This thesis attempts to address how and why North Shäwa deteriorated from a political heartland to a region of impoverished peasants by the beginning of the 20th century. One of the factors that determine the selection of the place for a seat of the government for a region or country and sustainability of its system is its resource potential. In this case, arable and grazing land with other related land resources were decisive. They were some of the major factors contributing to both the origin and development of the kingdom. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, the region was abandoned by the court and by a significant proportion of its population. This was mainly because of the impoverishment of the region. The growth of the number of consumers (town dwellers) and the supplies needed by the kingdom exceeded the carrying capacity of North Shäwa. The economic productivity of the region could not correspond to the development of its needs. Thus, this thesis accords due emphasis to the factors that contributed to the impoverishment of North Shäwa and the consequences that followed. Throughout the thesis, North Shäwan peasants are the main subject of discussion. Political, social, cultural and geographical factors that impacted on the peasants’ economy and that retarded its development are discussed in the study. It also attempts to unearth the measures taken by the court and peoples of North Shäwa to withstand or escape from the prevailing socio-economic problems. Finally a comparison is made with other regions of the country to describe the political and socio-economic status of North Shäwans that continue to live in the region. This discussion covers the period from the 1880s up to the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1935 / History / D.Litt. et Phil. (History)

This thesis attempts to address how and why North Shäwa deteriorated from a political heartland to a region of impoverished peasants by the beginning of the 20th century. One of the factors that determine the selection of the place for a seat of the government for a region or country and sustainability of its system is its resource potential. In this case, arable and grazing land with other related land resources were decisive. They were some of the major factors contributing to both the origin and development of the kingdom. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, the region was abandoned by the court and by a significant proportion of its population. This was mainly because of the impoverishment of the region. The growth of the number of consumers (town dwellers) and the supplies needed by the kingdom exceeded the carrying capacity of North Shäwa. The economic productivity of the region could not correspond to the development of its needs. Thus, this thesis accords due emphasis to the factors that contributed to the impoverishment of North Shäwa and the consequences that followed. Throughout the thesis, North Shäwan peasants are the main subject of discussion. Political, social, cultural and geographical factors that impacted on the peasants’ economy and that retarded its development are discussed in the study. It also attempts to unearth the measures taken by the court and peoples of North Shäwa to withstand or escape from the prevailing socio-economic problems. Finally a comparison is made with other regions of the country to describe the political and socio-economic status of North Shäwans that continue to live in the region. This discussion covers the period from the 1880s up to the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1935 / History / D.Litt. et Phil. (History)

Alors que la forêt de Lyons est souvent assimilée à une simple forêt-frontière, dix années d’enquête nous obligent à modifier radicalement cette définition géo-historique. Il faut dire qu’entre temps, il a fallu reconsidérer la notion même de forêt qui désignait au haut Moyen Âge, non pas de grandes étendues boisées, mais tout au contraire un espace fortement humanisé où coexistent futaies et taillis, landes et prairies, champs et villages. De cette grande forêt médiévale de Lyons – la plus importante de Normandie avec ses 30 000 ha – entièrement dévolue à l’usage et aux besoins de son détenteur ducal ou royal se dégage alors un pays, lui-même fruit de la sédimentation de quatre espaces nettement identifiés, entre 1100 et 1450. Des multiples séjours des Plantagenêts puis des Capétiens, attestés par plus de 500 chartes signées en forêt de Lyons entre 1100 et 1400 et justifiées soit par la chasse (espace résidentiel), soit par la guerre (espace militaire) résultent en effet un espace politique qui explique la fortune étonnante d’au moins deux favoris issus du pays de Lyons : Guillaume de Longchamps, chancelier d’Angleterre sous Richard Cœur de Lion et Enguerrand de Marigny, le familier de Philippe le Bel. S’ajoutent à cela tous les revenus qu’un espace économique comme la forêt de Lyons procure à son détenteur, en se rappelant l’importance prise par le bois dans l’économie médiévale. En définitive, l’on découvre ainsi que ce pays a fini par produire un véritable écosystème d’une résilience à toute épreuve jusqu’à ce que les années sombres de la fin de la Guerre de cent ans finissent par avoir raison de cet âge d’or qu’a représenté le Moyen Âge pour la forêt de Lyons. / Although the forest of Lyons is often defined simply as a border forest, ten years of research has enabled me to make a radical change to this old geographical definition. My reconsideration of even the concept of “forest,” shows that, in the High Middle Ages, the word meant not large stretches of woodlands but, instead, a well-developed space, where timberlands, thickets, heaths, pastures, cultivated fields, and villages coexisted. The medieval forest of Lyons, the most important in all Normandy with its 30,000 hectares, was entirely devoted to the use and necessities of its ducal or royal title-holder, and it emerged as a pays formed by the coalescence of four distinct spaces between 1100 and 1450. The many sojourns of the Plantagenets and then the Capetians — due to hunting (residential space) and various wars (military space) — are documented by more than 500 acts signed in the forest of Lyons between 1100 and 1400. These sojourns produced a political space that explains the stunning careers of at least two royal favorites, natives of the pays of Lyons: William Longchamp, chancellor under Richard the Lionheart, and Enguerrand de Marigny, chief minister of Philip the Fair. Since wood was a necessity in medieval times, the forest of Lyons was also an important economic space because it earned significant revenue for its title-holder. All things considered, it is clear that the pays of Lyons produced a true ecosystem able to survive all hardships until the dark, final period of the Hundred Years War put an end to the Golden Age that the Middle Ages had brought to the forest of Lyons.