Dominicus Gundissalinus, also known as Domingo Gundisalvi or Gundisalvo ( 1115 – post 1190), was a philosopher and translator of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

active in Toledo. Among his translations, Gundissalinus worked on

Avicenna Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic ...

's ''Liber de philosophia prima'' and ''De anima'',

Ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah ( he, ר׳ שְׁלֹמֹה בֶּן יְהוּדָה אִבְּן גָּבִּירוֹל, Shlomo Ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol, ; ar, أبو أيوب سليمان بن يحيى بن جبيرول, ’Abū ’Ayy ...

's ''Fons vitae'', and

al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...

's ''Summa theoricae philosophiae'', in collaboration with the Jewish philosopher

Abraham Ibn Daud Abraham ibn Daud ( he, אַבְרָהָם בֵּן דָּוִד הַלֵּוִי אִבְּן דָּאוּד; ar, ابراهيم بن داود) was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer, historian, and philosopher; born at Córdoba, Spain about 1110; die ...

and

Johannes Hispanus John of Seville ( Latin: ''Johannes Hispalensis'' or ''Johannes Hispaniensis'') ( fl. 1133-53) was one of the main translators from Arabic into Castilian in partnership with Dominicus Gundissalinus during the early days of the Toledo School of Tr ...

. As a philosopher, Gundissalinus crucially contributed to the Latin assimilation of

Arabic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, ...

, being the first Latin thinker in receiving and developing doctrines, such as

's modal ontology or

's universal hylomorphism, that would soon be integrated into the thirteenth-century philosophical debate.

Life

Born presumably in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

around 1115–1125, Gundissalinus received his education in

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as def ...

, supposedly following the teaching of William of Conches and

Thierry of Chartres Thierry of Chartres (''Theodoricus Chartrensis'') or Theodoric the Breton (''Theodericus Brito'') (died before 1155, probably 1150) was a twelfth-century philosopher working at Chartres and Paris, France. The cathedral school at Chartres promote ...

. Since 1148, Gundissalinus is in Castile: the capitular archives of

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...

refer to him as archdeacon of

Cuéllar Cuéllar () is a municipality in the Province of Segovia, within the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. The municipality had a population of 9,730 inhabitants according to the municipal register of inhabitants (INE) as of 1 Jan ...

, a small town not far from Segovia, where he presumably spent around 14 years, regarding which almost no information is available. Following Ibn Daud's request to the archbishop of Toledo, John II, to start a series of translations into Latin of

's ''Kitab al-Shifāʾ'', Gundissalinus moved to Toledo in 1161–1162, where he worked with Ibn Daud on the translation of

's ''De anima'', realised before 1166. Gundissalinus remained in Toledo for twenty years, collaborating with

and Johannes Hispanus to the realisation of around twenty translations of Arabic works into Latin. In the Castilian capital, Gundissalinus also wrote his philosophical treatises. The Toledan chapter names Gundissalinus for the last time in 1178 but he presumably remained in Toledo at least until 1181, when a document written in Arabic mentions his name. The last record witnessing Gundissalinus alive is the report of a meeting between the chapters of

and

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence o ...

, held in

in 1190.Villar García'','' L. M., 1985, ''Documentación medieval de la Catedral de Segovia (1115-1300)'', Madrid, 135. It is probable that the last years of Gundissalinus's life were spent in that Castilian town, and he died sometime after 1190.

Notes

References

*Polloni, Nicola, 2017, ''Domingo Gundisalvo. Una introducción'', Editorial Sindéresis, Madri

External links

Nicola Polloni, ''Domingo Gundisalvo. Filósofo de Frontera''
*
Alexander Fidora, La Recepción de San Isidoro de Sevilla por Domingo Gundisalvo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundissalinus, Dominicus Philosophers of science Arabic–Latin translators 12th-century Spanish philosophers 12th-century translators 12th-century Latin writers 12th-century people from León and Castile

Life

See also

Notes

References

External links