Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - The Royal Women of Hawai'i - Part 1 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: by Darlen6 E. Kelley December 2, 2006 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture The Royal Women of Hawai'i - Part 1 Powerful Wives and ali'i ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Royal Woman of Hawaii While all but one of Hawai'i's ruling monarchs were men, chiefly ( ali'i ) women exerted very real political and spiritual influence. In many generations, ali'i women genealogically outranked ali'i men. The kapu system recognized their high status, and the ruling chiefs were very careful to select women of the highest mana [ Ali'i status ] for the children they might bear. Those who were also intelligent, motivated, charismatic, and aggressive might actuall rule, as did Ka'ahumanu and Kina'u dring the reigns of the second and third Kamehameha kings. Or, they might exert influence behind the scenes, as did Keopuolani, sacred wife of Kamehameha and same mother of these two same kings. Each generation undoubtedly produced women of high staus, strong will, authority, and competence. Women enriched and ennobled by high birth, intrigued by the uses of power, and beneficiaries of exalted mana and great wealth. By the nineteenth century, almost all of the private wealth of the royal, era was concentrated in the estates of a few ali'i women. The nineteenth century female ali'i provided an insight into the role high born women played throughout the long span of Hawai'i's Polynesian history. +++++++++++++++ KA'AHUMANU ( c. 1768 - 1832 ). Ka'ahumanu was born in a cave fronting the sea in Hana, Maui about 1768. Her warrior father, Ke'eaumoku, a high chief from Kona, had been one of the most prominent supporters of Kamehameha in the civil wars that led to the unification of the islands. It was Ke'eaumoku who had killed the half brothers, Kiwala'o and Keoua, Kamehameha's rivals for supremacy on the island of Hawai'i in the 1780's. Named as administrator of the island in appreciation of his loyalty, Ke'eaumoka succumbed to bubonic plague while visiting O'ahu in 1804. Ka'ahumanu's mother, Namahana, was also of high ali'i status amongst Maui's chiefly families. Before marrying Ke'eaumoku, she had been one of Kamehameha's , first wives. Twenty years later, Ka'ahumanu would become Kamehameha's , wife and lovemate. She would become a woman of strength and beauty. Six feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds, she was a match for Kamehameha in scale, intellegence and self confidence. When Kamehameha died in 1819, Ka'ahumanu claimed that he had empowered her to serve as kuhi na nui, or advisor and regent, for his son Liholiho who was considered unprepared for the responsibilities of leadership. When none challenged her claim, Ka'ahumanu allied herself with Keopuolani, mother of the Kamehameha princes, and quickly set out to challenge the established order. The opportunity came within months of Kamehameha's death, when the two ali'i women broke the 'ai kapu, the sacred eating prohibition against men and women eating together. Publicly feasting with Keopuolani and Liholiho's brother, the child prince Kauikeaouli, was proof that without Kamehameha's moral authority the old order would collapse from within even before it would be challenged by threats from outside. As kahina nui, Ka'ahumanu influenced Kamehameha II during the four years of his reign, although the willful young king was not always amenable to her suggestions. At times she took the initiative, effectingly pursuing power, neutralizing opposition both real and potential. In 1821 she married both Kaumuali'i, vassal king of Kaua'i, and his handsome twenty-three year old son, Keali'ahonui, when Liholiho brought them back to O'ahu as royal prisoners. Within three years, Kaumuali'i was dead, poisoned, his son claimed, in an effort to eliminate potential oposition to the rule of the Kamehamehas. In November 1823, Ka'ahumanu secured effective control of the kingdom when Liholiho departed Honolulu for London. Having asserted her influence during the reign of the first Kamehameha, Ka'ahumanu did not hesitate to rule authoratively as regent for Kamehameha II. Six months after his departure, Ka'ahumanu proclaimed a new code of civil laws designed to replace the kapu she had effectively helped eliminate. Based on missionary teaching, these new laws forbade a number of Ten Commandment sins, outlawing murder, theft, fighting, and breaking the Sabbath in an effort to restain social chaos by the foreign seaman hell-bent on pleasure and drink. In 1825, Ka'ahumanu's authority as kuhina nui was further enhanced when eleven year old Kauikeaouli succeeded Liholiho as Kamehameha III following his brother's death in London of measles.With a minor on the throne, Ka'ahumanu was more readily accepted as regent than had she been before. There was still opposition to her rule among the remaining chiefs and kahuna, who resented her acceptance of foreign values and her heavy handed use of royal authority. Instrumental in precipitating the collaspe of the old order. Ka'ahumanu was not quick to convert to the new religion. Having granted a year's right of residence to the New England missionaries who had arrived in 1820, she initially watched from a distance for several years. In 1825. having been taught to read , write, and seek the salvation the missionaries preached, she converted to Christianity. By 1827, she had become a vocal supporter of the Protestant missionaries, opposng the efforts of French Catholic priests wanting to settle in Hawai'i, whom she expelled. The French government viewed this as an unsufferable insult and responded with angry demands that were accepted under the threat of war. It was a prelude that would confront the monarchy for the remainder of its existance. When Ka 'ahumanu died on June 5, 1832, the dynasty her husband had founded was being undermined by the increasing numbers of foreigners settling in the kingdom. Though possessed of an iron will and an openness to change, she left behind a kingdom unprepared for changes already under way. ++++++++++++++++++ KEOPUOLANI ( c. 1775 -1823 ) Kamehameha the Great was more than twenty years old when the highborn ali'i Keopuolani, daughter of his first cousin Kiwala'o who had lost his life fighting in 1782, was born. Her mother, Keku'iapoiwanui Liliha, was a half-sister of Kiwala'o, a union that made Keopuolani's mana sacred, her status enhanced by links to the ruling chiefs of Maui. Keopuolani's grandmother, the chiefess Kalola, had made a deathbed request to Kamehameha to take charge of both the the widowed Liliha and her infant daughter. Kamehameha made Liliha his wife and , many years later, also married Keopuolani. It was Keopuolani's exalted mana that motivated Kamehameha, for through her his children would be of the highest ali'i rank. Also by fathering children with Kiwala'o's daughter, the rift between the two branches of the ancient ruling House of Keawe would be healed. Her mana ensured the Kamehameha dynasty's claim to the throne. For Keopuolani, being of high birth meant a life proscibed by numerus kapu. Her mana was such that, should a commoner see her or accidentally cast a shadow on her or her possessions, death was the possible outcome. It is said that she traveled only at night, hidden from public view for fear of risking the lives of those of lower rank. Even the esteemed Kamehameha was her inferior in terms of mana, and he had to prostrate himself when in her presence. Part of Keopuolani's motivation in supporting the overthrow of the old order in 1819 may have been the result of the inhibiting restraints placed on her by kapu. Joining Ka'ahumanu , she broke the dining kapu by eating with her younger son, Kauikeaouli, at a public lu'au. Some month later her older son, rulig as Kamehameha II, followed her lead, publically feasting with her and Ka'ahumanu, and calling for an end to the power of the priests and the kapu. In 1823, just before her death, Keopuolani became one of the first converts of the Protestant missionaries. Symbol of the old order yet committed to change, she died before the consequences of her actions could be evaluated. ++++++++++++++++++ LILIHA ( c. 1796 -1842 ) The daughter of Hoapili Kane, companion in arms to Kamehameha I and subsequently governorof Maui, Liliha was also the grandaughter of the Maui cheftess Kalola. She was still an impetuous teenager when she married high chief Boki, a friend and adventuring companion to the young Kamehameha II. A couple of exotic beauty, Boki and Liliha accompanied Kamehmeha II and Queen Kalama to London. With the death of Kamehameha II, Boki and Liliha found themselves in opposition to Ka'ahumanu's emerging power. Boki used his position as governor of O'ahu to let Ka'ahumanu's new laws of temperance and restraint be breeched, actually selling alcohol in open violation. Pressured by older chiefs to modify his behavior and fearful of retribution. Biki departed Hawai'i in December 1829, for the New Hebrides Islands, in search of a new source of sandalwood, now that Hawai'i's forests had been depleted of this fragrant resource. The venture was in partnership with the king, as both Boki and Kamehameha III hope to reap large profits from the enterprise. The governmant provided two refitted brigs, the Kamehameha and the Becket. The ships, with a crew of 400, made it safely to Fiji. Several weeks later, however the Kamehaneha was lost at sea with Boki aboard. Liliha had stayed behind, serving as governor of O'ahu in Boki's stead. She continued his revenue generating noncompliance with the law, reaching a point just short of rebellion in 1831, when she prepared to resist a royal decree removing her from the governor's postion. She was finally dissuaded from resistance by her father, Hoapili, governor of Maui, who sailed to Honolulu from Lahaina to talk with his headstrong daughter. Forced to surrender the governorship to Ka'ahumanu, who quickly passed the position on to her brother, Kuakini, Liliha retired to Lahaina. She spent the last eight years of her life in Maui, opposing the missionaries. It was not popular position to take, for with each passing year the number of converts grew. Later, Kamehameha III, in an effort to free himelf of missionary influence, tred to substitute Liliha for Kina'u as kuhina nui. The move, however, was rejected by the Council of Chiefs, and Liliha bacame an increasing peripheral figure. In 1839, when most of the holdout ali'i finally accepted Christianity, Liliha herself became a convert. Within three years, Liliha was dead. ++++++++++++++++ NAHI'ENA'ENA ( c.1815 -1836.) Youngest of the three children of Kamehameha and Keopulani, Nahi'ena'ena was educated by the American missionaries. Pampered and indulged as a privileged ali'i on one hand, she was judged harshly by her missionary teachers, one of many ali'i to suffer the consequences of contact with the ideals and morality of the Christain world. n 1824, after Kamehameha II set sail for England, Nahi'ena'ena,a confused and willful child of nine, temporaily rejected missionary teachings in favor of the gods of old Hawai'i. Her commitment, however, came at a time when the ali'i and priests were too disorganized and demoralized to mount a sustained effort on behalf of the gods who were being discredited. She would eventually recommit to christian belief. For most of her short life, she was emotionally, morally and spiritually at odds with herself, uncertain in her belefs and loyalties. The inner conflict cultimated over the issue of marrying Kamehameha III. By the standards of the past, such a bonding between sister and brother was considered sacred, producing offspring of the highest ali'i status. While many of the older chiefs anticipated such a union as a means of strengthening the royal bloodline, missionary opposition, manifest in the opposition of converts like Kina'u, derailed a possible union. What had previously been sacred was now a mortal sin. She married high chief Leleiohoku in 1835 and settled in Lahaina where the royal court had temporarily transferred. Nahi'ena'ena continued to suffer the inner conflict of one caught between two worlds. She died within a year, possibly of a brken spirit, her will to live compromised. She was a tragic symbol of a spiritual malaise that affected many of her generation. ++++++++++++++++ KINA'U ( c. 1805 -1839 ). Daughter of Kamehameha and Kalakua, niece of Ka'ahumanu, Kina'u assumed the role of kuhina nui after Ka'ahumanu's death in 1832. In two separate proclamations addressed primarily to the ali'i, Kamehameha III and his half sister announced their intensions at cooperative rule in an effort to assure the continuity of government at the time of transition. Their duel pronouncement, however, only confused the issue of the true extent of Kina'u's authority. The young chief stated his position when naming her kuhina nui: " I am superior and my mother [ meaning Kina'u, actually his half sister ] subordinate. She is my chief Agent .... We two who have been too young and unacquainted with the actual transaction of business, now for the first time undertake to distinctly regulate our kingdom " Kina'u's pronouncement acknowledged the king, but empathasized her authority as well: "The office which my mother [ meaning Ka' ahumahu, actually her aunt ] held until her departure is now mine. All her active duties and authority are committed to me.The tabus of the king, and the law of God, are with me, and also the laws of the king. My appointment as chief agent is of long standing, even from our father [Kamehameha]...." Committed to enforcing the missionary inspired laws insituted by Ka'ahumanu, Kina'u soon found herself opposed by Kamehameha III, a still unsettled, self indulgent eighteen year old. Like his sister, Nahi'enaena, he was caught between a past no longer intact and a future as yet undefined. Kina'u's conflict with Kamehameha III brought an unexpected result when in 1834. the young king unilaterally abrogated most of Ka'ahumanu's Old Testament laws. In alliance with the tradition minded older chiefs, Kina'u sought to stabilize a society already adrift. Still unready for the rigors of kingship, Kamehameha III yielded to her efforts in 1835, surrendering to Kina'u's authority. For the remaining four years of her life, she effectively controlled the government, extending her influence into the next generation when childless Kamehameha III adopted sons, Lot and Alexander Liholiho, naming the latter heir presumptive to the throne. Lot would follow Alexander Liholiho as Kamehameha V. The four years she ruled as kuhina nui were not without periods of despair for the sensitive Kina'u. Confiding in missionary wife Mrs. Gerrit Judd, she revealed a deep rooted anxiety that afflicted many Hawaiians as the nineteenth century unfolded: " I am in straits and heavy hearted.... I am quite discouraged, and cannot bear this burden any longer. I wish to throw away my rank, and title, and responsibility and bring my family here [ to the Judd home ] or................ take our families and go to America." It is impossible to determine what might have happened had Kina'u lived longer. Already in 1837 she had been warned that the autocratic power of the king and his kuhina nui was no longer valid, and a constitutional monarchy was becoming a necessity. This would come in 1840, by the authority of Kamehameha III. By then, Kina'u would have been dead for more than a year, the kingdom she had worked to preserve surrendered to changes Hawai'i's monarchy could no longer resist. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To be continued in part 2.