Arsāniyūs Shukrī al-Ḥakīm’s Account of His Journey to France, the Iberian Peninsula, and Italy (1748–1757) from Travel Journal to Edition
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Abstract
In 1748, the monk Arsāniyūs Shukrī al-Ḥakīm (1707–1786), a member of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Mount Lebanon, was sent to Catholic Europe, tasked with securing financial support and the protection of the French King for his indebted order. The literary byproduct of this journey through the Christian lands of Western Europe was an extensive travel account. Based on recent manuscript findings, the present contribution examines the different versions in which this ego-document has been transmitted, including the original travel journal written en route by Arsāniyūs himself, copies by contemporaries who turned the travel journal into a travelogue, an excerpt included in an anthology dating to the 1870s, and finally the edition by the Jesuit scholar Ferdinand Taoutel (1887–1977). The account of the journey, it is argued, remained the object of a philological engagement that was meant to guarantee the continuity of its relevance and use in changing contexts.
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Aleppo, Maronite Diocese
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Ms. 1354 (anonymous, but attributed to Arsāniyūs Shukrī, Tārīkh ruhban al-lubnāniyyīn mundhu ibtidā rahbanatihim fī jabal Lubnān al-mubārak)
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Beirut, American University
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Ms. 735, Ms. 976 (Fīlibūs Numayr, Irtiḥālat al-khūrī Mūsā Muqaḥḥaṭ wa-l-khūrī Fīlibūs Numayr ilā al-Urūbā)
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Beirut, Bibliothèque Orientale
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BO, USJ 59 (Naʿūm Mikhāʾīl Ṣaqqāl, Majmaʿ al-azhār min al-ḥadīqa al-muʿṭār) must be regarded as lost
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BO, USJ 1764 (Arsāniyūs Shukrī, Riḥlat al-ab Arsāniyūs Shukrī al-rāhib al-Ḥalabī l-Lubnānī; HMML, reading room: https://www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/129738)
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Cairo, National Library
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Tārīkh Taymūr 2041 (Naʿūm Mikhāʾīl Ṣaqqāl, Majmaʿ al-azhār min al-ḥadīqa al-muʿtār)
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Chur, Cantonal Archives of Graubünden
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Ms. B-14 (anonymous, untitled travel journal and cashbook)
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Gotha, Research Library
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Ms. Orient. A 146 (Collection of lose manuscript pages)
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Ms. Orient. A 1548 (Riḥlat Saʿīd Bāshā min ṭaraf al-ʿuthmalī ilā balad Faransā = Arabic translation of Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmed Efendi’s Sefaretname)
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Ms. Orient. A 1549 (Arsāniyūs Shukrī, Riḥlat al-ab Arsāniyūs Shukrī al-rāhib al-Ḥalabī l-Lubnānī)
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Ms. Orient. A 1550 (Ḥannā al-Ṭabīb, Riḥlat al-Shammās Ḥannā al-Ṭabīb ilā baldat Istanbūl)
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Khonchara (Bikfayyā), Shuwayrite Basilian Order
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OBC 355 (Untitled polemics against the Maronites and response by Arsāniyūs Shukrī; HMML, reading room: https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/120916)
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London, British Library
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Add Ms. 18427–18430 (catalogued as “Travels of Macarius, Patirarch of Antioch, in Turkey and Russia, 1652–1659; by his son, Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo”)
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St Petersburg, National Library of Russia
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Ms. A. 255 (Riḥlat Saʿīd Bāshā min ṭaraf al-ʿuthmalī ilā balad Faransā = Arabic translation of Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmed Efendi’s Sefaretname)
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Vatican, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana
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Sbath 108 (Ilyās al-Mawṣilī, Kitāb siyāḥat khūrī Ilyās al-Mawṣilī; untitled Arabic translation of the Sefaretname; DigiVatLib: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Sbath.108)
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Sbath 254 (Ḥannā Diyāb, untitled travelogue; beginning of the manuscript missing; DigiVatLib: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Sbath.254)
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Arsāniyūs Shukrī al-Ḥakīm’s Account of His Journey to France, the Iberian Peninsula, and Italy (1748–1757) from Travel Journal to Edition
In: Philological EncountersSearch for other papers by Feras Krimsti in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
In 1748, the monk Arsāniyūs Shukrī al-Ḥakīm (1707–1786), a member of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Mount Lebanon, was sent to Catholic Europe, tasked with securing financial support and the protection of the French King for his indebted order. The literary byproduct of this journey through the Christian lands of Western Europe was an extensive travel account. Based on recent manuscript findings, the present contribution examines the different versions in which this ego-document has been transmitted, including the original travel journal written en route by Arsāniyūs himself, copies by contemporaries who turned the travel journal into a travelogue, an excerpt included in an anthology dating to the 1870s, and finally the edition by the Jesuit scholar Ferdinand Taoutel (1887–1977). The account of the journey, it is argued, remained the object of a philological engagement that was meant to guarantee the continuity of its relevance and use in changing contexts.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 645 | 50 | 5 |
| Full Text Views | 53 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 93 | 13 | 0 |