history rant about Toledo
Okay. So recently the Got Medieval guy wanted us to point to the most important concepts/people/events of the middle ages, and this guy, who calls himself "The Dean" responded with this:
Michael the Scot who traveled to Toledo and Sicily in 1220 and translated the most important ancient works of knowledge of Aristotle etc from the Arabic copies into Latin and brought the Western world out of the Dark Ages creating the foundation of the Renaissance. One of the defining moments from one of the most important peoiple in the history of our civilisation.
NOW, considering I have written an extensive research paper SPECIFICALLY ON THIS TOPIC, the 12th and early 13th century translators working in Toledo, ("Toledo and the Translators: Rejuvenating the Sciences in Europe" - if you want to read it I'll send you a copy, trust me it's not boring! It got me into grad school!) I naturally paid especial attention to this response. When I was done reading it, I wanted to write a response back that said something to the effect of
"You're an idiot. No one single-handedly 'brought the Western world out of the Dark Ages' (and if someone did, it was Charlemagne), and if you're going to mention Michael the Scot, who was one of the VERY LAST of a century's worth of important translators working at Toledo, you might want to mention the (perhaps much more) important figures that were there before him like Adelard of Bath, John of Seville, Herman of Carinthia, Robert of Ketton, and of course, the prolific Gerard of Cremona."
Now I didn't, because I don't want to be a showy know-it-all on someone else's blog, but I did want to write about it here to celebrate my academic triumph over this man, who thinks he has this triumphant fact about Toledo and the 12th century renaissance, but really doesn't know what he's talking about. It bothers me so much when historians think that they can pin a whole movement or shift in history on one person - a phenomenon that happens SO rarely in the course of time!
This reminds me of how Casey is so adamant that Aurispa (238!) triumphantly saved Greek literature, and introduced it to Italy, bringing the renaissance into full swing in the 15th century. He was certainly a renaissance figure of note, and did his part to further classical learning, but let's calm down, and realize he was one of many, and that people had been bringing in and translating Greek texts in Sicily since the 12th century.
okay. /history rant.
Michael the Scot who traveled to Toledo and Sicily in 1220 and translated the most important ancient works of knowledge of Aristotle etc from the Arabic copies into Latin and brought the Western world out of the Dark Ages creating the foundation of the Renaissance. One of the defining moments from one of the most important peoiple in the history of our civilisation.
NOW, considering I have written an extensive research paper SPECIFICALLY ON THIS TOPIC, the 12th and early 13th century translators working in Toledo, ("Toledo and the Translators: Rejuvenating the Sciences in Europe" - if you want to read it I'll send you a copy, trust me it's not boring! It got me into grad school!) I naturally paid especial attention to this response. When I was done reading it, I wanted to write a response back that said something to the effect of
"You're an idiot. No one single-handedly 'brought the Western world out of the Dark Ages' (and if someone did, it was Charlemagne), and if you're going to mention Michael the Scot, who was one of the VERY LAST of a century's worth of important translators working at Toledo, you might want to mention the (perhaps much more) important figures that were there before him like Adelard of Bath, John of Seville, Herman of Carinthia, Robert of Ketton, and of course, the prolific Gerard of Cremona."
Now I didn't, because I don't want to be a showy know-it-all on someone else's blog, but I did want to write about it here to celebrate my academic triumph over this man, who thinks he has this triumphant fact about Toledo and the 12th century renaissance, but really doesn't know what he's talking about. It bothers me so much when historians think that they can pin a whole movement or shift in history on one person - a phenomenon that happens SO rarely in the course of time!
This reminds me of how Casey is so adamant that Aurispa (238!) triumphantly saved Greek literature, and introduced it to Italy, bringing the renaissance into full swing in the 15th century. He was certainly a renaissance figure of note, and did his part to further classical learning, but let's calm down, and realize he was one of many, and that people had been bringing in and translating Greek texts in Sicily since the 12th century.
okay. /history rant.