Richard Pococke - Travels in Europe (1733-36) and The Near East (1737-42)

Travels in Europe (1733-36) and The Near East (1737-42)

He seems to have spent far more time travelling than attending to his duties as a churchman and from 1733-41 undertook two grand tours with his cousin, Jeremiah Milles. The first (1733-34) was to France and Italy and the second (1736-37) was to the Low Countries, Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary. Milles was recalled in 1737 to attend his uncle, the Bishop of Waterford & Lismore, leaving Pococke to continue his voyage to the East. Detailed accounts of their travels survive in a collection of letters written to Pococke's mother and their mutual uncle, the bishop, as well as in a number of note-books (British Library, Add. Ms. 19939, 15779, 22998, etc.). The earlier manuscripts, recently edited and published by Rachel Finnegan, include probably the most detailed description of Venice's "Marriage to the Sea" ceremony as well as precious information on contemporary music, especially opera. From 1737-41 he visited the Near East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Palestine and Greece. These travels were later published in his Description of the East of 1743 and 1745, works which were praised by Edmund Gibbon. The correspondence from his Eastern voyage, again written to his mother and his uncle, Bishop Milles, is to be published in 2013. Among other things, he was one of the European travellers to give an account of the origins of the medieval Arabic document, the Achtiname of Muhammad, which claims that the Prophet Muhammad had personally confirmed a grant of protection and other privileges to the monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai.