Peter of Toledo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter of Toledo was a significant translator into Latin of the twelfth century. He was one of the team preparing the first Latin translation of the Qur'an (the Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete).[1]

While not much is known of his life, he is thought to have been a Mozarab of Toledo, so a speaker of the Arabic language. He worked with others (Robert of Ketton, Herman of Carinthia, Peter of Poitiers) on the project, put in hand by Peter the Venerable. Others in the group undertook the polishing of the Latin.[2][3] The translation work went on in 1142-3.

He also translated the Apology of al-Kindy.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ He stands out as the probable link between the first translation of the Koran into a western language and Peter's anti-Islamic croisade intellectuelle, on the one hand, and the Toletan translators clustered about the cathedral school of Archbishop Raymond, on the other.[1]
  2. ^ [2]:Because Peter of Toledo was not as familiar with Latin as he was with Arabic, he was assisted by another brother, Peter of Poitiers.
  3. ^ [3]: Peter of Toledo is credited by Kritzeck with having been the person who planned and annotated the collection, but we know little about him either.

[edit] References

  • James Kritzeck (1964), Peter the Venerable and Islam