Monday, 18th May 2009
Dr. Joan E. Taylor (University College London)
HENRY TIMBERLAKE - MERCHANT ADVENTURER AND TRAVELLER: A JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM IN 1601
Henry Timberlake set sail from London early in 1601 to trade in the eastern Mediterranean with stock from the Levant Company. En route he stopped at Algiers - where he picked up Muslim pilgrims. At Alexandria he took his cargo overland and down the Nile to Cairo. Finding a sale difficult, he decided to travel to Jerusalem - a very hazardous journey few Englishman had dared. Attacked by Bedouin in the Sinai, the huge Syrian caravan he joined managed to get through to Palestine. Near Hebron, Timberlake was joined by a generous Moor from Morocco, on the hajj, whom he had taken on board ship at Algiers, a man who now vowed to look after him as he journeyed as a stranger in a strange land, away from the caravan (bound for Damascus), onwards to Jerusalem. Soon Timberlake had need of his assistance, since he was arrested at Jaffa Gate as a spy by guards who had not heard of England, and thrown into prison. The Moor gained his release, after pleading with the Ottoman Pasha. Timberlake, a fervent Protestant, was then put under the care of the Catholic Franciscans, and under their guidance he followed a whirlwind pilgrim tour. He was also one of the few Europeans of the time to visit the Dead Sea.
Timberlake's account of his extraordinary and dangerous journey is full of information about Ottoman Jerusalem, and provides a vivid insight into a bygone era. Joan Taylor has published a rich retelling of Timberlake's journey in her book, The Englishman, the Moor and the Holy City (2006) and here provides an illustrated lecture on his travels.
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