Ewuakpe, originally Idova and later Ehennegha, was the twenty-sixth ('king') of the Kingdom of Benin whose reign is dated variously from about 1690 or 1700 until about 1710 or 1712. Benin traditions describe his rule as a period of political disruption in which chiefs and subjects withdrew their support, civil conflict developed around the Ode, and a settlement was later reached. Tradition attributes the restoration of royal authority to Ewuakpe, assisted by the self-sacrifice of his wife Iden, and associates his reign with the confirmation of succession through the 's eldest son. After his death, a disputed succession followed: his second son Ozuere briefly gained the throne before his first son Akenzua I rightly prevailed. Accounts of Ewuakpe are preserved in Benin oral tradition, music, court art and dynastic imagery, including traditions concerning the harp and fish-legged figures on ancestral ivories. Later traditions also associate him with the transfer of royal dance and chieftaincy titles to Ughelli Kingdom.
Background and accession
Historical record and chronology
The chronology of Ewuakpe's reign is uncertain because it requires comparison among Benin oral accounts, dynastic king-lists, European travel reports, missionary letters and later historical analysis. Historian Jacob Egharevba in A Short History of Benin assigns Ewuakpe's accession to around 1700. Historian Barbara Blackmun in Art Journal places his reign at approximately 1690 to 1713, whereas historian Osarhieme Benson Osadolor in The Military System of Benin Kingdom gives an approximate period of 1700 to 1712. Anthropologist Paula Girshick Ben-Amos and historian John Thornton in The Journal of African History date his accession to about 1690 and his death to around 1710. Anthropologist Robert Elwyn Bradbury questioned the precision of Egharevba's sequence because it was not easily reconciled with the Dutch traveller David van Nyendael's account of disorder in Benin. Bradbury mentioned that Egharevba's chronology placed Nyendael in the later years of ('king') Ore-Oghene in 1699 and in the opening years of Ewuakpe's rule by 1702. Bradbury argued that the crisis described by Nyendael could not have developed fully if Ewuakpe had acceded only in 1700. He consequently suggested that Ewuakpe may have acceded closer to 1690, while allowing that Akenzua I's reign could have begun earlier than Egharevba proposed.
Published Benin king-lists generally record the succession of s from Ewuakpe onward, although some exclude Ozuere and Ogbebo because informants regarded them as temporary usurpers. Bradbury found broad agreement among his principal informants on the order in which Ewuakpe's descendants ruled, except in relation to contested brief accessions. He nevertheless observed that the king-lists published by captain Ernest Percy Stuart Roupell and anthropologist Percy Amaury Talbot were not fully independent, since Egharevba had access to their earlier compilations. Egharevba prepared his dynastic list with the assistance of an , a priest of the royal ancestors responsible for memorising the dynastic succession and offering sacrifices to successive s during the annual rites. Bradbury mentioned that Egharevba's books had become widely known in Benin, making it difficult to collect oral traditions unaffected, directly or indirectly, by those publications. He concluded that oral tradition could neither establish that Egharevba's king-list was seriously mistaken nor determine the chronology and genealogy of every earlier reign.
Political setting
Bradbury stated that six or seven s whose genealogical relationships were unrecorded preceded Ewuakpe. In Egharevba's list, the s from Ahenzae through Ewuakpe belonged to one royal clan, but the succession was not consistently identified as either father-to-son or brother-to-brother. Bradbury regarded this uncertainty as evidence that dynastic memory for the period immediately before Ewuakpe had been only partially preserved. Egharevba's account attributes to Ewuakpe the introduction of a rule under which an 's eldest son inherited the throne. Bradbury argued, however, that primogeniture was already a characteristic feature of Edo culture, observing that Ishan (also spelled Esan) dynasties claiming Benin royal descent had no traditions of a succession rule other than primogeniture. He considered it unlikely that a wholly new succession system could have replaced an earlier system and become established within only 250 to 300 years.
Bradbury described Benin tradition as preserving a prolonged contest between the and the ('kingmaker') nobles, extending from the dynasty's beginning to the reign of Esigie in the early sixteenth century. He considered the 's lack of recognised authority to depose an an important factor in their later political decline. titles normally descended to eldest sons, while the absence of lineage landholding limited titleholders' capacity to develop extensive lineage-based support. During the same period, the and , called respectively town chiefs and palace chiefs, developed as institutions. These positions were generally non-hereditary and, in principle, could be contested by free men. The had authority over the creation of titles, appointments to vacant posts and advancement within and between these groups. Palace chiefs normally rose through palace administration, whereas town chiefs often first accumulated wealth and followers through warfare, agriculture or trade before entering office.
Accession
Egharevba identifies Ewuakpe's father as Akennuzama, also rendered Akenzama, and describes him as the rightful successor to the throne. Akennuzama was said to have been considered too old to govern and to have requested that the crown pass to his son Idova. Idova was renamed Ehennegha because of a prophecy attributed to Ewuare the Great, which held that an named Idova would bring a major change, either beneficial or harmful, to the organisation of government. Ehennegha was crowned with the regnal name Ewuakpe. Ben-Amos and Thornton identify Idova as Ewuakpe's personal name and describe the prophecy as a tradition in which Ewuare the Great anticipated political change should an named Idova attain the throne. They relate this tradition to later Benin explanations of the political crisis associated with Ewuakpe's rule.
Reign
Rebellion and abandonment
Egharevba writes that the Edo people rose against Ewuakpe immediately after his coronation. They were said to have stopped attending palace meetings, refused food supplies and declined to provide labour for royal construction. For a period, Ewuakpe remained in the palace with only his wife Iden. According to Egharevba, Ewuakpe travelled to Ikoka, his mother's town, when his isolation became intolerable. The people of Ikoka were said not to have allowed him to live there unless he participated in road construction and well-digging. Ewuakpe was said to have cursed the people of Ikoka before returning to Benin City. Egharevba dates the death of Ewuakpe's mother Ewebonoza at Uselu to 1705, about five years after she became ('queen mother'). Ewuakpe reportedly ordered the deaths of many people during her funeral rites and was said to have mourned her death deeply. In Egharevba's account, the funeral killings led to a further deterioration in Ewuakpe's relationship with the elders and the wider population.
The elders and other inhabitants were said to have abandoned Ewuakpe, taken royal possessions, opened the harem so that the 's wives could return to their families, and released swordbearers and other palace servants. Ewuakpe reportedly carried the state sword and the royal stool, called the , from Uselu to the palace, only to find the compound empty. A later episode in the same tradition states that, while repairing a leaking roof during rainfall, Ewuakpe fell and injured himself but received no assistance after calling out. Folklorist Dan Ben-Amos characterises Ewuakpe as a tragic figure in Benin historical tradition, describing a ruler whose people no longer supplied food, attended meetings or enabled him to fulfil royal obligations. Dan Ben-Amos also recounts the tradition that Ewebonoza's funeral killings resulted in Ewuakpe's abandonment by the population.
Civil war and the revolt of Ode
European accounts first mentioned civil war in Benin in 1696, when the Italian capuchin Francesco da Monteleone reported a conflict that appeared to have been underway for some time and may have begun around 1689. European references continued into the 1730s but provide little detail concerning the conflict's early course. The Portuguese captain Lourenço Pinto visited Benin City in 1693 and described it as peaceful and prosperous, suggesting that the destruction later reported by Dutch traveller David van Nyendael occurred after that date. van Nyendael's narrative suggests that lower levels of Benin administration continued to function during the crisis. He described officials supervising common people, enslaved people, military matters, livestock, agricultural goods and other areas of administration. Van Nyendael also stated that offices were acquired through recommendation from senior officials and signified by possession of coral necklaces. Although the European sources did not identify the s concerned, Ben-Amos and Thornton combine them with oral traditions to reconstruct the reigns of Ewuakpe and his sons Akenzua I and Ozuere.
Benin tradition identifies Ode, the , as a principal figure in the revolt against Ewuakpe. Historian Osadolor places Ode's installation as Iyase around 1701 and identifies the office as command of the Benin army. Egharevba describes Ode as a warrior associated with military victories and other achievements. Osadolor interprets the rebellion as a political emergency involving Ewuakpe, Ode, other chiefs and the wider population. He suggests that Ewuakpe's attempts to remove opponents or reduce political resistance may have triggered the revolt. In Osadolor's interpretation, the resulting truce was a political compromise that renewed confidence in the monarchy but did not prevent another civil conflict after Ewuakpe's death.
Ben-Amos and Thornton identify the funeral killings as the traditional explanation for the uprising against Ewuakpe but argue that disputes concerning political authority, wealth and inheritance were also significant. They cite van Nyendael's description of an attempting to eliminate supposed conspirators called "street kings", interpreting this as an effort by high officials to limit the Iyase's influence and discipline middle-ranking officials aligned with him. The rebel "street king" was said to have left Benin City with part of the population after the sought to suppress the opposition. The recruited troops from a neighbouring country and attacked the rebel leader, but failed. The rebel then returned, sacked Benin City and spared the 's palace. Ben-Amos and Thornton identify the unidentified rebel "street king" as most likely Ode. In Benin oral tradition, Ode is described as an adversary and magician capable of taking the form of an elephant. Ben-Amos and Thornton associate this elephant imagery with the ivory trade and Ode's base at Ugha village, north-east of Benin City near Ehor, a market centre connected with Ishan and the Niger River.