ABSTRACT
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw an efflorescence of Arabic studies in western Europe. In England the development came late. The first phase of the revival of Arabic learning is chiefly associated with scholars in France and Italy, more specifically Paris and Rome. In those centres development was stimulated by two factors: the political and commercial intercourse between France and the Ottoman Empire resulting from the capitulations of 1535, and the links between the papacy and oriental Christian sects, especially the Maronites after the foundation of the Maronite College at Rome in 1584. The effect of these factors on Arabic studies can be seen, for example, in the journey of the French scholar, Guillaume Postel, to Egypt and Instanbul between 1535 and 1537 to learn oriental languages and collect manuscripts, and also in the career of the Maronite, Gabriel Sionita, who went to the College in Rome and thence to Paris where he was professor of Arabic.
