Theodor Bibliander's Machumetis saracenorum principis eiusque successorum vitae, doctrina ac ipse alcoran (1543) as the Sixteenth-century “Encyclopedia” of Islam

Abstract

The Machumetis saracenorum principis (1543, second edition 1550), compiled by the Zurich theologian Theodor Bibliander, has long been recognized as one of the most significant texts on Islam published in the Latin West in the Early Modern era. The Qur'an translation it contained (the first ever to be printed) was not superseded for over 100 years. This article explores how the work functions as a whole text in the context of Bibliander's life and theology, with particular attention paid to its paratexts (that is, its framing devices) and organization. Bibliander's compilation is discovered to be a self-contradictory, problematic text. In the sixteenth century, new information on the Turks and their religion did not replace, but rather was placed simply alongside other materials, sometimes substantiating older materials, sometimes directly contradicting them. This ambiguity opened up space for new and different readings while supporting, simultaneously, the received tradition. All of this points to the important transitional nature of the sixteenth century in Christian–Islamic engagement.

Keywords:

• Theodor Bibliander
• Latin Qur'an
• Western views of Islam
• Ottoman Turks
• Christian–Muslim relations

Notes

For example, until Du Ryer's 1647 French translation (re-translated into English in 1649), the 1698 Latin translation by Paduan Ludovico Marracci, and Sale's 1734 English edition.

On paratexts in the Renaissance, see especially Smith and Wilson (2011). The use of framing devices to guide reading is also a central concern of Thomas Burman (2007).

Bibliander referred to himself as the “Nachfolger Zwinglis für theologishe Vorlesungen im Dienste der Kirche Zürich” (Egli 1901, 15). See also Christ-v. Wedel 2005, 19–60.

It is unclear whether Bibliander was born in 1504, 1505, or 1509, although scholarly consensus is leaning now toward 1505, as seen in Moser (2009). Bibliander's most important biographer, Egli (1901, 4), argues for 1509.

This praise is from a founding father of Swiss Church History, Johann Heinrich Hottinger (Egli 1897, 185–7).

Although this conjures up an interesting mental image, the earliest documentary evidence for it does not appear until the 1700s (Staedtke 1953, 536–46).

For the broader context of medieval and early modern Western understandings of Islam, see especially: Bisaha (2004), Tolan (2002), Meserve (2008), Blanks and Frassetto (1999), Chew (1937), Daniel (1993), Rouillard (1941), Said (1978), and Southern (1962).

“Das Verderben hangt von dem Menschen selber ab; es ist seine Schuld, wenn er die Gnade verachtet, und sein eigenes gerechtestes Verdienen, wenn ihn Gottes Verurteilung trifft” (quoted in Egli 1901, 74).

On April 1, 1546, a report from Stadtschreiber Frohlich in Augsburg to Bullinger warned that, although one could indeed travel to Muslim lands and hold one's Christian faith, one word spoken against Islam would likely be lethal (Egli 1901, 88–9).

Similar positions were adopted by other thinkers influenced by Humanism, including Vives, Bucer, and Bullinger. For Bucer as an example, see Warneck 1900, 19.

The story of this controversy has been told several times. See Clark 1984, 11–12, Luther, WA 53, 563–5, and especially Bobzin 1995, 181–209 and Segesvary 1998, 161–99.

And when it does not, it follows Ricoldo di Monte Croce or Postel rather than any independent Arabic reading (Bobzin 1995, 172–5).

Ketton divided the early suras into smaller units. However, the Collectio neglected to give a separate number to sura 8, leaving a total of 123. Bibliander supplies the missing sura number and therefore numbers to 124. I have found this to be a valuable aid to tracing which translated Qur'an was utilized by a later source. If an author refers to “124 suras,” then he is almost certainly working with Bibliander's edition.

See Bibliander 1543, 1: 230, a short paragraph titled “lectori studioso,” where he calls his manuscript “depravatissimum.”

For a discussion of these titles, see Burman 2007, 65ff.

“necessu(m) ut religio defendatur armis: ne(m)pe falsa. Nam uera et Christ(i)an(a) religio cruce propagata est.” Bibliander 1543, 1: 108.

And a few other cases; see verse 31.

This passage describes a method of utilizing a cursed drink in order to cause suffering in the accused wife and through this to reveal the unfaithful spouse.

This is the only location in the 1543 printing where the date of publication is stated.

In the 1550 edition, this short preface is placed after Melanchthon's “Warning.” This creates a rather awkward placement of the two Bibliander prefaces back-to-back, but likely served to forefront the greater international authority of Philipp Melanchthon.

I find it interesting that, when the title page was corrected, both name and descriptor were changed. Luther is an “excellentissimi” theologian, Melanchthon a “doctissimi viri.”

On this publication in general, see the exhaustive study by Ehmann (2008). Due to its rather unusual transmission history, Bibliander provides both a Greek and Latin version. See Luther, WA 53: 261ff.

There must have been multiple printings of the 1550 edition also. In the exhaustive catalog of Bibliander's publications by Christian Moser (2009), the 1550 version is said to have removed the Confutatio. However, I have utilized a version of the 1550 edition that includes it, albeit without the parallel Greek text.

Cf. Qur'an text, Bibliander 1543, 1:120 to 2: col.135.

On these authors, see especially Bisaha (2004), Meserve (2008), and Southern (1962).

I am currently completing a book that contains an English translation of these writings with commentary and context. In my opinion, they are among the most interesting and least understood European writings about the Turks in the sixteenth century.

In fact, the first European Qur'an to give the Qur'an the “last word” and not literally surround the text was Sale's (1734) translation, but even that concluded with an index.

For example, Armour (2002), Goddard (2000), Wheatcroft (2004), and Fletcher (2004).

I reach the same conclusion in an upcoming article that I have written as a re-evaluation of the first English Qur'an (1649), generally attributed to Alexander Ross.

Many of these studies put at the center of their interest the rhetorical use of Islam for internal purposes. See especially Birchwood (2007), Burton (2005), Dimmock (2005), Vitkus (2003), and MacLean (2007). A central argument of Burman (2007) is that medieval European engagements with Islam are more complex and problematic than has been previously understood.