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, from his fluency in Arabic he is assumed to have been a Mozarab. His activities as a translator suggest he worked at the Toledo School of Translators, which was supported by the archbishop of Toledo, Raymond de Sauvetât. Deficiencies in the translation of Apology of al-Kindy, on which he is known to have worked, indicate that his knowledge of Classical Arabic was limited.[2]
In 1142, Peter the Venerable visited Spain and recruited a team of translators who were to translate five Arabic texts, including the Qur'an. The translation work went on in 1142-3. Peter of Toledo appears to have been the principal translator of only one of the texts, the Apology of al-Kindy,[3][4] but he played a key role in the project as a whole, collaborating with three other people who were familiar with Arabic, Robert of Ketton, Herman of Carinthia, a Muslim called Mohammed and also with Peter of Poitiers, who undertook the polishing of the Latin.[3] Kritzeck credits Peter of Toledo with having planned and annotated the collection, but this interpretation depends on the Peter being the author of anonymous glosses in a manuscript which has survived in France. [5]