Miguel Casiri

Miguel Casiri (* 1710 in Tripoli (Lebanon) , † March 12, 1791 in Madrid ) was a Syro- Maronite clergyman and orientalist .

Life

Miguel Casiri received his scientific training in Rome , where he was ordained a priest on September 29, 1734, his name day . In the following year he accompanied the famous orientalist Giuseppe Simone Assemani to Syria, who was there on the orders of Pope Clement XII. was to attend a Maronite synod . After Casiri returned to Rome in 1738, he gave a very detailed account of the Maronite religious beliefs. Then he taught the Arabic , Syrian and Aramaic languages , theology and philosophy in his monastery at Saint Peter and Marcellin . In 1748 he went to Spain at the invitation of the Jesuit Francisco Rábago y Noriega . Rábago was the confessor of King Ferdinand VI. and had taught Casiri philosophy in Rome. Casiri was employed by the royal library in Madrid at the instigation of Rábago, from which he was transferred the next year to the library in the Escorial , of which he was head librarian since 1763. He was also a member of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid from 1749 and a translator of the oriental languages for the king. Towards the end of his life he lost memory and became deaf. He died in Madrid in 1791 at the age of 81.

Scientific work

From 1750 Casiri collected materials for his Bibliotheca arabico-hispana and was first supported by Paul Hodar, a Maronite monk and learned orientalist. However, the two soon fell apart and Casiri then continued to work alone on his work, which he was only able to complete in 1770. He published it under the title Bibliotheca arabico-hispana Escurialensis, sive librorum omnium manuscriptorum, quos arabice ab auctoribus, magnam partem arabico-hispanis compositos bibliotheca coenobii Escurialensis complectitur, recensio explan etatio (2 volumes, Madrid 1760 and 1770). In this script, which was only printed in a small number of copies, Casiri provided a scientifically organized directory of 1851 Arabic manuscripts in the Escorial library. The work also contains a number of quotations from Arabic histories. The manuscripts are categorized according to the subjects they deal with. In the second volume Casiri explains numerous geographical and historical manuscripts that bring valuable information about the battles between the Moors and Christians in Spain.

literature

Casiri, Miguel , in Encyclopædia Britannica , 11th Edition, 1910-11, Vol. 5, p. 449.
Casiri (Michel) , in: Nouvelle biographie générale , vol. 9 (1854), col. 13 f.

Footnotes

↑ Joaquín García Domenech: Elogio del excelentisimo Señor conde de Campomanes, director de la Real academia de jurisprudencia practica, titulada de la Concepcion . Madrid 1803, p. 53.

personal data
SURNAME	Casiri, Miguel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Syro-Maronite clergyman and orientalist
DATE OF BIRTH	1710
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tripoli (Lebanon)
DATE OF DEATH	March 12, 1791
Place of death	Madrid

[1] Joaquín García Domenech: Elogio del excelentisimo Señor conde de Campomanes, director de la Real academia de jurisprudencia practica, titulada de la Concepcion . Madrid 1803, p. 53.