Description
Book SynopsisSilent Teachers considers for the first time the influence of Ottoman scholarly practices and reference tools on oriental learning in early modern Europe. Telling the story of oriental studies through the annotations, study notes, and correspondence of European scholars, it demonstrates the central but often overlooked role that Turkish-language manuscripts played in the achievements of early orientalists. Dispersing the myths and misunderstandings found in previous scholarship, this book offers a fresh history of Turkish studies in Europe and new insights into how Renaissance intellectuals studied Arabic and Persian through contemporaneous Turkish sources.
This story hardly has any dull moments: the reader will encounter many larger-than-life figures, including an armchair expert who turned his alleged captivity under the Ottomans into bestselling books; a drunken dragoman who preferred enjoying the fruits of the vine to his duties at the Sublime Porte; and a curmudg
Table of Contents
Introduction / Chapter One: Earliest printed books on Turkey: Georgievits and Postel on the Turkish language / Chapter Two: The advent of scholarly books on Turkey: Leunclavius’ Ottoman Annals and History, Crusius' Greece under Turkish Rule with Scaliger's Annotations / Chapter Three: First printed grammars of Turkish: Megiser and Du Ryer / Chapter Four: Oriental studies in Leiden: The manuscript Turkish dictionaries of Deusing and Golius / Chapter Five: A fine library: Golius and his Turkish books / Conclusions
