A Spanish pseudo-arabist from the second half of the eighteenth century: Faustino de Muscat y Guzmán

Abstract

This article talks about the figure of Faustino de Muscat and Guzman, a Spanish pseudo-arabist who lived in the second half of the eighteenth century, and he was known by different names, including Faustino de Borbon, used in some of his works. After reviewing the few biographical details, we know about this character, most of them are provided by him in his writings, we study the books that he wrote, that they remain handwritten in different archives and libraries. The main subjects of these books deal with the history, language and literature of Hispano Arab civilization in the Middle Age. One of the few works that it was published, named Letters to illustrate the history of Arab Spain, was widely criticized, both in his time and later, and, for this reason, it has a separate chapter, the last one of this article.