''The History of the Saracen Empires'' is a book written by

Simon Ockley Simon Ockley (16789 August 1720) was a British Orientalist. Biography Ockley was born at Exeter. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1697, MA. in 1701, and B.D. in 1710. He became fellow of Jesus College and vi ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and first published in the early 18th century. The book has been reprinted many times including at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1894. It was published in two volumes that appeared a decade apart.

The author

Simon Ockley, vicar of

Swavesey Swavesey is a village lying on the Prime Meridian in Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 2,463. The village is situated 9 miles to the north west of Cambridge and 3 miles south east of St Ives. Listed as ''Suauesye'' in the Domesday ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, devoted himself from an early age to the study of eastern languages and customs and was appointed

Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic is a title used at Cambridge University for the holder of a professorship of Arabic; Sir Thomas Adams, 1st Baronet (1586–1668), Lord Mayor of London in 1645, gave to Cambridge University the money needed t ...

at Cambridge in 1711. The first volume of his work generally known as ''The History of the Saracens'', appeared in 1708 as '' Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt by the Saracens'', the second in 1718, with an introduction dated from

Cambridge Castle Cambridge Castle, locally also known as Castle Mound, is located in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. Originally built after the Norman conquest to control the strategically important route to the north of England, it played a role in the conf ...

, where he was then imprisoned for debt.

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is ...

, who admired and used his work, speaks of his fate as “unworthy of the man and of his country.” His ''History'' extends from the death of Mahomet, 632, to that of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 705; the work was cut short by the author's death in 1720. ''The Life of Mohammed'' prefixed to the third edition of his ''History'', which was issued for the benefit of his destitute daughter in 1757, is by Roger Long.

Reputation and influence of the work

Ockley based his work on an Arabic manuscript in the Bodleian Library which later scholars have pronounced less trustworthy than he imagined it to be. Stanley Lane-Poole in the '' Dictionary of National Biography'' wrote that: citing the opinion of

William Robertson Smith William Robertson Smith (8 November 184631 March 1894) was a Scottish orientalist, Old Testament scholar, professor of divinity, and minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He was an editor of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' and contributo ...

in the article on Ockley from the ninth edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. The author in question is now known as pseudo-Waqidi.

Robert Graham Irwin The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, ''For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and their Enemies'' (2006), p. 119. Lane-Poole notes that the ''History''

Alfred Rayney Waller Alfred Rayney Waller (1867, York – 1922) was an English journalist and man of letters, known as the co-editor-in-chief with A. W. Ward of ''The Cambridge History of English Literature''. A. R. Waller received an M.A. from Peterhouse, Cambrid ...

described the author's work: The 1720 play '' The Siege of Damascus'' by John Hughes drew inspiration from the first volume of the work.

References

External links

§ 2. Ockley’s ''History of the Saracens''
in ''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes'' (1907–21). 1708 books 1718 books 18th-century history books History books about the Middle East Non-Islamic Islam studies literature {{Islam-book-stub