James Bruce
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2012) |
James Bruce | |
---|---|
Born | Kinnaird, Stirlingshire, Scotland | 14 December 1730
Died | 27 April 1794 Stirlingshire, Scotland | (aged 63)
Occupations |
|
Known for | Traced the origins of the Blue Nile |
Notable work | Travels (1790) |
James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first European to trace the origins of the Blue Nile from Egypt and Sudan.
Early life
James Bruce was born at the family seat of Kinnaird, Stirlingshire, and educated at Harrow School and Edinburgh University. He began to study for the bar, but his marriage to the daughter of a wine importer and merchant resulted in him entering that business instead. His wife died in October 1754, within nine months of marriage, and Bruce thereafter travelled in Portugal and Spain as part of the wine trade. The examination of oriental manuscripts at the Escorial in Spain led him to the study of Arabic and Geʽez and determined his future career. In 1758, his father's death placed him in possession of the estate of Kinnaird.[1]
To North Africa
On the outbreak of war with Spain in 1762, he submitted to the British government a plan for an attack on Ferrol. His suggestion was not adopted, but it led to his selection by the 2nd Earl of Halifax for the post of British consul at Algiers, with a commission to study the ancient ruins in that country, in which interest had been excited by the descriptions sent home by Thomas Shaw (1694–1751), who was consular chaplain at Algiers. Having spent six months in Italy studying antiquities, Bruce reached Algiers in March 1763. The whole of his time was taken up with his consular duties at the piratical court of the dey, and he was kept without the assistance promised. But in August 1765, a successor in the consulate having arrived, Bruce began his exploration of the Roman ruins in Barbary. Having examined many ruins in eastern Algeria, he travelled by land from Tunis to Tripoli, and at Ptolemaida took passage for Candia; but was shipwrecked near Benghazi and had to swim ashore. He eventually reached Crete, and sailing thence to Sidon, travelled through Syria, visiting Palmyra and Baalbek. Throughout his journeyings in Barbary and the Levant, Bruce made careful drawings of the many ruins he examined. He also acquired a sufficient knowledge of medicine to enable him to pass in the East as a physician.[1]
The Nile and Ethiopia
In June 1768, he arrived at
Determined to reach the source of the Blue Nile, after recovering from
A Spaniard, the
His return
Setting out from Gondar in December 1771, Bruce made his way, in spite of enormous difficulties, by
He came to London in June 1774, and was interviewed by James Boswell, who published a lengthy account of his travels in the London Magazine. Offended by the incredulity with which his story was received, Bruce retired to his home at Kinnaird at age 44.[1]
His Travels
In retirement, Bruce devoted himself to the management of his estate and the oversight of his collieries. In May 1776, he married Mary Dundas, the daughter of a neighbour, with whom he had three children. After his wife's early death in 1785, and at the urging of his friend Daines Barrington, he embarked on writing up his travels, which were published in five quarto volumes (totalling 3,000 pages) as Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile. The book was very successful, selling very well and being favourably reviewed in the monthly journals, but was assailed by other travellers as being unworthy of credence.[1] The substantial accuracy of his Ethiopian travels has since been demonstrated, and it is considered that he made a real addition to the geographical knowledge of his day.
Freemasonry
Bruce was a Scottish Freemason. He was Initiated in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No. 2, on 1 August 1753. The Lodge history, which details his Initiation in the Lodge reads: 'Bruce, James, Younger of Kinnaird – the Abyssinian Traveller.'[8]
Death
For most of his life Bruce resided in a fine house on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, previously occupied by George Lockhart of Carnwath and named Lockhart's Court.[9]
In his final years, Bruce became very corpulent. He died on 27 April 1794 of injuries sustained when on the previous day he fell down stairs at Kinnaird House. He was buried behind his wife in the Larbert old churchyard. The highly unusual monument was made out of cast iron by the local
Legacy
- Bruce's Travels were published in a second edition (1804–05) and a third (1813), both edited from Bruce's papers by Alexander Murray, who also wrote a valuable contemporary biography of Bruce (1808).
- Several of Bruce's drawings were presented to King George III and are in the royal collection at Windsor Castle. According to Edward Ullendorff, "There is little doubt that those volumes contain the pick of Bruce's work, and when they were shown, in 1862, by permission of Queen Victoria, to the Society of Antiquaries, all who saw them were greatly impressed."[10]
- Bruce also brought back to Europe a select collection of Ethiopian manuscripts.Louis XV in Paris." While most of these manuscripts are in Ge'ez, one notable exception is a version of the Song of Songs written in Gafat, a language which Ullendorff states "is known to us only from this manuscript."[12]
- Among the Ethiopian manuscripts were three copies of the Oxford University, while the third copy was kept by Bruce himself, to be also added to the Bodleian collections after his death in 1794. The three manuscripts brought by Bruce mark the beginning of modern studies on the Book of Enoch.[13]
- Bruce also acquired rare Gnostic manuscripts in Coptic in the Bruce Codex, which contains the only surviving copy of the Books of Jeu.[14]
- Bruce's travels and discoveries inspired the founders of the British African Association (1788) in their efforts to promote exploration to discover the course of the Niger and the city of Timbuktu.
- Some of Bruce's stories influenced the development of Rudolf Raspe's Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen.[15]
Further reading
- James Boswell (1774), "Some Account of the Very Extraordinary Travels of the Celebrated Mr. Bruce". London Magazine, 43 (August–September 1774), 388–91, 429–31. Reprinted with notes in Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell, ed. Paul Tankard. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014; pp. 45–57.
- Major (afterwards Sir) Francis Head (1830), The Life of Bruce, the African traveller, London.
- Sir Robert Lambert Playfair(1877), Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce in Algeria and Tunis. London: Kegan Paul. Includes a selection of his drawings, published for the first time.
- J. M. Reid (1968), Traveller Extraordinary: The Life of James Bruce of Kinnaird New York, Norton.
- Miles Bredin (2001) The Pale Abyssinian: a life of James Bruce, African explorer and adventurer, Flamingo.
Editions of his book
- Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773. Five Volumes, G.G.J. and J. Robinson, London, 1790.
- Travels, ed. Alexander Murray. Seven volumes, London: 1805 and 1813.
- Bruce, James, Travels. Abridged edition. Horizon Press, New York, 1964.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 1 [fre]. 1790.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 2 [fre]. 1790.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 3 [fre]. 1790.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 4 [fre]. 1791.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 5 [fre]. 1791.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 6 [fre]. 1791.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 7 [fre]. 1791.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 9 [fre]. 1791.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 12 [fre]. 1791.
- Travels to discover the source of the Nile. 13 [fre]. 1792.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bruce, James". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 676. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ E.A. Wallis Budge, A history of Ethiopia, p 397
- ^ R.E. Cheesman, Lake Tana and the Blue Nile
- ^ Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1805 edition), vol. 4, pp. 326–331
- ^ J.M. Reid, Traveller Extraordinary: The Life of James Bruce of Kinnaird (New York, Norton, 1968), pp. 219–236
- ^ Reid, Traveller Extraordinary, pp. 237–249
- ^ Reid, Traveller Extraordinary, pp. 250–266
- ^ History of the Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2, compiled from the records 1677–1888. By Alan MacKenzie. 1888. p. 238.
- ^ Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.247
- Scottish Historical Review, 32 (1953), p. 132
- ^ Book of Enoch (መጽሐፈ ፡ ሄኖክ /Metsahaf Henoc), Bodleian Library of Oxford Mss 531 and Bibliothèque royale de Paris, cf. http://www.tau.ac.il/~hacohen/Biblia.html ; Book of Jubilees (መጽሐፈ ፡ ኩፋሌ /Metsahaf Kufale) ; The Conflict of Adam and Eve (/Gadla Adan wa Hewan), British Museum Oriental Ms 751.
- ^ Ullendorff, "James Bruce", p. 133
- ^ George W.E. Nicklelsburg, 1 Enoch: A Commentary, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2001 (Hermeneia).
- ISBN 90-04-05754-4.
- ISBN 978-0-674-07497-2.