CONGRESS CANCELED Spain As Egypt's Alternative: Impacts and Influences of Translated Magical Texts

Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

Description

The twelfth/thirteenth centuries gave Mediterranean Arabic magical and astronomical knowledge a new life in Western Christendom. Many hired Jews under clerical and royal patronage in the Toledo School of Translators translated these, often Aristotelian or Hermetic, texts into Latin and Castilian. While Egypt remained a predominant magical hub, Spain quickly rose as an alternative attracting many new students, so to speak, who could either more easily travel southwest or had limited to no Arabic linguistic skills. In part due to these translations, Spain became an intermediary of knowledge transmission and integral part of both Mediterranean and European networks. David Porreca

 
May 7th, 1:30 PM

CONGRESS CANCELED Spain As Egypt's Alternative: Impacts and Influences of Translated Magical Texts

Fetzer 1060

The twelfth/thirteenth centuries gave Mediterranean Arabic magical and astronomical knowledge a new life in Western Christendom. Many hired Jews under clerical and royal patronage in the Toledo School of Translators translated these, often Aristotelian or Hermetic, texts into Latin and Castilian. While Egypt remained a predominant magical hub, Spain quickly rose as an alternative attracting many new students, so to speak, who could either more easily travel southwest or had limited to no Arabic linguistic skills. In part due to these translations, Spain became an intermediary of knowledge transmission and integral part of both Mediterranean and European networks. David Porreca