Chapter 37: Sacred History
Much of the early period of the Shawnee Empire is shrouded in mystery. Our only source for most of it is the Shaanii Aadizookaan, which makes many dubious historical claims. The purpose of the Shaanii Aadizookaan is not to tell an accurate historical account but rather to serve as a religious and moral guide for future generations. It has a tendency to cast people as either “villains” or “heroes” with little in between. And it is heavily biased in favor of the Shawnee and Mozism in general.
In later times, the Shawnee were quite proud to have risen from humble origins to the heights of power. When Mozcala [Madison, IN] was founded it was a city of bandits, vagabonds, prostitutes, and exiles. Many, although far from all, of these inhabitants were Mozists or converted to Mozism shortly after arriving.
The actual construction of the city was haphazard and unplanned. Rather than the wide boulevards and carefully constructed sewage systems of most classical period city-states, Mozcala had many twisting alleys and a notoriously inefficient and ineffective sewage system. The houses, at first, were little more than shacks hastily constructed before winter. While they would improve over time, it was well into the imperial period before Mozcala’s ramshackle reputation faded.
Many stories of the Shaanii Aadizookaan are set in this early period, when Mozcala was under construction and being ruled by Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa. These stories are usually explanations for the institutions and practices of Mozcala, especially those which were unique or otherwise rare in the Mishigami and Ziibiing.
How many of these stories are true? To be blunt, most of them were probably cobbled together later to explain the origins of the Shawnee. Many of them appear to have some level of historical truth, though.
For example, in one story a man is accused of stealing a wapiti elk. In order to determine guilt, Tenskwatawa ordered the man placed in a boat and the boat sunk. If the man survived, then obviously he had not stolen the wapiti elk. The man agreed to undergo the trial, but only if Tenskwatawa was in the boat with him. Tenskwatawa, recognizing the folly of such a thing, set the man free and outlawed trial by ordeal. Most classical period city-states used trial by ordeal and Mozcala did not. This story provides a plausible reason why such a practice was banned. Though the story itself is likely to be fiction, something like it probably happened.
According to the Shaanii Aadizookaan, Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh ruled Mozcala together for many years. Tecumseh was the first to die. Tenskwatawa ruled alone. After Tenskwatawa’s death a few years later, there was a great deal of confusion because he had made no provision for who should inherit the throne. Many thought that the Fox clan should continue ruling the city. Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa had been members of the Fox clan and the Fox clan had been the ruling clan of the city of Wapeksippu for hundreds of years prior to the foundation of Mozcala. These people were ignored.
In the end, the masses proclaimed an elderly Mozist priest named Wyandanch to be the next King. He was not a member of the Fox clan. However, he was said to have “no vices”. Therefore it was thought that he would rule the city justly.
Very quickly the masses learned of their mistake. Wyandanch, who had never been particularly powerful or well known before Tenskwatawa’s death, soon became corrupt. One of his first acts was to make an ostentatious crown of elk antlers, tipping them in rare and precious gold. He married many wives, all of them much younger than himself and treated them terribly. Most damning of all, he had little interest in ruling. The people suffered under his rule, which was thankfully short due to his old age.
Wyandanch with his wives [
1]
With Wyandanch’s death, it was clear that a more systematic way of choosing a leader was needed. A council of noble Ogimaa gathered, as they did in other cities, and began to discuss who their new leader should be. They quarreled and each man nominated himself. After much negotiation, a particularly influential Ogimaa declared that he would vote for “the next man I see”. At that moment, Keannekeuk, nephew of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa entered the room with a message for the Ogimaa. This was seen as a sign from the Master of Life that the Fox clan should once again be in charge. From that time on, the King of Mozcala was a hereditary position.
The story of Wyandanch and the origins of clan inheritance is almost certainly false. Most scholars believe that this story was created to justify later dynastic changes and to subtly critique the decadence and disinterest of the later Shadow Emperors. Hereditary rule was never in doubt for Mozcala. Keannekeuk was always the heir of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa. Wyandanch, if he existed at all, was an overly powerful official, not the recognized King.
In reality, the government of Mozcala formed slowly and evolved over time. It owed much of its early structure to the government structures of other city-states in the Mishigami and Ziibiing. Descendants of the original settlers were given a status akin to citizenship and were called
dibendaagozi. They elected a group of nobles called
Ogimaa who in turn elected the ruling
Sagamos or King. The elections were overseen by an
agindaaso, or counter. This was a very common type of government in the Mishigami and Ziibiing. It is covered in detail in Chapter 20: State Society.
In Mozcala, the group of Ogimaa was referred to as the
dibishkoo zagaswe'idiwag which is usually translated as “Assembly of Equals”, though it was far from equal. We will discuss the complex hierarchy of the Shawnee nobility at another time. For now, it is sufficient to know that its structure in the early days was not very different from many other city-states.
The bureaucracy of Mozcala was headed by an official called the
dakon oshtigwaanens, translated as the Keeper of the Seal. He was allowed to hold and use the seal of the King, which effectively granted him the ability to make legal judgments. Another important bureaucrat was the
jiimaanikewinini or chief boat builder, who was officially in charge of building war canoes but in reality had near total control over the king’s spending. Neither of these titles was uncommon among the other city-states in the Mishigami and Ziibiing at this time.
The most notable difference in Mozcala’s governmental from other city-states was the widespread use of exams to choose bureaucrats. According to the Shaanii Aadizookaan, it was Eshkibagikoonzhe, the Keeper of the Seal for Keannekeuk, who first instituted these exams. Due to the success of these exams, Eshkibagikoonzhe was better remembered in history than Keannekeuk.
The exams likely began due to a shortage of bureaucrats in the early history of Mozcala. Since so many people came from so many different places and so few people knew each other, the Mozcala bureaucracy needed a standardized test to determine who was proficient at what in order to sort out governance.
Men taking the exams to become bureaucrats [
2]
In later times, exams had an oral and written part. Each applicant was expected to know not only the ins and outs of his position but also detailed knowledge of Mozist religious thought and history. While most other states in Minisia [North America] used inheritance to choose their bureaucrats, this exam system ensured a minimum level of competence in the government of Mozcala that was simply not present elsewhere.
At the height of the empire, dozens of people would attempt these tests for each that passed. And passing such exams were a requirement to reach the highest levels of government, even for the high nobility. This was how a few thousand bureaucrats were chosen to rule over tens of millions of people. But for now, they granted a token amount of upward mobility in a small but growing city-state among dozens of others.
Next week, we will have a supplemental on the role of women in Mozism.
Characters
- Eshkibagikoonzhe- Keeper of the Seal for Keannekeuk; a government bureaucrat; inventor of the civil service exams
- Keannekeuk- the nephew of Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh; another early ruler of Mozcala
- Tecumseh- brother to Tenskwatawa; one of the rulers of Wapeksippu and later Mozcala.
- Tenskwatawa- also called the Moz or prophet; the founder of Mozism
- Wyandanch- a man with “no vices” that proved to be a terrible early ruler for Mozcala
[
1] Generated using Bing Image Creator. At least no one was wearing a headdress in this one.
[
2] Generated using Bing Image Creator
Questions? Comments?
