This 18th-century manuscript contains the Miracles of Mary written in Ge‘ez, the ancient liturgical language of the Ethiopian church. The cult of the Virgin Mary has been a focal point in Ethiopian worship since the Christianisation of the country in the 5th century. This popular devotional text comprises hundreds of tales of her miracles, first translated into Ge‘ez from Arabic sources which, in turn, drew on Greek and Coptic texts. The versions in Ge‘ez were later supplemented with stories of the miracles that Mary had performed in Ethiopia.

The text was written by a single scribe who did not sign his name in the colophon but dated it to the time of King Iyoas in 7258 (AD 1766). It opens with an introduction (f.4r) and hymns (ff.6r-7v and 9r-18v), followed by the miracles (ff. 19r-242v). Folio 8 is an interpolation of an unrelated text written in three columns on both sides.

The volume contains 13 paintings, including a Madonna and Child based on engravings of the icon in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (see the print sewn in RCIN 1005082), with the patron prostrated below (f.17v). A full-page depiction of Christ crowned with thorns (f.15v) draws on a 16th-century Flemish icon brought to Ethiopia in the 17th century and known as ‘Kwerata Reesu’ (The Striking of His Head). The icon, said to have been owned by Ethiopian emperors and carried into battles until the 19th century, influenced Ethiopian images of Christ.

Notes on f.19v state that this manuscript belonged originally to one Walda Giyorgis depicted on f.17v. This volume was among an estimated 1000 manuscripts acquired from churches across Ethiopia by Emperor Tewodros II (r.1855-68) for a new church and library at Maqdala, his fortress in northern Ethiopia. In April 1868, British forces led by Lieutenant General Sir Robert Napier laid siege to the fortress to secure the release of British hostages who were held there by Tewodros and he took his own life. His manuscripts, then stored in huts near his temporary church, were among the items taken and subsequently auctioned as spoils of war. Many of these (approximately 400) were bought by Richard Holmes, who had been sent by the British Museum as part of the Abyssinian Expedition to acquire antiquities and manuscripts in Ethiopia. Holmes presented 16 of the manuscripts to Queen Victoria, who retained six for the Royal Library (RCINs 1005079-1005084) and in 1869 offered ten back to the Trustees of the British Museum, which were transferred to the British Library in 1973.

Further reading
Edward Ullendorff, ‘The Ethiopic Manuscripts in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 12 (1953), 71-79.

Binding description
Ethiopia, 18th century. Brown calf over wooden boards; covers decorated with blind tooling; textile inlays on inner covers; outside edges cut round. The manuscript was repaired by the India Office in the late 19th century.