Gerard of Cremona - Life

Life

Gerard was born in Cremona. Dissatisfied with the meager philosophies of his Italian teachers, Gerard followed his true passions and went to Toledo. There he learned Arabic, initially, so that he could read Ptolemy's Almagest, which had a traditionally high reputation among scholars, but which, before his departure to Castile, was not yet known in Latin translation. (The first Latin translation was made, from the Greek around 1160 in Sicily). Although we do not have detailed information of the date when Gerard went to Castile, it was no later than 1144.

Toledo, which had been a provincial capital in the Caliphate of Cordoba and remained a seat of learning, was safely available to a Catholic like Gerard, since it had been conquered from the Moors by Alfonso VI of Castile in 1085. Toledo remained a multicultural capital, insofar as its rulers protected the large Jewish and Muslim quarters, and kept their trophy city an important centre of Arab and Hebrew culture. One of the great scholars associated with Toledo was Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, Gerard's contemporary. The Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of Toledo adopted the language and many customs of their conquerors, embodying Mozarabic culture. The city was full of libraries and manuscripts, and was one of the few places in medieval Europe where a Christian could be exposed to Arabic language and culture.

In Toledo Gerard devoted the remainder of his life to making Latin translations from the Arabic scientific literature.