1st Edition

Arabic into Latin in the Middle Ages The Translators and their Intellectual and Social Context

By Charles Burnett Copyright 2009
    422 Pages
    by Routledge

    This collection of Charles Burnett's articles on the transmission of Arabic learning to Europe concentrates on the identity of the Latin translators and the context in which they were working. The articles are arranged in roughly chronological order, beginning with the earliest known translations from Arabic at the end of the 10th century, progressing through 11th-century translations made in Southern Italy, translators working in Sicily and the Principality of Antioch at the beginning of the 12th century, the first of the 12th-century Iberian translators, the beginnings and development of 'professional' translation activity in Toledo, and the transfer of this activity from Toledo to Frederick II's entourage in the 13th century. Most of the articles include editions of texts that either illustrate the style and character of the translator or provide the source material for his biobibliography.

    Contents: Preface; King Ptolemy and Alchandreus the philosopher: the earliest texts on the astrolabe and Arabic astrology at Fleury, Micy and Chartres; Physics before the Physics: early translations from Arabic of texts concerning nature in MSS British Library, Additional 22719 and Cotton Galba E IV; Adelard of Bath and the Arabs; Antioch as a link between Arabic and Latin culture in the 12th and 13th centuries; 'Magister Iohannes Hispalensis et Limiensis' and Qusta ibn Luqa's De Differentia Spiritus et Animae: a Portuguese contribution to the Arts curriculum?; John of Seville and John of Spain, a mise au point; The coherence of the Arabic-Latin translation program in Toledo in the 12th century; Michael Scot and the transmission of scientific culture from Toledo to Bologna via the court of Frederick II Hohenstaufen; Master Theodore, Frederick II's philosopher: Addenda and corrigenda; Indexes.

    Biography

    Charles Burnett is Professor of the History of Islamic Influences in Europe at the Warburg Institute, University of London, UK