IDNO

N.19092.ROS

Description

The King of Bunyoro seated on an elaborately carved wooden throne positioned in the centre of the court room on a platform covered with leopard skin. The King wears, what appears to be, a kanzu (white tunic) covered by long dark robe which is embroidered around the neck and has a few tassels. The King and many members of the Court appear to wear dark-coloured and white fezzes. To the right, there is a line of out of focus Banyoro? men seated on chairs; the three men closest to the King wear the ‘modern’ robes of the Sacred Guild (the same as the King’s clothing). The floor is covered with a layer of grass?.

Physical Condition: Film is a yellow colour.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; western Uganda; Western District; Bunyoro

Cultural Affliation

Banyoro (Bakitara)

Named Person

Andereya Bisereko Duhaga II (b. 1882 - d. 1924)

Photographer

?Roscoe, John R.

Collector / Expedition

Roscoe, John R. [Mackie Ethnological Expedition, Uganda, 1919 - 1920]

Date

1919 - 1920

Collection Name

Roscoe Collection

Source

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in an envelope marked C30/41/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C30/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Publication: Similar published in Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 206 with the caption: "Bunyoro: The King in Court”. [ED 13/11/2007]

Context: "The people of Kitara were a despotically ruled nation believing firmly in the supreme right of their King, who was regarded as something more than an ordinary man, as, indeed, approaching to the divine, for his power on earth was absolute and he had almost as great an influence over the heavenly powers. He was a completely autocratic ruler and all the wealth of the country, that is, the cattle, was regarded as belonging to him...
Though the king’s power was absolute he consulted in most matters a body of chiefs who were known as the Sacred Guild. These chiefs were his special advisors and protectors and were, to all intents and purposes, united as blood-brothers by a solemn ceremony of testing and admission to the Guild. This ceremony is described in the section on Inheritance, for the son of a chief of the Guild almost invariably inherited the right of admission, though he did not succeed directly to membership on his father’s death but had to go through the ceremony of admission. Two chiefs, Bamuroga, who was a member of the Guild and had charge of the kings’ tombs, and Munyawa, the head of the Royal clan, were the most powerful of all the chiefs and during the interval between the death of one king and the accession of another, these two governed the country” (Roscoe, 1923, p.52). [ED 2/10/2007]

Context: "Round the king’s enclosure were built the enclosures of the members of the Sacred Guild and other important chiefs, who thus protected the king from danger of sudden attack by any enemy. The chiefs of the Sacred Guild were a small body of special councillors, chosen, until quite recently, entirely from the Bahuma or pastoral people, who had to bind themselves to the king by a special and very stringent oath which was taken by drinking some milk from cows which were sacred to the king himself.” (Roscoe, J., 1923. The Bakitara (or Banyoro): The First Part of the Report of The Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 8). See also:
-Sacred Guild, gateway of, p. 75
-judgment of a member of, p.62
-herd, v. Nkorogi
-huts, p. 70, p. 100, p. 133, p. 146.
-guards of, p. 75
-names of, p. 80, p. 81
-rules of, p. 80, p. 81, p. 173. [ED 3/10/2007]

Clothing of the Sacred Guild: "Both he and the king wore their official robes and the crown with the long-beard of monkey skin which marked the member of the Sacred Guild. The robe consisted of a large sheet of bark cloth wrapped around the body, and a person dressed in this robe and crown presented a most peculiar appearance.” (Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), pp. 210, 211.). [ED 3/10/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 13/11/2007]