Editing Buganda (section)

===Women and royal power===
Pre-colonial Buganda was a strongly hierarchical and patriarchal kingdom. However, of the three people who could be called "Kabaka" or king, two were women: the queen mother (''Namasole'') and the queen sister (''Lubuga'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schiller|first=Laurence D|date=1 January 1990|title=The Royal Women of Buganda|journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies|volume=23|issue=3|pages=455–473|doi=10.2307/219599|jstor=219599}}</ref> The queen mother was the most important woman in the kingdom and had political and ritual powers that resembled the king. The Namasole possessed her own courts and estates and had the power to collect taxes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schiller|first=Laurence D|date=1 January 1990|title=The Royal Women of Buganda|journal=International Journal of African Historical Studies|volume=23|issue=3|pages=455–471|doi=10.2307/219599|jstor=219599}}</ref> The death of the Kabaka's mother could instigate a time of terror, as the Kabaka would have his executioners catch and kill many people in his grief.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schiller|first=Laurence|date=1 January 1990|title=The Royal Women of Buganda|journal=International Journal of African Historical Studies|volume=23|issue=3|pages=455–471|doi=10.2307/219599|jstor=219599}}</ref>

The Lubuga effectively shared the throne with her brother and had the same powers he had, for example, she controlled land throughout the country with estates in each district, and she had her own courts and her own chiefs with the same titles as those of the king's chiefs.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174572|title=Women, "Elite Polygyny," and Buganda State Formation|pages=782–786|jstor=3174572 |last1=Musisi |first1=Nakanyike B. |journal=Signs |date=1991 |volume=16 |issue=4 |doi=10.1086/494702 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUV2uQAACAAJ|title=The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs|date= 2011 |pages=82, 237|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-03139-4 }}</ref> For their own subjects, the Namasole and Lubuga were the final decision makers and arbiters. The  Lubuga's palace was about twice the size of that of an important wife of the king. The others had more elaborate palaces.
<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=koGOzQEACAAJ|title=Sisters and Wives: The Past and Future of Sexual Equality|date=1982 |pages=203–204|publisher=University of Illinois Press }}</ref> After the death of a king, the lùbugà took the title nnaalinnya (I will soon ascend) and became responsible for protecting the shrines in which the deceased king's jawbone and umbilical cord were kept. This shrine was where the òmuzimù (spirit) of the king resided and so "the lùbugà/nnaalinnya held significant creative power even after leaving office."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnvBAgAAQBAJ|title=A History of African Motherhood: The Case of Uganda, 700–1900|date= 2015 |page=139|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-24499-3 }}</ref>

The senior wives of the king would also warrant special respect and had status and privilege within Ganda society. She was considered superior to all other chiefs and technically the most powerful commoner, being a royal by marriage. The Katikkiro (prime minister) and most chiefs in Buganda were under the control of the elite titled wives of the king<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schiller|first=Laurence|date=1 January 1990|title=The Royal Women of Buganda|journal=International Journal|volume=23|issue=3|pages=455–471}}</ref> The titled wives were privy to state secrets and were heavily involved in court politics and in vying for power through their sons and clans. Since succession was decided by the king's mothers clan, in order to consolidate clan support, the sons of the king adopted the totems of their mothers and not of their fathers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_10862/?sp=7&st=image|title=John Milner Gray, 'Early History of Buganda,' Uganda Journal 2 (4)|page=261}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174572|title=Women, 'Elite Polygyny,' and Buganda State Formation|pages=773–776|jstor=3174572 |last1=Musisi |first1=Nakanyike B. |journal=Signs |date=1991 |volume=16 |issue=4 |doi=10.1086/494702 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Women would also participate in military campaigns. Princess Nakuyita was second in command of Kabaka Sunna II's army in the early 1800s.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnkWAAAAIAAJ|title=The Kings of Buganda|date=1971 |page=121|publisher=East African Publishing House |isbn=978-0-8002-1633-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174572|title=Women, 'Elite Polygyny,' and Buganda State Formation|pages=782–786|jstor=3174572 |last1=Musisi |first1=Nakanyike B. |journal=Signs |date=1991 |volume=16 |issue=4 |doi=10.1086/494702 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Àbàmbejja (Princesses) had many privileges, including the right to own land. They were shown great respect by chiefs and were exempted from many restrictions faced by the commoner women. Under Mutesa I, princesses were given to chiefs to consolidate their patron-client relations. Many princesses became spirit wives by ‘marrying’ the Balùbaalè (national deities) and were thus able to mobilise creative power to influence the king and the queen mother. One princess, the favorite wife of the king, and another titled woman in Mukaabya Mutesa's court were instrumental in deposing the Katikkiro (prime minister), Kayira, because they felt he had claimed too much power.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnvBAgAAQBAJ|title=A History of African Motherhood: The Case of Uganda, 700–1900|date= 2015 |pages=137–138|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-24499-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnkWAAAAIAAJ|title=The Kings of Buganda|date=1971 |pages=149–152|publisher=East African Publishing House |isbn=978-0-8002-1633-7 }}</ref> Princess Ndege Nassolo organized a successful rebellion of chiefs and princes against her brother, the cruel king Kagulu (1674–1704). Kagulu managed to escape capture after his capital fell but was later caught. Ndege Nassolo had Kagulu drowned in Lake Victoria.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnkWAAAAIAAJ|title=The Kings of Buganda|date=1971 |pages=62–66|publisher=East African Publishing House |isbn=978-0-8002-1633-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnvBAgAAQBAJ|title=A History of African Motherhood: The Case of Uganda, 700–1900|date=2015 |page=138|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-24499-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUV2uQAACAAJ|title=The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs|date= 2011 |page=221|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-03139-4 }}</ref>

In the 13th-15th centuries, women are said to have ruled as Kabaka; Sir John Gray claims that there is abundant evidence of this. One such ruler was Naku, the daughter of Mukibi, the founder of the Lugave (Pangolin) clan and the wife of Kabaka Kimera. Naku was so powerful that every king that followed Kimera took a wife from her clan and called her Naku.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pZyAAAAMAAJ|title=Myth, ritual, and kingship in Buganda|date=1991 |page=98|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-506436-0 }}</ref><ref name="loc.gov">{{cite book|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_10862/?sp=7&st=image|title=John Milner Gray, 'Early History of Buganda,' Uganda Journal 2 (4)|page=267}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnkWAAAAIAAJ|title=The Kings of Buganda|date=1971 |pages=16–17|publisher=East African Publishing House |isbn=978-0-8002-1633-7 }}</ref> Ganda history remembers another female Kabaka, Queen Nanono, wife of Kabaka Nakibinge (1494–1524), gained her fame from a battle with the Banyoro at [[Mpigi]] (which the Baganda lost) while pregnant. After finding out the king had died in battle, she rallied the Baganda warriors and prevented further losses. Thereafter she ruled the country for eighteen months and would have been chosen kabaka had she birthed a male child. Queen Nanano belonged to the Ngo (Leopard) clan, which brought prestige to her clan-mates, who initiated a new name for their daughters: Nnabulya (we also ruled).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnkWAAAAIAAJ|title=The Kings of Buganda|date=1971 |page=28|publisher=East African Publishing House |isbn=978-0-8002-1633-7 }}</ref><ref name="loc.gov"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xhh1EAAAQBAJ|title=Historical Dictionary of Uganda|date=2022 |page=26|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-4175-5 }}</ref>