Who was Peter of Toledo and what did he translate?
Peter of Toledo was a twelfth-century Spanish linguist and significant translator into Latin. Associated with the Toledo School of Translators, he collaborated with Peter the Venerable's team in 1142 to 1143 to produce the Corpus Cluniacense, which included the first Latin translation of the Qur'an. Although not much is known about his personal life, his linguistic background suggests he was likely a Mozarab familiar with Hispanic Arabic.
What we know
- Peter of Toledo was a significant twelfth-century translator into Latin who helped create the first Latin translation of the Qur'an. [1, 2]
- He is assumed to have been a Mozarab familiar with Hispanic Arabic due to his knowledge of the language. [2]
- He worked on the translation of the Apology of al-Kindy, though deficiencies in this work indicate his knowledge of Classical Arabic was limited. [2]
- In 1142, Peter the Venerable recruited him alongside other scholars to translate five Arabic texts into Latin, forming the collection known as the Corpus Cluniacense. [2]
Still open
- Whether Peter of Toledo actually planned and annotated the entire Cluny translation collection remains dependent on unproven authorship of anonymous surviving manuscript glosses.
Where to go next
- the bigger pictureWhat was the Toledo School of Translators?
- how it workedHow was the first Latin Qur'an translation created?
- whoWho was Peter the Venerable?
- compared withWhat role did Robert of Ketton play in medieval translations?
- a case in pointWhat text is the Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete?
- an unexpected connectionHow did an abbot of Cluny spark the first Western Qur'an translation?Peter the Venerable traveled to Spain in 1142 and personally recruited a multicultural team of scholars to translate Islamic texts into Latin.
Sources
- [1]Peter of Toledo (Wikidata Q3387720) · CC0 1.0
- [2]Peter of Toledo · CC BY-SA 4.0
- [3]Pedro de Toledo · CC BY-SA 4.0
- [4]Peter the Venerable · CC BY-SA 4.0
- [5]Robert of Ketton · CC BY-SA 4.0