Gerard Of Cremona's Biography

Gerard of Cremona (Italian: Gherardo da Cremona; Latin:
Gerardus Cremonensis; c. 1114 - 1187), the Italian

a Christian could fully immerse himself in Arabic language
and culture.

translator of Arabic scientific works was most famous as the
translator of Ptolemy's Astronomy from Arabic texts found in

In Toledo Gerard devoted the remainder of his life to making

Toledo.

Latin translations from the Arabic scientific literature.

He was one of a small group of scholars who invigorated
medieval Europe in the 12th century by transmitting Greek

Gerard of Cremona's Latin translation of an Arabic text was
the only version of Ptolemy's Almagest that was known in

and Arab traditions in astronomy, medicine and other
sciences, in the form of translations into Latin, which made

Western Europe for centuries, until George of Trebizond and
then Johannes Regiomontanus translated it from the Greek

them available to every literate person in the West.

originals in the fifteenth century. The Almagest formed the
basis for a mathematical astronomy until it was eclipsed by

Gerard was born in Cremona. Dissatisfied with the meager
philosophies of his Italian teachers, Gherardo followed his

the theories of Copernicus.

true passions and went to Toledo. There he learned Arabic at
a school for translators, initially so that he could read

Gerard edited for Latin readers the Tables of Toledo, the
most accurate compilation of astronomical data ever seen in

Ptolemy's Almagest, which retained its traditional high
reputation among scholars, even though no Latin translation

Europe at the time. The Tables were partly the work of
Al-Zarqali, known to the West as Arzachel, a mathematician

existed. Although we do not have detailed information of the
date when Gerard went to Castile, it was no later than

and astronomer who flourished in Cordoba in the eleventh
century.

1144.

Al-Farabi, the Islamic "second teacher" after Aristotle,

Toledo, which had been a provincial capital in the Caliphate
of Cordoba and remained a seat of learning, was safely

wrote hundreds of treatises. His book on the sciences, Kitab
al-lhsa al Ulum, discussed classification and fundamental

available to a Catholic like Gerard, since it had been
conquered from the Moors by Alfonso VI of Castile. Toledo

principles of science in a unique and useful manner. Gerard
rendered it as De scientiis (On the Sciences).

remained a multicultural capital. Its rulers protected the
large Jewish colony, and kept their trophy city an important

Gerard translated Euclid's Geometry and Alfraganus's

centre of Arab and Hebrew culture, one of the great scholars
associated with Toledo being Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra,

Elements of Astronomy.

Gerard's contemporary. The Moorish and Jewish inhabitants of
Toledo adopted the language and many customs of their

Gerard also composed original treatises on algebra,
arithmetic and astrology. In the astrology text, longitudes

conquerors, embodying Mozarabic culture. The city was full
of libraries and manuscripts, the one place in Europe where

are reckoned both from Cremona and Toledo.