Revisiting the Funj Chronicle

Revisiting the Funj Chronicle as translated by P.M. Holt and incorporating later materials and recensions, one sees the main benefit of Holt's work as being of greater utility for post-Funj Sultanate history. Most of the detail in the actual chronicle an be found in the late 18th and 19th centuries, but Holt incorporated materials that extend into the Turco-Egyptian period. For our purposes, mainly interested in the history of the Funj Sultanate and earlier Nubian history, this is not the most helpful. However, after re-reading most of the text, one finds that it does correct some of the errors of MacMichael's translation while offering detailed footnotes and introductory material to contextualize the references. The later sections of the Chronicle are still a mess and hard to follow (too many conflicts within the Hamaj Regency or between the Hamaj Regents and the old Funj royal family, not to mention other wars, conspiracies and shaykhs) but this is definitely the best English translation.

It is interesting to think that the Funj Sultanate was essentially experiencing what would later happen to Borno by the 1760s. The loss of effective political authority of the Funj kings to the Hamaj Regents, from the family of Shaykh Muhammad Abu Likaylik, occurred by 1760-61. Borno experienced something similar in the 1800s with the rise of the al-Kanemi dynasty. An period of coexistence in Borno persisted until the 1840s, just as the Hamaj Regents kept the old royal dynasty around until the final collapse of the state in the 1820s Egyptian invasion. Although Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi's rise to effective power was explicitly related to his charisma, military leadership and status as a respected mallam, the Hamaj Regents did not seize power in the context of foreign invasions and threats that Borno endured from the "Fulani jihad." Nevertheless, according to our Funj Chronicle, the Funj rulers were abusive, corrupt, exploitative, and immoral. Similar accusations against the Sayfawa from pro-jihad writings may have been reappropriated by al-Kanemi's followers to justify their seizure of direct power. Interestingly, however, the Hamaj Regents never went as far as destroying the figurehead traditional kings yet Borno did so under al-Kanemi's son.

In addition to the Funj Sultanate experiencing the rise of delegated authority through the Hamaj Regency, the Egyptian invasion finds a parallel of sorts with Rabih's 1893 conquest of Borno. The rise of Rabih was, in part, an aftershock of Turco-Egyptian invasion of Sudan and the spread of new military technology and tactics in Sudanic Africa. These very same developments eventually led to the loss of independence of Borno near the end of the 19th century. Thus, events that ushered in the final dissolution of the Funj state also played a role in the fall of Borno. And people in Borno certainly were aware of the late Funj state, as figures like Heinrich Barth and other Europeans commented on the presence of Sinnar natives in the region. Surely they must have been aware of the political conflict with Sinnar and the danger of Turco-Egyptian invasion. Indeed, they had to worry about it from the direction of Tripoli. 

Last but certainly not least, the Funj Chronicle partly assists with the reconstruction of the Sinnar Sultanate's Sudanic context. Numerous references to Kordofan and occasional allusions to Taqali, Darfur, and Ethiopia establish that Sinnar was actively engaged in trade, diplomacy and military conflict with its neighbors. The 1744 battle with Iyasu II of Ethiopia, for instance, was won with the aid of Khamis of Darfur. Darfur shaykhs are claimed to have supported Badi Abu Shulukh against the Funj. While some of the prominent Islamic scholars and saints in the Funj state came from the Middle East, sources like the Tabaqat hint at the presence of Islamic scholars from the Sinnar state venturing to Wadai and Darfur. This Sudanic and African context for the Sultanate is most interesting, even though the necessary sources to reconstruct it are limited in the Funj Chronicle. 

Funj Chronicle

Although far from ideal, we decided to read a public domain English translation of the Funj Chronicle. Based on a recension of the text from the personal library of a descendant of the Funj kings, Harold MacMichael included an English translation of most of the text in the second volume of A History of the Arabs in the Sudan and Some Account of the People who Preceded Them and of the Tribes Inhabiting Dárfūr. While perhaps generally accurate and reliable as a chronology of the Funj Sultanate, it's a text that is far more detailed and updated for the 19th century than earlier periods. For many Funj rulers in the 1500s and 1600s, we only read brief descriptions of their character or events that took place. Some of them are more detailed than others, of course. Badi II, Amara Dunqas, Badi IV, and certain political conflicts between different sheiks during the Hamaj Regency period receive more than the casual or limited summaries of other rulers of the Funj. 

So, it is interesting to compare the Funj Chronicle with other "Sudanic" kinglists and chronicle writings as an example of historical literature. While far from the Timbuktu Tarikhs in terms of the grand scope and level of detail, one can see overlapping traits with the chronicle writings of Agadez, Borno, Kano, and perhaps a combination of the kinglist and chronicle in a single work. The fuller entries in the Funj Chronicle probably draw on written sources that have not survived, particularly as Islamization of the Funj state grew in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the essential kernel of it probably arose from traditions like the kinglist shared with James Bruce during his travels through the region. Nonetheless, it is fascinating to observe the combination of textual and oral sources in the document, while also tracking the association of Islamic piety and Funj statecraft with proper governance. In that regard, it is probably not too distinct from the other chronicles produced by Muslim scholars extolling the Islamic virtues and support for scholarship of their respective sultans. Like the Timbuktu tarikhs, the author(s) of the Funj Chronicle seem to have continued their idealized vision of a ruler of the Nubian region well into the post-1821 era. 

But for our other purposes here at the blog, we are interested in ways to contextualize the Funj Sultanate within "Sudanic" Africa and the early modern world. Here one can find examples of this in Funj relations with Darfur, Kordofan, Teqali, Ethiopia, and, beyond Africa, the Ottoman Empire, central Muslim lands, and India. For example, Sennar clearly engaged in long-distance trade with other parts of Africa, including lands to the west like Kordofan and Darfur. Khamis, a prince of Darfur, but based in the Funj state in the 1700s, assists the sultanate in defeating an Ethiopian invasion by Iyasu II. Supposedly, if the Funj sources are not exaggerating, their Muslim victory led to various foreign embassies coming to Sennar, including those of al-Hind and al-Sind. Foreigners from as far away as Morocco were said to settle in Sennar. We also learn of Sennar's attack non Teqali under Badi II because the Teqali ruler attacked and stole the goods of a friend of his passing through their territory. The conflict resulted in Badi II imposing a fixed annual tribute. In the 18th century, the Funj state expanded into the Kordofan region and relied heavily on a man who later became an important kingmaker, Sheikh Muhammad Abu el Kaylak. 

One can see how the attempts at centralization of Funj sultans, or abuses of their power, often led to Funj nobles and provincial lords joining with the Hamaj in various coups, depositions, and civil wars which ultimately weakened the state. Thus, Badi IV favoring Nubians for political appointments instead of the Funj lords challenged the established nobility. One sees in the example of the Funj how an attempt to produce puppet kings is not a long-term strategy for success if the kingmakers are themselves feuding and relying on armed slaves and other supporters to depose kings and remove competitors. Yet in this tale of political assassinations, reliance on enslaved soldiers, growing Islamization and Arabization, and wars with neighbors, the Funj Chronicle reveals certain parallels with other parts of Sudanic Africa. We refer specifically to the tensions brought about by trade and migration across the "Sudanic" belt which threatened political fragmentation and the ways in which the Sayfawa dynasty of Borno and the kings of Sennar both became powerless by the 19th century. How is it that two Islamic dynasties of "Sudanic" Africa both declined and what does it suggest about Sudanic kingship in an age of jihads, slave raiding, and the impact of Islam?