This current catalogue is the first of a series to follow of the Ethiopian Manuscripts Digital Library (EMDL) collection, a corpus of digitized material pertaining to the history and scribal tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The majority of the manuscripts described in this volume are from the nineteenth and twentieth-century. These late manuscripts are replete with details about scribal families, commissioners, donors, towns, agreements, wills and inheritance records. They record the reconciliation of families and enemies, the making of alliances and the personal narratives of simple folk who participated in the writing process. These records provide a valuable insight into the socio-political fabric of life in northern Ethiopia in the nineteenth and twentieth-century.

In this catalogue are presented the entire manuscript collection of three churches: Däbrä Mәḥrät Qәddәst Maryam Däḫan, Mekelle Mäkkanä Säma‛әt Qəddus Giyorgis; Romanat Däbrä Mәḥrät Qәddus Mika’el. In addition, a handful of works belonging to the following churches are also presented: Fäläg Daʻәro Qәddus Mika’el, Čäläqot Däbrä Mәḫrät Śǝllase, Mekelle Mäkkanä Ḫәywät Gäbrä Mänfäs Qәddus, Mekelle Däbrä Ḍäḥay Śǝllase; the complete collection of these churches will be presented in the forthcoming volumes of the EMDL catalogue series. Photographs and oral narratives of the early origins of Däbrä Mәḥrät Qәddәst Maryam Däḫan, Mekelle Mäkkanä Säma‛әt Qəddus Giyorgis and Romanat Däbrä Mәḥrät are also presented.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MELEY MULUGETTA, PhD, teaches History and Humanities at York University. Her primary research interests are in the field of Ethiopian Manuscripts and Semitic Philology.  She is particularly interested in cataloguing practices and the manners in which one best represents the forest of symbols and terms used by traditional scribes to convey the full nuance of original terms and intentions.  Over the past five years, she was engaged in a series of digitizing initiatives in Ethiopia.

CATEGORY                
Religion, Literature/AFRICA