The Kellew Clan: Ancestral Traditions and the Balaw Kalaw of Senhit
Updated: Sep 1
Between roughly 960 and 1270 CE, the Balaw Kalaw, associated with the Beja, emerged as a powerful force in the region, weakening Aksum and later dominating parts of the Eritrean highlands and lowlands until the rise of new Agaw powers in the north.
During the Middle Ages, several Beja kingdoms emerged across the region, stretching from the lowlands of present-day Eritrea northward to Aswan in Egypt. These kingdoms occupied much of the territory that had once been under Aksumite influence. The six kingdoms were Nagash, Tankish, Belgin, Bazin, Jarin, and Qita’a, and they bordered one another as well as the Nubian kingdom of Alodia. The region was rich in gold, emeralds, and other precious stones, attracting Arab merchants and miners.
The growing power of the Beja tribes also played an important role in the decline of Aksumite political power. Repeated raids and conflicts from the west and north weakened the Aksumite state and contributed to the gradual loss of its influence in the region.
The Beja Country It is a twenty five days' journey from al-'Allāqī to the land of the Beja (al-bujā) known as al-Ḥadāriba and al-Kidhubin. The town of the king of the Ḥadāriba Beja is called Hajar. Muslims go there for the purpose of commerce.
The Beja live in tents made of hides, pull out the hairs of their chins and cut the breast nipples of their young men lest they resemble the breasts of women. Their food is dhurra and other similar foodstuffs. They ride camels and fight in sitting position as if they were mounted on horseback: they throw their Javelins without missing the target.
From al-'Allāqī one goes to the land of the branch of the Beja known as az-Zanāfija, also called Baqlīn. Muslims sometimes went there for commerce. The customs of this tribe are the same as those of the Ḥadāriba. They have no God-given law (sharī'a), but worship an idol which they call Ḥājājwā. (Wiet, pp. 120- 125).
Introduction
The Kellew clan is one of the Bilin clans found today among the twelve Neged subbranches. According to Kellew oral tradition, their ancestral lineage goes back to the Balaw Kalaw people, who are traditionally associated with the Beja peoples of the region. This tradition is important because it connects the Kellew to an older population that is said to have lived in the Senhit area before later migrations and political changes. While this tradition cannot by itself prove the exact historical origins of the Kellew, it provides an interesting account of how the clan understands its connection to the early history of Senhit.
Historical Tradition of Kellew Bilin
According to oral traditions concerning the Agaw migrations, groups such as the Adkeme Melga, Lamza, Gabre Tarqe, and Liban are said to have migrated into the Eritrean highlands. These groups claimed areas including Serawe, Akele Guzai, and Hamasen. Their arrival is believed to have created a struggle for political power between the newcomers and the populations that were already established in the region.
Eventually, political supremacy is said to have shifted from the Balaw tribes to the Adkeme Melga, who became an important part of the new Christian settlements in the highlands. The Balaw tribes were traditionally regarded as being of Beja origin, and before the end of the thirteenth century they are said to have dominated large parts of the Eritrean plateau, possibly including some areas south of the Mereb River.
The decline of Balaw political power created a new political vacuum. This gave some of their former subjects an opportunity to establish greater independence before the Adkeme Melga eventually consolidated their power.
According to the tradition, after the Agaw groups entered the highlands, the Gabre Tarqe moved westward toward the Senhit area, which was inhabited by the Balaw Kalaw people. This part of the tradition is particularly interesting when compared with the Life of Endreyas, a previously little-known document concerning Endreyas, the founder of a monastery at Seffaa in the fifteenth century. The work appears to have been written relatively soon after his death.
The Life of Endreyas describes Endreyas travelling in search of a place of solitude. When he reached the land of the Bogos, or Medra Bogos, he encountered a believer named Ta’ammana Egzi. Ta’ammana Egzi asked Endreyas to become his spiritual father, and Endreyas accepted.
This account is significant because it suggests that by the time of Endreyas and Ewostatewos, the migration associated with Tarqe or Gabre Tarqe had already been completed. If Gabre Tarqe was indeed a historical figure, regardless of the exact period in which he lived, the immigrants had already established themselves in their new territories. They were not simply recent migrants but had become established inhabitants and political authorities in the areas they occupied.
This appears to fit with the wider tradition that the Agaw migrations into the highlands occurred before this period. It also raises the possibility that some of the populations already living in Senhit before these migrations were later incorporated into, displaced by, or politically subordinated to the incoming groups.
The Kellew Connection
This is where the Kellew tradition becomes particularly interesting. The Kellew claim that their ancestors came from the Balaw Kalaw population would place their ancestral history among the people who supposedly inhabited Senhit before the arrival and consolidation of the later Agaw groups.
If this oral tradition preserves a genuine historical memory, the Kellew could represent a surviving lineage connected to one of the older populations of Senhit. Their tradition would therefore not simply describe the origin of a clan but could preserve a memory of the political and demographic changes that transformed the region.
The connection between the Kellew and the Balaw Kalaw should, however, be treated carefully. Oral traditions can preserve very old historical memories, but they can also change over generations. The claim would therefore need to be compared with medieval written sources, genealogy, linguistic evidence, archaeology, and the traditions of other Bilin and Beja communities.
Conclusion
If the Kellew oral tradition is historically accurate and their claimed descent from the Balaw Kalaw represents a genuine ancestral connection, then the Kellew could have one of the oldest recorded ancestral traditions connecting a present-day Bilin clan to the pre-Agaw population of the Senhit region. Their tradition would place their ancestors in the area before the later migrations and political expansion associated with groups such as the Adkeme Melga and Gabre Tarqe.
For this reason, it is possible that the Kellew preserve an important memory of the ancient population of Senhit and its transformation over time. However, saying that they are definitively the oldest Bilin clan in Senhit would require stronger historical evidence. The safest conclusion is that if the Kellew claim of descent from the Balaw Kalaw can be supported by independent historical, linguistic, genealogical, or archaeological evidence, it could make the Kellew one of the oldest surviving Blin lineages associated with Senhit.
sources;
Kitab al-Buldan ("Book of the Countries").
Tarikh al-Yaqubi ("History of al-Yaqubi", also known as Ta'rikh ibn Wadih).
al-Yaʿqubi’s Islamic ensiklopedia.
Church and state in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat
An Ethiopian Fugitive Allied with a Nubian King? Ēwosṭātēwos and Sābʾa Nol at Nobā through Hagiographical by Olivia Adankpo-Labadie
Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Orientalists, Algiers, 1905 ...: Part: Section II (Semitic languages); Section IV (Egypt. African languages); Section VII (African archaeology and Muslim art) 1907
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