Reinhart Dozy
Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy (February,
1820 - May,
1883),
Dutch Arabic scholar of French (
Huguenot) origin, was born at
Leiden.
The Dozys, like so many other contemporary French families, emigrated to the Low Countries after the revocation of the
edict of Nantes, but some of the former appear to have settled in the
Netherlands as early as
1647. Dozy studied at the
university of Leiden, obtained the degree of doctor in
1844, was appointed an extraordinary professor of history in
1850, and professor in
1857.
The first results of his extensive studies in Oriental literature,
Arabic language and history, manifested themselves in 1847, when he published
Al-Marrakushi's
History of the Almohades (Leiden, 2nd ed.,
1881), which, together with his
Scriptorum Arabum loci de Abbaditis (Leiden,
1846-
1863, 3 vols.), his editions of
Ibn-Adhari's
History of Africa and Spain (Leiden, 1848-1852, 3 vols.), of
Ibn-Badrun's
Historical Commentary on the Poem of Ibn-Abdun (Leiden, 1848), and his
Dictionnaire détaillé des noms des vétements chez les Arabes (Amsterdam, 1845)stamped Dozy as one of the most learned and critical Arabic scholars of his day.
But his real fame as a historian mainly rests on his great work,
Histoire des Mussulmans d'Espagne, jusqu'à la conquéte de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides, 711-1110 (Leiden, 1861; 2nd ed., ibid., 1881); a graphically written account of
Moorish dominion in Spain, which shed new light on many obscure points, and has remained the standard work on the subject. Dozy's
Recherches sur l'histoire et la littérature de l'Espagne pendant le moyen âge (Leiden, 2 vols., 1849; 2nd and 3rd ed., completely recast, 1860 and 1881) form a needful and wonderfully trenchant supplement to his
Histoire des Mussalmans, in which he mercilessly exposes the many tricks and falsehoods of the monks in their chronicles, and effectively demolishes a good part of the
Cid legends.
As an Arabic scholar Dozy stands well-nigh unsurpassed in his
Supplement aux dictionnaires arabes (Leiden, 1877-1881, 2 vols.), a work full of research and learning, a storehouse of Arabic lore. To the same class belongs his
Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugois, dérivés de l'Arabe, edited with Dr WH Engelmann of Leipzig (Leiden, 1866; 2nd ed., 1868), and a similar list of Dutch words derived from the Arabic.
Dozy also edited
al-Maqqari's
Analectes sur l'histoire et la littérature des Arabes d'Espagne (Leiden, 1855-1861, 2 vols.), and, in conjunction with his friend and successor,
Michael Jan de Goeje, at Leiden,
al-Idrisi's
Description de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne (1866), also the
Calendrier de Cordoue de l'année 961; texte arabe et ancienne traduction latine (Leiden, 1874).
Het Islamisme (
Islamism; Haarlem, 1863, 2nd ed., 1880; French translation) is a popular exposition of
Islam, of a more controversial character; and
De Israelieten de Mekka ("The Israelites at Mecca," Haarlem, 1864) became the subject of a rather heated discussion in
Jewish circles.
