Abstract
In 1693, the University of Oxford acquired 420 oriental manuscripts from the collection of the late clergyman and scholar Edward Pococke (1604–1691). As chaplain to the English factor in Aleppo and by his travels in the Ottoman Empire, Pococke had traded for and accumulated a large collection of valuable manuscripts. The exchange of scholarly knowledge between the Levant and England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is brought to our attention by Simon Mills in his inspiring monograph, A Commerce of Knowledge.
Mills has studied the world of the chaplains to ‘provide a lens through which to view … three intersecting themes of trade, religion, and scholarship’ between western Europe and the Ottoman Empire (4). Central to the study is the link constituted by three generations of Church of England chaplains of the English Levant Company in the period from 1600 to 1760, who were active between the Levant Company, the Church, and the universities of Cambridge and Oxford in England. By focusing ‘on the individuals who travelled, both geographically between Europe and the Levant, but also conceptually, between the worlds of international commerce and diplomacy and the worlds of religion and humanist scholarship’, Mills is taking on the subject with expertise in primarily intellectual history (5). However, the study is arguably also an interdisciplinary cultural history. He sets well-defined limits to the study but also establishes a broad scope with the ambition to answer the wider question once raised by Francesca Trivellato: ‘how ought we to conceptualize the relationship between culture and economics in the context of exchanges between Christian Europe and the Muslim Mediterranean?’ (4–5). The pursuit of answering this question, I think, is one of the threads that the reader can follow throughout the book.
Mills’ approach is more empirical than theoretical. He seeks to ‘recapture’ the world of the individuals involved and the interactions between them, and move away from the ‘one-sided perspective’ of dichotomies. He does this convincingly and explains that by glimpsing into that world by studying ‘the English chaplains with their Ottoman interlocutors’, it allows us to ask questions ‘beyond the old dichotomy of malevolent “Orientalism” versus groundbreaking philology’ (11). Mills frames an interesting question in asking how European oriental studies might look ‘if reconceived as conversation – as commerce – between figures’ (that is, his study objects) and between ‘Europeans and Ottomans, West and East’ (11). Mills further explains that, when it comes to ideas, he seeks to move away from abstract terms, such as ‘interchange’, ‘flow’ or ‘exchange’. Rather, he hopes that the presented analytical concept of ‘commerce of knowledge’ will unfold ‘less through theoretical discussion, [and] more by laying open to view these encounters in as much detail and as vividly as the sources allow’ (11). The conceptualization of the transaction process intended here, as a ‘commerce of knowledge’, addresses Trivellato's question and is one of the great contributions of the study. As a method and analytical tool, it can arguably be adapted within other relevant fields of historical research.
The study consists of four parts. The areas that Mills is empirically attentive to and presents with great clarity are, in Part One, the mapping of the communication lines between merchants and chaplains in the Levant and the ‘learned enquirers’ in England. Mills’ ability for empirical detail brings the individuals, some of whom have previously been less known, to life. Part Two is devoted to philology and the collecting of oriental manuscripts and, in Part Three, Mills delves into the area of antiquarianism – more specifically, the attempt to understand, produce and distribute texts. The final part summarizes the themes and concludes that ‘commercial and intellectual interests’ shifted away from the Levant to British India towards the end of the period, in parallel with Aleppo's diminishing importance as a centre of trade. The primary sources consulted consist of manuscripts and unique printed books located in a wide range of repositories across the United Kingdom and Europe. Mills has also consulted a long list of contemporary texts in printed books.
The study is thus not directly about the traditional maritime aspects of the Levant trade, but it certainly holds some important relevance as the intellectual history and commerce of knowledge as defined here are an integral part of what shaped the political and commercial expansion of the western and northern European powers in the Mediterranean in the early modern period. As Mills has shown, this is not to be overlooked if we are to understand the fuller context of exchanges between the regions. In this regard, when I read the book, I could not help but think about the ways in which Mills has prepared the ground for new fields of research. Could maritime history also contribute in terms of the ‘worlds of international commerce and diplomacy’? If so, in what way? In addition, the history of consuls and the consular system has expanded rapidly in the last decade, so perhaps a deeper inclusion of such research could have been fruitful in examining how the role of consuls (as logisticians or producers themselves, close to the chaplains) affected the process of the commerce of knowledge. Mills clearly states the scope and limitations of the study, and including the consular system is not the focus here, but it would be interesting to see what further roles consuls played on an individual level in scholarly exchange. One of the many other interesting aspects discussed by Mills is the idea of travelling conceptually and how it formed the notion of scholarly knowledge, in comparison to intellectual experience gained from physical travel. This could also be a great opening for further research. It would indeed be interesting to see an expanded comparative study of learned communities in Europe on what the similarities and differences were between them, both locally and individually.
Mills’ study is an important contribution to historical research, and it is a relevant read for those with an interest in maritime history. Rich with empirical detail and written in clear and fluent prose, Mills takes the reader on a multifaceted journey into the intellectual and religious world of the Levant chaplains. In not setting any pre-fixed limits on the historical discipline, Mills also expands the boundaries regarding the subject by incorporating an interdisciplinary understanding of his research. It is a work that I find inspiring and that I hope will serve as an inspiration to others.