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Edward Pococke (baptised 8 November 160410 September 1691) was an English Orientalist and biblical scholar.


Early life

The son of Edward Pococke (died 1636), vicar of Chieveley in Berkshire, he was brought up at Chieveley and educated from a young age at Lord Williams's School, Thame, Oxfordshire. He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford in 1619, and later was admitted to Corpus Christi College, Oxford (scholar in 1620, fellow in 1628). He was ordained a priest of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
on 20 December 1629. The first result of his studies was an edition from a Bodleian Library manuscript of the four
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
epistle An epistle (; ) is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The ...
s (''2 Peter'', ''2'' and ''3 John'', ''Jude'') which were not in the old Syriac canon, and were not contained in European editions of the '' Peshito''. This was published at
Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
at the instigation of Gerard Vossius in 1630, and in the same year Pococke sailed for
Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
, Syria as chaplain to the English factor. At Aleppo he studied the
Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
and collected manuscripts. He also studied and translated Arabic Islamic works. His ''Philosophus Autodidacticus'', a translation of Ibn Tufayl's ''Life of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan'', may have influenced the political philosopher
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
. At this time
William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
was both
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
and chancellor of the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, and Pococke was recognised as one who could help his schemes for enriching the university. Laud founded a Chair of Arabic at Oxford, and invited Pococke to fill it. He entered the post on 10 August 1636; but the next summer he sailed back to
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
in the company of John Greaves, later Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, to prosecute further studies and collect more books; he remained there for about three years.Avner Ben-Zaken, "Exploring the Self, Experimenting Nature", i
Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011)
pp. 101-125.


Return to England

When he returned to England, Laud was in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, but had taken the precaution to make the Arabic chair permanent. Pococke does not seem to have been an extreme churchman or to have been active in politics. His rare scholarship and personal qualities brought him influential friends, foremost among these being
John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned m ...
and John Owen. Through their offices he obtained, in 1648, the chair of
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
on the death of John Morris, though he lost the emoluments of the post soon after, and did not recover them until the Restoration. These events hampered Pococke in his studies, or so he complained in the preface to his '' Eutychius''; he resented the attempts to remove him from his parish of Childrey, a college living near
Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire, it has been a ...
in North Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) which he had accepted in 1643. In 1649, he published the ''Specimen historiae arabum'', a short account of the origin and manners of the Arabs, taken from Bar-Hebraeus (Abulfaragius), with notes from a vast number of manuscript sources which are still valuable. This was followed in 1655 by the ''Porta Mosis'', extracts from the Arabic commentary of
Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
on the ''
Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...
'', with translation and very learned notes; and in 1656 by the annals of Eutychius in Arabic and
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. He also gave active assistance to Brian Walton's polyglot bible, and the preface to the various readings of the ''Arabic Pentateuch'' is from his hand.


Post-Restoration

After the Restoration, Pococke's political and financial troubles ended, but the reception of his ''magnum opus''a complete edition of the Arabic history of Bar-Hebraeus (''Greg. Abulfaragii historia compendiosa dynastiarum''), which he dedicated to the king in 1663showed that the new order of things was not very favourable to scholarship. After this, his most important works were a ''Lexicon heptaglotton'' (1669) and English commentaries on ''Micah'' (1677), ''Malachi'' (1677), ''Hosea'' (1685) and ''Joel'' (1691). An Arabic translation of Grotius's ''De veritate'', which appeared in 1660, may also be mentioned as a proof of Pococke's interest in the propagation of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
in the East, as is his later Arabic translation of the ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
'' in 1674. Pococke had a long-standing interest in the subject, which he had talked over with Grotius at Paris on his way back from Constantinople.


Personal life

Pococke married Mary Burdet in about 1646, and they had six sons and three daughters. One son, Edward (1648–1727), published several contributions from
Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...
: a fragment of Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi's ''Account of Egypt'' and the '' Philosophus Autodidactus'' of Ibn Tufayl (Abubacer). Edward Pococke died on 10 September 1691 and was buried in the north aisle of
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Christ Church Cathedral is a cathedral of the Church of England in Oxford, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Oxford and the principal church of the diocese of Oxford. It is also the chapel of Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, a colle ...
. His monument, a bust erected by his widow, is now elsewhere in the cathedral.


Legacy

His valuable collection of 420 oriental manuscripts was bought by the university in 1693 for 600l., and is in the Bodleian (catalogued in Bernard, Cat. Libr. MSS. pp. 274–278, and in later special catalogues), and some of his printed books were acquired by the Bodleian in 1822, by bequest from the Rev. C. Francis of Brasenose (Macray, Annals of the Bodl. Libr. p. 161). Both
Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...
and
Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...
exposed some "pious" lies in the missionary work by Grotius translated by Pococke, which were omitted from the Arabic text. The theological works of Pococke were collected, in two volumes, in 1740, with a curious account of his life and writings by Leonard Twells. The Pococke Garden of
Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
is named after him, and contains the Pococke Tree, an Oriental Plane planted by him, possibly from seed he collected around 1636. This tree, with its circa nine metre girth, may be the inspiration for the Tumtum tree of Lewis Carol's poem
Jabberwocky "Jabberwocky" is a Nonsense verse, nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' ...
.


References

* Avner Ben-Zaken, "Exploring the Self, Experimenting Nature", in
Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism
' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), pp. 101–125.


External links


P. M. Holt, article on Pococke
Oxoniensia vol. 56, 1991 *
The Correspondence of Edward Pococke
Early Modern Letters Online MLO ed. Howard Hotson and Miranda Lewis
Liturgiæ Ecclesiae Anglicanae partes præcipuæ: sc. preces matutinæ et vespertinæ, ordo administrandi cænam Domini, et ordo baptismi publici; in Linguam Arabicam traductæ
1674 translation
Liturgiæ Ecclesiae Anglicanae partes præcipuæ: sc. preces matutinæ et vespertinæ, ordo administrandi cænam Domini, et ordo baptismi publici; in Linguam Arabicam traductæ
1826 edition, digitized by Richard Mammana
'Hayy ibn Yaqdhan' and the European Enlightenment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pococke, Edward 1604 births 1691 deaths People from Childrey People from Chieveley Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford English orientalists Christian Hebraists Burials at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford People educated at Lord Williams's School Laudian Professors of Arabic English expatriates in the Ottoman Empire