Samuel Lyde (1825–1860) was an
English
English usually refers to:
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* English people
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Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
writer and
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
missionary who worked in
Syria in the 1850s and wrote a pioneering book on the
Alawite sect. In 1856, he sparked months of anti-Christian rioting in
Ottoman Palestine
Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...
when, during a visit there, he killed a beggar.
Life and missionary work
Lyde was born in 1825.
He obtained a degree in 1848 after studying at
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...
and in 1851 he was awarded an
M.A, took
holy orders as a
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
man of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
and became employed as a
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of Jesus College.
Poor health, according to Lyde, prevented him from "exercising the duties of his profession in England, at least during the winter months" and, therefore, in the winter of 1850/1851 he made "the usual tour" of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and
Syria.
While on the "tour", he decided, because of his health, to settle permanently in Syria, then a part of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
[ While visiting ]Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, the British consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
suggested to him that he could occupy his time by working as a missionary to the Alawites
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...
,[ also known as Nusayris, a secretive mountain sect who later provided two of modern Syria's leaders: Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad.]
Lyde was persuaded by the idea. From 1853 to 1859, he lived among the Alawite community of the Kalbiyya
The Kalbiyya, ( ar, القلبية) Qalbiyya are one of four tribes, or tribal confederations, of the Alawite community in Syria. Syrian Presidents Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad are from the Kalbiyya.
Alawite background
The Kalbi ...
district, and established a mission and school in Bhamra, a village overlooking the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
port of Latakia. However, he later wrote that living among them convinced him that the Alawites fulfilled St Paul's description of the heathen: "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness".[
]
Lyde travelled to Palestine in 1856, and as he rode on his horse into Nablus he shot and killed a beggar who was trying to steal his coat. It was either an accidental discharge of the gun or Lyde had lost his nerve and fired.[ An anti- Christian riot ensued during which Christian houses were burned and several ]Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
and Prussians were killed.[ Lyde took refuge in the town governor's house but was eventually put on trial for murder.][ The only witnesses were three women who accused him of attacking and deliberately killing the beggar.][ However, the testimony of women was inadmissible in Ottoman courts and he was acquitted of murder, although he was ordered to pay compensation to the man's family.][ The violent rioting continued for several months and even spread to Gaza.][
Lyde developed a deranged mental state and had delusions that he was ]John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
or God himself.[ However, he subsequently recovered sufficiently to write a book on the Alawites, which he completed in ]Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
shortly before his death. He died in Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
in Egypt in April 1860.[ He was 35 years old.][ He bequeathed his mission at Bhamra to two American missionaries, R. J. Dodds and J. Beattie of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.]
Publications and influence
Lyde wrote two books on the Alawites: ''The Anseyreeh and Ismaeleeh: A Visit to the Secret Sects of Northern Syria with a View to the Establishment of Schools'' (1853) and ''The Asian Mystery Illustrated in the History, Religion and Present State of the Ansaireeh or Nusairis of Syria'' (1860). The latter is considered to be a pioneering work, and was the first monograph to be written on the Alawite-Nusayri religion. It remained the only Western book on the subject until 1900, when René Dussaud
René Dussaud (; December 24, 1868 – March 17, 1958) was a French Orientalist, archaeologist, and epigrapher. Among his major works are studies on the religion of the Hittites, the Hurrians, the Phoenicians and the Syriacs. He became curator ...
published his ''Histoire et religion des Nosairîs''.[
His description of Alawite doctrines was based on a document called ''Kitab al-mashyakha'' ("The Manual of the Shaykhs"),] which he said he had bought from a Christian merchant from Latakia.[ This document appears to have differed in certain respects from other sources on Alawite doctrine.][ For many years it was thought to have been lost and only available through the extracts quoted in translation by Lyde.][ In 2013, it was announced that the document Lyde had used had been discovered in the archives of the Old Library of Jesus College, Cambridge.] Lyde had bequeathed it to his old college, and, apparently, had sent it to Cambridge shortly before his death.[
His writing reveals a negative view of the Alawites and, in particular, he was critical of what he saw as their brigandage, feuds, lying and divorce.][ He went as far as saying that "the state of lawisociety was a perfect hell upon earth".] ''The Asian Mystery'' became a popular book and has been described as "colourful" but "unreliable" in some respects.[ Nevertheless, Lyde's account remains an influential source on Alawites, and, for instance, is widely quoted on the internet.][
]
Notes
References
External links
Full texts of Lyde's works via Google books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
:
''The Anseyreeh and Ismaeleeh: A Visit to the Secret Sects of Northern Syria with a View to the Establishment of Schools'' (1853)
''The Asian Mystery Illustrated in the History, Religion and Present State of the Ansaireeh or Nusairis of Syria'' (1860)"> ''The Asian Mystery Illustrated in the History, Religion and Present State of the Ansaireeh or Nusairis of Syria'' (1860)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyde, Samuel
Church of England missions
English Anglican missionaries
1825 births
1860 deaths
Anglican missionaries in Syria
British orientalists
Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge
English religious writers
People acquitted of murder
History of Ottoman Syria
19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire