Yusuf ibn Abu Dhaqn known to the west as Josephus Abudacnus or Josephus Barbatus, was an Egyptian

Copt Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are Co ...

who traveled in Europe mainly teaching Arabic in the 17th Century CE. He was born in Cairo around (?1570s CE)Alastair Hamilton
An Egyptian Traveller in the Republic of Letters: Josephus Barbatus or Abudacnus the Copt
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 57. (1994), pp. 123-150. and learned Greek and Turkish in Egypt. In 1595 he was sent to Rome with a letter from Pope Gabriel VIII of Alexandria to

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

where he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and learned Italian and some ancient Greek and Latin. He also went to Paris and England. His Arabic skills, however, were limited as confessed by him to

Scaliger The Della Scala family, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years. History Wh ...

and as confirmed later by

Erpenius Thomas van Erpe, also known as Thomas Erpenius (September 11, 1584November 13, 1624), Dutch Orientalist, was born at Gorinchem, in Holland. He was the first European to publish an accurate book of Arabic grammar. After completing his early educa ...

who studied under him. Erpenius, who had already learned some Arabic from William Bedwell, commented to his teacher that Barbatus had taught him 'many Arabic words' but of the 'corrupt language' that was spoken at the time 'by Egyptians and others', he wrote that today only the learned understood Arabic as spoken by the old. He also authored some books, the most well known of which is titled "Historia Jacobitarum, seu Coptorum, in Aegypto, Libya, Nubia, Aethiopia" which is not strictly a history but an account of the Coptic liturgical rites of his time. The book was described by

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 ...

as being of low value.Wadi Al-Fransiskani
Yusuf ibn Abu Dhaqn and his history of the Copts-يوسف بن أبي دقن وتاريخه عن الأقباط
Priest's Friend Journal-مجلة صديق الكاهن . Retrieved 2008-04-14

References

Converts to Roman Catholicism from Oriental Orthodoxy 16th-century Egyptian people 16th-century Oriental Orthodox Christians 16th-century Roman Catholics 17th-century Roman Catholics 17th-century Egyptian people {{Ottoman-bio-stub