Henry Tattam
Encyclopedia
Henry Tattam was a Church of England
clergyman and Coptic
scholar.
, 1822-1849, and from 1831 to 1849 also Rector of Great Woolstone, Buckinghamshire
. He was Archdeacon of Bedford from 1845 to 1866, Rector of Stanford Rivers, Essex from 1849, and a Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen from 1853.
in 1835. Tattam visited Egypt
and the Holy Land
in 1838-9, meeting the patriarch and acquiring Coptic
and Syriac
manuscripts for the British Library
. He received honorary degrees from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Göttingen and the University of Leiden.
Tattam in 1848 published the The Apostolical Constitutions, or Canons of the Apostles, which includes the so-called Alexandrine Sinodos (or Clementine Heptateuch) made of the Apostolic Church-Ordinance, the Egyptian Church Order
and a free version of the eight book of the Apostolic Constitutions
.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergyman and Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
scholar.
Life
Tattam was Rector of St Cuthbert's BedfordBedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
, 1822-1849, and from 1831 to 1849 also Rector of Great Woolstone, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. He was Archdeacon of Bedford from 1845 to 1866, Rector of Stanford Rivers, Essex from 1849, and a Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen from 1853.
Works
Tattam was the author of various theological and philological works, including several editions and translations of Coptic texts. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal SocietyRoyal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1835. Tattam visited Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and the Holy Land
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
in 1838-9, meeting the patriarch and acquiring Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
and Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
manuscripts for the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
. He received honorary degrees from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Göttingen and the University of Leiden.
Tattam in 1848 published the The Apostolical Constitutions, or Canons of the Apostles, which includes the so-called Alexandrine Sinodos (or Clementine Heptateuch) made of the Apostolic Church-Ordinance, the Egyptian Church Order
Apostolic Tradition
The Apostolic Tradition is an early Christian treatise which belongs to genre of the Church Orders. It has been described as of "incomparable importance as a source of information about church life and liturgy in the third century".Re-discovered in the 19th century, it was given the name of...
and a free version of the eight book of the Apostolic Constitutions
Apostolic Constitutions
The Apostolic Constitutions is a Christian collection of eight treatises which belongs to genre of the Church Orders. The work can be dated from 375 to 380 AD. The provenience is usually regarded as Syria, probably Antioch...
.
Works
- Helps for Devotion, 1825
- Compendious Grammar of the Egyptian Language, 1830
- A Defence of the Church of England Against the Attacks of a Roman Catholic Priest, 1843