Title: 5. The Encounter with Islam between Doctrinal Image and Life Writing: Ambrosius Zeebout’s Report of Joos van Ghistele’s Travels to the East 1481–1485
Abstract:of Joos van Ghistele's Travels to the East 1481-1485 [I]nt jaer ons Heeren zes hondert ende viere, als Bonefacius de vierde paus was inde heleghe kercke van Roome, ende Focas domineerde ende rengneerd...of Joos van Ghistele's Travels to the East 1481-1485 [I]nt jaer ons Heeren zes hondert ende viere, als Bonefacius de vierde paus was inde heleghe kercke van Roome, ende Focas domineerde ende rengneerde over tkeyserijc, ende Cosdrue bezadt dat keyserijc van Perssen ende vele provincien daer onttrent, de welke zeere groote oorloghe voerende was jeghens de heleghe kerstin Keercke, so wart in Arabien gheboren de valsche bedriegher Machomet den xiiij en dach van aprille int jaer zes hondert ende zesse.[In the year of the Lord 604, when Boniface IV was pope of the Holy Roman Church, and Phocas reigned the empire (of Eastern Rome), and Khosrau II ruled the Persian empire with many provinces thereabouts which led great wars against the Holy Christian Church, the false traitor Muḥammad was born in Arabia on 24 April in the year 606.] 1 With this somewhat internally contradictory (and historically inaccurate) pronouncement, Ambrosius Zeebout begins his description of the 'birth, life, and faults' of the Prophet Muḥammad that forms part of his book on Joos van Ghistele's Eastern travels. 2 Zeebout's account is flawed from the outset, insofar as it provides two contradictory dates for Muḥammad's birth in a single sentence -probably a slip of the pen or the result of sloppy compilation from different sources.The year 606 and the information regarding the clerical and worldly leaders of the day can be traced back to a pilgrimage report written by Bernhard von Breidenbach (c.1434/1440-1497). 3 This text -printed for the first time in 1486 -was Zeebout's major source on Muḥammad and Islam, but in the case of this specific passage he ignored the broader context.Breidenbach 1 Zeebout 1998, 9.I am very grateful to Evelien Timpener M.A. (Hannover) for her help with some passages of Zeebout's text. 2 The actual year of Muḥammad's birth is unknown, but is estimated to be c.570.In most cases, no year of birth was mentioned in accounts of his lineage and the circumstances of his birth.3Read More