes the different,
simplerplough: Ellis, "The Feudal Paradigm as a
Hindrance to UnderstandingEthiopia", pp. 288-9. However,as withagricultural
practicesgenerally,we needto knowfarmoreabout thematerialcultureoftheAbys-
sinianpeasants.
73 Karl Marx,Pre-CapitalistEconomicFormations,ed. E. J.Hobsbawm(London,
1964), pp. 75, 91, 126.The twoformer passagesfromtheGrundrissecontrastOriental
to Germanicproperty and characterizetheAsiaticgenerally.The latterpassage,from
"The German Ideology", characterizesfeudal property.Hindess and Hirst have
argued withcogencythatdirectaccess to the land is the determining featureof the
feudalmodeof production:B. Hindessand P. Hirst,Pre-CapitalistModes ofProduc-
tion(London, 1975).
74Marx,Pre-CapitalistEconomicFormations,p. 148.
75 Ibid., pp. 91, 75.

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I32 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

Nonethelesstherehas been a recurrent tendencywithintheMarx-

ian traditionto expandthefeudalconcept.76 This tendency has several
sources,someof thempolitical.Of theoretical interestin our present
contextis theextremely limitednumberofpertinent categorieswithin
thearmouryofestablishedMarxianinterpretation (primitive-commu-
nal, classical,feudaland Asiatic);theclearinapplicability ofthefirst
two to cases such as the one in hand; and profounddissatisfaction
withthelast.The Asiaticconcepthas had an extremely roughpassage
fromanglophonicMarxianthinkers,77 althoughit has faredbetterin
France whereit has undergoneseveralmutationsand revivals.78I
sharetheviewofthosewhofindtheAsiaticconceptinternally inconsis-
tentand at fundamental oddswithbasicelementsofMarxianhistori-
cal thought,notleastthelatter'semphasison class and class conflict.
One mutantoftheAsiaticmoderecently introduced intotheAbyssin-
ian fieldhas beenthe"tributary" mode.79The strength ofthisconcept
is thatitfocuseson theessentially politicalnatureoftheprocessofsur-
plus-extraction. However,itimpliesno specificrelationsofproduction
narrowly-construed, and seemsto be of such wideapplicabilityas to
approach vacuity.Moreoverin the Abyssiniancase its application
wouldbe seriously misleading ifitimpliedan indirect, remotemeansof
a
surplus-extraction,high degreeof internalautonomyforpeasant
socialrelationsvisd visthenobility, orcommunalformsoflandowner-
ship,all ofwhichit has beenheldto coverelsewhere.
PerryAndersonhas takenthestrictcourseof confining theuse of
theMarxianfeudalconceptto Europe and to Japan.80The rigourof
thiscourseis attractive,and he establishesa strongbase in theworks
of Marx and Engels. Withsomequalifications Anderson'sargument
seemssustainable,especiallywithreference to themodeofproduction
conceptand itsproperty content.Non-Marxist scholarssuchas Duby
mayreadilybe interpreted as supporting Marx'scontention thatdirect
accessbytherulersto theland was a keyfeatureofthefeudalmodeof
production,althoughDuby's workalso suggestsan increasingtrend
towardstributeas a meansforruling-class support.81 A similarmixof
directcontrolofland and oftributeas instruments ofruling-class sup-
portcharacterizesthepre-modern historyof Japan,as does theten-
76 E.
J. Hobsbawmreflects this:Hobsbawm,introduction to ibid.,p. 63.
77Hobsbawm, introductionto ibid., passim; Hindess and Hirst, Pre-Capitalist
Modes ofProduction,ch. 4; Anderson,Lineages of theAbsolutistState, Note B, pp.
462-549.
78 Godelier,PerspectivesinMarxistAnthropology, ch. 4, esp. pp. i 16-24;Coquery-
Vidrovitch, "Recherchessur un modede productionafricain".
79Stahl, Ethiopia: Political Contradictionsin AgriculturalDevelopment,p. 22,
drawingon Amin,"Underdevelopment and Dependencein Black Africa",p. 107,and
Amin,Le developpement inegal,p. 0.
80 Anderson, LineagesoftheAbsolutistState,conclusions,pp. 397-43 , and NoteA,
PP. 435-61.
81Duby, Rural Economyand CountryLife in theMedieval West.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM I33
dencyforthe mix to alterin the courseof time,increasingly in the
directionoftribute.Thus thestriking parallelsbetweenthestylesand
institutionsoftheJapaneseand medievalEuropeanrulingclassesmay
be consideredfroma materialviewpointas restingon closelyrelated
modes of production.82 Nonetheless,howevervaluable Anderson's
rigour, from a Marxian as well as froma liberalperspectivethere
seemsto be valuein thecontrolledapplicationofexpandedconcepts.83
In particularthereare someextremely impressivesimilarities in many
pre-capitalist class-based agrarian societies.And there is a legitimate
interestin relatingthesesimilarities to somecentralmodel,especially
whentherulingclassesofthesocietiesin questionare heavilymilitar-
ized and whentheirpolitiesexhibitrecurrently fissiparous tendencies.
The feudalmodelis theonlyviablereferent we have.
Implicitto thisdiscussionof modeof productionhas been thecon-
ceptof"class". It arisesfromone ofthemostcharacteristic featuresof
theMarxiantradition:thesearchwithinany social orderforcertain
basic relationsarisingfromtheprocessof production,and thebelief
thatstatesreflect theserelations."Class", as Hobsbawmremarkswith
reference to pre-capitalistsocieties,mayfrequently be "an analytical
constructwhichmakessenseof a complexoffactsotherwiseinexplic-
able".84Class is mostbasicallydefinedas a distinctive relationship to
themeansofproduction. This relationshipmaybe expressedin terms
ofproperty rights.Class mustalso havesomeenduringcharacteristics,
whichgenerally taketheformoftrans-generational continuity ofbasic
socialrelations.Class can scarcelyexistin isolation,butentailsa rela-
tionshipofconflict and antagonismto anotherclass.Consciousnessof
itselfis generally, butbyno meansalways,a characteristic ofclass.85
The conceptof class has been littleused by analystsof Abyssinian
society.Recentworkhas cut ratherin theoppositedirection, stressing
82See, forexample,the worksby the followingnon-Marxistscholarswhichlend
themselvesto this judgement:J. W. Hall, "Feudalism in Japan: A Reassessment",
ComparativeStudies in Societyand Hist., v (1962), repr.in J. W. Hall and M. B.
Jansen(eds.), Studies in theInstitutional
HistoryofEarly ModernJapan (Princeton,
1968), pp. 15-5I; R. Takeuchi, "Studies of JapaneseFeudalism and Dr. Kan'ichi
Asakawa", in Kan'ichi Asakawa,Land and SocietyinMedievalJapan (Tokyo, 1965),
pp. 25-34; C. J. Kiley,"Estate and Propertyin theLate Heian Period", in J.W. Hall
and J.P. Mass (eds.),MedievalJapan(New Haven, Conn., 1974), pp. 109-24; N. Keiji
withK. Yamamura,"VillageCommunitiesand Daimyo Power", in J.W. Hall and T.
Takeshi (eds.), Japan in the MuromachiAge (Berkeley,1977), pp. 107-23. T. C.
Smith,The AgrarianOriginsof ModernJapan (Stanford,1959), dealing with the
Tokugawa period,describesa situationin whichdirectruling-classcontactswiththe
land had becomehighlyattenuated,and peasantlifeachieveda correspondingly high
degreeof autonomy.I am gratefulto R. Toby forthesereferences.
83Althoughsomethingshortof Critchley'sFeudalismwould seemdesirable.
84 E. J. Hobsbawm,"Class Consciousnessin History",in I. Meszaros(ed.), Aspects
ofHistoryand Class Consciousness(London, 197 ), p. 8.
85 E.
J. Hobsbawmgenerallyin ibid. See also Marx's celebratedstatement:Karl
Marx, The EighteenthBrumaireof Louis Bonaparte,in Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels,Selected Works(London, 1969), p. 172.

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I34 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

the greatmobilityof Amharasociety.86 However,manyfactorswar-

rantthe applicationof class concepts.Levineexplicitly supportsthe
notionof classes in Amharasociety,althoughhis understanding of
class is by no meansa Marxianone, and he accordsthemno central
role.87In theremainder ofthispaperI proposeto surveytheevidence
forclass, startingwiththeAbyssinianlanguageof social differentia-
tion,proceedingvia a discussionof cultureto relatethisto property
rights,and to concludewithsomecomments on class relations.More
attentionwillbe givento thenobilitythanto thepeasantry.To a con-
siderabledegree,in the followingdiscussion,class is an "analytical
construct".
Thereare manysignsoftheexistenceofclasses.In itsmostelemen-
taryformsAbyssiniansocietymayusefullybe reducedto thosewho
cultivatedand to thosewho,whileengagingin no suchproductive ac-
tivitythemselves, lived offsurplusesproducedby the cultivators.I
have alreadyarguedthatcraftsoccupiedno largeor specialplace; nor
did pastoralism. Traderswereso peripheralto Abyssinian societythat
it has beennormalto viewthemas foreigners.88 The cultivating/non-
cultivatingdistinction cuts rightacrossone long-recognized distinc-
tionin Abyssinian society:thatbetweenclericaland lay.The clergyas
suchcannotbe considereda class in thesensegivento thattermhere,
but its variousinternalsegmentsmustbe assimilatedto theirsecular
counterparts: thusparishclergyto the peasants,and leadersof the
great endowed establishments to the nobility.The societywas rigor-
ously hierarchical.Deferencebehaviourwas elaborate,pronounced
and subtle.Attheleast,inequalityand statusdifferentiation werevery
pronounced.89 Ethiopiansuse varioustermsto describesocial strata:
most notablymakwdnnent, usually renderedas "nobility".Other
termssuchas malkanna, bdldbbator mazazo suggestgradationsmore
appropriateto gentry;although,as Weissleder pointsout,etymologic-
allyand functionally malkannia closelyparallelstheEnglish"lord".90
He findsthathismalkannid occupieda socialpositionrathersimilarto
86 Hoben, Land Tenure
among the Amhara of Ethiopia, ch. I; Hoben, "Land
Tenure and Social Mobilityamongthe Damot Amhara". FollowingHoben, see also
Bauer, "For Wantof an Ox".
87 Levine, Wax and Gold,
pp. 155-67.
88 Abir,
Ethiopia: The Era of thePrinces.However,thisviewhas been challenged
by P. Garretson,"A Historyof AddisAbaba fromits Foundationin 1886 to 191o"
(Univ. of London Ph.D. thesis,1974), ch. 3.
89 Fallers,Inequality:Social Stratification
Reconsidered,introduction, is one ofthe
mostcogentstatements opposedto theapplicationofclass analysisto Africansocieties.
But his alternative,to relyon internalperceptionand to describesocietieslargelyin
termsgeneratedby thesesocietiesthemselves, strikesme as obscurantist.In thehis-
toricalfieldMousnierand Fourquinexemplify a positionsimilarto thatof Fallers:R.
Mousnier,Peasant Uprisingsin Seventeenth-Century France, Russia and China
(London, I97i); G. Fourquin,Les soulevementspopulaires au moyendge (Paris,
1972).
90Weissleder,"The PoliticalEcologyof AmharaDomination",p. 107.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM I35
theruralAustrianLandadel,as opposedto thecourtlyHofadel.Atthe
bottomof the scale lay thecultivators, the baldgar. A sense of class
realitiesbeginsto emergewhenwe note thatbdldgarseemsto have
givenriseto theadjectivebdlage,roughlymeaning"rude", "crude",
"rough",butwithetymological resemblances to theEnglish"churl"/
"churlish"or even"villein"/''villainous".91
These stratahad distinctcultures.Levinehas portrayed thatofthe
makwannent.92Gamstdrawsattention to a "GreatTradition".93We
shouldalso notetheexistenceofsumptuary laws: thenobles'exclusive
rightsto brewing(and at timesprobablyalso consuming)honeymead
(taj); theirexclusiverightto iron beds; theirmonopolyat timeson
slaughteringof cattle; and distinctivedress patternsand personal
decoration.A numberof sayingspresenta contrasting imageofnoble
and peasantqualitiesfamiliarfromtheEuropeanpast.The peasantry
are perceivedas rough,violent,rudeand sometimes stupid:
The peasant'sson is timidin eating
But insolentin words.

Runninguphillis as hard as a
Peasant's fist.94
The nobilityhave a naturalrightto rule, are delicateand refined.
Theirspeechis elegant:
I have the strength
of an elephant;
I have themouthof a noble.

[As] the sky[is ruled]by themoon

[So] theearth[is ruled]by thechief.
The son of a sycamoreis a board:
The son of a chiefis a chief.95
Culturaland social differenceswererelatedto distinctive
property
rights:to gult,therightto surplusesthroughtribute;and to rest,the
mostwidespreadformof rightto directaccessto land. Conti Rossini
citestwoappropriatesayings:
The poor man (deha) withhis rest;
The richman (habtdm)withhis fief(gult).

The fief(gult) belongsto thegreatwarrior(amamay);

Rest belongsto theweak (dakamay).96
The peasantryperceiveditselfas oppressed.The wordforcorvee
labour, huddd,is synonymous withthe Lenten fast.The termfor
91 Guidi, Vocabolarioamarico-italiano, col. 317. ShumetSishagne firstconvinced
me of this.
92Levine, Wax and Gold, pp. I56-7.
93Gamst,"Peasantriesand EliteswithoutUrbanism",pp. 389-90.
94 Baeteman,Dictionnaireamarigna-francais, cols. 928, 1 50.
95 Ibid., cols. 734, I 80, 760.
96 Conti Rossini,Principidi dirittoconsuetudinario dell'Eritrea,pp. I I6-17.

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I36 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89

nobilityis deriveddirectlyfromtheverbkwannana,whichmeans"to
punish",and whichcarriesan overtoneofextortion.97 As I havepoint-
ed outelsewhere, thisbringsthetermforthenobility closeto a generic
termfor"oppressor".98
It is notdifficult
toestablishthecontinuityofclassrelationsthrough
time. Contraryto certainassertions,some fiefswere hereditary.99
A legal term,resta-gult, existedto coverthissituation.100Weissleder
documentedsuch a case as it existedin I963. Moreover,evenwhere
superordinate land rightswerenotheldstrictlyto be hereditary, there
was a strongtendencyforthemto be held successively by close kin.
Hoben shows that, in the area of Daga Damot whichhe studied,
althoughfather-to-son inheritance ofgultofficein thetwentieth cen-
turyoccurred"less than50 percentofthetime",successionin other
cases generallywas to such geneticallyclose relativesas brothersor
uncles.101 However,someofthemostdistinctive featuresoftheAbys-
sinian situationarise fromthe natureof the Abyssinianfamily.As
Hoben and Bauer bringout clearly,the Abyssinianfamilyhas no
trans-generational reality.Descentis strongly
ambilineal;and succes-
sion and propertyinheritancetend in the same direction,although
theyare frequently biasedtowardsthepatrilineand to males.102 As a
resultlegitimateclaimantsto any officeabound; and this provides
ample opportunity formanipulationfromabove and pressurefrom
below.
The highestlevelsof Abyssiniansocietyshowmarkedcontinuity
overthelasttwocenturies, althoughthepoverty ofourdocumentation
precludessucha demonstration foranylowerlevelof societypriorto
the veryrecentpast. Both Gojjam and Tegre presentstrongcases of
almostdynasticrule,althoughtheadministrative levelat whichthis
pertainsin Tegreis lowerthanforGojjam.103Again,thedescendants
ofRas AliofYajju successfully dominatedthecentralaxisofAbyssin-
ian territory fromthe178osto the 850s,andretainedtheirholdon its
easternenddowntothetwentieth century.Wallosaw theemergence of
97Guidi, Vocabolarioamarico-italiano,cols. 542, 547; Baeteman, Dictionnaire
amarigna-francais, cols. 734, 735.
98 Crummey, "SocietyandEthnicity inthePoliticsofChristian Ethiopia",p. 269.
99J. Doresse,La vie quotidiennedes ethiopienschretiensaux XVII et XVIII siecles
(Paris, I972), p. 89; see also BerhanouAbbebe,Evolutionde la proprietefonciere au
Choa, pp. 33-50,78-92.
100BerhanouAbbebe,Evolutionde la propriete fonciereau Choa, pp. 28-9.Resta-
gult had rathera specialmeaningin Daga Damot: Hoben, Land Tenure among the
AmharaofEthiopia,p. 188.
101Hoben, Land Tenure among theAmhara of Ethiopia, p. I88; Hoben, "Land
Tenure and Social MobilityamongtheDamotAmhara",pp. 73-8,80- . Hoben argues
thatcontinuity wouldbe greaterin timesof peace like thetwentieth century;but he
begs thequestionof who was beingunrulyin timesofunruliness.
102For patrilinealmale bias, see Conti Rossini,Principidi dirittoconsuetudinario
dell'Eritrea,pp. 3 I0-4; Weissleder,"The PoliticalEcologyofAmharaDomination".
103FantahunBirhane,"Gojjam, 8oo-i 855", ch. i, and table 4 of theappendix.

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 ABYSSINIAN FEUDALISM I37
powerfullocal balabbats in theeighteenth centurywho weresuccess-
fullyintegrated intonationalpoliticsin the i 870s.104Andat leastthis
topmoststratumoftherulingclass had a clearAbyssinia-wide dimen-
sion.The pedigreeofEmpressTaytu (r. I889- 191 ) is something ofa
paradigm:descendedfromdominanthousesofSemenand Yajju with
linksto Tegre,she marriedtherulerof Shawa.105
Class relationsin Ethiopiadevelopedalong distinctive lines.The
Ethiopiannobility never came to forma separatelegalestate,and cor-
respondingly itscorporateconsciousness remainedlow.106 It had no in-
stitutionalidentity; and no focusotherthantheroyalcourt.The meta-
phor of the pyramidhas considerableforce.Stronglyhierarchical,
Abyssinian societywas notrigidlystratified in thesensethatone social
layerwas sharplymarkedofffromits neighbours.Quite thereverse.
The bondsof patron-client relationswereclose; class relationswere
fluid.Abyssinians perceivedtheirsocietyas mobile.We havenotedthat
languagereflects theexistenceofclasses,butin itsimprecisequalityit
also reflectstheirfluidity. Deferencewas temperedby defiance:"the
wisemanbowslowto thegreatlordand silently farts".'07The nobility
and thepeasantrybothbelievedthemselves linkedbycommonances-
try.Abyssinian societywas mobile.Low mencouldand didrisetohigh
positions;and could transmittheirgains to theirdescendants.How-
ever,it does seemusefulto see the primarydirectionof mobilityas
downwards.There was littleexpansionof opportunity forthe Abys-
sinianmakwannent, at least untilthe laternineteenth century.As a
resultthe numberof fiefswouldbe insufficient forthe progenyof a
noblehousehold,theless successfulmembersof whichwouldtendto
sinkin position.Giventhefreelegalstatusofthepeasantry, thelower
nobilitywereeasilyabsorbed,thusfostering theillusionofsocialsoli-
daritywithina continuing systemof inequality.
Withinthewidercomparative framework thelackofrigidstratifica-
tionand theintimacy ofclasscontactshelpstoexplainthenotablelack
ofpeasantmovements in theperiodunderreview.Class conflictthere
undoubtedly was, but in our periodit rarelyexpresseditselfopenly;
and certainly neverin spectacularuprisings.Abyssinian socialhistory
is markedly lessturbulent and markedly morestablethanthatofmed-
ieval Europe.108The Abyssiniannobilitywas generallysuccessfulin

104
Zergaw Asfera,"Some Aspectsof HistoricalDevelopmentin 'Amhara/Wallo',
ca. 1700-1815" (Haile Sellassie I Univ. B.A. thesis, 1973), chs. 3-4.
105Gabra Sellase, Tarika zaman zaDagmawi Menilek,pp. I I6-17.
106
Althoughearlytwentieth-century law codesdidprescribequitedifferent levelsof
punishmentforthesame offencecommittedby membersofdifferent social strata.
107 Hoben, "Social Stratificationin TraditionalAmharaSociety",p. 212.
108 R. H. Hilton, Bond Men Made Free: Medieval Peasant Movementsand the
English Rising of 138I (London, I973); Fourquin,Les soulevements populairesau
moyenage.

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I38 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 89
keepingthe allegianceof its peasantry.Part of the pricewhichthe
nobilitypaid was theweaknessofitsownfeltidentity.
Feudal conceptsare usefulin an analysisof Abyssiniansociety.At
theleasttheyraisea rangeofquestionsthediscussionofwhichought
to illuminatesignificant aspectsof social relationsin the Abyssinian
past. It is no accidentthattherehas beensomething of a conjunction
betweentheliberaland Marxisttraditions here.Althoughtheformer
has been moreconcernedwithaspectsofsuperstructure, and of style
and flavour,the latterwould hold thattheseare reflective of more
underlying relationships.However, from neitherperspective can the
Abyssiniansocialorderbe describedas feudalwithoutseriousqualifi-
cation. From whicheverperspectivewe approach our analysisthe
pointofdeparturefromtheEuropean-derived modelmayusefullybe
explainedbyreference to thediffering levelsofclassformation in the
two societies.The Abyssiniansocial formation had twofundamental
classes:cultivators and rulers.Relationsbetweenthesetwowereinti-
mate and fluid,uncomplicated eitherby ethnicityor by legal status.
The rulerssupportedthemselves bymeansofexactionsfromthepeas-
ants,primarily in theformoftributeratherthanrent.The confidence
of thesejudgementsoughtnot obscurethe extentof our ignorance
abouthistoricAbyssinian society,and thevariousstagesofitsdevelop-
ment.Furtherresearchis urgently requiredon thequestionofproperty
relations,the sourcesand exerciseof politicalauthority, and thena-
tureof class formation.
ofIllinois
University Donald Crummey

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