George Strachan of the Mearns: Seventeenth-century Orientalist
Tom McInally
Abstract
This book examines the life of George Strachan (1572-1635), early 17th century Scottish humanist scholar, Orientalist and traveller. Drawing on a wealth of newly discovered archival material to offer new insights into Strachan’s life and work, it also utilises recent scholarship on the relationship between the cultures and religions of East and West.
Tom McInally explains the voyages that the Catholic exile took to many of the Catholic courts of Europe as a scholar and spy before turning eastwards to embark on a 22-year journey around the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires. By becoming fully ... More
This book examines the life of George Strachan (1572-1635), early 17th century Scottish humanist scholar, Orientalist and traveller. Drawing on a wealth of newly discovered archival material to offer new insights into Strachan’s life and work, it also utilises recent scholarship on the relationship between the cultures and religions of East and West.
Tom McInally explains the voyages that the Catholic exile took to many of the Catholic courts of Europe as a scholar and spy before turning eastwards to embark on a 22-year journey around the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires. By becoming fully literate in Arabic and Farsi, Strachan was able to gain a unique knowledge of Eastern societies. His collection of Arabic and Farsi texts on Islam, philosophy and humanities – which he translated and sent to Europe for the advancement of European knowledge of Islam and Islamic societies – became Strachan’s real intellectual legacy.
Keywords:
Catholic exile,
Humanist,
Orientalist,
Islamic scholar,
Eastern traveller
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2020 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781474466226 |
Published to Edinburgh Scholarship Online: May 2021 |
DOI:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474466226.001.0001 |