Toledo School of Translators

The Toledo School of Translators is the group of scholars who worked together in the city of Toledo during the 12th and 13th centuries, to translate many of the Islamic philosophy and scientific works from Classical Arabic into Medieval Latin. Quotes Let no one be shocked if, with reference to the creation of the world, I should invoke the testimony of pagan philosophers rather than the church fathers…. Let us then borrow from them and, with God’s help and command, rob the pagan philosophers of their wisdom and eloquence. Let us take from the unfaithful so as to enrich ourselves faithfully with the spoils. Daniel of Morley quoted in Anthony Pym, Negotiating the Frontier: Translators and Intercultures in Hispanic History , Jerome Publishing, Manchester, 2000. quoted in Euclid and Jesus, How and why the church changed mathematics and Christianity across two religious wars C. K. Raju [A]t this time of the Crusades, there was a strong sense of shame in learning from the Islamic enemy. Also at the time of the Inquisition, the fears that Toledo was a Trojan horse that would spread heresy could not be lightly discounted. The shame was contained by the strategy of "Hellenization"—all the world knowledge, up to the 11th c. CE found in the Arabic books (including, for example, Indian knowledge) was indiscriminately assigned an early Greek origin, with the Arabs assigned the role of mere transmitters (and the Indians nowhere in the picture). The fear of heresy was contained by the strategy of Christianization of this incoming knowledge, by reinterpreting it to bring it in line with the requirements of Christian theology. quoted in C. K. Raju, Cultural Foundations of Mathematics, Vol. 10, Pt. 4: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe (India: Pearson Longman, 2007) They translate books of science and attribute authorship to their coreligionists. Abd al-Majid ibn Abdun writing about Seville, that served as a source for books that were translated. Ibn Abdun. Seville musulmane au début du Xll siècle. Tr. E. Lévi-Provençal. Paris, 1947 page 206. quoted in Joseph F. O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1975, p. 313. quoted in C. K. Raju, Cultural Foundations of Mathematics, Vol. 10, Pt. 4: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe (India: Pearson Longman, 2007) Under the patronage of Archbishop Raimundo (1125-1152), an international community of scholars made Toledo the intellectual capital of Christian Spain and the principal link between Latin and Arabic civilizations. To some extent Seville served as the source for books that were translated, as Ibn Abdun complained : "Books of science ought not to be sold to Jews or Christians, except those that treat of their own religion. Indeed, they translate books of science and attribute authorship to their coreligionists or to their bishops, when they are the work of Muslims" (Joseph F. O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain) External links Category:Spain