Gerard of Cremona: The Danger of Being Half-Acculturated

Abstract

This article calls for a nuanced reappraisal of the talents of Gerard of Cremona, the most proli c of the so-called "Toledan Translators" of the twelfth century. By carefully examining his translation of a wide-ranging text of al-Farabi and comparing it with the translation made by Dominicus Gundisalvus a tentative evaluation of his knowledge of speci c content areas, of Islamic culture, and his skill and practices as a translator is put forth as a contribution to the increasingly sophisticated understanding of this important epoch in medieval intellectual history.

A Bourdieuan Analysis of Toledo School and Gerard of Cremona

“…Unlike Burnett, some researchers prefer to study the translations of Toledo translators in terms of quality by means of textual analysis and comparison. One of these studies was carried out by Michael W. Weber (2002). Weber compared the translations of al-Farabi's Enumeration by Gerard to the translations of the same texts by Gundissalinus, and evaluated Gerard's knowledge in the subtopics of this work, which are "1) the science of language, 2) the science of logic, 3) the mathematical sciences, 4) sciences of physics and metaphysics, and, finally, 5) law, theology, political science" (p. 126-127).…”