Science and the Schools in the 12th Century: The Translators from Greek and Arabic into Latin and the Scholars of the Schools

In the twelfth century, more than thirty translators working around the Mediterranean translated more than two hundred texts of science, philosophy, and theology from Greek and Arabic into Latin. These translations quickly went on to revolutionize intellectual life in the Latin world, and many of the texts translated would go on to serve as the foundation of European education throughout the Middle Ages into the Early Modern period and beyond. At the same time translators were flooding the Latin world with new translations on an unprecedented scale, the Latin world was also witnessing the explosive proliferation of schools in urban centers throughout Europe. At once serving a rising demand above all for educated clergy as well as fostering a capacious array of scholarly enterprises, these new schools have long been understood to be an institutional symbol of the unified vision of science and religion in the medieval world. The schools were, however, even more integral to the story of medieval science than has been recognized. I contend that the schools were not only an essential pillar of the period of intellectual flourishing sometimes known as the “Renaissance of the Twelfth Century,” but were also crucial to the most important development in the history of medieval science: the explosion of translations of the twelfth century. In my talk, I present research from my current book project, The Republic of Translators, to reveal the ways that translators actively used their new Greek and Arabic knowledge to contribute to conversations and debates that were taking place at the schools. In so doing, the translators’ work was both profoundly shaped by the intellectual world of the schools even as it in turn would transform the schools forever.