Latin translations of the 12th century

The 12th century saw a major search by European scholars for new learning, which led them to the Arabic fringes of Europe, especially to Spain and Sicily. A typical story is that of Gerard of Cremona (c. 1114-87), who was descrbed as having

arrived at a knowledge of each part of [philosophy] according to the study of the Latins, nevertheless, because of his love for the Almagest, which he did not find at all amongst the Latins, he made his way to Toledo, where seeing an abundance of books in Arabic on every subject, and pitying the poverty he had experienced among the Latins concerning these subjects, out of his desire to translate he thouroughly learnt the Arabic language....

Unlike the interest in the literature of classical antiquity found in the Renaissance, 12th century translators sought new scientific, philosophical and, to a lesser extent, religious texts. The latter concern was reflected in a renewed interest in translations of the Greek Church Fathers into Latin, a concern with the translating Jewish teachings from Hebrew, and most significantly, an interest in the Qur'an and other Muslim religious texts.

Translators in Italy and Sicily

Just before the burst of translations in the 12th century, Constantine the African, a Christian from Carthage who studied medicine in Egypt and ultimately became a monk at the monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy, translated medical works from Arabic. Constantine's many translations presented the ancient medicine of Hippocrates and Galen as adapted by Arabic physicians.

Sicily had been part of the Byzantine Empire until 878, was under Muslim control from 878-1060, and came under Norman control between 1060 and 1090. As a consequence the Norman Kingdom of Sicily maintained a trilingual bureaucracy, which made it an ideal place for translations. Sicily also maintained relations with the Greek East, which allowed for exchange of ideas and manuscripts.

A copy of Ptolemy's Almagest was brought back to Sicily by Henry Aristippus, as a gift from the Emperor to King William I. Aristippus, himself, translated Plato's Meno and Phaedo into Latin, but it was left to an anonymous student at Salerno to travel to Sicily and translate the Almagest, as well as several works by Euclid from Greek to Latin. Although the Sicilians generally translated directly from the Greek, when Greek texts were not available, they would translate from Arabic. Admiral Eugene of Sicily translated Ptolemy's Optics into Latin, drawing on his knowledge of all three languages in the task.

Accursius of Pistoja's translations include the works of Galen and Hunayn ibn Ishaq.

Translators on the Spanish frontier

As early as the end of the tenth century, European scholars travelled to Spain to study. Most notable among these was Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II) who studied mathematics in the region of the Spanish March around Barcelona. Translations, however, did not begin in Spain for another century. The early translators in Spain focused heavily on scientific works, especially mathematics and astronomy, with a second area of interest including the Qur'an and other Islamic texts. Spanish collections included many scholarly works written in Arabic, so translators worked almost exclusively from Arabic, rather than Greek texts, often in cooperation with a local speaker of Arabic.

One of the more important translation projects was sponsored by Peter the Venerable, the abbot of Cluny. In 1142 he called upon Robert of Ketton and Herman of Carinthia, Peter of Poitiers, and a Muslim known only as "Mohammed" to translate the Qur'an.

Translations were produced throughout Spain and Provence. Plato of Tivoli worked in Catalonia, Herman of Carinthia in Northern Spain and across the Pyrenees in Languedoc, Hugh of Santalla in Aragon, Robert of Ketton in Navarre and Robert of Chester in Segovia. The most important center of translation was the great cathedral library of Toledo.

Plato of Tivoli's translations into Latin include al-Battani's astronomical and trigonometrical work De motu stellarum, Abraham bar Hiyya's Liber embadorum, Theodosius of Bithynia's Spherica, and Archimedes' Measurement of a Circle. Robert of Chester's translations into Latin included al-Khwarizmi's Algebra and astronomical tables.

Abraham of Tortosa's translations include Ibn Sarabi's (Serapion Junior) De Simplicibus and Abulcasis' Liber Servitoris.

The "Toledo School"

One of the sponsors of translations in Spain was Archbishop Raymond of Toledo, (1125-52), to whom John of Seville dedicated a translation in appreciation. Starting from this fragmentary evidence, nineteenth-century historians proposed that Raymond had established a formal translation school, but no specific evidence for such a school has emerged and its existence is now doubted. Many of the translators worked outside Toledo and those who did work in Toledo, worked after Raymond's episcopacy.

Toledo, however, was a center of multilingual culture, with a large population of Arabic speaking Christians (Mozarabs) and had prior importance as a center of learning. This tradition of scholarship, and the books that embodied it, survived the conquest of the city by King Alfonso VI in 1085. A further factor was that Toledo's early bishops and clergy came from France, where Arabic was not widely known. Consequently the cathedral became a center of translations, which were on a scale and importance that "has no match in the history of western culture".

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King Alfonso X (the Wise)

Among the early translators at Toledo were an Avendauth (who some have identified with Abraham ibn Daud), who translated Avicenna's encyclopedia, the Kitāb al-Shifa, in cooperation with Domingo Gundisalvo, Archdeacon of Cuéllar. The most productive of the Toledo translators was Gerard of Cremona who translated over seventy books (including Ptolemy's Almagest, al-Khwarizmi's On Algebra and Almucabala, Jabir ibn Aflah's Elementa astronomica, the works of Thabit ibn Qurra and Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Archimedes' On the Measurement of the Circle, Aristotle's On the Heavens, and Euclid's Elements of Geometry) At the close of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, Mark of Toledo translated the Qur'an (once again) and various medical works.

Alfonso of Toledo's translations into Latin include Averroes' De separatione primi principii.

Later translators

King Alfonso X of Castile (reigned 1252-84) continued to promote translations, as well as the production of original scholarly works.

David the Jew (c. 1228-1245) translated the works of Al-Razi (Rhazes) into Latin. Arnaldus de Villa Nova's (1235-1313) translations include the works of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Qusta ibn Luqa (Costa ben Luca), and Galen.

Other European translators

Adelard of Bath (fl. 1116-1142) translations into Latin included al-Khwarizmi's Astronomical tables and his arithmetical work Liber ysagogarum Alchorismi, as well as Euclid's Elements. Abu Kamil's Algebra was also translated into Latin during this period, but the translator of the work is unknown.

Alfred the Englishman's (c. 1200-1227) translations include the works of Nicolaus of Damascus and Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Antonius Frachentius Vicentinus' translations include the works of Ibn Sina (Avicenna). Armenguad's translations include the works of Avicenna, Averroes, Hunayn ibn Ishaq, and Maimonides. Berengarius of Valentia translated the works of Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis). Constanine the African translated the works of Hunayn ibn Ishaq and his nephew Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan into Latin. Drogon (Azagont) translated the works of al-Kindi. Farragut (Faradj ben Salam) translated the works of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Ibn Zezla (Byngezla), Masawaiyh (Mesue), and al-Razi (Rhazes). Andreas Alphagus Bellnensis' translations include the works of Avicenna, Averroes, Serapion, al-Qifti, and Albe'thar.

See also

• Renaissance of the 12th century
• Islamic Golden Age and Islamic science
• Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete
• Mark of Toledo
• List of translators

References

• Burnett, Charles. "The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program in Toledo in the Twelfth Century," Science in Context, 14 (2001): 249-288.
• d'Alverny, Marie-Thérèse. "Translations and Translators." pp. 421-462 in Robert L. Benson and Giles Constable, eds., Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1982.
• Haskins, Charles Homer. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1927. See especially chapter 9, "The Translators from Greek and Arabic."
• Haskins, Charles Homer. Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1967 (reprint of the Cambridge, Mass., 1927 ed.) Most of the book deals with the translations of Arabic and Greek scientific literature.

External sources

• The Impact of Translations of Muslim Sciences on the West
• Norman Roth, "Jewish Collaborators in Alfonso's Scientific Work," in Robert I. Burns, ed., Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance Culture