Quran (Iran?, 1st half 16th century)
One of William Laud’s Qurans
In 1636 – the year of the formal opening of Canterbury Quad – William Laud, then Chancellor of the University of Oxford, established the post of Laudian Professor of Arabic (now the Abdulaziz Saud AlBabtain Laudian Professorship). Scholars of the period showed a keen interest in the Arabic language and in Islamic sciences, particularly astronomy.
Today, St John’s College holds a small but significant collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts. Fifteen of the College’s twenty-one Arabic or Persian manuscripts were donated by Laud, eight of them having previously belonged to the courtier and diplomat Kenelm Digby (1603–1665). With the exception of three Qurans, these manuscripts are scientific works, most of them astronomical. MS 201 is one of Laud’s Qurans.
Across early modern Europe, copies of the Quran were actively sought despite its inclusion on the Catholic Index of Forbidden Books between 1547 and 1670 and similar suppression by Protestant authorities.
Quran manuscripts are extraordinary works of art. Because representational imagery was discouraged, artistic expression focused on calligraphy and geometric or vegetal ornament. Much of the decoration is structural, guiding the reader through the text. The most striking elements for Western audiences are often the lavishly decorated opening pages, which the Quran scholar Keith Small described as arresting the reader’s attention and directing it immediately towards the glory of God and of the divine book.
A full digitization of this volume is available at the Digital Bodleian.