The Latin Quran, 11431500: Translation, Transition, Interpretation (The European Qur'an, 1)

"In 1143 Robert of Ketton produced the first Latin translation of the Qur'an. This translation, extant in 24 manuscripts, was one of the main ways in which Latin European readers had access to the Muslim holy book. Yet it was not the only means of transmission of Quranic stories and concepts to the Latin world: there were other medieval translations into Latin of the Qur'an and of Christian polemical texts composed in Arabic which transmitted elements of the Qur'an (often in a polemical mode). The essays in this volume examine the range of medieval Latin transmission of the Qur'an and reaction to the Qur'an by concentrating on the manuscript traditions of medieval Qur'an translations and anti-Islamic polemics in Latin. We see how the Arabic text was transmitted and studied in Medieval Europe. We examine the strategies of translators who struggled to find a proper vocabulary and syntax to render Quranic terms into Latin, at times showing miscomprehensions of the text or willful distortions for polemical purposes. These translations and interpretations by Latin authors working primarily in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Spain were the main sources of information about Islam for European scholars until well into the sixteenth century, when they were printed, reused and commented. This volume presents a key assessment of a crucial chapter in European understandings of Islam."-- Back cover Contents 5 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 11 The Four Oldest Latin Quotations of the Qur’an: Eighth/Ninth-Century al-Andalus 21 On the Genesis and Formation of the Corpus Cluniacense 37 Dixit apostoli. The Word-by-word Principle in Latin Translations of the Qur’an 67 Translating from Arabic to Latin in the Twelfth Century: The Examples of Two Englishmen, Robert of Ketton and Adelard of Bath 81 Corrections to Robert of Ketton’s Translation of the Qur’an in MS Paris Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal 1162 105 Robert de Ketton, traditore: Manifestations of anti-Islamic Radicalism in the First Latin Translation of the Qur’an 121 Translatological Remarks on Rendering the Qur’an into Latin (Robert of Ketton, Mark of Toledo and Egidio da Viterbo): Purposes, Theory, and Techniques 133 The Contribution of the Speculum historiale to the History of the Latin Risālat al-Kindī and the Corpus Cluniacense 149 Context and the Use of Quotes from Robert of Ketton’s Translation of the Qur’an in the Itinerarium Symonis Semeonis 169 Interpretatio iuxta traditionem: The Transmission of Latin Anti-Islamic Texts 187 Qur’an at the Council. Manuscripts and Use of the Ketton Translation of the Qur’an at the Council of Basel (1431–1449) 195 An Indirect Usage of the Qur’an in the XVth century. Jean Germain’s Débat du chrétien et du sarrasin 215 The Extracta ex Alcorano and Giacomo della Marca’s Glosses in MS Falconara 3 235 The Glosses on Mark of Toledo’s Alchoranus Latinus 293 Dhul-Qarnayn, The One of the Two Horns, in the Latin Glosses to the Qur’an 309 Qur’an Quotations in the Liber de Doctrina Mahumet 327 Using Muslim Exegesis in Europe in the 12 th and 18 th Centuries: A Comparative Study of Robert of Ketton’s and George Sale’s Approaches 359 Riccoldo da Monte di Croce and the Origins of the Qur’an as a Deviation from Christian Salvation History 373 Riccoldo the Florentine’s Reprobacion del Alcoran: A Manual for Preaching to the ‘Moors’ 405 Sicut Euangelia sunt quatuor, distribuerunt continentiam eius in quatuor libros: On the Division of Iberian Qur’ans and Their Translations into Four Parts 435 The Bellús Qur’an, Martín García, and Martín de Figuerola: The Study of the Qur’an and Its Use in the Sermones de la Fe and the Disputes with Muslims in the Crown of Aragon in the Sixteenth Century 465 Conclusion: Robert of Ketton’s Translation and its Legacy 485 List of Contributors 491 Index of Manuscript 495 Index 499