OXFORD–WARBURG STUDIES General Editors charles hope and ian maclean Oxford–WarburgStudiescompriseworksof originalresearchontheintellectualand culturalhistoryofEurope.Theyaimtobring aninterdisciplinaryapproachtothestudyof medieval,renaissance,andearlymodern Europe,andinparticulartoexploreboth visualandliteraryaspectsofthe classicaltradition. OXFORD–WARBURG STUDIES Spectacle,Pageantry,andEarlyTudorPolicy SYDNEYANGLO (Secondedition) GiottoandtheOrators HumanistObserversofPaintinginItalyand theDiscoveryofPictorialComposition 1350–1450 MICHAELBAXANDALL (Paperback) JosephScaliger AStudyintheHistoryofClassicalScholarship I.TextualCriticism II.HistoricalChronology ANTHONYGRAFTON ThePalazzoVecchio1298–1532 Government,Architecture,andImageryin theCivicPalaceoftheFlorentineRepublic NICOLAIRUBINSTEIN TheGovernmentofFlorence undertheMedici1434–1494 NICOLAIRUBINSTEIN (Secondedition) TheApocryphalApocalypse TheReceptionoftheSecondBookof Esdras(4Ezra)fromtheRenaissance totheEnlightenment ALASTAIRHAMILTON ChildrenofthePromise TheConfraternityofthePurificationandthe SocializationofYouthsinFlorence1427–1785 LORENZOPOLIZZOTTO PaganismandChristianityintheFourthCentury A.D.MOMIGLIANO (Reissued) Machiavelli—TheFirstCentury StudiesinEnthusiasm,Hostility,andIrrelevance SYDNEYANGLO HistoryofScholarship ASelectionofPapersfromtheSeminarontheHistoryofScholarshipheldannuallyatthe WarburgInstitute EditedbyCHRISTOPHERLIGOTAandJEAN-LOUISQUANTIN TransmittingKnowledge Words,Images,andInstrumentsinEarlyModernEurope EditedbySACHIKOKUSUKAWAandIANMACLEAN The Copts and the West, 1439–1822 The European Discovery of the Egyptian Church ALASTAIR HAMILTON AC AC GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordOX26DP OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork #AlastairHamilton2006 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2006 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbyNewgenImagingSystems(P)Ltd.,Chennai,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN0–19–928877–1 978–0–19–928877–9 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For Fred Bachrach This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements InwritingthisbookIwasheavilydependentonthehelpofothers.Iam particularly grateful to Mark Smith for his advice and his patience in answering my questions about Coptic and Egyptology, and to Wadi AbullifforhisgenerousassistanceinCairo.IwouldliketothankSydney Aufre`re,AnneBoud’hors,NathalieBosson,CharlesLibois,andthelate Maurice Martin for allowing me to profit from their discoveries and expertise, Colin Wakefield for his help at the Bodleian Library and his advice about Arabic transcriptions, Nigel Hope for his proof cor- rectingandBonnieBlackburnforhercopy-editing.Mythanksalsogoto AnneAshby,AliceBailey,MauritsvandenBoogert,AnthonyGrafton, Nelly Hanna, Johannes den Heijer, Jan Helderman, Karim Ibrahim, RobertJones, Gautier Juynboll, IvoKlaver,Jill Kraye, WilliamLyster, Dorothea McEwan, Ian MacLean, Georges Masson, Peter Miller, AndrewPettegree,PaulBotley,JennyBoyle,FrancisRichard,Jonathan Rolls,LydiaSalviucciInsolera,RijkSmitskamp,GeraldToomer,Hans vanderVelde,MichaelWalsh,NicholasWarner,JoannaWeinberg,and JanJustWitkam.IgratefullyacknowledgeanS.T.LeeFellowshipatthe School of Advanced Study, London University, the subsidies given to mefortravelinEgyptbytheLeidseUniversitaireFonds,thelibraryand hospitality of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, and above alloftheWarburgInstituteinLondon,and,finally,thesupportofthe Dr C. Louise Thijssen-Schoute Stichting, to whose former chairman, A.G.H.Bachrach,thisbookisaffectionatelydedicated. This page intentionally left blank Contents Abbreviations x List of Maps xiii Introduction 1 PART I. THE COPTS IN EGYPT 1. An Ancient Church 9 2. Muslim Domination 23 PART II. THE MISSIONS 3. The Council of Florence 49 4. The First Jesuit Mission 58 5. New Approaches 74 6. Towards a Coptic Catholic Church 83 PART III. KNOWLEDGE OF THE COPTS 7. The First Steps 107 8. Confessional Clashes I 121 9. Confessional Clashes II 139 10. Jansenists and Jesuits 152 11. Protestants and the Enlightenment 168 PART IV. THE COPTIC LANGUAGE 12. Athanasius Kircher and his Shadow 195 13. Grammars, Dictionaries, and Dialects 229 14. Manuscript Collecting 250 15. Biblical Studies 259 Epilogue 274 Bibliography 285 General Index 315