Oyo Mesi
Oloye Oluyole of Ibadan
, a Bashorun of the Oyo empire in the 19th centuryThe Oyo Mesi is the
Oyo empire.[1]
History
The Oyo Mesi was made up of the most powerful
noblemen in imperial Oyo. No emperor, or Alaafin of Oyo, was capable of being enthroned
in the capital without the prior consent of and performance of rituals by these seven titleholders. They were a ruler's principal advisors and sacred officiants, and also served a variety of judicial and administrative functions in his realm.
Led by the Bashorun (or hereditary "Prime Minister"), the Oyo Mesi were also expected to serve as a
ritual suicide
shortly thereafter. After his burial, it was then left to the Oyo Mesi to begin the process all over again by replacing him with another member of the imperial family.
These wide powers that the Oyo Mesi had were checked in turn by the
Are-Ona-Kakanfo
.
This organizational structure survived the fall of the old empire during the Yoruba civil war in the 19th century, and exists now in the ceremonial monarchy of contemporary Oyo. [2]
Members
The following are the titles of the Oyo Mesi chiefs. Each has his own inalienable functions in the realm (although many of these responsibilities - such as the Samu's needing to commit ritual suicide - are now dormant), and all are collectively the Oyo equivalent of the Iwarefa in other Yoruba kingdoms:
- The Bashorun ("prime minister", hereditary within a single lineage that is related to the imperial family, historically styled His Supernal Highness according to the Reverend Samuel Johnson)
- The Agbaakin ("high priest of Oranmiyan", hereditary within a single lineage)
- The Samu ("sacrificial minister", hereditary within a single lineage; whenever an emperor died, the Samu was obligated to commit ritual suicide and thereby escort him to the afterlife)
- The Alapini ("high priest of Egungun", hereditary within a single lineage)
- The Laguna ("roving ambassador", hereditary within a single lineage)
- The Akiniku ("chief of defence staff", hereditary within a single lineage)
- The Ashipa ("mayor of the capital", hereditary within a single lineage that is descended from the ancestral rulers of Ago-Oja - the town that eventually became the present Oyo)
See also
Sources
- ^ "A Peep Into The Oyo Empire". Vanguard. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ Johnson, Samuel (1921), "The History of the Yorubas, from the earliest times to the beginning of the British protectorate".