The life and struggles of our mother Walatta Petros
Subtitle: a seventeenth-century African biography of an Ethiopian woman
By: translated and edited by Wendy Laura Belcher and Michael Kleiner ; written by Gälawdewos
Contributors: Gälawdewos, author
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 500
ISBN-13: 9780691164212
Subjects: Miracles; Women saints; Biography; Monasticism and religious orders for women; YaʼItyop̣yā ʼortodoks tawāḥedo béta kerestiyān; Nuns; History
Work titles: Gadla ʼEmna Walata Péṭros. English
Description: This is the first English translation of the earliest-known book-length biography of an African woman, and one of the few lives of an African woman written by Africans before the nineteenth century. As such, it provides an exceedingly rare and valuable picture of the experiences and thoughts of Africans, especially women, before the modern era. It is also an extraordinary account of a remarkable life—full of vivid dialogue, heartbreak, and triumph. The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros (1672) tells the story of an Ethiopian saint who led a successful nonviolent movement to preserve African Christian beliefs in the face of European protocolonialism. When the Jesuits tried to convert the Ethiopians from their ancient form of Christianity, Walatta Petros (1592–1642), a noblewoman and the wife of one of the emperor’s counselors, risked her life by leaving her husband, who supported the conversion effort, and leading the struggle against the Jesuits. After her death, her disciples wrote this book, praising her as a friend of women, a devoted reader, a skilled preacher, and a radical leader. One of the earliest stories of African resistance to European influence, this biography also provides a picture of domestic life, including Walatta Petros’s life-long relationship with a female companion. Richly illustrated with dozens of color illustrations from early manuscripts, this groundbreaking volume provides an authoritative and highly readable translation along with an extensive introduction. Other features include a chronology of Walatta Petros’s life, maps, a comprehensive glossary, and detailed notes on textual variants. (Publisher).
Notes: A "gädl" or hagiography, originally written by Gälawdewos thirty years after the subject's death, in 1672-1673. Translated from multiple manuscripts and versions.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 471-485) and index.

English, translated from Ethiopic (Geez).
Table of contents: title: Introduction to the text  -- Wendy Laura Belcher; title: Manuscripts of the text and earlier translations  -- Wendy Laura Belcher; title: Introduction to the translation of the text  -- Michael Kleiner; title: The Ethiopian script and its translation  -- Michael Kleiner; title: The translation of the Gädlä Wälättä ̣Peṭros --; title: The translation of the Tä'amerä Wälättä ̣Peṭros --; title: Summaries of additional Tä'amerä Wälättä ̣Peṭros --; title: Summary of the history of Walatta Petros's community (in MSS J and I only) --; title: The translation of the Mälke'a Wälättä ̣Peṭros --; title: The translation of the Sälamta Wälättä ̣Peṭros.