Sixteenth-century interpretation of the basmali formula and its use ad propagandam fidei Christianae

Abstract

The article examines a distinctive motif in early modern European literature: the reinterpretation of the Arabic basmala as a formula containing a reference to the Holy Trinity. The use of this interpretation in missionary activity among the Ottoman Turks originates in the sixteenth-century anti-Turkish writings of Bartłomiej Georgiewicz (Bartolomeo Georgijević). His works, published in numerous Latin editions, were widely known across Europe. The study traces the initial function of this motif in Georgiewicz’s writings and its later reception and adaptation in selected early modern Polish texts.