The 'Arabick' interest of the natural philosophers in seventeenth-century England / / edited by G.A. Russell.

• Superior document: Brill's studies in intellectual history, volume 47
• TeilnehmendeR: Russell, G. A.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, New York : : E.J. Brill,, 1994.
• Year of Publication: 1994
• Language: English
• Series: Brill's studies in intellectual history ; v. 47.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (331 pages) :; illustrations.
• Notes: Consists of essays by the participants of a 1986 symposium held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London.

The medieval concern with Arabic is well established. There was, however, a 'second wave' of Arabic interest in seventeenth-century Europe, which is not widely known. The essays in this volume reveal that, contrary to all expectation, the study of Arabic was pursued by a circle of natural philosophers, philologists and theologians in England in close contact with those on the Continent. Arabic was defended as an aid to biblical exegesis and as the key to a 'treasure house' of ancient knowledge. It led to the founding of Arabic chairs at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, endowed by archbishops and merchants. Arabic was taught, along with Hebrew, at Westminster school. Immense collections of Arabic manuscripts were acquired both privately and by libraries, such as the Bodleian at Oxford. They were sought after by natural philosophers in their research in observational astronomy or in the reconstruction of Greek mathematics. Arabic was also part of the Anglican interest in Eastern Churches. In addition to the earlier elegant editions of the Medici Press at Rome, bi-lingual texts, grammars, lexicons, and histories, were published by trained Arabists. Forgeries emerged based on Arabo-Latin alchemical texts. Arabic was included in the concern with a universal philosophical language. Arabic subjects featured extensively in the correspondence of the Royal Society. The impact of translated texts extended to the Quakers as well as to individual figures, such as Locke. In short, at a time when least expected, Arabic interest permeated all levels of English society, encompassing subjects which ranged from science, religion, and medicine, to typography and importing garden plants. Fourteen historians from different disciplines examine the extent and sources of this phenomenon. Arabic interest is shown to have been a significant aspect of the rise of Protestant intellectual tradition. It was also a major component of University reforms and of secular academic scholarship at Oxford and Cambridge. Thus the period also marks the institutionalisation of Arabic studies. By identifying many unexpected 'Arabick' strands in the complex skein of seventeenth-century English concerns, this volume opens new lines of investigation and challenges some of the accepted historical interpretations of the period.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / G.A. Russell -- Introduction: The Seventeenth Century: The Age Of 'Arabics' / G.A. Russell -- The Background To Arabic Studies In Seventeenth-Century England / P. M. Holt -- The English Interest In The Arabic-Speaking Christians / Alastair Hamilton -- Arabists And Linguists In Seventeenth-Century England / Vivian Salmon -- Edmund Castell (1606-86) And His Lexicon Heptaglotton (1669) / H.T. Norris -- The Medici Oriental Press (Rome 1584-1614) And The Impact Of Its Arabic Publications On Northern Europe / Robert Jones -- Patrons And Professors: The Origins And Motives For The Endowment Of University Chairs—In Particular The Laudian Professorship Of Arabic / Mordechai Feingold -- Arabic Manuscripts In The Bodleian Library: The Seventeenth-Century Collections / Colin Wakefield -- Arabick Learning In The Correspondence Of The Royal Society 1660-1677 / M.B. Hall -- English Orientalists And Mathematical Astronomy / Raymond Mercier -- The Limited Lure Of Arabic Mathematics / George Molland -- The Impact Of The Philosophus Autodidactus: Pocockes, John Locke, And The Society Of Friends / G. A. Russell -- English Medical Writers And Their Interest In Classical Arabic Medicine In The Seventeenth Century / Andrew Wear -- Arabo-Latin Forgeries: The Case Of The Summa Perfectionis (With The Text Of Jābir Ibn Hayyān's Liber Regni) / William Newman -- Coronary Flowers And Their 'Arabick' Background / John Harvey -- Index / G.A. Russell.