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Article published In: Target
Vol. 6:1 (1994) ► pp.43–66

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Twelfth-Century Toledo and Strategies of the Literalist Trojan Horse

Published online: 1 January 1994
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.6.1.04pym
Abstract
The scientific translating associated with twelfth-century Toledo remains a poorly understood phenomenon. Attention to its political dimension suggests that it should not be attached to the state-subsidized work carried out under Alfonso X after 1250 but is better explained in terms of Cluniac sponsorship of the first Latin translation of the Qur'an in 1142. This approach reveals grounds for potential conflict between the foreign scientific translators and the Toledo cathedral. Such conflict would nevertheless have been smoothed over by certain translation principles serving both scientific and religious interests. The foremost of these principles were literalism, secondary elaboration, the use of teamwork, the inferiorization of non-Latinist intermediaries, justification of conquest and the accordance of authority to non-Christian texts. Thanks to this shared regime, the Church helped scientific translations to enter Latin. But the translations brought with them a questioning spirit that would contest and eventually undermine Church authority.
Résumé
L'activité traductive associée à ce qu'on appelle communément «l'École de Tolède» au XIIème siècle reste mal comprise. Dans ses dimensions politiques, elle apparaît plus liée au patronage par l 'abbé de Cluny de la traduction du Coran entreprise en 1142 qu'aux travaux exécutés sous l'égide d'Alphonse X à partir de 1250. Cette approche nous amène à constater certains conflits latents entre les traducteurs scientifiques étrangers et les instances de la cathédrale de Tolède. Les conflits sont cependant limités grâce au respect partagé de certains principes de traduction servant à la fois l'Église et la science: le littéralisme, l'emploi d'un discours explicatif, le travail en équipe, la dévalorisation des intermédiaires non latinistes, la justification des conquêtes, et la reconnaissance de l' autorité de certains textes non-chrétiens. Ainsi l'Église favorise la traduction de textes scientifiques en latin qui, de par leur esprit critique, devaient plus tard remettre en cause l'autorité religieuse.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The Evidence
  • Daniel's Story
  • How Would Foreign Translators Be Received in a Spanish School?
  • Literalism as a Misplaced Theory
  • Strategies of Group Translation
  • Six Principles for Translators without a Theory
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
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