GERARD
OF CREMONA (c. 1114– 1187), the medieval translator of Ptolemy's Astronomy,
was born at Cremona, Lombardy, in or about 1114. Dissatisfied with the
meagre philosophies of his Italian teachers, he went to Toledo to study
in Spanish Moslem schools, then so famous as depositories and interpreters
of ancient wisdom; and, having thus acquired a knowledge of the Arabic
language, he appears to have devoted the remainder of his life to the business
of making Latin translations from its literature. The date of his return
to his native town is uncertain, but he is known to have died there in
1187. His most celebrated work is the Latin version by which alone Ptolemy's
Almagest was known to Europe until the discovery of the original
Megálae Syntaxis. In addition to this, he translated various other
treatises, to the number, it is said, of sixty-six; among these were the
Tables of "Arzakhel,” or Al Zarkala of Toledo, Al Farabi On the
Sciences (De scientiis), Euclid's Geometry, Al Farghani's Elements
of Astronomy, and treatises on algebra, arithmetic and astrology. In
the last-named latitudes are reckoned from Cremona and Toledo. Some of
the works, however, with which he has been credited (including the Theoria
or Theorica planetarum, and the versions of Avicenna's Canon
of Medicine – the basis of the numerous subsequent Latin editions of
that well-known work – and of the Almansorius of Abu Bakr Razi)
are probably due to a later Gerard, of the 13th century, also called Cremonensis
but more precisely de Sabloneta (Sabbionetta). This writer undertook the
task of interpreting to the Latin world some of the best work of Arabic
physicians, and his translation of Avicenna is said to have been made by
order of the emperor Frederic II.
See Pipini, "Cronica,” in Muratori, Script. rer. Ital.
voi. ix,; Nicol. Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana vetus, vol. ii.;
Tiraboschi, Storia della letteratura Italiana, vols. iii. (333)
and iv.; Arisi, Cremona literata; Jourdain, Recherches sur...
l'origine des traductions latines d'Aristote; Chasles, Apercu historique
des methodes en géométrie, and in Comptes rendus de
l'Académie des Sciences, vol. xiii. p. 506; J. T. Reinaud, Géographie
d'Aboulfeda, introduction, vol. i. pp. ccxlvi.-ccxlviii.; Boncompagni,
Della vita, e delle opere di Gherardo Cremonese e di Gherardo da Sabbionetta
(Rome, 1851). Much of the work of both the Gerards remains in manuscript,
as in Paris, National Library, MSS. Lat. 7400, 7421; MSS. Suppl. Lat. 49;
Rome, Vatican library, 4083, and Ottobon, 1826; Oxford, Bodleian library,
Digby, 47, 61. The Vatican MS. 2392 is stated to contain a eulogy of "
Gerard of Cremona ” and a list of " his " translations, apparently confusing
the two scholars. The former's most valuable work was in astronomy; the
latter's in medicine.
(C.
R. B.)
Charles
Raymond Beazley
Eleventh edition, vol.11
764b-764c