Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ITINERANT COURTS
During the Ethiopian Middle Ages, the business of most monarchs consisted of waging wars, collecting taxes and
inspecting the royal domains.
Obliged to travel continuously throughout their far-flung empire, the kings led a perpetually nomadic existence.
And with the rulers went their armies, courtiers and servants; the judges, prison officers and priests; the mer-
chants; the prostitutes; and a whole entourage of artisans. The camps could spread over 20km; for transportation
up to 100,000 mules were required.
The retinue was so vast that it rapidly exhausted the resources of the location. Four months was usually the
maximum possible length of stay, and 10 years had to pass before the spot could be revisited.
The peasantry were said to dread the royal visits as they dreaded the swarms of locusts. In both cases,
everything that lay in the path of the intruders was consumed.
