Hermann of Carinthia

Hermann von Carinthia shown with an astrolabe in his hand

Hermann von Carinthia or Hermann von Kärnten (also Hermannus Dalmata , Sclavus Dalmata or Hermannus Secundus , Slovenian Herman Koroški , * around 1100, † around 1155) was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, translator and author. According to his own admission, he was born in the heart of Istria (now Croatia ), but according to some sources he came from the island of Korčula in Croatia. Hermann is considered to be the most important translator of Arabic astronomical texts in the 12th century and an ambassador of Arabic culture in Europe.

In Hermann's time, Istria was a mark of the then still large Duchy of Carinthia (whose name is derived from Karantanien , Carantania, Carentania, as well as the Slovenian Karantanija, Korotan or Koroška, ​​that Karantanien, which is said to be known for the first time in 595 as "Gorostan", ie mountainous country , and was the first independent state of the Proto-Slovenes until it was incorporated into the “Holy Roman Empire”.)

Lineage and Education

Hermann's second Latin name Sclavus Dalmata or the occasional name of the Slav may not indicate his Slavic origin, but rather his Slavic environment, whose language he understood and probably also mastered, because that was the case in that great Carinthia of the 12th century Bavarian German only partially spoken. In terms of ancestry, Hermann is said to have been the son of the Carinthian Spanheimer Engelbert II , who was enfeoffed with the margraviate of Istria in 1103, but in fact already headed the Mark for Poppo II (III) from 1096 and from 1093 for Burkhard von Moosburg and in 1123 also became Duke of Carinthia. However, Hermann appears to be among the seven children of Engelbert II - Ulrich , Engelbert , Heinrich, Rapoto , Adelheid, Hartwig , Mathilde - whom he shared with his wife Uta von Vohburg, daughter of the Passau burgrave Ulrich the Rich , or in his second marriage Adelheid von Lechsgmünd did not appear. However, if Hermanns was actually a Spanheimer, the nicknames Sclavus or the Slav could possibly also indicate that he was an illegitimate son of Engelbert with a Slovenian or Croatian mother.

It is very likely that Hermann attended a Benedictine monastery school in Istria. In Chartres he attended one of the cathedral schools there, predecessor of the universities. The teachers in Chartres were Bernhard von Chartres and Thierry von Chartres . After 1130 Hermann studied in Paris. The Chartres School was known for its interest in Christian Platonism and the natural sciences, and perhaps Hermann's attention was drawn to the Arabic sources of the classical texts as early as France.

One of Hermann's fellow students in France was Robert von Ketton , with whom he toured the Middle East for four years. Both men became translators from Arabic. In Constantinople and Damascus , Hermann got to know contemporary Arabic science. Approx. In 1138 he returned to Europe and worked as a scholar in Spain and southern France. Much of his work remained anonymous.

Translations of the Koran and other Islamic sources

The first known translation of the Koran into a European language was part of a commission from Petrus Venerabilis to translate some Islamic texts into Latin. This version of the Koran was called "Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete" and Robert von Ketton had the main part in the translation. Peter of Toledo and Mohammed the Saracen also collaborated. The commission, which was completed in 1143, also included other Islamic texts and it seems that Hermann did the main work with these ( De generatione Mahumet et nutritura eius and Doctrina Mahumet ).

Translations by classic authors

Hermann translated in 1143 in Toulouse , the work Planisphaerium of Ptolemy by an Arabic translation from the Greek (with comments from Maslama al-Majriti , who in the 10th century in Córdoba worked). The Western European scholars got to know the Ptolemaic worldview through this work, which was dedicated to Hermann's teacher Thierry von Chartres. (For a long time it was believed that this translation was the only surviving link to Ptolemy's original. Another Arabic translation was later found in Istanbul .)

Hermann also translated Ptolemy's "Canon of the Kings", this translation was long ascribed to the German Hermann Contractus.

Hermann translated Euclidis geometria (Elementa) around 1140, perhaps in collaboration with Robert von Ketton.

Astrology and Astronomy

Hermann's first known translation was the sixth book of an astrological treatise Liber sextus astronomie by the Jewish author Sahl ibn Bischr . It was published in Spain in 1138 under the title Zaelis fatidica . Bishr wrote in the Greek astrological tradition. His first five books were received in the translation of John of Seville ( Johannes Hispalensis ). The sixth book contains prophecies based on the movements of planets and comets.

Approx. In 1140 Hermann translated the astronomical work Kitab al-madkhal ila ilm ahkam al nujum (Introduction to Astronomy) by Abu Ma'shar . The work contains problems from Greek philosophy, Arabic astronomy and Eastern astrology, and was first translated into Latin by John of Seville in 1133. Hermann's freer translation was published several times under the title Liber introductorius in astronomiam Albumasaris, Abalachii ( Augsburg 1489; Venice 1495 and 1506). Much of Hermann's work was incorporated into Roger of Hereford's Book of Astronomical Judgments .

Hermann translated Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi's astronomical tables ( zij ) - they were also translated in 1126 by Adelard von Bath (1075–1164).

Charles Burnett (2001) assumes that Hermann worked with Robert von Ketton and Hugo (or Hugh) von Santalla on the Liber novem iudicum (Book of the Nine Judges), a collection of translations by Arabic astrologers, especially al-Kindīs . Perhaps they intended to replace contemporary superstitious Latin-speaking astrology with Arabic scientific astronomy. According to Burnett, the Renaissance magicians merely continued the hermetic tradition established by Herman, Robert, and Hugh. It is noteworthy that Hermann shares the technical terms and an incantation of Ascpelius with Hugh, especially in his work De essentiis (see below)

Own works

Hermann's original work on philosophy was De essentiis . In it he deals with the five Aristotelian categories cause, movement, space, time and environment (habitudo). He began this treatise in Toulouse in 1143 and completed it in Béziers in the same year . In 1982 the book was published in Germany.

Several other works are also attributed to Hermann:

• the Liber imbrium on meteorology , 1140/1141
• De indagatione cordis ( From the exploration of the heart ), about astrology, it names and cites numerous Arab and Jewish scientists
• mathematical and astronomical works De mensura, De utilitatibus astrolabii , De compositione et usu astrolabii - before 1143. Hermann was obviously very interested in the astrolabe , because his portrait shows him with such a device

Many medieval authors refer to Hermann's work, e.g. B. Albertus Magnus in the Speculum astronomiae .

literature

• De Essentiis, A Critical Edition with Translation and Commentary by Charles Burnett , Brill, Leiden-Köln 1982.
• De indagatione cordis contained in: Sheila Low-Beer: Herman of Carinthia: The Liber imbriam, The Fatidica and the De indagatione Cordis , The City University of New York.
• Hubert LL Busard (editor) The translaton of the Elements of Euclid from the Arabic into Latin by Hermann of Carinthia (?), Books VII-XII , Leiden, EMBrill 1968
• Hubert LL Busard (editor) The translaton of the Elements of Euclid from the Arabic into Latin by Hermann of Carinthia (?) , Amsterdam, Mathematisch Centrum, 1977
• Hubert LL Busard: Hermann von Carinthia (Hermannus de Carinthia, Hermann von Kärnten), Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume 4, Column 2166
• Hans Jürgen Rieckenberg:  Hermann of Carinthia. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 646 f. ( Digitized version ).

See also

• Latin translations in the High Middle Ages

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann von Carinthia in the catalog of the German National Library
• Istrianet: Illustri: Dalmatin
• Irena Knehtl: Herman - An Unfinished Life - Life And Times Of Herman De Carinthia (1110 - Ca.1154) ( Memento from March 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
• Stipe Kutleša: Hermann of Dalmatia 1110-1154 . Croatian Philosophers I. , pp. 57-70

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stipe Kutlesa: Hermann of Dalmatis 1110–1150 , Zagreb 2004: "In literature he is also known as .... and by some other names" (English, PDF)
2. ↑ Irena Knehtl: Herman - An Unfinished Life ... Part One Chapter The Book of Carantania ( Memento of the original from November 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , on buzzle.com (English), cf. but other interpretations in such as Celtic carant = friend s. Karantanien , or after a Celtic tribe of the Karner (Der Große Brockhaus in 20 vol., Leipzig 1928-1935, vol. 9, p 736) 
3. ↑ Irena Knehtl: Herman - An Unfinished Life ... Part One : Chapter: The Book of Carantania ( Memento of the original dated November 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , on buzzle.com (English) 
4. ^ Friedrich Hausmann : The Counts of Ortenburg and their male ancestors, the Spanheimers in Carinthia, Saxony and Bavaria, as well as their branch lines . In: Ostbairische Grenzmarken - Passauer Jahrbuch für Geschichte, Kunst und Volkskunde, Volume 36, Passau 1994, pp. 15-17.
5. ↑ Introduction to Astronomy, Containing the Eight Divided Books of Abu Ma'shar Abalachus . 1506. Retrieved July 15, 2013.