Edict of King Galāwdewos

In the name of the Holy Trinity, whose name is praised and whose memory is exalted, and He is my helper, and in Him I trust, and by His grace I have been named, and by His power I rejoice. To Him are power and praise, and to Him are honor and command in all worlds, for ever and ever. Amen. I, King Galāwdewos, son of King Wanāg Sagad, have commanded: From now on, so that a merchant, whether Muslim or Christian, may not go to the sea or to the land, or to any place where merchants travel, without reaching my presence and bringing all the servants, male and female, who are within it to me, and without writing for him a letter of exemption for his servants, so that he may show it to the governors, the officials, and the chosen ones of the country who are on the road. And everything that is found with him, whatever remains from the total that was written, they shall take from him. And everything that is found with him, a Christian servant—if he is from the children of ʿArab—they shall take all his property and send it to me. And one who has stolen a Christian servant in the midst of a journey shall kill him. And if it is a merchant who has stolen a Christian—whether he is a Muslim or a Christian from the people of the country of Ethiopia—the one who stole shall be killed.

... and for Wälättä Ṣayon, from the people of ʿArab, while he knows that he is a Christian, they shall take all his property. All his commanders, or judges, or governors, or appointed ones of a region who transgress what we have commanded, he shall be killed without mercy, and all his property shall be plundered, and he shall be anathematized by the mouth of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and by the mouth of all the fathers whom the Church has received. And I, King Galāwdewos, have issued a decree and confirmed this writing. And this law and ordinance shall be firm in the land of Ethiopia forever and ever. And all who come after me from among the kings, or from among the judges, who are under subjection, shall have no remission for him, neither in his death nor in his life. And all who destroy this book, or who remove it from the land of Ethiopia, God shall erase his name from the Book of Life, and his portion shall be with Ḥannā, and Qāyāfā, and Yəhudā ʾAsqāriyawi, and Səmʿon the Magician. And the earth shall open its mouth and swallow him like Dātān and ʾAbēron. And this writing of my hand shall be a witness against me.

And this edict was written in the year of the Martyrs 1264, and on the 18th day of the month of Yekatit, blessed, in the 7th year and the 7th month from the time when the Lord crowned me. Glory to God in the heavens, and peace on earth, and his favor to mankind forever and ever. Amen. And if a slave who has been purchased from Damot or from Gamo writes the name of the man who bought him, and also writes the number of his slaves and the amount of property he gave, and shows it to the judges, the governors, and the appointed ones of the region along the way, and if their testimony is true, they shall send him. And if the slave who was purchased dies, that man from Damot and Gamo shall bring another Christian slave to fill his number. And if this matter is known and confirmed against him, they shall take all his property, and they shall bring him to me. And when he writes, he shall say thus: "The number of slaves I purchased from Damot is such-and-such, and those I purchased from Gamo is such-and-such," and he shall list all of them by their place of origin.