The
Renaissance of the 12th centuryThe Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes during the High Middle Ages. It included social, political and economic transformations, and an intellectual revitalization of Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots...
saw a major search by
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an scholars for new learning, which led them to the areas of Europe that once been under Muslim rule and still had substantial Arabic-speaking populations, but that had recently been reconquered by Christians. This meant central Spain and Sicily, both of which had come under Christian rule in the eleventh century. The combination of a substantial numbers of Arabic-speaking scholars and Christian rulers made these areas intellectually attractive yet culturally and politically accessible to Latin scholars. A typical story is that of
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona , was a Lombard translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
(c. 1114-87), who is said to have made his way to Toledo, well after its reconquest by Christians in 1085, because he
Unlike the interest in the literature and history of
classical antiquityClassical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
during the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
, 12th century translators sought new
scientificScience in medieval Islam, also known as Islamic science, is a term used in the history of science to refer to the science developed in the Islamic world between the 7th and 16th centuries, a period also known as the Islamic Golden Age. Scientists from the region were also known to develop many...
,
philosophicalEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
and, to a lesser extent, religious texts. The latter concern was reflected in a renewed interest in translations of the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
Church FathersThe Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The term is used of writers and teachers of the Church, not necessarily saints...
into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, a concern with translating
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish teachings from
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
, and most significantly, an interest in the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
and other
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
ic religious texts. In addition, some
Arabic literatureArabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers of the Arabic language. It does not usually include works written using the Arabic alphabet but not in the Arabic language such as Persian literature and Urdu literature...
was also translated into Latin.
Translators in Italy
Just before the burst of translations in the 12th century,
Constantine the AfricanConstantine the African was an eleventh-century translator of Greek and Islamic medical texts.-Life:...
, a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
from
CarthageCarthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian...
who studied medicine in Egypt and ultimately became a monk at the monastery of
Monte CassinoMonte Cassino is a rocky hill about 130 km southeast of Rome, Italy, c. 2 km to the west of the town of Cassino and 520 m altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in...
in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, translated
medical worksIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the medieval Islamic civilization and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, a significant number of scientists during this period were not Arab...
from Arabic. Constantine's many translations included
Ali ibn Abbas al-MajusiAli ibn Abbas al-Majusi , also known as Masoudi, or Latinized as Haly Abbas, was a Persian physician and psychologist most famous for the Kitab al-Maliki or Complete Book of the Medical Art, his textbook on medicine and psychology....
's medical encyclopedia
The Complete Book of the Medical ArtThe Liber pantegni is a medieval medical text compiled by Constantinus Africanus in ca. the 1080s, ascribed to Isaac Israeli ben Solomon . It is a compendium of Hellenistic and Islamic medicine, in large parts a translation of the kitab al-malaki "royal book" of Ali ibn al-Abbas...
(as
Liber pantegni),
the ancient medicine of
HippocratesHippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos - Greek: ; Hippokrátēs was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
and
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
as adapted by
Arabic physiciansIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the medieval Islamic civilization and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, a significant number of scientists during this period were not Arab...
,
and the
Isagoge ad Tegni Galeni by
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Middle Eastern Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic. Although Arabic historical...
(Johannitius) and his nephew Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan.
Other medical works he translated include
Isaac Israeli ben SolomonIsaac Israeli ben Solomon, , , also known as Isaac Israeli the Elder, was one of the foremost physicians and philosophers of his time. He is regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism...
's
Liber febribus, Liber de dietis universalibus et particularibus and
Liber de urinis; Ishaq ibn Imran's
psychologicalIslamic psychology or Ilm-al Nafsiat refers to the study of the Nafs in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age as well as modern times , and is related to psychology, psychiatry and the neurosciences.Some of the advances in medieval Islamic...
work
al-Maqala fi al-Malikhukiya as
De melancolia; and
Ibn Al-JazzarAbu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Abi Khalid Ibn al-Jazzar Al-Qayrawani , was an influential 10th-century Arab Muslim physician who became famous for his writings on Islamic medicine. He was born in Qayrawan in modern-day Tunisia...
's
De GradibusDe Gradibus was an Arabic book published by the Arab physician Al-Kindi . De gradibus is the Latinized name of the book. An alternative name for the book was Quia Primos....
, Viaticum, Liber de stomacho, De elephantiasi, De coitu and
De oblivione.
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
had been part of the Byzantine Empire until 878, was under
Muslim controlThe Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...
from 878-1060, and came under Norman control between 1060 and 1090. As a consequence the Norman
Kingdom of SicilyThe Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy. The Kingdom covered not only the island of...
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
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
's
AlmagestAlmagest is the Latin form of the Arabic name of a mathematical and astronomical treatise proposing the complex motions of the stars and planetary paths, originally written in Greek as by Ptolemy of Alexandria, Egypt, written in the 2nd century...
was brought back to Sicily by
Henry AristippusHenry Aristippus of Calabria, sometimes known as Enericus or Henricus Aristippus, was the archdeacon of Catania and later chief familiaris of the triumvirate of familiares who replaced the Emir Maio of Bari as chief functionaries of the kingdom of Sicily in 1161...
, as a gift from the Emperor to
King William IWilliam I , called the Bad or the Wicked, was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own. He was the fourth son of Roger II and Elvira of Castile...
. Aristippus, himself, translated
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
's
MenoMeno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. Written in the Socratic dialectic style, it attempts to determine the definition of virtue, or arete, meaning in this case virtue in general, rather than particular virtues . The goal is a common definition that applies equally to all particular virtues...
and
PhaedoPlato's Phaedo is one of the great dialogues of his middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The Phaedo, which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Plato's fifth and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final days...
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
EuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician and is often referred to as the "Father of Geometry." He was active in Hellenistic Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
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
PistojaThe Province of Pistoia is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pistoia. It has an area of 965 km², and a total population of 268,503 . There are 22 communes in the province .-External links:...
's translations included the works of
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
and
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Middle Eastern Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic. Although Arabic historical...
. Gerard de
SablonetaSabbioneta is a town in Lombardy, northern Italy, in the province of Mantua, about 30 km north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River...
translated
Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
's
The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
and
al-RaziAbū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher and scholar...
's
Almansor.
FibonacciLeonardo of Pisa , also known as Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented mathematician of the Middle Ages".Fibonacci is best known to the modern world for:* The adoption of the...
presented the first complete European account of the
Hindu-Arabic numeral systemThe Hindu–Arabic numeral system is a positional decimal numeral system developed by the 9th century by Hindu and Indian Mathematicians, adopted by Persian and Arabic mathematicians , and spread to the western world by the latter by the High...
from
Arabic sourcesThe Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from Indian numerals and the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, by which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a whole number...
in his
Liber AbaciLiber Abaci is a historic book on arithmetic by Leonardo of Pisa, known later by his nickname Fibonacci. Its title has two common translations, The Book of the Abacus or The Book of Calculation...
(1202). The
Aphorismi by
MasawaiyhYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
(Mesue) was translated by an anonymous translator in late 11th or early 12th century Italy.
James of VeniceJames of Venice was a significant translator of Aristotle of the twelfth century. He has been called the first systematic translator of Aristotle since Boethius. Not much is otherwise known about him....
, who probably spent some years in Constantinople, translated Aristotle's
Posterior Analytics from Greek into Latin in the mid-twelfth century, thus making the complete Aristotelian logical corpus, the Organon, available in Latin for the first time.
In 13th century
PaduaPadua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice , in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c...
, Bonacosa translated
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
' medical work
Kitab al-Kulliyyat as
Colliget, and
John of CapuaJohn of Capua was an Italian Jewish convert to Christianity, and a translator. He translated Rabbi Joel's Hebrew version of Kalilah wa-Dimnah into Latin under the title Directorium Vitae Humanae. His translation was the source from which that work became so widely spread in almost all European...
translated the
Kitab al-Taysir by
Ibn ZuhrAbū Merwān ’Abdal-Malik ibn Zuhr was an Arab Muslim physician, pharmacist, surgeon, parasitologist, Islamic scholar and teacher in Al-Andalus.-Early life:...
(Avenzoar) as
Theisir. In 13th century
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
, Faraj ben Salem translated Rhazes'
al-Hawi as
Continens as well as
Ibn ButlanIbn Butlan was an Iraqi Christian physician. He wrote the Taqwim al-Sihhah . The work treated matters of hygiene, dietetics, and exercise. It emphasized the benefits of regular attention to the personal physical and mental well-being...
's
Tacuinum sanitatisThe Tacuinum Sanitatis is a medieval handbook on wellness, based on the Taqwim al‑sihha , an eleventh-century Arab medical treatise by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad...
. Also in 13th century Italy, Simon of
GenoaGenoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
and Abraham Tortuensis translated Abulcasis'
Al-TasrifThe Kitab al-Tasrif was an influential Arabic medical encyclopedia on medicine and surgery, written near the year 1000 CE by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi , the "father of modern surgery"...
as
Liber servitoris, Alcoati's
Congregatio sive liber de oculis, and the
Liber de simplicibus medicinis by a
pseudo-SerapionSerapion the Younger , so called to distinguish him from Serapion the Elder , with whom he was often confused. Nothing is known about his life. He was a physician who wrote in Arabic, and was possibly a Christian...
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 mathematicsIn the history of mathematics, mathematics in medieval Islam, sometimes termed Islamic mathematics, is the mathematics developed in the Islamic world between 622 and 1600, during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age...
in the region of the Spanish March around
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
. Translations, however, did not begin in Spain under after 1085 when Toledo was reconquered by Christians. The early translators in Spain focused heavily on
scientific worksScience in medieval Islam, also known as Islamic science, is a term used in the history of science to refer to the science developed in the Islamic world between the 7th and 16th centuries, a period also known as the Islamic Golden Age. Scientists from the region were also known to develop many...
, especially
mathematicsIn the history of mathematics, mathematics in medieval Islam, sometimes termed Islamic mathematics, is the mathematics developed in the Islamic world between 622 and 1600, during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age...
and
astronomyIn the history of astronomy, Islamic astronomy or Arabic astronomy refers to the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age , and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia,...
, with a second area of interest including the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
and other
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
ic 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 VenerablePeter the Venerable , also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, born to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France. He has been honored as a saint but has never been formally canonized.-Life:Peter was "Dedicated to God" at birth and given to the monastery at...
, the
abbotThe Abbot of Cluny was the head of the powerful monastery of Cluny Abbey in medieval France. The following is a list.-List of abbots:-References:...
of
ClunyCluny Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Cluny, department of Saône-et-Loire, France.It was founded in 910 by William I, Count of Auvergne, who installed Abbot Berno and placed the abbey under the immediate authority of Pope Sergius III...
. In 1142 he called upon
Robert of KettonRobert of Ketton was an English medieval theologian, astronomer and Arabist.Ketton, where Robert was either born or perhaps first took holy orders, is a small village in Rutland, a few miles from Stamford.Robert is believed to have been educated at the Cathedral School of Paris...
and
Herman of CarinthiaHerman of Carinthia or Herman Dalmatin was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, translator and author....
, Peter of Poitiers, and a
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
known only as "Mohammed" to produce the first Latin translation of the Qur'an (the
Lex Mahumet pseudopropheteLex Mahumet pseudoprophete is the translation of the Qur'an into Latin by Robert of Ketton ....
).
Translations were produced throughout Spain and
ProvenceProvence is a region of southeastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
.
Plato of TivoliPlato Tiburtinus was a 12th century Italian mathematician, astronomer and translator who lived in Barcelona. He is best known for translating Hebrew and Arabic documents into Latin, and was apparently the first to translate information on the astrolabe from Arabic.Plato of Tivoli translated the...
worked in
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
, Herman of Carinthia in Northern Spain and across the
PyreneesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
in
LanguedocLanguedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² Languedoc is a former...
, Hugh of Santalla in
AragonAragon is an autonomous community of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces from north to south: Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza .Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees...
, Robert of Ketton in
NavarreNavarre is a region in northern Spain, constituting one of its autonomous communities - the "Chartered Community of Navarre" .-History:...
and
Robert of ChesterRobert of Chester was an English arabist who flourished around 1150. He translated several historically important books from Arabic to Latin, by authors such as Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Khwarizmi including:...
in
SegoviaSegovia is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Segovia in Castile and Leon. It is situated north of Madrid, and can be reached by bullet train in 35 minutes from Madrid at . 55,586 people live in the municipality of Segovia.-Name:...
. The most important center of translation was the great cathedral library of
ToledoToledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha...
.
Plato of Tivoli's translations into Latin include al-Battani's astronomical and
trigonometricalTrigonometry is a branch of mathematics that deals with triangles, particularly those plane triangles in which one angle has 90 degrees...
work
De motu stellarum, Abraham bar Hiyya's
Liber embadorum,
Theodosius of BithyniaTheodosius of Bithynia was a Greek astronomer and mathematician who wrote the Sphaerics, a book on the geometry of the sphere. Born in Tripolis, in Bithynia, Theodosius is cited by Vitruvius as having invented a sundial suitable for any place on Earth...
's
Spherica, and
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity...
'
Measurement of a CircleMeasurement of a Circle is a treatise that consists of three propositions by Archimedes. The treatise is only a fraction of what was a longer work.-Proposition one:Proposition one states:...
. Robert of Chester's translations into Latin included
al-Khwarizmi' was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and geographer, a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.His Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. He is considered the founder of algebra, a credit he shares with Diophantus...
's
Algebra , also known under a shorter name spelled as Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala and other transliterations) is a mathematical book written in Arabic, in approximately 820 AD by the Persian...
and astronomical tables (also containing trigonometric tables). Abraham of
TortosaTortosa is the capital of the comarca of Baix Ebre, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain, located at 12 metres above the sea, by the Ebre river...
's translations include Ibn Sarabi's (
Serapion JuniorSerapion the Younger , so called to distinguish him from Serapion the Elder , with whom he was often confused. Nothing is known about his life. He was a physician who wrote in Arabic, and was possibly a Christian...
)
De Simplicibus and
AbulcasisAbu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi, also known in the West as Abulcasis, was an Andalusian physician, surgeon, chemist, cosmetologist, and scientist. He is considered the father of modern surgery, and as Islam's greatest medieval surgeon, whose comprehensive medical texts shaped both...
'
Al-TasrifThe Kitab al-Tasrif was an influential Arabic medical encyclopedia on medicine and surgery, written near the year 1000 CE by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi , the "father of modern surgery"...
as
Liber Servitoris. In 1126,
Muhammad al-FazariAbu abdallah Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Fazari was a Muslim philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. He is not to be confused with his father Ibrahim al-Fazari, also an astronomer and mathematician....
's
Great Sindhind (based on the
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
works of
Surya SiddhantaThe Surya Siddhanta is a treatise of Indian astronomy. It is a more than a thousand year old text book of Indian Astronomy.Later Indian mathematicians and astronomers such as Aryabhata and Varahamihira made references to this text....
and
BrahmaguptaBrahmagupta was a great Indian mathematician and astronomer.Brahmagupta wrote important works on mathematics and astronomy. In particular he wrote Brahmasphutasiddhanta , in 628. The work was written in 25 chapters and Brahmagupta tells us in the text that he wrote it at Bhillamala which today is...
's
BrahmasphutasiddhantaThe main work of Brahmagupta, Brahmasphuta-siddhanta , written in the year c.628, contains some remarkably advanced ideas, including a good understanding of the mathematical role of zero, rules for manipulating both negative and positive numbers, a method for computing square roots, methods of...
) was translated into Latin.
In addition to philosophical and scientific literature, the Jewish writer
Petrus AlphonsiPetrus Alphonsi was a Jewish Spanish writer and astronomer, and polemicist, who converted to Christianity....
translated a collection of 33 tales from
Arabic literatureArabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers of the Arabic language. It does not usually include works written using the Arabic alphabet but not in the Arabic language such as Persian literature and Urdu literature...
into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
. Some of the tales he drew on were from the
PanchatantraThe Panchatantra was originally a canonical collection of Sanskrit as well as Pali animal fables in verse and prose. The original Sanskrit text, now long lost, and which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sarma...
and
Arabian Nights, such as the story cycle of "
Sinbad the SailorSinbad the Sailor Sinbad the Sailor Sinbad the Sailor (also spelled Sindbad; (Persian سندباد Sendbād; Arabic السندباد البحري as-Sindibād al-Baḥri) is a story-cycle of ancient Middle Eastern origin. Sinbad, the hero of the stories, is a fictional sailor from Basrah, living during the Abbasid...
".
The "Toledo School"
One of the sponsors of translations in Spain was Archbishop
Raymond of ToledoFrancis Raymond de Sauvetât, or Raymond of Toledo, was the French Archbishop of Toledo from 1125 to 1152. He was a Benedictine monk, born in Gascony. While he was bishop he promoted the translation of scholarly texts from Arabic into Latin.-Bibliography:...
, (1125-52), to whom
John of SevilleJohn of Seville was a twelfth-century translator, perhaps however working at Galician Limia , for he signed himself "Johannes Hispalensis atque Limiensis", during the Reconquista, the Christian campaign to regain the Iberian Peninsula.His three translations, the Secretum Secretorum dedicated to...
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 VIAlfonso VI , nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was King of León from 1065, king of King of Castile and de facto King of Galicia from 1072, and self-proclaimed "Emperor of all Spain"...
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".
Among the early translators at Toledo were an Avendauth (who some have identified with
Abraham ibn DaudAbraham ibn Daud was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer, historian, and philosopher; born at Toledo, Spain about 1110; died, according to common report, a martyr about 1180. He is sometimes known by the abbreviation Rabad I or Ravad I. His mother belonged to a family famed for its learning...
), who translated
Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
's encyclopedia, the
Kitāb al-ShifaThe Book of Healing is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by the Persian polymath Abū Alī ibn Sīnā from Asfahana, near Bukhara in Greater Persia...
(
The Book of Healing), in cooperation with Domingo Gundisalvo, Archdeacon of Cuéllar.
The most productive of the Toledo translators was
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona , was a Lombard translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
, who translated 87 books, including
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
's
AlmagestAlmagest is the Latin form of the Arabic name of a mathematical and astronomical treatise proposing the complex motions of the stars and planetary paths, originally written in Greek as by Ptolemy of Alexandria, Egypt, written in the 2nd century...
, many of the works of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
, including his
Posterior AnalyticsThe "Posterior Analytics" is a text from Aristotle's Organon that deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. The demonstration is distinguished as a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge, while the definition marked as the statement of a thing's nature, .....
,
PhysicsPhysics is an important work by Aristotle. It is a collection of treatises or lessons that deal with the most general principles of moving things, both living and non-living, rather than physical theories or investigations of the particular contents of the universe...
,
On the Heavens and the WorldOn the Heavens is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise: it contains his astronomical theory.According to him, the heavenly bodies are the most perfect realities, , whose motions are ruled by principles other than those of bodies in the sublunary sphere...
,
On Generation and CorruptionOn Generation and Corruption , , also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away) is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific and philosophic...
, and
MeteorologyMeteorology is a text by Aristotle which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes....
,
al-Khwarizmi' was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and geographer, a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.His Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. He is considered the founder of algebra, a credit he shares with Diophantus...
's
On Algebra and Almucabala , also known under a shorter name spelled as Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala and other transliterations) is a mathematical book written in Arabic, in approximately 820 AD by the Persian...
,
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity...
'
On the Measurement of the Circle,
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
,
EuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician and is often referred to as the "Father of Geometry." He was active in Hellenistic Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
's
Elements of GeometryEuclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria circa 300 BC. It comprises a collection of definitions, postulates , propositions , and mathematical proofs of the propositions...
,
Jabir ibn AflahAbu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician and inventor whose works, once translated into Latin , influenced later European mathematicians and astronomers...
's
Elementa astronomica,
Al-Kindi' , also known to the West by the Latinized version of his name Alkindus, was an Arab Iraqi polymath: an Islamic philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician, mathematician, musician, physician, physicist, psychologist, and meteorologist...
's
On Optics, al-Farghani's
On Elements of Astronomy on the Celestial Motions,
al-FarabiAbū Naṣr al-Fārābi , known in the West as Alpharabius Abū Naṣr al-Fārābi (أبو نصر محمد الفارابي - Abū Naṣr Muḥammad al-Fārābi; in some sources also mentioned as محمد بن محمد بن أوزلغ الفارابي - Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad (ibn Tarḫān) ibn Awzlaġ al-Fārābi), known in the West as...
's
On the Classification of the Sciences, the chemical and
medicalIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the medieval Islamic civilization and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, a significant number of scientists during this period were not Arab...
works of
al-RaziAbū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher and scholar...
(Rhazes), the works of
Thabit ibn Qurra' was an Arab astronomer, mathematician and physician who was known as Thebit in Latin.-Biography:...
and
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Middle Eastern Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic. Although Arabic historical...
, and the works of al-Zarkali,
Jabir ibn AflahAbu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician and inventor whose works, once translated into Latin , influenced later European mathematicians and astronomers...
, the
Banu MusaThe Banū Mūsā brothers were three 9th century Persian scholars, of Baghdad, active in the House of Wisdom:*Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , who specialised in astronomy, engineering, geometry and physics.*Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , who specialised in engineering and...
, Abu Kamil,
Abu al-QasimAbu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi, also known in the West as Abulcasis, was an Andalusian physician, surgeon, chemist, cosmetologist, and scientist. He is considered the father of modern surgery, and as Islam's greatest medieval surgeon, whose comprehensive medical texts shaped both...
, and Ibn al-Haytham (including the
Book of OpticsThe Book of Optics was a seven-volume treatise on optics, physics, mathematics, anatomy and psychology written by the Iraqi Muslim scientist, Ibn al-Haytham , from 1011 to 1021, when he was under house arrest in Cairo, Egypt.The book...
). The medical works he translated include
Haly AbenrudianAbu'l Hasan Ali ibn Ridwan Al-Misri was an Egyptian Muslim physician, astrologer and astronomer, born in Giza.He was a commentator on ancient Greek medicine, and in particular on Galen; his commentary on Galen's Ars Parva was translated by Gerardo Cremonese. He is also known for his observation of...
's
Expositio ad Tegni Galeni; the
Practica, Brevarium medicine by
Yuhanna ibn SarabiyunYahya ibn Sarafyun a Syrian physician, known in Europe as Johannes Serapion, and commonly called Serapion the Elder to distinguish him from Serapion the Younger, with whom he was often confused...
(Serapion);
Alkindus' , also known to the West by the Latinized version of his name Alkindus, was an Arab Iraqi polymath: an Islamic philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician, mathematician, musician, physician, physicist, psychologist, and meteorologist...
'
De GradibusDe Gradibus was an Arabic book published by the Arab physician Al-Kindi . De gradibus is the Latinized name of the book. An alternative name for the book was Quia Primos....
; Rhazes'
Liber ad Almansorem, Liber divisionum, Introductio in medicinam, De egritudinibus iuncturarum, Antidotarium and
Practica puerorum;
Isaac Israeli ben SolomonIsaac Israeli ben Solomon, , , also known as Isaac Israeli the Elder, was one of the foremost physicians and philosophers of his time. He is regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism...
's
De elementis and
De definitionibus; Abulcasis'
Al-TasrifThe Kitab al-Tasrif was an influential Arabic medical encyclopedia on medicine and surgery, written near the year 1000 CE by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi , the "father of modern surgery"...
as
Chirurgia;
Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
's
The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
as
Liber Canonis; and the
Liber de medicamentis simplicus by Ibn Wafid (Abenguefit).
At the close of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries,
Mark of ToledoMark of Toledo produced one of the earliest translations of the Qur'an into Latin. He was a Spanish physician and a canon of Toledo. He also translated Hippocrates' De aere aquis locis, Hunayn Ibn Ishaq's versions of four of Galen's treatises....
translated the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
(once again) and various
medical worksIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the medieval Islamic civilization and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, a significant number of scientists during this period were not Arab...
. He also translated
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Middle Eastern Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic. Although Arabic historical...
's medical work
Liber isagogarum.
Later translators
Michael ScotMichael Scot was a medieval mathematician and scholar.- Early life and education :He was born in Scotland, and studied first at the cathedral school of Durham and then at Oxford and Paris, devoting himself to philosophy, mathematics, and astrology...
(c. 1175-1232) translated the works of
al-BetrugiNur ad-Din al-Betrugi was an Arab astronomer and philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age . Born in Morocco, he settled in Seville, in Andalusia...
(Alpetragius) in 1217, al-Bitruji's
On the Motions of the Heavens, and
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
' influential commentaries on the scientific works of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
.
King
Alfonso X of CastileAlfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
(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-RaziAbū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher and scholar...
(Rhazes) into Latin.
Arnaldus de Villa NovaArnaldus de Villa Nova , , alchemist, astrologer and physician, appears to have been of Catalan origin, and to have studied chemistry, medicine, physics, and also Arabic philosophy...
's (1235-1313) translations include the works of
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
and
Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
(including his
Maqala fi Ahkam al-adwiya al-qalbiya as
De viribus cordis), the
De medicinis simplicibus by Abu al-Salt (Albuzali), and
Costa ben LucaQusta ibn Luqa . was a Melkite physician, scientist and translator, of Byzantine Greek extraction. He was born in Baalbek. Travelling to parts of the Byzantine Empire, he brought back Greek texts and translated them into Arabic.- Biography :Qusta ibn Luqa al-Ba'albakki, i. e...
's
De physicis ligaturis.
In 13th century
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
,
Giles of SantaremGiles of Santarém was a Portuguese Dominican scholar.-Life:His father, Rodrigo Pelayo Valladaris, was governor of Coimbra and councillor of Sancho I...
translated Rhazes'
De secretis medicine, Aphorismi Rasis and
MesueYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
's
De secretis medicine. In
MurciaMurcia is a city in south-eastern Spain, capital of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, located along the river Segura. Its current population is 433,850 , ranking seventh in Spain, and the population of the metropolitan area is 743,326, ranking ninth out of the largest metropolitan...
, Rufin of
AlexandriaAlexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports...
translated the
Liber questionum medicinalium discentium in medicina by
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Middle Eastern Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic. Although Arabic historical...
(Hunen), and Dominicus Marrochinus translated the
Epistola de cognitione infirmatum oculorum by Ali Ibn Isa (Jesu Haly). In 14th century
LeridaLleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain.It had 131,731 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raïmat and Sucs...
, John Jacobi translated Alcoati's medical work
Liber de la figura del uyl into
CatalanCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
and then Latin.
Willem van MoerbekeWillem van Moerbeke, known in the English speaking world as William of Moerbeke was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin...
, known in the English speaking world as William of
MoerbekeMoerbeke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality only comprises the town of Moerbeke proper. On January 1, 2006 Moerbeke had a total population of 5,844...
(c. 1215 – 1286) was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin. At the request of Aquinas, so it is assumed -- the source document is not clear -- he undertook a complete translation of the works of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
or, for some portions, a revision of existing translations. He was the first translator of the
PoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
(c. 1260) from Greek into Latin. The reason for the request was that the many copies of Aristotle in Latin then in circulation had originated in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
(see
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona , was a Lombard translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
). These earlier translations were assumed to have been influenced by the rationalist
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
, who was suspected of being a source of philosophical and theological errors found in the earlier translations of Aristotle. Moerbeke's translations have had a long history; they were already standard classics by the 14th century, when Henricus Hervodius put his finger on their enduring value: they were literal (
de verbo in verbo), faithful to the spirit of Aristotle and
without elegance. For several of William's translations, the Greek texts have since disappeared: without him the works would be lost. William also translated mathematical treatises by
Hero of AlexandriaHero of Alexandria . was an ancient Greek mathematician who was a resident of a Roman province ; he was also an engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria...
and
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity...
. Especially important was his translation of the
Theological Elements of
ProclusProclus Lycaeus , called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" , was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers . He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism...
(made in 1268), because the
Theological Elements is one of the fundamental sources of the revived Neo-Platonic philosophical currents of the 13th century. The
VaticanThe Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...
collection holds William's own copy of the translation he made of the greatest Hellenistic mathematician,
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity...
, with commentaries of Eutocius, which was made in 1269 at the papal court in Viterbo. William consulted two of the best Greek manuscripts of Archimedes, both of which have since disappeared.
Other European translators
Adelard of BathAdelard of Bath was a 12th century English scholar. He is known both for his original works and for translating many important Arabic scientific works of astrology, astronomy, philosophy and mathematics into Latin, as well as some ancient Greek texts in Arabic translation, which were then...
's (fl. 1116-1142) translations into Latin included al-Khwarizmi's astronomical and trigonometrical work
Astronomical tables and his
arithmeticArithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division...
al work
Liber ysagogarum Alchorismi, the
Introduction to Astrology of Abū Ma'shar, as well as Euclid's
Elements. Adelard associated with other scholars in Western England such as
Peter AlfonsiPetrus Alphonsi was a Jewish Spanish writer and astronomer, and polemicist, who converted to Christianity....
and
Walcher of MalvernWalcher of Malvern, also known as Walcher of Lorraine or Doctor Walcher, was the second Prior of Malvern and a noted astronomer and mathematician....
who translated and developed the astronomical concepts brought from Spain. Abu Kamil's
Algebra was also translated into Latin during this period, but the translator of the work is unknown.
Alfred of SareshelAlfred of Sarashel, also known as Alfred the Philosopher, Alfred the Englishman or Alfredus Anglicus, was born some time in the 12th century and died in the 13th century...
's (c. 1200-1227) translations include the works of
Nicolaus of DamascusNicolaus of Damascus was a Greek historian and philosopher who lived during the Augustan age of the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his birthplace, Damascus. He was born around 64 BC....
and
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Middle Eastern Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic. Although Arabic historical...
. Antonius Frachentius Vicentinus' translations include the works of
Ibn Sina, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
(Avicenna). Armenguad's translations include the works of Avicenna,
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
, Hunayn ibn Ishaq, and
MaimonidesMoses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or the acronym the Rambam , was born in Cordoba, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204....
. Berengarius of
ValentiaValentia may refer to:*Valentia Island, off the coast of Ireland*Valentia , a province of Roman Britain*Valentia III, a fictional planet in the Lensmen books.*Valence, Drôme, France, known in Roman times as Valentia...
translated the works of
Abu al-QasimAbu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi, also known in the West as Abulcasis, was an Andalusian physician, surgeon, chemist, cosmetologist, and scientist. He is considered the father of modern surgery, and as Islam's greatest medieval surgeon, whose comprehensive medical texts shaped both...
(Abulcasis). Drogon (Azagont) translated the works of
al-Kindi' , also known to the West by the Latinized version of his name Alkindus, was an Arab Iraqi polymath: an Islamic philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician, mathematician, musician, physician, physicist, psychologist, and meteorologist...
. Farragut (Faradj ben Salam) translated the works of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Ibn Zezla (Byngezla),
MasawaiyhYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
(Mesue), and
al-RaziAbū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher and scholar...
(Rhazes). Andreas Alphagus Bellnensis' translations include the works of Avicenna, Averroes,
Serapion-Physicians:*Serapion of Alexandria , Greek physician*Yahya ibn Sarafyun , also known as Serapion the Elder or Johannes Serapion, Christian physician who wrote two medical compilations in Syriac...
, al-Qifti, and Albe'thar.
In 13th century
MontpellierMontpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, as well as the Hérault department.-Population:...
, Profatius and Bernardus Honofredi translated the
Kitab alaghdiya by
Ibn ZuhrAbū Merwān ’Abdal-Malik ibn Zuhr was an Arab Muslim physician, pharmacist, surgeon, parasitologist, Islamic scholar and teacher in Al-Andalus.-Early life:...
(Avenzoar) as
De regimine sanitatis; and Armengaudus Blasius translated the
al-Urjuza fi al-tibb, a work combining the medical writings of
Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
and
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
, as
Cantica cum commento.
Other texts translated during this period include the
alchemical worksAlchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry by Muslim scientists in the medieval Islamic world...
of
Jabir ibn HayyanGeber is the Latinized form of "Jabir", with the full name of Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān al azdi , a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geologist, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician...
(Geber), whose treatises became standard texts for European
alchemistsAlchemy is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties...
. These include the
Kitab al-Kimya (titled
Book of the Composition of Alchemy in Europe), translated by
Robert of ChesterRobert of Chester was an English arabist who flourished around 1150. He translated several historically important books from Arabic to Latin, by authors such as Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Khwarizmi including:...
(1144); the
Kitab al-Sab'een translated by
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona , was a Lombard translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
(before 1187), and the
Book of the Kingdom,
Book of the Balances and
Book of Eastern Mercury translated by Marcelin Berthelot. Another work translated during this period was
De Proprietatibus Elementorum, an
Arabic workScience in medieval Islam, also known as Islamic science, is a term used in the history of science to refer to the science developed in the Islamic world between the 7th and 16th centuries, a period also known as the Islamic Golden Age. Scientists from the region were also known to develop many...
on
geologyIslamic geography includes the advancement of geography, cartography and earth sciences under various Islamic civilizations. During the medieval ages, Islamic geography was driven by a number of factors: the Islamic Golden Age, parallel development of Islamic astronomy, translation of ancient texts...
written by a
pseudo-AristotlePseudo-Aristotle is a general cognomen for authors of philosophical or medical treatises who attributed their work to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, or whose work was later attributed to him by others....
. A pseudo-
MesueYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
's
De consolatione medicanarum simplicum, Antidotarium, Grabadin was also translated into Latin by an anonymous translator.
See also
- Renaissance of the 12th century
The Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes during the High Middle Ages. It included social, political and economic transformations, and an intellectual revitalization of Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots...
- Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe were numerous, affecting such varied areas as art, architecture, medicine, agriculture, music, language, education, law, and technology. From the 8th to the 13th century, Europe absorbed knowledge from the Islamic civilization...
- Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete
Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete is the translation of the Qur'an into Latin by Robert of Ketton ....
- List of translators
- Mark of Toledo
Mark of Toledo produced one of the earliest translations of the Qur'an into Latin. He was a Spanish physician and a canon of Toledo. He also translated Hippocrates' De aere aquis locis, Hunayn Ibn Ishaq's versions of four of Galen's treatises....
External sources