Ewuakpe

Historical record and chronology

The chronology of Ewuakpe's reign is uncertain because it requires comparison among Benin oral accounts, dynastic king-lists, European travel reports, missionary letters and later historical analysis.^[1][2] Historian Jacob Egharevba in A Short History of Benin assigns Ewuakpe's accession to around 1700.^[3] Historian Barbara Blackmun in Art Journal places his reign at approximately 1690 to 1713, whereas historian Osarhieme Benson Osadolor in The Military System of Benin Kingdom gives an approximate period of 1700 to 1712.^[4][5] Anthropologist Paula Girshick Ben-Amos and historian John Thornton in The Journal of African History date his accession to about 1690 and his death to around 1710.^[6] Anthropologist Robert Elwyn Bradbury questioned the precision of Egharevba's sequence because it was not easily reconciled with the Dutch traveller David van Nyendael's account of disorder in Benin.^[7] Bradbury noted that Egharevba's chronology placed Nyendael in the later years of Oba ('king') Ore-Oghene in 1699 and in the opening years of Ewuakpe's rule by 1702.^[8] Bradbury argued that the crisis described by Nyendael could not have developed fully if Ewuakpe had acceded only in 1700. He consequently suggested that Ewuakpe may have acceded closer to 1690, while allowing that Akenzua I's reign could have begun earlier than Egharevba proposed.^[9]

Published Benin king-lists generally record the succession of Obas from Ewuakpe onward, although some exclude Ozuere and Ogbebo because informants regarded them as temporary usurpers. Bradbury found broad agreement among his principal informants on the order in which Ewuakpe's descendants ruled, except in relation to contested brief accessions.^[10] He nevertheless observed that the king-lists published by captain Ernest Percy Stuart Roupell and anthropologist Percy Amaury Talbot were not fully independent, since Egharevba had access to their earlier compilations. Egharevba prepared his dynastic list with the assistance of an Esekhurhe, a priest of the royal ancestors responsible for memorising the dynastic succession and offering sacrifices to successive Obas during the annual Ugigun rites.^[11][b] Bradbury noted that Egharevba's books had become widely known in Benin, making it difficult to collect oral traditions unaffected, directly or indirectly, by those publications.^[12] He concluded that oral tradition could neither establish that Egharevba's king-list was seriously mistaken nor determine the chronology and genealogy of every earlier reign.^[13]

Political setting

Bradbury stated that six or seven Obas whose genealogical relationships were unrecorded preceded Ewuakpe.^[14] In Egharevba's list, the Obas from Ahenzae through Ewuakpe belonged to one royal clan, but the succession was not consistently identified as either father-to-son or brother-to-brother.^[11] Bradbury regarded this uncertainty as evidence that dynastic memory for the period immediately before Ewuakpe had been only partially preserved.^[1] Egharevba's account attributes to Ewuakpe the introduction of a rule under which an Oba's eldest son inherited the throne.^[15] Bradbury argued, however, that primogeniture was already a characteristic feature of Edo culture, observing that Ishan (also spelled Esan) dynasties claiming Benin royal descent had no traditions of a succession rule other than primogeniture.^[16] He considered it unlikely that a wholly new succession system could have replaced an earlier system and become established within only 250 to 300 years.^[14]

Bradbury described Benin tradition as preserving a prolonged contest between the Oba and the Uzama ('kingmaker') nobles, extending from the dynasty's beginning to the reign of Esigie in the early sixteenth century. He considered the Uzama's lack of recognised authority to depose an Oba an important factor in their later political decline. Uzama titles normally descended to eldest sons, while the absence of lineage landholding limited titleholders' capacity to develop extensive lineage-based support.^[17] During the same period, the Eghaevbo n'Ore and Eghaevbo n'Ogbe, called respectively town chiefs and palace chiefs, developed as institutions. These positions were generally non-hereditary and, in principle, could be contested by free men.^[17] The Oba had authority over the creation of titles, appointments to vacant posts and advancement within and between these groups. Palace chiefs normally rose through palace administration, whereas town chiefs often first accumulated wealth and followers through warfare, agriculture or trade before entering office.^[17]

Accession

Egharevba identifies Ewuakpe's father as Akennuzama, also rendered Akenzama, and describes him as the rightful successor to the throne.^[3][10] Akennuzama was said to have been considered too old to govern and to have requested that the crown pass to his son Idova. Idova was renamed Ehennegha because of a prophecy attributed to Oba Ewuare the Great, which held that an Oba named Idova would bring a major change, either beneficial or harmful, to the organisation of government. Ehennegha was crowned with the regnal name Ewuakpe.^[3] Ben-Amos and Thornton identify Idova as Ewuakpe's personal name and describe the prophecy as a tradition in which Ewuare the Great anticipated political change should an Oba named Idova attain the throne. They relate this tradition to later Benin explanations of the political crisis associated with Ewuakpe's rule.^[18]

Rebellion and abandonment

Egharevba writes that the Edo people rose against Ewuakpe immediately after his coronation. They were said to have stopped attending palace meetings, refused food supplies and declined to provide labour for royal construction.^[3] For a period, Ewuakpe remained in the palace with only his wife Iden.^[19] According to Egharevba, Ewuakpe travelled to Ikoka, his mother's town, when his isolation became intolerable. The people of Ikoka were said not to have allowed him to live there unless he participated in road construction and well-digging. Ewuakpe was said to have cursed the people of Ikoka before returning to Benin City. Egharevba dates the death of Ewuakpe's mother Ewebonoza at Uselu to 1705, about five years after she became Iyoba ('queen mother'). Ewuakpe reportedly ordered the deaths of many people during her funeral rites and was said to have mourned her death deeply. In Egharevba's account, the funeral killings led to a further deterioration in Ewuakpe's relationship with the elders and the wider population.^[20]

The elders and other inhabitants were said to have abandoned Ewuakpe, taken royal possessions, opened the harem so that the Oba's wives could return to their families, and released swordbearers and other palace servants. Ewuakpe reportedly carried the state sword and the royal stool, called the agba, from Uselu to the palace, only to find the compound empty. A later episode in the same tradition states that, while repairing a leaking roof during rainfall, Ewuakpe fell and injured himself but received no assistance after calling out.^[20] Folklorist Dan Ben-Amos characterises Ewuakpe as a tragic figure in Benin historical tradition, describing a ruler whose people no longer supplied food, attended meetings or enabled him to fulfil royal obligations. Dan Ben-Amos also recounts the tradition that Ewebonoza's funeral killings resulted in Ewuakpe's abandonment by the population.^[21]

Civil war and the revolt of Ode

European accounts first mentioned civil war in Benin in 1696, when the Italian capuchin Francesco da Monteleone reported a conflict that appeared to have been underway for some time and may have begun around 1689. European references continued into the 1730s but provide little detail concerning the conflict's early course. The Portuguese captain Lourenço Pinto visited Benin City in 1693 and described it as peaceful and prosperous, suggesting that the destruction later reported by Dutch traveller David van Nyendael occurred after that date.^[22] van Nyendael's narrative suggests that lower levels of Benin administration continued to function during the crisis. He described officials supervising common people, enslaved people, military matters, livestock, agricultural goods and other areas of administration. van Nyendael also stated that offices were acquired through recommendation from senior officials and signified by possession of coral necklaces. Although the European sources did not identify the Obas concerned, Ben-Amos and Thornton combine them with oral traditions to reconstruct the reigns of Ewuakpe and his sons Akenzua I and Ozuere.^[22]

Benin tradition identifies Ode, the Iyase,^[a] as a principal figure in the revolt against Ewuakpe.^[18] Historian Osadolor places Ode's installation as Iyase around 1701 and identifies the office as command of the Benin army.^[5] Egharevba describes Ode as a warrior associated with military victories and other achievements. Osadolor interprets the rebellion as a political emergency involving Ewuakpe, Ode, other chiefs and the wider population. He suggests that Ewuakpe's attempts to remove opponents or reduce political resistance may have triggered the revolt. In Osadolor's interpretation, the resulting truce was a political compromise that renewed confidence in the monarchy but did not prevent another civil conflict after Ewuakpe's death.^[5]

Ben-Amos and Thornton identify the funeral killings as the traditional explanation for the uprising against Ewuakpe but argue that disputes concerning political authority, wealth and inheritance were also significant. They cite van Nyendael's description of an Oba attempting to eliminate supposed conspirators called "street kings", interpreting this as an effort by high officials to limit the Iyase's influence and discipline middle-ranking officials aligned with him.^[18] The rebel "street king" was said to have left Benin City with part of the population after the Oba sought to suppress the opposition. The Oba recruited troops from a neighbouring country and attacked the rebel leader, but failed. The rebel then returned, sacked Benin City and spared the Oba's palace.^[18] Ben-Amos and Thornton identify the unidentified rebel "street king" as most likely Iyase Ode. In Benin oral tradition, Ode is described as an adversary and magician capable of taking the form of an elephant.^[18] Ben-Amos and Thornton associate this elephant imagery with the ivory trade and Ode's base at Ugha village, north-east of Benin City near Ehor, a market centre connected with Ishan and the Niger River.^[24]

The Niger River served as an exchange route between Igbo communities near its mouth and the Igala north of the Niger–Benue confluence. Europeans had traded ivory along this route from at least the sixteenth century. Dutch ivory purchases declined during part of the seventeenth century but increased in the 1690s, coinciding with the beginning of Benin's civil war. Ben-Amos and Thornton propose that Ode could have drawn on ivory-trade revenue to finance his political challenge to Ewuakpe. The eventual defeat of the Iyase was reportedly followed by the seizure of ivory and enslaved people as booty. Ben-Amos and Thornton consider the reported capture, together with traditions that Ishan supported the rebels for years, to support their interpretation of the political importance of the ivory trade.^[24] Osadolor states that Ode established himself at Ugha in Ehor district because custom prevented an Iyase from returning to Benin City after a military expedition.^[25]

Settlement and succession reform

Egharevba states that Ewuakpe consulted an oracle after nearly abandoning hope of recovering his authority. The oracle reportedly directed him to perform a human sacrifice and scatter emptied calabashes of palm oil and head-load pads around the palace tower. Iden encouraged Ewuakpe to obey the oracle and offered herself as the sacrifice. She was reportedly buried alive near the Oba's market. According to the tradition, Iden told Ewuakpe that no dirt should be left upon her grave and that anyone stepping on it should be killed at once. Egharevba writes that the custom connected with Iden's grave continued until the British occupation of Benin in 1897. On the following morning, Esogban reportedly saw the scattered calabashes and head-load pads and concluded that the remaining rebels had submitted.^[20] He then gave Ewuakpe forty enslaved people of both sexes, coral beads and other valuables, and swore allegiance.^[26] Iyase Ode subsequently offered valuable gifts and submitted. Other chiefs and inhabitants gradually recognised Ewuakpe as Oba and remained loyal for the rest of his reign.^[15]

Ben-Amos relates that tradition credited Ewuakpe with creating the akpata, a Benin pluriarch or bow harp, during his period of suffering.^[27] He records that Ewuakpe used the instrument to ease his grief and that Benin traditions ascribed rules governing its construction to him.^[28] Egharevba retains a song attributed to Ewuakpe in which he requests money from the Iyase, Esogban and Eson to buy a basket and bag for trade at Agbado market.^[20][c][d]

Blackmun records a later version in which Ewuakpe, having lost his crown, palace and kingdom, sat alone playing the akpata after learning of Iden's death. In that account, Edo people heard his music and returned carrying food and gifts to demonstrate renewed allegiance. Blackmun states that this version portrays Iden as taking her own life after a clairvoyant revealed that restoring Ewuakpe's kingship required a human sacrifice.^[30]

Ben-Amos and Thornton interpret Ewuakpe's recovery of power as a settlement concerning atoro, a principle under which the Oba was said to inherit a deceased chief's property.^[31] They refer to a seventeenth-century report attributed to writer Olfert Dapper, under which a widow retained her own possessions and sufficient maintenance while the remainder of a deceased man's estate could pass to the king unless later transferred to the eldest son. They argue that inheritance, wealth and the Oba's political authority over chiefs were therefore central to the conflict.^[18] Ben-Amos and Thornton estimate that the stalemate lasted about ten years, perhaps from 1689 to 1699, before Portuguese mediation helped produce an accommodation. van Nyendael reported that the Oba offered amnesty and senior offices to rebels who resumed service, though not all accepted the settlement. Ben-Amos and Thornton connect these concessions to oral traditions in which Ewuakpe resolved the conflict through an agreement with powerful chiefs.^[24]

The agreement reportedly included the abolition of atoro.^[32] Ben-Amos and Thornton note that van Nyendael described a revised rule before 1701 under which the eldest son inherited the estate of a person of status.^[24] They argue that Ewuakpe accepted the new rule for aristocratic inheritance while retaining authority to nominate his successor and determine royal succession procedures.^[32] Anthropologist Michael Rowlands similarly links the renewal of Benin kingship to Ewuakpe's agreement with powerful chiefs concerning inheritance and succession.^[33] Egharevba states that Ewuakpe later issued a law, approved by the Eghaevbo and the Uzama, which provided that only an Oba's eldest son could wear the crown. Egharevba presents this measure as part of the Benin constitution.^[15] Ben-Amos and Thornton connect the reform with the formalisation of primogeniture and the use of Edaiken ('crown prince') as the title for the heir apparent.^[34]

Historian Milan Kalous, as cited by Ben-Amos and Thornton, argues that the Edaiken title probably originated in the early eighteenth century,^[34] but Historian Alan Ryder in General History of Africa, IV links the fifteenth-century Oba Ewuare the Great with the creation of lineal succession, under which Edaiken was assigned to the heir apparent and incorporated into the Uzama order.^[35] Kalous' argument draws upon a tradition collected by anthropologist Percy Amaury Talbot that the heir apparent became an adviser to the Uzama at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Ben-Amos and Thornton note that the French merchant captain Jean-François Landolphe observed a formal heir-designation ceremony during visits to Benin between 1778 and 1799. Landolphe wrote that the chosen heir was not always the eldest son and that, if no formal designation occurred, the crown could pass outside the expected line of succession.^[34]

Royal authority, trade, and government

Historian Blackmun interprets Ewuakpe's struggle as an attempt to restore hereditary father-to-son succession after a period in which powerful chiefs influenced the selection of Obas. She states that Ewuakpe exercised influence over the Niger Delta and its river ports. Blackmun identifies a Dutch agreement of 1715, probably made with Akenzua I, that gave the Dutch exclusive access to Benin ivory in return for a commitment not to purchase ivory from other Niger Delta kingdoms.^[4] Rowlands credits Akenzua I and his son Eresoyen with renewing Benin kingship after the conflict associated with Ewuakpe. He states that a Dutch agreement with Akenzua I opened a period of prosperity and refers to an account of 25,000 pounds of ivory loaded onto a Dutch ship in 1719. Cowries, silk, damask, other textiles and substantial quantities of copper vessels entered Benin during this period. Rowlands argues that Akenzua I and his successors reshaped kingship by placing greater emphasis on the Oba's ritual responsibilities as protector of the kingdom's prosperity and security. He contrasts this with the warrior kings of the sixteenth century, whose authority was more closely associated with military expansion.^[33]

Music and oral tradition

Ben-Amos identifies Ewuakpe as one of two figures in Benin tradition credited with inventing the akpata pluriarch. The other is Arhuanran, a fifteenth-century son of Oba Ozolua and brother of Oba Esigie.^[27] Ben-Amos contrasts traditions portraying Ewuakpe as a tragic figure with portrayals of Arhuanran as a giant and a soldier.^[28] Blackmun records that chief Omoregbe, the twentieth-century inneh of the Igun Eronmwon bronzecasting guild, made a bronze sculpture in 1959 depicting a seated Oba playing the akpata. The work stood approximately 19 centimetres (1 ft) high, and its location was unknown when Blackmun conducted her study. Blackmun identifies the figure as Ewuakpe and regards it as an innovation in the Igun Eronmwon guild.^[30] Blackmun also identifies a later bronze tableau, exhibited in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Munich from 1979, as depicting formerly rebellious Edo men and women returning with gifts to renew their loyalty while Ewuakpe plays the akpata. She states that the tableau was incorrectly identified as a "yam festival".^[30]

Court art and dynastic imagery

In the sixteenth century, Oba Esigie obtained brass and copper from Renaissance Europe and commissioned court workshops to produce naturalistic sculptures and bronze relief panels for the palace. European visitors continued to report polished bronze reliefs in the palace until the mid-seventeenth century.^[40] Blackmun relates the later disappearance of such references to the political crisis associated in oral histories with Ewuakpe. She states that Ewuakpe was deposed during this crisis and that palace bronze reliefs were taken down and placed in a storeroom within the deserted palace. Blackmun writes that Ewuakpe ultimately recovered the throne, but that the reliefs were not returned to their original positions and remained stored as an artistic and historical archive. She argues that artists later used this visual archive while creating figures on eighteenth-century ivory tusks.^[41] Following the recovery of royal authority, ancestral altars were expanded with large bronze commemorative heads intended to support vertically mounted ivory tusks. By the middle of the eighteenth century, ivory tusks bore several rows of rulers, officials and warriors. Copper, bronze, iron and ivory were understood as materials under the Oba's authority, and the production of works in these materials required royal authorisation and payment. The Igbesanmwan ivory carvers and Igun Eronmwon bronze casters were hereditary guilds attached to royal patronage. Senior guild members worked in the Oba's palace, while lower-ranking members worked in specialised quarters of Benin City. Blackmun states that ivory carving continued during the eighteenth century and from 1850 to 1897, whereas Benin bronzes became more rigid and conventional.^[41]

Blackmun identifies a brass altarpiece in Berlin's Museum für Völkerkunde as depicting Ewuakpe. The figure lacks a crown, which Blackmun considers appropriate for an Oba whose authority was rejected before being restored. The composition incorporates Akenzua I's trunk-hand emblem, which Blackmun interprets as a reference to the eventual success of centralised royal rule.^[42] The Berlin figure carries a short, thick staff called the ukhurhe ovbi-odo. Blackmun identifies it as a pestle-staff used to revoke curses and interprets it as a symbol of Ewuakpe's settlement with the chiefs.^[43] Later royal ancestral ivories often show a crowned fish-legged figure holding the same staff. Blackmun interprets this figure as an emblematic image associated with Ewuakpe's dynasty. The motif draws on the iconography of Oba Ohen, a ruler associated with the mudfish and with the supernatural powers and restrictions of Benin kingship. Blackmun argues that the staff-bearing figure commemorated a balance between royal spiritual authority and the Oba's duty to respect his subjects.^[44] Blackmun identifies a fish-legged figure on an altar tusk from the palace of Old Benin as a representation of Ewuakpe, whom she places six generations before Oba Adolo.^[45] She describes the figure as wearing a mudfish-like crown and holding both a ceremonial sword and the ukhurhe ovbi-odo. Blackmun interprets the mudfish motif as representing prosperity associated with the restoration of legitimate monarchy. Two female figures stand beside the fish-legged Oba in the altar-tusk composition. Blackmun suggests that they may portray Ewuakpe's mother Ewebonoza and his wife Iden.^[46] She states that descendants of Ewuakpe continued to use the fish-legged, pestle-staff-bearing figure as a dynastic emblem on ancestral tusks until British forces removed many ivories in 1897.^[44]

Ughelli tradition

A 2022 study of Ughelli's Ema royal dance records an oral tradition associating Ewuakpe with the transfer of royal dance and chieftaincy titles from Benin to Ughelli Kingdom.^[47] Chief Richard Omavuaye Ekure, Avwerotovie ('king') of Ughelli Kingdom and spokesman for the council of chiefs, connected the Ema dance with Benin royal dance traditions in an interview cited in the study.^[48] The study also refers to an account by a spokesperson for Urhobo that links Ema with Benin's Ugie royal dance and dates its broader formation to the early nineteenth century.^[49] In the Ughelli tradition, Ovie ('king') Akporoba VIII travelled to Benin to obtain the Oba's approval before his coronation as Ovie of Ughelli. The study identifies Akporoba VIII as a late eighteenth-century ruler while also reporting that Ewuakpe received him at the Benin court. The account states that Ewuakpe initially regarded Akporoba's proposed title as an insult but accepted an interpreter's explanation that the title acknowledged the authority of the Oba of Benin.^[50]

The tradition states that Ewuakpe approved Akporoba's coronation and received him as a friend of Benin. It further holds that Ewuakpe granted the Ema royal dance to Akporoba and sent Benin dancers to Ughelli to train royal performers. According to the same account, Ewuakpe instructed Benin dancers not to perform the Ema royal dance again after its transfer to Ughelli.^[50] Ughelli tradition also attributes to Ewuakpe the authority of the Ovie of Ughelli to confer chieftaincy titles on subjects. It states that Ewuakpe directed Akporoba to grant the title of Iyasere to his half-brother and Ezomo to his immediate younger brother. The Ema royal dance and the titles Iyasere and Ezomo remain in use in Ughelli Kingdom.^[51]

Citations

Works cited