Adelard of Bath (c. 1080 – c. 1152) was a 12th century English scholar. He is known both for his original works and for translating many important Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 and Arabic scientific works of astrology

Astrology

Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...

, astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, philosophy and mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 into Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 from Arabic versions, which were then introduced to Western Europe. He is known as one of the first to introduce the Indian number system

Number system

In mathematics, a 'number system' is a set of numbers, , together with one or more operations, such as addition or multiplication....

 to Europe. He stands at the convergence of three intellectual schools: the traditional learning of French schools, the Greek culture of Southern Italy

Magna Graecia

Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...

, and the Arabic science of the East.

Background

Though little is known of Adelard's early life, evidence that he is from Bath comes from his introduction to his treatise on the Astrolabe

Astrolabe

An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...

. It is believed that he left England toward the end of the 11th century for Tours

Tours

Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...

, likely on the advice of Bishop John de Villula

John of Tours

John of Tours was a medieval Bishop of Wells in England who moved the diocese seat to Bath. He was a native of Tours and was King William I of England's doctor before becoming a bishop...

, who had moved the seat of his bishopric from Wells

Wells

Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...

 to Bath in 1090. During his studies in Tours, an anonymous "wise man of Tours" inspired Adelard with his interest in astronomy to study the science. Adelard later taught for a time at Laon

Laon

Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...

, leaving Laon for travel no later than 1109. After leaving Laon, he travelled to Southern Italy and Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 no later than 1116. He then spent seven years travelling in the East, mentioning how he devoted himself entirely to the study of the "wisdom of the Arabs" as he wrote about his long sojourns in places like Tarsus

Tarsus, Mersin

Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...

 and Antioch

Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...

. By 1126, Adelard returned to the West with the intention of spreading the knowledge he had gained about Arabic astronomy and geometry to the Latin world.

Main works

Among Adelard of Bath's original works is a trio of dialogues or correspondence with his nephew. The earliest of these is De Eodem et Diverso (On the Same and the Different). It is written in the style of a protreptic

Protreptic

Protreptic is a mode of classical rhetoric associated originally with the Sophists who used this style in speeches for recruiting students. The philosopher would achieve this end by discussing the fallacies and deficiencies of rival schools while extolling the virtues of his own...

, or an exhortation to the study of philosophy. The work is modelled on Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy

Consolation of Philosophy

Consolation of Philosophy is a philosophical work by Boethius, written around the year 524. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West on Medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great Western work that can be called Classical.-...

, evident in Adelard's vocabulary and phraseology. It is believed to have been written near Tours after he had already travelled, though there is no indication that he has travelled past Southern Italy and Sicily at the time of writing. The work takes the form of a dramatic dialogue between Philocosmia, who advocates worldly pleasures, and Philosophia, whose defence of scholarship leads into a summary of the seven liberal arts

Liberal arts

The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...

. Underlining the entire work is the contrast between Philocosmia's res (perceptible reality), and Philosophia's verba (mental concepts). Each section of the liberal arts is divided into two parts. Presented first is a description of the allegorical figure representing the art, in which the importance of that art is indicated, followed by a summary of the doctrines of that art, as told by the allegorical figure who is presented as the founder or main proponent of that particular art.

The second of this trio to be written is Adelard's most substantial work, Questiones Naturales (Natural Questions). It is in this text that Adelard of Bath receives his name, referring to himself as being 'Batoniensis'. It can be dated between 1107 and 1133 as, in the text, Adelard himself mentions that seven years have passed since his lecturing in schools at Laon. Dating is also based on the dedication to Richard, bishop of Bayeux and references to Henry I. He chooses to present this work as a forum for Arabic learning, referring often to his experiences in Antioch. He sets out seventy-six questions, in the form of a Platonic dialogue

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

 about meteorology and natural science. The text is broken up into three parts: On Plants and Brute Animals, On Man, and On Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. The two major features of the work are: his preference for reason over authority in matters of science and nature, and the use of the "teachings of the Arabs" when presenting controversial subjects. One of these controversial subjects comes up in On Plants and Brute Animals when the persona of Adelard's nephew asks the question, "Do brute animals have souls?", which Adelard answers using "something new from the studies of the Arabs". The answer that Adelard claims is "something new" can actually be found in both Plato's Timaeus

Timaeus (dialogue)

Timaeus is one of Plato's dialogues, mostly in the form of a long monologue given by the title character, written circa 360 BC. The work puts forward speculation on the nature of the physical world and human beings. It is followed by the dialogue Critias.Speakers of the dialogue are Socrates,...

 and Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

's De Natura Deorum

De Natura Deorum

De Natura Deorum is a philosophical dialogue by Roman orator Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three "books", each of which discuss the theology of different Roman and Greek philosophers...

, in which Cicero agrees to use rational arguments rather than tradition, to discuss the nature of the gods. The soul is a large part of the dialogue in this text as On Man discusses a corporeal soul in man, while the final section elaborates on the incorporeal soul of elements and animals. Questiones Naturales appears to have been an immediate success as it was copied on both sides of the English Channel and was even presented in a 'pocket-book' format, suggesting that it was meant to be carried around.

The final section in his trilogy is a treatise on hawking

Falconry

Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...

 called De Avibus Tractatus (Treatise on Birds). It is a medical text that addresses disease from head-to-toe. While it has been argued that this treatise was not widely distributed, an investigation of later Latin and French treatises reveals a number of excerpts from Adelard's work.

The remainder of Adelard's original works did not involve the persona of his nephew. He wrote a treatise on the use of the abacus

Abacus

The abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool used primarily in parts of Asia for performing arithmetic processes. Today, abaci are often constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires, but originally they were beans or stones moved in grooves in sand or on tablets of...

 called Regulae Abaci, which was likely written very early in his career because it shows no trace of Arabic influence. This treatise is believed to be proof that Adelard was connected to the Exchequer

Exchequer

The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...

 table that was used for monetary calculations in the medieval period. Further evidence for this can be found in the Pipe Roll of Henry I

Pipe Rolls

The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rolls, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or Treasury. The earliest date from the 12th century, and the series extends, mostly complete, from then until 1833. They form the oldest continuous series of records kept by...

 that shows that he had received a discharge from the murder fine (a fine levied on inhabitants of a certain area based on the murder of a Norman that occurred in a generally accessible field in that same area) levied on the community of Wiltshire in 1130, though there is no other proof for this fact. The work that Adelard of Bath is known for in the Latin world is his translation of the astronomical tables of al-Khwarizmi; the first widely accessible Latin translations of the Islamic ideas of algebra. In the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 he was known for his rediscovery and teaching of geometry, earning his reputation when he made the first full translation of Euclid's

Euclid

Euclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...

 "Elements"

Euclid's Elements

Euclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria c. 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postulates , propositions , and mathematical proofs of the propositions...

 and began the process of interpreting the text for a Western audience.

Influence

Adelard of Bath's influence can be seen in the works of many medieval philosophers, but especially in the works of Roger Bacon

Roger Bacon

Roger Bacon, O.F.M. , also known as Doctor Mirabilis , was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods...

 who was influenced by the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, whose works Adelard attempted to reconcile in his writing about metaphysics. His influence is also evident in De philosophia mundi by William of Conches

William of Conches

William of Conches was a French scholastic philosopher who sought to expand the bounds of Christian humanism by studying secular works of the classics and fostering empirical science. He was a prominent member of the School of Chartres...

, Hugh of Saint Victor, and Isaac of Stella

Isaac of Stella

Isaac of Stella was a monk, theologian and philosopher. He joined the Order of Cistercians, during the reforms of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux....

's Letters to Alcher on the Soul. He also attempted to establish a whole program on the Quadrivium

Quadrivium

The quadrivium comprised the four subjects, or arts, taught in medieval universities, after teaching the trivium. The word is Latin, meaning "the four ways" , and its use for the 4 subjects has been attributed to Boethius or Cassiodorus in the 6th century...

 in his text Liber ysagogarum Alchorismi in artem astronomicam a magistro A. compositus He introduced algebra to the Latin world and his commentaries in Version III of Euclid's Elements were very influential in the thirteenth century. Adelard also displays original thought of a scientific bent, raising the question of the shape of the Earth (he believed it round) and the question of how it remains stationary in space, and also the interesting question of how far a rock would fall if a hole were drilled through the earth and a rock dropped in it, see center of gravity

Center of gravity

In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...

. He theorised that matter could not be destroyed (see Law of conservation of matter) and was also interested in the question of why water experiences difficulty flowing out of a container that has been turned upside down, see atmospheric pressure

Atmospheric pressure

Atmospheric pressure is the force per unit area exerted into a surface by the weight of air above that surface in the atmosphere of Earth . In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point...

 and vacuum

Vacuum

In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...

. Many of the other questions addressed reflect the popular culture of the times.
Campanus of Novara probably had access to Adelard's translation of Elements, and it is Campanus' edition that was first published in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 in 1482 after the invention of the printing press

Printing press

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...

. It became the chief textbook

Textbook

A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...

of the mathematical schools of Western Europe until the sixteenth century.

External links

• ADELHARD
• Adelhard (Adelard) of Bath – Give and take reason
• Adelard of Bath Adelard Project at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
• Extract from Adelard's "Very Difficult Natural Questions"