Gerard of Cremona

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Rhazes, in Gerard of Cremona's Recueil des traités de médecine 1250–1260. Gerard de Cremona translated numerous works by Persian and Arab scholars.[1]

Gerard of Cremona (

medieval Europe in the twelfth century by transmitting the Arabs' and ancient Greeks' knowledge in astronomy, medicine and other sciences, by making the knowledge available in Latin. One of Gerard's most famous translations is of Ptolemy's Almagest from Arabic texts found in Toledo.[2]

Confusingly, there appear to have been two translators of Arabic text into Latin known as Gerard of Cremona. The first was active in the 12th century and concentrated on astronomy and other scientific works, while the second was active in the 13th century and concentrated on medical works.

Life

Gerard was born in Cremona in northern Italy. Dissatisfied with the philosophies of his Italian teachers, Gerard went to Toledo. There he learned Arabic, initially so that he could read Ptolemy's Almagest,[3] which had a traditionally high reputation among scholars, but which, before his departure to Castile, was not yet known in Latin translation. The first Latin translation was made, from the Greek around 1160 in Sicily.[4] Although we do not have detailed information of the date when Gerard went to Castile, it was no later than 1144.

Toledo, which had been a provincial capital in the

libraries and manuscripts
, and was one of the few places in medieval Europe where a Christian could be exposed to Arabic language and culture.

In Toledo Gerard devoted the remainder of his life to making Latin translations from the Arabic scientific literature.

Gerard's translations

Al-Razi
's Recueil des traités de médecine translated by Gerard of Cremona, second half of the 13th century.

Gerard of Cremona's Latin translation of the Arabic version of Ptolemy's

Copernicus
.

Gerard edited for Latin readers the

Arzachel, a mathematician and astronomer who flourished in Cordoba
in the eleventh century.

Al-Farabi, the Islamic "second teacher" after Aristotle, wrote hundreds of treatises. His book on the sciences, Kitab lhsa al Ulum, discussed classification and fundamental principles of science in a unique and useful manner. Gerard rendered it as De scientiis (On the Sciences).

Gerard translated

Alfraganus's Elements of Astronomy.[6]

Gerard also composed original treatises on algebra, arithmetic and astrology. In the astrology text, longitudes are reckoned both from Cremona and Toledo.

In total, Gerard of Cremona

Calendar of Córdoba, entitled Liber Anoe, has also been attributed to Gerard.[12]

A second Gerard Cremonensis

Theorica Planetarum by Gerard of Cremona, 13th century.

Some of the works credited to Gerard of Cremona are probably the work of a later Gerard Cremonensis, working in the thirteenth century, who was also known as Gerard de Sabloneta (Sabbioneta).[13] The later Gerard focused on translating medical texts rather than astronomical texts,[13] but the two translators have understandably been confused with one another. His translations from works of Avicenna are said to have been made by order of the emperor Frederick II.

Other treatises attributed to the "Second Gerard" include the Theoria or Theorica planetarum,

al-Razi
("Rhazes" in Latin-speaking Europe). The attribution of the Theorica to Gerard of Sabbionetta is not well supported by manuscript evidence and should not be regarded as certain.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Inventions et decouvertes au Moyen-Age, Samuel Sadaune, p. 44.
  2. ISSN 0021-8286
    . Retrieved 11 April 2022. Gerard of Cremona's Latin translation made in Toledo about 1175 from the Arabic
  3. ISBN 9780674823600
    , For love of the Almagest, which he could not find at all among the Latins, he went to Toledo; there seeing the abundance of books in Arabic on every subject … he learned the Arabic language in order to translate.
  4. ^ R. W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953, p. 64-65.
  5. ^ R. W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953, p. 64-65; L. D. Reynolds and Nigel G. Wilson, Scribes and scholars: A guide to the transmission of Greek and Latin literatureOxford: Clarendon Press, 1974, p. 106.
  6. ^ For a list of Gerard of Cremona's translations see: Edward Grant (1974) A Source Book in Medieval Science, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr.), pp. 35-8 or Charles Burnett, "The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program in Toledo in the Twelfth Century," Science in Context, 14 (2001): at 249-288, at pp. 275-281.
  7. ^ C. H. Haskins, Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, p. 287, "more of Arabic science passed into Western Europe at the hands of Gerard of Cremona than in any other way."
  8. ^ Edward Grant A Source Book in Medieval Science, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ Press, 1974), pp. 35-38.
  9. ^ V. J. Katz, A History of Mathematics: An Introduction, p. 291.
  10. Santa Fe Community College
    .
  11. PMID 25667112
    .
  12. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24375
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0007343065
    .
  14. ^ Pedersen, Olaf. The origins of "Theorica Planetarum". Journal for History of Astronomy. Vol. 12 (1981), pp 113-123.

References

External links
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